The Sheikh's Shock Child

by Susan Stephens

  She kept hearing her mother’s last words ringing in her head. ‘Get her out of here! You’re nothing but a little killjoy. You always spoil my fun!’

  Her mother had been a victim and Millie was anything but, she reasoned, and she had to be strong for both of them. But that wasn’t easy when her feelings were in turmoil, and the past kept rolling over her like a storm that threatened to engulf her in grief and guilt. The Sheikh had the knack of putting everyone at ease, she noticed. She also couldn’t help noticing that he looked amazing. He had no need of royal robes to point up his blistering masculinity. Dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, he was every fantasy hero made real. Tall, tanned, hard-muscled and obviously super-fit, he radiated undeniably compelling sex appeal.

  The biggest shock of all came when she bumped into her friend Lucy. It was a double shock to identify Lucy’s stunningly good-looking companion.

  ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’ Lucy exclaimed as they hugged.

  ‘You’re on a date with the Emir?’ Millie whispered back.

  ‘Don’t sound so alarmed. We met dockside. He’s a man, I’m a woman. What’s wrong with that?’ Everything and nothing, Millie thought as Lucy added, ‘How are you and the Sheikh getting on?’

  ‘There is no me and the Sheikh. I already told you, I’m here to make up the numbers and nothing more.’

  As if sensing their interest in him, Khalid, who was some distance away, turned to look at Millie and frowned. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was surprised to see her at the party. Was she supposed to go home until the hour was up and then come back? He’d invited her, and she’d rather be here, dicing with danger, than fretting about all the questions she wanted to ask him, back at home.

  ‘He shouldn’t be allowed to wear robes—’

  ‘Sorry?’ She glanced at Lucy, who had been having a one-sided conversation, Millie realised now.

  ‘The robes?’ Lucy pressed. ‘They hide his body. Sheikh Khalid owes it to the world to only ever wear snug-fitting clothes, like the ones he’s wearing now.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Millie said vaguely.

  ‘You’re not listening, are you?’ Lucy teased. ‘What’s a nice girl doing staring at the Sheikh?’

  ‘I’m not staring at the Sheikh,’ Millie defended. ‘It’s what’s inside the package,’ she murmured distractedly.

  ‘Depends on the package,’ Lucy put in. ‘Personally, I can’t wait to unwrap Tadj.’

  They said laughing goodbyes, and as Lucy walked off Millie reassured herself that they could both look after themselves, even in the company of these devastating-looking men.

  ‘Are you ready to talk now?’

  She almost jumped out of her skin, hearing Khalid’s voice so close behind her.

  She could handle this.

  ‘Has an hour passed already?’ she asked lamely as his heat invaded every inch of her body.

  ‘I thought you would have been eating by now.’

  ‘But...’ She looked at the dining table and frowned. His guests were only just sitting down. ‘The canapés did look delicious,’ she admitted, thinking he must mean the trays of bite-sized appetisers the stewards had been handing round, ‘but I didn’t want to spoil my dinner.’

  ‘Quite right,’ he said, but now it was the Sheikh’s turn to frown.

  What was going on? He’d invited her to supper.

  Leading the way through his guests, he greeted everyone who wanted to speak to him. He even introduced Millie as an old friend. An old friend? she thought as they mounted the companionway to a higher deck.

  ‘It’s a beautiful night,’ he remarked as he paused at the top.

  It was. The rain had cleared, and it was crisp and clear with stars glittering overhead. A magical night, Millie thought.

  And on just such a night, her mother had drowned in this same marina.

  ‘I want to show you something,’ he said, distracting her before that thought had a chance to take hold. A dart of apprehension still struck her hard. Maybe it was his tone of voice. Following him to the stern, she followed his stare and frowned. ‘A lifeboat?’ she queried.

  ‘This is the last place I saw your mother alive.’

  Millie’s fingers tightened on the cold, steel rail. She must compose herself, and must do so fast, or lose any hope she had of getting to the bottom of this.

