by Holly Rayner
And he would have fallen for it!
Ahmad didn’t know when he’d been so angry in all his life. First Uncle Hakim’s will, and now this. It felt as though the world was conspiring against him.
Furious, he pushed past the doctor and stormed into the exam room.
Joanna had clearly just finished getting dressed. She looked up in surprise, pulling down the hem of her shirt.
“Ahmad,” she said. “I thought you were going to wait outside.”
“Who do you think you are?” he demanded.
“Excuse me?” Her eyes narrowed.
“The doctor’s just told me your little secret,” Ahmad said. “I guess you think you’re pretty clever, don’t you? How long did you think you would be able to get away with it? How long did you think it would be before someone found out?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. “And I don’t know why you’re yelling at me, either.”
“Did you think we were idiots?” he asked. “Is that it? American arrogance, thinking everyone else in the world is a fool? You must have thought my doctor would have no idea how to conduct an examination.”
“Ahmad, I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “The doctor did a perfectly professional job.”
Her eyes flicked over his shoulder, and Ahmad turned to see that the doctor was standing in the doorway.
“Excuse us,” he said, turning and chivvying the man out of the room.
He closed the door behind him and turned back to Joanna.
She had gone wide-eyed, and he saw, suddenly, that she was nervous.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“We need to talk,” he said. “Privately. I want to know why you tried to con me, and I want to know what made you think you were going to get away with it.”
“Con you? I didn’t try to con you.”
“You’re infertile,” he snapped. “The doctor just told me. You won’t be able to get pregnant. You and I will never have a baby. So why would you agree to my terms?”
Her face went pale.
“You hoped to take the money,” he said. “That’s it, isn’t it? You hoped I would pay you the fee I offered, and you would never have to deliver on your end of the bargain. You misled me. You lied to me. And you did it to get your hands on my money.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“Well?” he said.
“How dare you?” she whispered.
“How dare I?” She was the one who had lied!
“How dare that doctor?” she asked, hugging herself tightly. “This was a medical examination. That information was private. How could he rush right out and tell you as if I wasn’t even here, as if I didn’t even matter?”
“He told me because I’m his sovereign,” Ahmad said. “He owes his loyalty to me. You’re just an American girl who’s here to defraud the crown. You’re lucky I’m not on the phone to the police right now.”
“You’re not going to call the police,” she snapped, some of the fire coming back into her eyes now. “What would you tell them? That you were going to pay me to have the next royal baby so that you could inherit your uncle’s estate? You don’t want that story in the papers.”
She was right, and he hated it.
“How could you lie to me?” he asked. “How could you think I wouldn’t find out?”
“You had no right to the results of my exam,” she shot back. “I don’t care if you’re a sheikh or not. If I had known it was going to be like that, I would never have entered into this agreement in the first place.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” he said. “You wouldn’t have been able to trick me, and you would have known it.”
“I never set out to trick you,” she snapped. “Call me crazy, but I thought the doctor examining me would discuss the exam results with me before he took them to anyone else. If he had, I would have been able to explain what he found.”
“Explain? You can’t explain it. You made a deal to carry my child, and you’re infertile. What possible explanation can there be?”
“I am not infertile,” she said. “I have a few more months. Yes, my reproductive system is compromised, but I had every intention of being honest with you about that if given the chance. I assumed we would all talk after the exam.”
She shook her head.
“I see now that you’re such a suspicious man that you went into this expecting to be tricked. All I can say is, good luck to the next girl who tries to give you what you want.”
She snatched up her purse and started for the door.
Ahmad blocked her way.
“Move,” she snapped.
“Just wait,” he said. “Please. Just… just wait a minute. Let me understand.”
“One minute.”
“So, you did enter this agreement in good faith?” he said. “You did want to try to conceive?”
“Why the hell would I put us both through all this if I wasn’t sincere about it?” she asked. “And besides, if your doctor really is any good, like you claim he is, he should be able to tell you that I’m able to conceive. I have about five and a half months of fertility left in me.”
“That’s what made you want to do this,” he realized. “You’re running out of time.”
“So what?” she said. “Don’t tell me that makes you feel tricked, too. That has nothing to do with you. That’s my issue.”
“No,” he said quietly.
He was ashamed of his outburst now. He had jumped to so many conclusions and assumed the worst of a woman he should have been supporting.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Please forgive me. I’m sorry.”
She nodded and looked down at the floor.
“What happened to you?” he asked. “Why won’t you be able to have a child after six months?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I got sick,” she said. “A rare tropical disease, from traveling for work. I always assumed I would have more time.”
He hesitated. They were practically strangers, after all.
