It was a space large enough to fit fifty people, and they were nearly at capacity with Kishon and his wife Chloe, Chakir and Hannah and Ryan, and the closest members of Matek’s security team and their wives. Kishon stood on a low stage up front; he nodded to her and waved her forward. She’d known Kishon since high school, and now she was pregnant with his cousin’s baby.
His cousin’s baby. This was a scenario she’d never imagined playing out, not in a million years. She must’ve missed a pill. Her cheeks heated at the thought. She would have noticed a broken condom, wouldn’t she? Maybe not. Not with the way Matek made her feel swoony and buzzed. Looking into his dark eyes gave her that half-drunk feeling. Running her fingertips down his jawline made her knees weak. And when he kissed her? When he did other things with her? Matek’s muscles working as he thrust into her from beneath, his big hands on her hips, popped into her mind in an ill-timed vision. She stepped to his side anyway.
His dark eyes narrowed. “I thought you were going to sleep.”
On Matek’s other side, Chakir’s stepson Ryan leaned forward very slowly, then rocked back into place. Shoot. If she’d remembered, she’d have put a small piece of candy in her pocket for him to keep him entertained during the talking portion of the evening. But even getting herself here had been a victory.
“I thought so too.” She kept a proud smile on her face. “But I figured everyone would notice if I missed your big send-off.”
“Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Worry darkened his features. “If you’re not feeling well—”
“I’m feeling fine.” This wasn’t strictly true. Something about Nina’s stomach felt off, but it could be nerves. It could be the mad sprint from her room to the dining room. “It would be more conspicuous if I stayed in bed.”
“I could have given an excuse.”
“What, and admitted we were on a date together?” She gave a quick shake of her head. “No way.”
He huffed a breath.
On stage, Kishon raised his glass. “So please join me in a toast to our beloved cousin Matek. He’ll be missed dearly, and you can be sure I’ll be writing to him every week to convince him to return to Hamari where he belongs. Though his own father, the king of our brother kingdom Damarah, will surely want him to stay there forever.”
Waiters came through the gathering, champagne glasses balanced expertly on trays.
“To Matek,” Kishon said. “For all he’s done for us and all he’s set to do. We’re so proud of you.”
A waiter paused in front of Matek and Nina, and she took a glass.
“To Matek,” everyone echoed, and Nina raised it to her lips, pulse hammering. The champagne kissed her lips, bubbly and light. One fake sip, and she’d be home free.
“Stop,” hissed Matek. “The baby.”
“What baby?”
Ryan’s voice rang loud and clear and unmistakable. It was as attention getting as the sound of breaking glass. Kishon heard. Everyone heard. Kishon quickly put the microphone back in its stand and came down from the stage. Nina couldn’t take a breath. This should be so simple. She should just open her mouth and say something witty.
“Our baby,” Matek announced. “Nina is pregnant with our baby.”
Kishon was stepping forward in slow motion. Hannah’s hair lifted on the breeze created as she whipped her head toward the two of them. Chloe’s mouth dropped open. And Nina felt as if she had run face first into something hard and unyielding. The shock of it reverberated through her entire body. Had he really just said that?
Oh, god, had he really just said that? These were her employers. Sure, they were her friends, but mostly they were her employers. This couldn’t be the time or place to announce news like this. Not at all. She grabbed at Matek’s arm, holding on tight. Had the heels of her shoes grown several inches in the span of a heartbeat? Why did she feel like she could topple over at any second?
Time caught up with her in a rush. The sound hit her a moment later. Everyone from Matek’s family was talking. Kishon was saying something to Chloe, and the two of them were smiling at each other, then at her. Hannah had rushed over.
“I don’t know if we’re on hugging terms,” said Hannah. “But I have to give you a hug. Congratulations, Nina.” She pulled Nina in for a ferocious hug and let go just as quickly. “This is incredible news.”
“Congratulations.” Kishon reached over Hannah and shook Matek’s hand. “What, this gathering wasn’t exciting enough already?”