  ‘Are you okay?’ the Sheikh asked.

  ‘Yes,’ she managed in a clipped tone. She didn’t trust herself to say anything more. ‘What was my mother doing here in a lifeboat?’

  ‘Sleeping,’ he said.

  Sleeping it off, Millie thought, but she was glad he hadn’t said that. It hurt to hear her mother criticised, even now. Her mother deserved respect, though she’d had none for herself.

  ‘You let her sleep?’ she said, trying to get a picture of what had happened that night.

  ‘But with a guard watching over her,’ he said.

  ‘What happened next? What went wrong?’ she pressed. ‘You said she slipped away. Didn’t anyone miss her? What about your brother? Wasn’t he expecting my mother to sing for his guests?’

  ‘My brother—’

  ‘Your brother what?’ she cut in impatiently, unable to hold back as her emotions surged out of control.

  ‘I can’t answer for my brother’s whereabouts at each precise moment during that night.’

  ‘You must have some idea,’ she insisted. ‘And if you can’t tell me, I don’t know why I’m here—’

  The shock when he seized hold of her arm, as she was about to walk off, flashed through her like a lightning bolt. ‘Let go of me!’ Wrenching her arm out of his grip almost threw her off balance, and she had to hold onto the rail with both hands to steady herself. It felt cold and as unyielding as he was. How he had to be, she thought. He’d had to handle the authorities at the time, and give his lawyers a story they could run with. He was hardly going to tell her another story now.

  But still she wondered... Did my mother touch this rail? Did she cling to it and try to save her life?

  ‘Did she fall here?’ she asked at last. She turned to face him, her grim expression demanding the truth.

  ‘Your mother had had too much to drink. I was surprised she was even capable of moving.’

  ‘Something must have prompted her to climb out of the lifeboat.’ Millie shook her head. ‘It had to be something so urgent she found the strength.’ She glanced over the rail, and her head swam as her imagination supplied the detail: the scream, the splash, the struggle, and finally silence.

  ‘No.’

  She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she barely heard the single word, and only slowly turned to face the Sheikh. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me,’ she said.

  ‘This has been a shock for you.’

  ‘That’s no answer,’ she said tensely.

  Happy sounds from the party rose all around them, mocking her state of mind. This was bizarre, tense and horrible. Learning details about that night, while she was battling feelings she shouldn’t even have for this man, left her swamped in sadness and tortured by guilt. She couldn’t stop thinking that if only she’d been older and more authoritative at the time of her mother’s death, maybe she could have saved her.

  ‘My brother could always find women to entertain him,’ Sheikh Khalid was saying. ‘It’s not surprising that he lost interest in your mother’s whereabouts.’

  ‘As you did,’ she flared.

  ‘I put guards on watch,’ he reminded her.

  ‘They couldn’t have been much good,’ she observed acidly.

  ‘Your mother asked to use the facilities, and of course they let her go.’

  ‘In a drunken state on board a yacht without following her?’ Millie exclaimed. ‘That sounds like gross dereliction of duty to me.’

  ‘You weren’t there,’
the Sheikh interrupted. ‘Therefore, you’re in no position to pass judgement on my staff. I’m satisfied they did all they could.’

  ‘How can you say that?’ Millie demanded hotly. ‘I’ve been followed every step of the way since I boarded the Sapphire, yet you’re asking me to believe my mother could wander at will.’

  ‘As I’ve tried to explain, times were different, and there were no witnesses.’

  ‘But someone must have seen something,’ she insisted.

  Ignoring her interruption, the Sheikh continued. ‘I was clearing the grand salon at the time of your mother’s disappearance. Saif had tried to have me thrown off the Sapphire, but his guards had refused to do this. They supported me rather than my brother, though even with their help it still took time for all the guests to leave. As soon as I was free, I went to look for your mother. I wondered at first if she’d returned to my brother, but his attendants hadn’t seen her. I can only conclude she slipped away with the rest of the guests leaving the ship.’

