My fellow reviewer Anthony Langford recently theorized that, due to the events of September 11, sheikh romances were about to go seriously out of style. Obviously this sheikh romance must have been written well before the terrorist attacks; still, I was curious as to how I, as a reader, would react to an Arabic hero.

What I found, to my surprise, is that Hide and Sheikh is light, cute, unexpectedly touching, and makes a very good distraction from depressing reality.

Ellen Sheffield doesn’t have much time for super-rich, jet-setting men. After all, she almost married one, and she knows that most very wealthy men are spoiled, self-centered, and only interested in how her fabulous blonde self looks on their arm. She assumes that Sheikh Rashid Ibn Saqr, one of the younger princes of the fictitious Arabian nation Qarif, fits into that mold.

When Rashid slips away from his bodyguards to enjoy a little freedom, Ellen is sent to get him back. Unbeknownst to Rashid (who prefers his nickname Rudi), Ellen is a partner in the security firm that guards him when he’s in the United States. Ellen finds Rudi in a nightclub, comes on to him, and then, instead of leading him to her apartment as he hopes, returns him to the custody of his bodyguards. Their encounter is interesting – and much too short. When they part, Ellen suspects that Rudi may not be as shallow as she assumed, and Rudi is smitten with Ellen. He decides to go to great lengths to get to know her better.

Ellen suffers from the agony of being too beautiful; Rudi is tormented because he is too rich. Ah, such problems. Both of them feel no one has ever loved and wanted them for themselves; both feel the need to prove themselves. Both are unexpectedly likable. Ellen, whose four brothers taught her to never turn down a dare, comes across as spunky but not obnoxiously so. Rudy is certainly spoiled, and the way he manipulates Ellen testifies to that. But he is also a sweet, good-hearted man who wants to use his training and intelligence to help people, and who is denied that work by his autocratic family. Although neither of these characters is perfect by any means, they’re both complex enough to be interesting.

And that’s surprising, too – did you see how short this book is? I am genuinely impressed that the author was able to create such depth in these characters, and such emotional intensity between them, in just over 150 pages. In spite of that brevity, when the love of Ellen and Rudi seems to be thwarted, the author succeeds in portraying their suffering so poignantly that I felt the pang.

This book has its flaws, most of which stem from its being so short. That first encounter between Ellen and Rudi leads to everything else – they both walk away from it unwillingly fascinated with each other. It’s an intriguing but, ultimately, extremely disappointing scene, because it isn’t developed anywhere near enough to explain that mutual fascination. Ellen gives in to Rudi sexually much too soon; Rudi falls for Ellen much, much too quickly. These things seemed rushed. Another 50 pages of plot development and getting-to-know-you time would have gone a long way.

Still, for an entertaining time, you could do far worse than Hide and Sheikh. If you’re a fast reader, you can probably zip through it on your lunch hour, and feel that it was an hour well spent. Though I picked it up expecting to be uncomfortable with it, instead I wished it had lasted a little bit longer.