Matek’s face looked frozen, bewildered, but he put on a smile. “The less exciting, the better.” He flicked his eyes over to Nina, and the smile deepened, became more genuine. “But not when it comes to this. I was looking for a change of pace anyway.”
Kishon laughed heartily. “We’re so glad to have Nina in the family.”
Wait. Wait. “You’re not angry?” She blurted the words, and a happy wave of laughter came back to her.
“Angry? Why would I be upset about one of my friends getting together with my best cousin?” Kishon tipped his head back and beamed at the ceiling. “I think we’re all just glad it’s finally out in the open.”
Matek’s arm tensed under the palm of her hand. “What do you mean, out in the open?” Matek said.
“You two.” Hannah patted them both on the shoulder. “You thought you were being so discreet.”
“We were being discreet,” countered Nina. “We never had a date inside the palace. Matek always dropped me off in the back and went in through another entrance.”
From farther back, she could see Chloe rolling her eyes in the good-natured way only Chloe could pull off. “He took you to your room just last night.”
“There was nobody in the hall. Are you all stalking us?”
“Never mind us,” said Kishon. “What about you? What are your plans?”
“Hey,” said Ryan, sounding disgruntled. “She’s going to take care of me. Like always.”
“I can,” insisted Nina. This was all going wildly off-track. “I’m only a few weeks pregnant at most. I can keep doing my job—”
“You’re a few weeks pregnant with Matek’s baby,” Chakir cut in. “You can’t be our nanny.” She must be missing something. “Being a nanny isn’t an appropriate job for a member of the royal family. Of two royal families. The mother of a sheikh’s child can’t work as a servant.”
“I’m just so thrilled,” said Hannah. “See? This is all working out. None of us expected to find ourselves in love, either, and now we have such a wonderful family. It’s been the trial of my life to keep my mouth shut about you two.”
“She’s serious.” Chakir put his hand on the small of Hannah’s back. “We’ll have to find something else to debate before we fall asleep.”
They’d all known, and she hadn’t realized it. Her face went hot, then hotter. The walls of the room closed in. Because there was something even more embarrassing than carrying on a secret relationship that everyone had known about. They’d known something she hadn’t. She faced Matek.
“You didn’t tell me,” she said, the words struggling their way out of her mouth.
“What was that?” Matek leaned in closer.
“You didn’t tell me you were a prince. I knew you were a cousin, but I didn’t know your father is the king of Damarah. Are you in line for the throne?”
He shrugged a shoulder, worry flaring in his dark eyes. “Behind my brother. But until today, I didn’t think it mattered.”
He was a sheikh. He was a member of Kishon’s family, yes, but he was also second in line to the throne of Damarah. He had standing.
She had the strangest sensation, like the floor had turned and become the ceiling. Nina might plummet toward it at any second. Everything was upside down—everything.
Nina locked eyes with Hannah, who had fallen in love with Chakir after they’d discovered that her son was royalty. It hadn’t been easy for the other woman, transitioning from being a private citizen to a member of the royal family. Nina’
s skin tightened, goose bumps rising and making the hairs on the back of her arms stand on end. This was the kind of thing she’d left behind when she moved to the UK for college. This was not what she wanted.
Her stomach clenched, and nausea stormed into her throat like an avenging army, bitter and thick and disgusting.
Matek was a sheikh, and everyone around her was thrilled about it, and, and....she was going to be sick.
Nina clapped a hand over her mouth and held on tight. The only thing to do was get out of this room—now.
“Nina?” Matek’s voice followed her, but she didn’t stop. No time.
3
The knock at the bathroom door came…later—Nina couldn’t tell how long. Her knees ached from hunching on the tile. She had been thoroughly emptied out. Light as a feather. Almost light enough to float. She pushed her hair back over her shoulder and took a deep breath. “Yes?”
“Ms. Frank, it’s Ashaki.”
