When we first meet Desdemona Carlisle she's bored, bound, a bit tipsy on fermented milk and awaiting the auctioning block. She's an Englishwoman and has been abducted by an overzealous young Arab. A romantic, Desdemona begins to fantasize about how exciting it might be to bought by a desert Prince. Then opportunist Harry Braxton shows up to save her hide. She can't believe her rotten luck and tells him, "If you bought me I'll kill you!".

Thus begins this truly fun, character driven, adventurous read. We soon find out why Dizzy (as Harry so charmingly calls her) is so disappointed with her savior. He is the scoundrel who broke her heart several years earlier. Unable to avoid each other (he's an archeologist often in need of Dizzy's translation skills) they have forged a platonic friendship.

Dizzy never had a childhood. A child prodigy, her parents forced her to study languages and traveled around the world to show off her talents. When her parents died her Egyptologist Grandfather brought her to Cairo and she has been eking out a living using her language skills. Her fondest dream is living a normal life in England but, unfortunately, she's broke.

She loves Harry but will never allow him to hurt her again. When Harry's hunky, brooding cousin Lord Ravenscroft shows up in Egypt she realizes he may just be the perfect antidote to Harry. Blake is a boring, sensible, uptight fuddy-duddy. He's everything her head tells her she needs ~- if she could only convince her heart she'd be all set.

Harry (of course) loves Dizzy but he is unwilling to allow her to give up her dreams to make him happy so he pushes her away for her own good. He is hiding a painful secret that makes him feel inadequate and he will not return to England after his dreadful childhood. But when she starts making eyes at his priggish cousin he loses all sense of his faculties.

I don't want to give too much away of this irresistible story so I'll just say that these two have my vote for most lovable couple of the year! They compliment each other perfectly in every way. Harry is a wonderfully original wounded hero. He's a man man enough to admit his love (there's no annoying denial of feelings going on with this guy!), shed a few tears, and face down a madman for the woman he loves. Dizzy (despire her name) is intelligent, strong, funny and she reads erotic scrolls when no one is looking. She's a romantic and a heroine the reader can easily relate to. These two people are so real they leap off the page and the hot desert sun is the perfect back drop for the super steamy tension they create.