He stood up and stretched. The rest of his staff in the room stretched with him, shifting from one foot to another. He’d had three of his most trusted team members with him since he’d returned, after the incident with Nina. Double-checking. Watching. He trusted them to take over when he needed a break.
He needed one now. When had he last eaten? When had he last taken Nina’s hands in his and looked into her eyes and assured himself that she was absolutely fine?
A few days ago. After the medical team had escorted her back to the palace with stitches in her hand and a brave, worried smile on her face. His entire body had been tense, tight, singing with the need to be with her—but when he’d finally seen her, he’d almost crumpled under a sweep of fear. I should have been there. He didn’t blame her. The security team had borne the brunt of his wrath. They weren’t supposed to completely surround her inside the gallery. They were supposed to keep her in sight.
Matek shook his head. There was no point in going over this again. He turned to Korian, his second-in-command. “I’m off for the night. If anything, and I mean anything—”
“Understood.” Korian sat down in the control room’s command seat and faced the screens. Matek nodded to the rest of the room and left.
He wanted to be with Nina now as much as he had when the call had come in from the team he’d sent to the gallery. His skin was hypersensitive to his desire for her touch. His own clothes lay strangely on his body. He needed to strip them off and get into bed with Nina—reset everything. He could make up for lost time.
He turned the final corner to his rooms. Something’s wrong.
The guards were still there, but a strange energy filled the space.
“What—” He stopped asking as soon as he started. Was that the scent of popcorn? The laughter hit him a moment later. Bright, happy laughter. He brushed past the guards and opened the door, his stealth mode kicking in automatically—he couldn’t have said why. A wheeled tray from the kitchens with several covered dishes on top had been parked along the wall of the foyer. In the living room, his sister sat with Nina, a bowl of popcorn between them, the two of them in stitches. They were watching a movie—from the sound of it, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, one of Matek’s guilty pleasures. Something silly and American and fun to watch with a bowl of popcorn.
The scene took him back to when he and Devra had been teenagers. They’d done just this more times than he could count. Popcorn and a movie. Laughter.
It drew him into the room, and he shut the door behind him. The women looked up at the sound.
“Matek,” Devra said. “Come in. Watch the movie with us.”
It had been years since she’d said anything to him so easily. The sofa called to him. He sat down next to Nina, and she handed him the bowl of popcorn. Even in a knit tunic and lounge pants—the Damarah version of sweats—she was a sight for his gritty, sore eyes. Her messy bun made his fingers itch to pull out the elastic and spread her hair over her shoulders. A snort from Devra broke his reverie.
“Men,” said Nina.
“So typical,” answered Devra. “She should be running the show.”
“Shouldn’t we all?”
The easy give and take between them brought Matek up short. Something on the screen made them laugh, and—what had happened?
“What do you think about the bed?” Nina wasn’t asking Matek. She was asking Devra. “Do you think I should extend the theme out here as well?”
“It could be nice,” said Devra. “Maybe bring in an accent color? Too much white is—”
“I know.”
They were close. Of course he knew that Nina had been visiting with the other women, but they sounded like friends. Devra had come to see Nina. Devra had made her laugh. Devra had thought to order popcorn and put on a movie.
Did Nina even need him?
“If you’re going to be locked up in here, you should choose,” said Devra, and he met her eyes over the top of Nina’s head. “Is that your plan for the future, Matek? Keep Nina behind closed doors like a princess in a tower?” Her tone was light, but he could tell from the sharpness of her eyes that his sister was pissed.
“She’s not locked up. The doors have been open all this time.”
“Please. She’s as good as locked up. What are you, one of those romance novel sheikhs who kidnaps his lover and keeps her shut away from the world?”
“Devra—” Nina watched them both with a laser focus, as if the conversation were the most high-stakes tennis match she’d ever seen. As if life depended on it.
“I’m only asking my brother a question.”
Anger reached a rolling boil in the darkest pit of him. “It’s called being concerned for her safety and well-being. Something severely lacking around this palace.”
“You’re not the only one who wants your loved ones to be safe.” Devra speared him with her gaze.
“I am the only one who does anything about it,” Matek fired back. “The state of this place when I came back was abhorrent. Now it’s marginally acceptable. I think the words you’re looking for are thank you, by the way. You have no idea how vulnerable you were before.”
A chill descended over the room, deep and frigid, as if they’d teleported to Antarctica.
“We had an idea,” Devra said softly. She got up. “I’ll be going. Thank you for watching the film with me, Nina. It was a pleasure. I hope you’ll be back with us soon.”
She swept from the room, letting the guards close the door behind her.
Nina stared at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. The silence between them was so thick it was almost visible. Mr. and Mrs. Smith played on, the gunfire seeming especially loud.
Matek cleared his throat. “Do you want to finish the movie?”
Nina met his eyes, but instead of the anger he expected, he only saw two deep wells of sadness. “I don’t think so. I’m going to bed.”
12
“Are you sure you want to be here?” Nina looked up at Matek from where she sat on the table in the doctor’s office, her legs covered in a sheet that felt…expensive.
