The Sheikh's Mistaken Twin - Completed.

Chapter Four

Leaving the area and out into the desert, Kaden at her side, Ellie tensely sat close to the door, gazing out the blackened windows, seeing no point to them.

There was nothing but desert, so who was going to see her? The burqa covered her from head to toe in black. Not a sight of buildings in the distance. Ellie refused to ask questions, she just wanted to go home.

Back to Gran and her cats. Back to her books and her job, one she only tolerated because of the pay. She wasn't adventurous. Or wanted this drama in her life. She should've known the ball would be a mistake. It had been too good to be true. Even lost her cloak, fan and mask, which weren't with the clothes.

Neither was her purse with her missing phone.

She had them when she left the hotel, apart from the cloak.

That sickening feeling was coming back. Why the desert? There was nothing out here. And why Ronnie? What had Ronnie done to deserve this? Even if it was her in this sticky situation, hands clasping tightly together in her lap, fighting back the fear coursing through her veins, everything closing in around her. Hidden behind the clothes that felt heavy and draining, finding it a struggle to breathe, struggling with tears, she didn't show in front of these heartless Dwarves.

Then slowly, out of the heatwave of the desert on the horizon, an edge of a city rose, and they were heading towards it, driving off the desert from the side onto a main road, in a line of black cars. This wasn't a dream, it was real, and she was caught in a nightmare.

Ellie couldn't fathom why he had taken her, why she was in a foreign country with no way home. No passport. She didn't own one. Kaden at her side, not even sure if that was his real name, had been on his phone talking in low tones, not that she would understand what he was saying.

To be honest, he had ignored her since he climbed into the car and told the driver to go.

As they approached the edge of the city limits, the building stood tall in the distance; the outskirts were different, older-looking structures, as Kaden spoke to the driver via a car phone, veering off towards the left, following the edge of the city. Ellie faced the desert again, on the wrong side of the road.

Refusing to look across, she stared ahead viewing from the driver's view, fascinated by the old structures of buildings, that looked centuries old, from another era, surrounded by a newer city backdrop.

There must be so much history and mythical stories in a place like this.

After all, this is the Middle East, not the outback as she had hoped.

If still in Australia, she had hoped to escape.

Then out of the older quarters, a sandy colour tall wall guarded over them, veering off to follow a road that stretched as far as the eye could see. She peered up, unable to see anything, then they were going through the open solid eight-foot gate, and drove through, where her jaw dropped at what was in front of her.

The jewel in the desert.

It can't be. It was like some sort of... palace!

She shot him a look.

"Who the hell are you?"

"All you need to know, for now, I am your guardian."

"Guardian," she gasped. "You kidnapped me, drugged me, and now this!" She waved frantically at the palace they were approaching, then veered off again down the side of the building. "Why? Just tell me why?"

"Let's just say I need you out of the picture."

"Why? I don't understand. What have I done to deserve this?"