The Sheikh S Island

Does love solve all? Shiekh Rameez Molamid doesn’t believe in love. He only cares about looking out for his interests, and after winning Muharraq Island from the Khalidzack brothers in the wedding bet, he’s certainly proven that he can trust his instincts. But when a feud threatens to tear his family apart, he has to do what he can to make peace for the sake of his elderly mother. Wynifred Fellows, author of the upcoming book Love Solves All, is brought in to heal the rift within the family. The last thing she expects is to feel a spark of mutual attraction for the handsome bachelor Rameez. With her publisher turning up the pressure, she really needs a win. But when Rameez and his cousin Haris begin competing for her attention, the feud—and the bedroom—start to heat up. With tensions at a fever pitch, Wynifred knows the only logical thing is to force a confrontation, so she “strands” the three of them on Muharraq Island. What she doesn’t know is that dangerous art collector Anton Negatin is waiting to get his hands on the island, by any means necessary—even murder.

The position of the Persian Gulf as the main highway between East and West has long given this region special significance both within the Middle East and in global affairs more generally. This book examines the history of international relations in the Gulf since the 1820s as great powers such as Britain and the US, and regional powers such as Iran and Iraq, vied for supremacy over this geopolitically vital region. It focuses on the struggle for control over the islands of the Gulf, in particular the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb – an issue that remains highly contentious today. It describes how for 170 years Britain eroded Iranian influence in the Gulf, both directly by asserting colonial rule over Iranian islands and port districts, and also through claiming Iranian islands for their protégés on the Arab littoral. It shows how, after Britain's withdrawal, these islands became a pawn in the animosity and conflict that pitted, at one time, Arab radicals and nationalists against monarchical Iran, and, later, the conservative-moderate Arab camp against Islamic Iran. It goes on to explore the impact of the rise of American power in the Gulf since the start of the 1990s, its policy of containment of Iran and Iraq, and how this has provided encouragement to the ambitions of the Persian Gulf Arab littoral states, especially the UAE, towards the islands of the Gulf.

The Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia and its five smaller neighbours: the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain) have long been governed by highly autocratic and seemingly anachronistic regimes. Yet despite bloody conflicts on their doorsteps, fast-growing populations, and powerful modernising and globalising forces impacting on their largely conservative societies, they have demonstrated remarkable resilience. Obituaries for these traditional monarchies have frequently been penned, but even now these absolutist, almost medieval, entities still appear to pose the same conundrum as before: in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring and the fall of incumbent presidents in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, the apparently steadfast Gulf monarchies have, at first glance, re-affirmed their status as the Middle East s only real bastions of stability. In this book, however, noted Gulf expert Christopher Davidson contends that the collapse of these kings, emirs, and sultans is going to happen, and was always going to. While the revolutionary movements in North Africa, Syria, and Yemen will undeniably serve as important, if indirect, catalysts for the coming upheaval, many of the same socio-economic pressures that were building up in the Arab republics are now also very much present in the Gulf monarchies. It is now no longer a matter of if but when the West s steadfast allies fall. This is a bold claim to make but Davidson, who accurately forecast the economic turmoil that afflicted Dubai in 2009, has an enviable record in diagnosing social and political changes afoot in the region.

The Gulf Islands Dispute offers an international law analysis of the conflict between Iran and the UAE over ownership of three Gulf islands. The conclusions reached are based on centuries of Gulf history and challenge the positions of both parties.

Laura Bliss is an assistant location scout with no sense of direction—which is how she got stuck with a faulty GPS and the job of scouting sand dunes rather than the oasis her boss is currently viewing. With the sun going down and Laura seriously worrying for her life, she stumbles across a tent that looks more like a palace than a campsite. Dehydrated and burnt, it seems like salvation—until men wearing desert garb and toting AK47’s ride out in jeeps to gather her. Sheikh Raheem can barely believe his luck when an American woman is brought into his tent. He is passionate about his country’s natural splendor, but its PR is in desperate need of a makeover—perhaps as much as the dirty beauty in front of him. He makes an offer: Laura, with her eye for finding the beauty in a location, will help him craft a campaign promoting his country, and when she completes the project he’ll send her back to America with a paycheck she can live on for years. Seeing a chance for financial freedom, Laura jumps at the opportunity. As Raheem shows off the magnificence of his land, Laura finds herself getting swept into a fairy tale full of palaces, five-star luxury, and the most sensuous sex she’s ever experienced. Though she values her independence, the temptation to stay—not just for Raheem, but for the beautiful country that isn’t getting the attention it deserves—holds her in place. But when the country’s natural treasures are threatened, Raheem and Laura must decide what means more to them: their love for one another or their original plans.