Matek put his phone in his pocket. “Of course I want to be here.”
She studied his face. He wore a neutral expression that she bet was a highly practiced one. “Are you still angry about what Devra said?”
He looked away. “I’m not angry about what Devra said. I—” Matek shook his head. “She doesn’t understand my point of view.”
“Come here.” Nina beckoned Matek closer. He stood next to the bed, and she took his hand, twining her fingers tightly around his. “You could tell me what your point of view is, you know. We’ve got a few minutes before the doctor comes in.”
A smile broke through his serious expression. “You don’t want to hear it.”
“I do. That’s why I’m asking you.” She tugged on his hand, heart aching. Nina wanted nothing to do with this distance between them. But how was she going to get Matek to meet her on the bridge? “You don’t think she’s grateful to you?”
“I don’t expect any of my family to be particularly grateful.” Matek flicked his eyes ruefully toward the ceiling. “They wanted me to be the best at what I do, and now I am. Now they want me to set aside all that training and—I don’t know. Act like my childhood was anything like what my siblings experienced.”
Nina swallowed hard, excitement humming through her. He’d never said so much to her about his childhood before. “How was it different?”
“Do I really have to tell you?” Sadness crept in at the corners of his eyes. “You know what it’s like to be kept at a distance. And now—”
A brisk knock sounded at the door, and the doctor swept in a moment later. “Nina, I’d like to do a quick ultrasound today.” She frowned at the clipboard in her hands. “Based on your levels, I think we might have your dates slightly off.”
“Is that…is that okay?” Nina squeezed Matek’s hand. “Does it affect anything as far as the baby’s health?”
The doctor
gave her a compassionate smile. “No, it shouldn’t. But I’d like to get the most accurate due date.” She flicked switches on the wall, darkening the room, and an assistant came in to move the ultrasound machine into place. Nina lay back on the table. The doctor added jelly to the end of the ultrasound wand and pressed it to Nina’s belly.
Matek gripped her hand hard as the image came into view. There it was—their baby. There on the screen, kicking away. Even at such a young age, the baby looked active, its arms waving and feet pedaling. Nina glanced away from the screen and stole a look at Matek. His eyes shone in the dim light, face shadowed by the white and black on the ultrasound screen. The doctor clicked at a button on the machine, taking measurements. “Good,” she said, over and over. “Good.”
After a few minutes, the scan was over, and she bustled out. Matek stayed, holding her hand.
“I have to protect you,” he said simply, bringing her hand up to kiss her knuckles.
“You’ve been protecting me.”
But she could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn’t quite believe her.
“Matek, I’ve been perfectly safe in the palace.”
“Didn’t you see that baby on the ultrasound?” He looked deeply into her eyes. “We can’t take any chances. I can’t take any chances. I won’t take any chances. Not with you and the baby.”
13
Matek disappeared for seven agonizing days. Most days, Nina couldn’t tell if it was the morning sickness or the awkwardness between them that made her so nauseated. They’d walked out of the doctor’s office a united front, but by the time they arrived back at the palace, it was like they’d just finished arguing on movie night. And then…she’d found herself closed into his suite again. Surrounded by guards. Protected. But also abandoned.
She’d expected the morning sickness to be the tough part about being pregnant, but it was nothing compared to being pregnant in a new country with a fiancé so consumed with work he couldn’t be bothered with her. She wanted to have the argument about banning the palace from talking to her, but Matek simply wasn’t available.
She dragged herself out of another dreamless sleep to find the other half of the bed empty, as usual. Matek had been going to work early and coming back late, in preparation for the party. She half suspected that he didn’t really need to work all those hours, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t stay awake long enough to catch him on his way back in.
Nina stretched and got out of the bed.
She didn’t feel terrible.
That was different.
Usually, the nausea set in as soon as she started moving, but...so far so good. And the sleep that normally clung to her eyes and pressed down on her wasn’t nearly as powerful this morning.
Energy. This was energy. What was happening?
Her phone buzzed on the bedside table—a notification. The new pregnancy app she’d downloaded had some helpful information. “YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER YOUR SECOND TRIMESTER.”
Right. Right. The visit to the OB-GYN had confirmed that she was a little further along than she’d thought, by a week or two. No wonder she’d started to feel so differently about Matek before the end of his contract. Something deep down, on a cellular level, knew they had unfinished business.
Now that she thought of it, she’d been feeling increasingly better every day for a little while now. And as soon as the realization hit, the need to move smacked into her at a hundred miles an hour.
Working out. She hadn’t been working out, and that was probably why she was so tired. Nina always worked out. In Hamari, she’d gotten up early or sneaked away late to work out, and what had she done in Damarah? Nothing but half decorate Matek’s apartments and make friends. It wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t a lot of physical activity.
She threw on the first athletic clothes she found in the closet and marched outside to the guards. They jumped when she opened the door, and she relished the surprise on the first one’s face. Nina summoned all her Devra energy and lifted her chin. “I’m going out.”
