Widowed queen Aliyah has resigned herself to a life of loneliness until a rough-mannered stranger intrudes on her solitude. A professional warrior and protector, Gibran has kept his distance from the palace he once called home—until his royal half brothers invite him into their midst. By profession and inclination, he keeps his emotions on lockdown, but finds himself falling under Aliyah's quiet spell. Will these two lonely people dare to seize the love they crave?EXCERPT:His dark eyes seemed to stare right past her quiet and unassuming façade and see into the darkest reaches of her soul. Into the cold, lonely places where she hid when her late husband took his pleasure with her. Into the cobwebbed corners where she'd stashed the inconvenient needs and desires that had no place in her life.Then he kissed her again. This time she kissed him back harder. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she heard Megu's chain drop to the ground, but she didn't care. Gibran's lips welcomed hers and heat flared between them, lighting a fire that spread to her belly and limbs. Knees shaking, she clung to him, feeling the thick, hard, masculine shape of his arms and back, letting her fingers grope into his thick hair, drawing in the masculine scent of his skin. She kissed him with every ounce of hope and desire that she'd shoved deep down inside her, letting them bubble up in a mad and crazy explosion of passion.