  ‘So, you’re saying your brother had nothing to do with my mother’s death.’

  ‘That’s what I told the authorities.’

  That’s no answer, she thought. ‘I can see it would be convenient for you to hear nothing and see nothing.’

  ‘Have you finished?’ he asked coldly.

  ‘Why? Are you going to have me drummed off the ship?’

  ‘No part of this tragedy could ever be described as convenient,’ the Sheikh assured her.

  ‘For your brother, then,’ Millie said.

  ‘My brother’s dead.’

  ‘And does that absolve him from blame? If you’re saying he deserves respect, simply because he’s no longer with us, then so does my mother. And you might as well know, I intend to clear her name—’

  ‘That’s as it should be,’ he said.

  ‘What’s the point in talking further?’ Millie asked. ‘You’re not going to tell me anything.’

  ‘You’re leaving?’

  She’d thought about it. ‘No,’ she said, ‘not unless you have me thrown off. Eight years ago my mother had no one to protect her, but now she does, and I’m not a biddable teenager who’ll go home when she’s told.’

  ‘You have always defended her,’ he said with the closest to admiration he’d come yet.

  ‘I trusted you,’ she said quietly. Lose her temper lose the battle, Miss Francine had always said, and the Sapphire provided valuable business for the laundry. Millie must manage her quest for justice and look at the bigger picture.

  They stared at each other unblinking for a few moments, which was as troubling as it was a sign of Millie’s intent. Her determination to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her mother’s death had crossed her path with that of a man whose potent persona was wreaking havoc on her control. There was no such thing as a meaningless glance where the Sheikh was concerned. He could convey more in a look than any book of words, and his dark eyes suggested an agreement of a very different kind, one that had no connection with the past, and everything to do with the here and now.

  CHAPTER SIX

  MILLIE WAS RIDICULOUSLY appealing and passions were high. Drawing her close, Khalid looped an arm around her waist and tipped up her chin until their mouths were only a hair’s breadth apart.

  ‘Don’t you dare touch me,’ she flared.

  Her struggles only brought them closer. This first, real physical contact between them was an incendiary device to his senses. His greedy flesh was aroused to the point of agony. She rested, panting, for a moment, blazing her defiance into his eyes. A lithe young flame to his dark, smouldering passion, she was as much a slave as he to primitive forces that made her eyes shoot sparks of fury at him, even as they darkened.

  ‘You’re to blame for all of this!’ she raged. Reaching up, she seized hold of his shoulders, which only brought them closer together.

  He held her at arm’s length. ‘I think you’re overwrought.’

  Savouring her fresh, clean scent while she vibrated with awareness beneath his hands, he thought, Not yet. She was all eagerness, and ready to channel her anger into a different sort of passion, but he favoured trial by frustration. Pleasure delayed was pleasure enhanced. She deserved nothing less.

  He was actually considering seducing her?

  Yes. It seemed inevitable, though his family had destroyed hers, and he had no doubt that coming back to the Sapphire and reliving that night had made her hate him. But hate was a strange and adaptable emotion. His desire to protect her was as strong as ever, but the desire to make love to her was even stronger, Millie’s passion could change into something very different. Gently, but firmly, he removed her hands from his body and stepped back. He could not have predicted her reaction.

  ‘Don’t,’ he rapped as she covered her face with her hands. ‘You have nothing to feel guilty about.’

  ‘Don’t I?’ she said bitterly, raising her chin. ‘Not even when those feelings involve you?’

  She shocked him with words that sounded wrenched from her soul. Her frankness had always been Millie’s greatest appeal, he reminded himself as he observed, ‘This has been an ordeal. You should go home now and rest. We’ll speak on another occasion.’

  ‘And if the Sapphire leaves?’ she said, her eyes glaring into his.

  ‘Go home, Millie.’

  ‘Why should I make it easy for you?’

  ‘Go home,’ he repeated. ‘I’ll have one of my guards accompany you.’