Ashaki served as a maid in the family wing. Tension released somewhere at the very center of her, and she pressed her knuckles to the floor. Thank god it wasn’t Matek. It was one thing to be pregnant with his baby. It was another thing for him to be standing outside the door while she was sick for who knew how long.
“Are you all right?”
Nina rocked back on her heels and got tentatively to her feet, testing each movement to see if it made her sick. So far, so good. At the sink she splashed water on her face.
“I’m all right,” she called out.
“We’re waiting here for you. Take as long as you need.”
We’re waiting? Who else was outside the bathroom? She clutched the sides of the sink and leaned over in case her nerves wound themselves up into another round of sickness. “I’m good,” she said, and went out to make the statement at least a little bit true.
Ashaki stood just outside the door, holding a warm towel. Three other maids from the staff lined up behind her, one with a basin of water, one with a dress over her arm, and a third with her hands folded in front of her, waiting.
Nina pressed the back of her hand to her lips. “Is...everything all right?”
Ashaki gave her a concerned smile. “If everything’s all right with you. Matek sent word that you were ill.”
“Where—” She swallowed hard. “Where is he?”
“He’s attending to the guests at the reception. He asked me to check in on you.”
Matek had asked Ashaki to do more than just ask after her wellbeing. The maids took Nina back to her room, where a warm bath had been drawn. Rose petals floated lazily on the surface of the water. The four other women buzzed around Nina’s small suite while she relaxed in the bath. When she stepped out in her nightgown, they wrapped her in one of the palace’s notoriously fluffy robes. They tucked her into bed.
“Text me if you need anything,” Ashaki said. “Or have Matek come get me. Anything at all.”
And then they left, Nina blinking after them.
Was this what being royalty was like? In the space of an hour, she’d gone from one of the staff to...something like a princess.
She sighed, wriggling down beneath the covers. It was so tempting to go to sleep, to will all of this away...but she had to make a call.
Her parents.
If Matek’s family knew about the pregnancy, it was only fair that she tell her parents.
Where were her parents? Last time she’d spoken to her mother, they’d been planning a trip around the world, due to leave within days. Nina dialed her mom’s cell once, then twice, then tried her dad.
No answer.
Finally, she tried her father’s personal assistant, Pete.
“Nina, it’s good to hear from you. How can I help you?”
She rubbed at her forehead. “Hi. I’m calling to see if you have any idea where my parents might be. I’m trying to get in touch with them.”
“Oh, you just missed them,” he said, sounding only vaguely sympathetic. “They’re in the Australian Outback for the next six months. Going off grid.” Pete laughed. “Your father’s big idea for the year. Isn’t that just like him?”
“Just like him,” she echoed, her heart sinking. By the time they came back on the grid, she’d be....eight months pregnant.
Pete kept talking. “Since the sale, he’s been wanting to see the rest of the planet. Well, he’s finally doing it.”
“Sale? What sale?” All the exhaustion that had creeped into Nina’s eyes fell away again.
“The mansion.” Pete chuckled, and she felt a surge of irritation at that laugh. “They closed last month. Didn’t you know? I’m so happy for them. Now that all you kids are out of the house, they’ll finally have a chance to get out and follow their dreams.”
She’d thought her heart couldn’t sink any lower, but by now it was beneath the Earth’s crust and falling fast toward the molten core. So much for the idea she’d had in the bath—going home to Connecticut. The mansion had always been there in the back of her mind as a soft place to land, even after she’d given it up for the UK and then Hamari. There would be no lying low back in the States while she figured things out.
“Great,” she said to Pete, and a soft knock came at the door to her suite. “Thanks.” She hung up as the door cracked open.
It was Hannah, Chakir’s wife and Ryan’s mother. “Hey, you.”
“Hi.” Nina let her phone drop to the comforter. “That was a scene.”
Hannah laughed. “That was pretty typical, I’d say. The night Chakir and I met was a scene, too.” She came and perched on the edge of Nina’s bed. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’ve been better. Running out of that reception wasn’t my finest moment.”