“Ms. Frank—”
“I need to get some exercise. Where is the gym?” The palace had to have a gym, even if Matek hadn’t bothered to show it to her.
“I’m not sure if—” The guard reached for his phone.
“Don’t make any calls,” Nina said, stopping him mid-movement. “Just direct me to the gym.”
The other guard sauntered over, keeping things very casual. “Perhaps you should check with Sheikh Matek first.”
“I don’t need to check with him to exercise.”
“But if you wanted to,” the first guard said, “he’d probably appreciate knowing about it before he rides out.”
“Rides out?” So he wasn’t spending all his time working, then. “Is he at the stables?” The two guards shared a look, which was confirmation enough. “You know what? I’ve got it from here.” She gave the guards a wide smile and moved down the hall. “Don’t follow me,” she called after.
She found the stables with no trouble, and Matek shortly after. He had his horse on a lead rope and was standing in the middle of a sunbeam. His fitted riding clothes gliding over his lean, muscled body took Nina’s breath away. One look at his focused expression and the sunlight in his dark hair had her heart beating hard with a combination of jealousy and anger and longing. She’d had riding lessons as a girl and had galloped across green fields. That’s how it felt to look at Matek.
He must’ve felt her looking because he turned toward her, the sharp line of his jaw cutting through the air. “Nina?” He dropped the lead rope. “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Her skin hummed with the memory of every time he’d touched her, all that heat coming back in a flash that exploded and lingered. “I wanted to get a little exercise, but your guards didn’t think I should go without getting permission.” Nina forced herself to meet Matek’s eyes, even though they were like dark magnets—pulling her in, even when she wanted to stand firm. “I told them that was ridiculous, but now that I’ve thought of it, maybe it’ll be best if I stay with you. Do you have another horse I could ride?”
Matek blinked. “There are plenty of horses. You’re not riding any of them.”
“Oh, no?” Nina crossed her arms and jutted out a hip. She hadn’t been this petulant in years. At least a decade. “You’re the final arbiter on that decision, then?”
He looked her in the eye, the cousin of a smile playing across his lips. She wished he’d just smile, so the cold thing between them could shatter into a million pieces, but the grin dipped back below the surface. “We’re in my stables. And I’m not letting you on a horse while you’re pregnant.”
He was right, and Nina knew it. She opened her mouth to concede the tiff. Maybe conceding would get his attention, and then everything could go back to the way it had been before the gallery opening. First she would admit that this anger bubbling inside her wasn’t really about riding horses, it was about being heard, being trusted with her own body, and if he’d listen—
“Head back to the palace,” Matek said before she had a chance. “We can discuss this when I’m finished here.”
For the first time in her life, Nina had no words. What the hell was he thinking? She wanted to rage at him, but her mind was totally blank. She stood there while Matek led the horse toward the opposite end of the stable.
“We will not,” she muttered, her mouth finally coming back online. “I’m not going to discuss this with you. I’m taking back control of my life.”
Did he pause before he rounded the corner? She couldn’t decide.
“Ms. Frank?” The lead security guard from outside Matek’s rooms—a man named Muneer—spoke behind her. He’d changed his clothes. Instead of his black pants, he wore athletic shorts. “Did you find Sheikh Matek?”
“Of course I did.” All her feelings had bubbled into a seething mess, and if she didn’t get them out now, she’d explode. “I’m going for a run.
”
Muneer gave her an even look. “I can’t let you go alone,” he said, “but the team can give you a little space.”
“Wait.” The voice cut cross the stable yard, clear and strong. Matek jogged into a view a moment later, wearing riding pants, a tank top, and a pair of sneakers that looked like he might have found them in a corner of the stable. His jaw was set. “If you’re insisting on this, I’m going with you.”
“Good.” She pushed aside her surprise. “Let’s go.”
* * *
From the hills, they could look down on the palace walls, the forest that cut through the royal grounds, and part of the capital city. They’d run up into the hills, Nina pushing the pace. He felt the same rush he got from riding hard over the ground. But if he was honest, it wasn’t the run that had his heart racing. It was Nina in those workout clothes, determination flashing in her eyes.
She’d almost drawn him in, back there at her appointment. Matek wasn’t sure if he could afford that. To have his heart pulled in two different directions, to always be letting one thing down...
It wasn’t a decision he was prepared to make.
“You should slow down.”
Nina cut a glance at him. “No. If you need to go slower, then you slow down.”
He laughed out loud, the release feeling good. “I want you and the baby—”
“The baby and I are fine.” Nina put on a burst of speed.
It struck him as too fast, too much. “Nina, slow down.” The doctor’s words at the last appointment flew through his mind. What had she said about vigorous exercise? It was all right, but only for short periods.
Nina darted into the trees, running far faster than he’d thought she could. His heart leapt into his throat, screaming Danger! Danger! Danger! What was she doing?
The Sheikh’s Pregnant Nanny: Sheikhs of Hamari Book Three Page 8