  She laughed at this. ‘To make sure I’m safe?’ she said. ‘I think we can assume I know my own way home, and there’s no need for you to have me escorted off the Sapphire.’

  Her face was pale and defiant as they confronted each other. ‘You’re not being removed from the ship,’ he stated evenly. ‘It’s dark, and I’m concerned about you. It can be dangerous on the dock.’

  ‘As my mother discovered,’ she agreed tensely.

  ‘You will accept my guard,’ he instructed quietly. ‘He’ll be discreet, and I won’t argue about this. I insist.’

  Her mouth flattened stubbornly, but she could see the sense in what he said, and eventually she grudgingly nodded her head. ‘So, when will we talk?’ she pressed. ‘Or have you changed your mind about that.’

  ‘I haven’t changed my mind,’ he said as he waved a guard over. ‘Before I leave King’s Dock we’ll meet again and talk calmly. A party isn’t a suitable venue for a discussion as weighty as ours.’ He wanted her behind closed doors, to navigate both their feelings and the past.

  She huffed a short, and, he thought, disbelieving laugh. ‘Thank you, Your Majesty. Goodnight,’ she added briskly.

  When she extended her hand for him to shake, he took hold of it and brushed it with his lips, and felt her tremble. As he watched her walk away, he knew this wasn’t over and that it had only just begun. His hunt for a bride would have to wait.

  * * *

  What the hell was I thinking going back on the Sapphire with some crazy notion to get in touch with the Sheikh?

  Dropping down on her bed, Millie kicked off her shoes and sent them flying across the room. Instead of learning more about the night of her mother’s death she had almost kissed her greatest enemy? What was that about? This was a man who must have lied to the police, and whose lawyers had glibly lied to the coroner, which had allowed his brother, the late Sheikh Saif, to leave the country without so much as having his wrist slapped.

  Someone must pay for her mother’s death. Was Millie supposed to believe that Roxy Dillinger had crawled out of a lifeboat dead drunk, used the facilities, as Sheikh Khalid had so tactfully put it, and then fallen into the sea? Had anyone seen this happen? What about security cameras? From what she’d seen when she was on board the Sapphire, the big ship was bristling with cameras. Someone had to know the truth. And that someone wasn’t telling.

  Spr
inging up, she paced to the window and pushed back the blind. The Sapphire was even more awe-inspiring at night when it was lit up prow to stern. The classy party would last until the early hours of the morning, she guessed. It was certainly going full swing now. She could have kicked herself for not finding out when the Sapphire was due to leave King’s Dock. It could slip away in the night while she was asleep, and she’d be none the wiser, and that would be her chance to discover the truth gone for ever.

  And she might never see Sheikh Khalid again.

  Good!

  Not good. She’d miss him. Seeing him again had really affected her, Millie realised. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d admitted having feelings for him.

  Feelings? The heartache she was experiencing was a real physical pain.

  Love hurt? You bet. Love for her mother and confusion where Sheikh Khalid was concerned. And she’d blown her one and only chance. Saying he’d make time to see her again was just a throw-away comment, a pleasantry, the politeness of princes.

  Maybe, but she wasn’t a quitter, so what to do now?

  ‘Okay,’ she informed the empty room. ‘There’s only one thing for it...’

  Reaching under the bed for her shoes, she slipped them back on. Smoothing her hair, she glanced in the mirror. Drawing a deep breath, she announced, ‘I can do this.’ Turning for the door, she headed back to the party.

  * * *

  It was easy to convince the guard to let her pass through the locked gate guarding the Sapphire’s berth with nothing more than a smile and the truth. ‘I left something at the party,’ she explained. Well, she had, if you counted her heart and a whole pile of questions.

  ‘No problem, Miss Dillinger,’ the guard told her politely as he unlocked the steel gate and swung it wide.

  She was checked a second time at the foot of the gangplank, and again at the entrance to the ship, by which time her pulse was going crazy. What would Khalid’s reaction be when he saw her? Too late to worry about that now, Millie thought. She was here and she was going to go ahead with this.