But they were about to share one of the most intimate things two people could share. If all went well, they were going to become co-parents.
So, he held out his arms to her, and after a moment, she stepped into them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I should have told you everything sooner. I don’t know.”
He rubbed her back, feeling the warmth of her body against his, surprised by how nice it felt to hold her.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Let’s start fresh, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed, stepping back and looking up into his eyes.
He reached out gingerly and swiped away a tear, and she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes.
She’s so beautiful.
Her breath was soft against his hand, and he realized suddenly that he was staring at the soft curve of her lips, wondering what it would be like to taste them.
And she had had her eyes closed for a long time.
He ran his hand down the side of her face and to her neck, gently, carefully, testing the waters.
She leaned forward, her lips parting slightly.
Inviting.
He allowed the hand that was on her back to drop lower.
She inhaled sharply.
“Maybe we should go back to my place for a while,” he said. “Get… get you settled in.”
Her eyes opened, and Ahmad saw that her pupils were wide. She stared at him as if he was something she had never seen before.
“Yes, please,” she whispered.
He took her hand, feeling young and wild and lustful. It didn’t matter, all of a sudden, what the doctor had said. It didn’t matter that Joanna’s body was letting her down. It didn’t matter that the two of them were business partners and that they had agreed to keep everything professional.
All that mattered was that Joanna Perkins had been crying, and with just a few touches, Ahmad had been
able to make her look like this.
He wondered what he could do with more time to explore her.
He intended to find out.
Chapter 9
Joanna
It took a moment, after she had awoken, for Joanna to remember where she was and what had transpired.
Then, she sat up with a start.
She was in the biggest room she had ever seen in someone’s private residence in her life. She hadn’t noticed last night that this room was two stories tall, that the double-wide couch on which she now lay was in a sunken area in the middle of the room, or that one entire wall was made of glass and looked out on the ocean beyond.
Ahmad’s beach house.
And there he was, still asleep beside her, one arm covering his handsome face, otherwise completely exposed.
She looked down and saw that she was naked, too.
Oh, God.
How had she let this happen? They had promised each other they would keep things professional, and then they had immediately gone and spent the night together like a couple of teenagers.
Joanna was ashamed of herself. How irresponsible could she be?
She slipped off the couch carefully, not wanting to wake Ahmad, and made her way over to the clothes strewn about on the floor. It took a few minutes to sort them out and find her own things. Once she had gathered them, she scampered out of the room and found a bathroom to freshen up in.
She looked in the mirror over the sink as she pulled on yesterday’s pants.
I look like a complete disaster, she thought, pulling her fingers through her hair and trying to tame it down.
She couldn’t believe she had done this.
Yesterday, after the visit with the royal doctor, she had been so upset. It was as if all the feelings she had been suppressing about her fertility struggles had suddenly descended on her. It wasn’t uncommon for Joanna to only truly process her emotions about a problem after it was solved, but she would have been better off if she had at least been on her own when the tears had finally come.
It had just felt so good to let him hold her. So warm and comforting.
And he was going to be the father of her child, after all. Shouldn’t she be able to accept comfort from him? He would practically be family.
Yes, okay. But I should be able to take comfort from him without taking my clothes off.
Exasperated, she ran her hands under the water, lathered them up, and scrubbed yesterday’s makeup off her face. She felt exhausted. She hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before, and now she just wanted to get out of here and go back to her hotel and sleep for the rest of the day.
There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Joanna?”
Ahmad.
She was going to have to face him, sooner or later. She opened the door and stepped out.
He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were glued to the floor.
“Did you, er, find everything you needed in there?”
“Yes, thanks.”
She was glad he wasn’t making eye contact, truth be told. She would have found it difficult to look him in the eye right now, too. What fools they’d been!
He nodded. “There’s food in the kitchen, if you’d like some breakfast.”
She could see that he felt just as awkward and uncomfortable as she did. She decided to give them both a break.
“This was a mistake,” she said. “We shouldn’t have let it happen.”
She saw the relief that washed over his face.
“I feel the same way,” he said. “We were supposed to keep things professional.”
“Not that it wasn’t enjoyable—” she said.
“No, not at all. I had a very… nice time.”
His face was red, and Joanna was sure that hers was, too. What had happened last night had gone far beyond a nice time. It had been one of the most wonderful experiences of her life. If this had been a date instead of a business arrangement, she would have been calling to cancel all her plans today so that she could stay in with him.
But they had to get themselves together. They couldn’t afford to take the risk of getting their hearts involved. Not when there was a child to think about.
“Perhaps it’s best if we spend some time apart,” Ahmad said. “I had planned to accompany you as you got to know Al-Yara and Sepha a little better, but it might not be a good idea for me to do so.”