“You’re more than forgiven.” Hannah looked down into her lap, then back at Nina. “Look, I—I’ve seen the way that you and Matek look at each other. He’s got a tight-knit family. There’s a lot of love between...you know, all parties involved. That’ll help the transition for all of you.”
“I’m not so sure.” Nina covered her eyes with her arm, blocking out the light. It seemed brighter by the second—or maybe that was the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “A surprise baby doesn’t guarantee a good relationship. Just the opposite, sometimes. Love takes work.” It’s not like a fling you have with a man who’s so sexy your clothes practically melt off. “You have to earn it.”
Hannah nodded slowly. “I agree with you that relationships are work. But love is a feeling. You don’t have to earn it. You just have it.”
“That’s not how—“
“Everything all right?” Matek stood in the doorway to her room, hands in his pockets.
“I’ll be in touch.” Hannah patted Nina’s hand and slipped out. Matek nodded to her as she passed him, then took two strides into the room, just as he might if he were confronting an intruder. Nina shivered a little. Did she even really belong here? Matek’s expression softened; concern crept in. Maybe a little uncertainty.
“My question still stands.”
She sat up straighter in the bed. “Everything’s good.” She gave Matek her most confident smile.
“Let me freshen your tea.”
Nina hadn’t noticed the tea on the side table. Matek stepped awkwardly forward and lifted the full glass of tea. Her heart warmed at the sight of him with the glass in his big hands. He was usually so in charge. And here he was, thrown off by all of this, just like she was.
Only his situation wasn’t just like hers, was it?
He came back from the mini kitchen in the corner of the room—a small countertop with a kettle, and a tiny sink for washing her mugs—with more tea. She waited until it was firmly on the side table to say anything. No need to get anyone scalded.
“You didn’t tell me you were a sheikh. You didn’t say you were more than a cousin. You didn’t say you were in anyone’s direct line of succession.”
Matek looked her in the eye. “That’s my protocol. I don’t talk about my family.” Pain flashed into h
is eyes and was gone again a heartbeat later.
“Your protocol? Like what you do when we have an outing with Ryan?”
He gave the hint of a sigh. “Things get messy when you reveal you’re a sheikh. This current situation is a prime example.”
“Yes, but now I’m pregnant with your baby and finding out that I automatically have to become...absorbed into the royal family.”
Matek slid his hands back into his pockets, and the motion twisted at her heart. He normally stood so straight and tall, his lean, muscular frame dominating any space he entered. Now his shoulders hunched forward a fraction of an inch, and it made all the difference in the world. “We weren’t going to talk about this until tomorrow morning.”
“Best to talk about it now, I’d say.” She pushed herself farther upright against the headboard and smoothed the blanket over her lap. She did kind of wish they could wait until breakfast, when she wouldn’t be dressed in pajamas and a fluffy robe, but at least this way it would be out in the open.
“All right.” He took a deep breath. “Do you not want me to be a part of your life?”
Irritation popped in her mind like the screamer fireworks in a Fourth of July display. “I don’t know, Matek. Did you ever intend to tell me that you’re royalty?” Perhaps she hadn’t put in enough work to deserve the information, but he could have told her at dinner. He could have told her that very essential fact at any point between the restaurant and the palace, or any time since.
“My main concern is always security. I’d have told you when you needed to know. And you needed to know now, because of the baby.”
“You found out about the baby hours ago. You couldn’t have slipped it in? Oh, by the way, Nina, I’m a member of the royal family.”
“You also need to know because you’ll be coming with me when I go back to Damarah.” He’d said a short-term job at home. “My father has an important birthday party coming up. I’ll be attending.” He didn’t seem particularly happy about this. “That’s where my next contract is.”
“That’s not—no. I’m not doing that.” She wanted to dig her heels into the dirt and refuse to go another step. First the pregnancy revelation, then the royal family revelation, and now this? Another country? Tomorrow? “You can go if you want to, but I’m staying here.”
The Sheikh’s Pregnant Nanny: Sheikhs of Hamari Book Three Page 2