Joanna nodded in agreement. She knew she would feel awkward around him. And she would probably have trouble keeping her hands off of him, as well. Already, she was itching to grab his arms, to wrap her legs around his waist, to pull his mouth down to hers…
No, it was much better for them to take some time apart.
“The IVF procedure will be scheduled for about a week from now,” Ahmad said. “I’ll get an exact date from the doctor and let you know.”
“So, you do still want to go forward?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. “I apologize again for my reaction yesterday. I should have waited to hear what you had to say about it before I decided that I was being tricked. You haven’t given any indication that you’re an underhanded person.”
“And maybe I should have told you about my condition before we got started,” Joanna said. “It’s all pretty new to me. And this is a pretty unusual situation.”
“Well, regardless,” Ahmad said. “I think we should proceed, as long as you’re still willing.”
She nodded. “I am.
“Then I’ll contact you, and we’ll arrange the procedure,” he said. “And in the meantime, I’ll send you a list of places in Sepha I was going to show you. Not that you have to stick to my list, of course, but it might serve you well as you look for a way to spend these next few days.”
“I’d appreciate that,” she said. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “I’m calling a car to take you back to your hotel,” he said. “Do you need anything else from me at the moment?”
“No, not right now,” she said. “I’ll get in touch if anything comes up.”
“And you can expect to hear from me soon,” he said.
Joanna hesitated. It didn’t feel like their farewell was complete. But she didn’t know what else to say to him, and after a while, she turned and walked outside to the street to meet the car he had called for her.
The drive back to her hotel was awkward. Joanna felt sure the car’s driver could guess what had transpired between Ahmad and herself. However, he remained professional and didn’t say anything to her.
She thanked him as she left the car, entered the hotel, and went straight to her room. As soon as the door was closed behind her, she shed her clothes, went to the bathroom, and turned on the shower.
I can’t believe we actually slept together.
It wasn’t like her at all to just fall into bed with a man she hardly knew. She had let her emotions get the best of her, she supposed—it had felt so comforting to let herself forget the fact that she had been sick. It had been so reassuring to realize that a man could still want her even though her body was failing her.
He knew I would be infertile soon, and he still found me desirable.
So, maybe there was hope for her. Maybe she could still manage to attain everything she wanted in life. She would have this baby, and someday in the future, perhaps she would meet a man, and they would have a little family.
It was worth hoping for.
She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her torso and another one around her hair. Glancing down at her phone, she saw that she had received a text message from Ahmad:
Procedure scheduled for Friday at 1:45 PM. Emailing you a list of sights in Sepha.
In a way, Joanna was glad that Ahmad so clearly felt just as uncomfortable with what had happened between them as she did. It would have been difficult in the extreme if she had been the only one bothered by it, if he had expected her to go on as if things were normal.
Still, standing here alone in her bathroom, she c
ould admit to herself that she was disappointed in the way things had gone. She had enjoyed his company during the days they’d spent together, and she had been hoping to use this time to get to know him better. He was right that the awkwardness between them would fade, given time. But exploring the city by herself wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.
Even now, thinking of Ahmad was far more exciting than thinking of tourist attractions in Sepha.
But he’s royalty, she reminded herself. He has to be a lot more mindful than I do about these things. If we’re seen together in public, there are bound to be rumors, and now that there’s a scrap of truth to what people would say… best to keep it under wraps for now.
She pulled on a dress, wrapped the towel more tightly around her hair, and went to the bed, where her laptop sat waiting. She opened it up and checked her email. Sure enough, there was a new message from Ahmad.
Joanna,
Again, thank you for last night. While it was ill-advised, in a way I wish it hadn’t been, because in many ways that was exactly what I needed. I think, given time and a little perspective, we’ll both be able to consign it to the past and think of it as one of the many things you and I will share in our lives as we embark on this new adventure.
There are plenty of sights to see in Sepha. I recommend you try eating at the restaurants I’ve listed below—some of my favorites—and that you visit our Museum of History and the National Library. Feel free to use my name at any of these places. I’ve called ahead and told them to be on the lookout for an American woman, and to give her the royal treatment.
I look forward to seeing you again on Friday, and to everything that comes next.
Cordially,
Ahmad
Her finger hovered over the delete button for a moment, and then she changed her mind and marked the email with a star.
Maybe it was because it was a letter from a sheikh, or maybe it was because this was the start of a new life for Joanna. She was about to be a mother, after all. But whatever the reason, she felt like saving every communication. She started a new folder in her email box called Ahmad, and she moved her sent message agreeing to his proposition and now this new email into it.
