by The Sheikh
“I did need his permission to marry. I defied him.”
Simple words, she thought, but stunning. He’d defied the king? To marry her? Which brought her back to her original question—why?
For sex? He was a handsome, wealthy, royal guy. Couldn’t he get any woman he wanted? So why her?
She had a feeling that the earth would stop turning before she found out the answer to that one, so she chose another topic of conversation.
“So after the divorce you’ll marry someone else.” A thought occurred to her.
“Have you already chosen your new bride?” Cleo had said he wasn’t engaged, but was he already in love?
Reyhan shook his head. “My marriage will be arranged.”
Emma blinked at him. “You mean she’ll be picked by someone else? What if you don’t like her?”
He shrugged. “That is of little consequence.”
It felt like a really big consequence to her.
“But she could make you crazy.”
“Then we will have little contact. My duty is to produce heirs for the kingdom.
I will not turn my back on my responsibility.”
He had a duty? But where had all that duty been when he’d married her? And why would he agree to a wife he might not even like?
“Do you get to spend time with the potential brides in advance? Like The Bachelor for royalty?”
“No.”
“But—”
He rose, cutting her off. “I have a meeting,” he said politely. “Please think of your time here in Bahania as a vacation. In two weeks you can return to Texas as if nothing ever happened. In the meantime, if you need anything, please ask one of the servants. You are an honored guest of the king.”
With that he nodded and left.
Emma stared after him. She might be going home, but she doubted she would ever forget what had happened here. In a matter of hours, her world had turned upside down.
She rose and crossed to the French doors that led to a beautiful balcony. When she stepped outside, she saw the balcony stretched the length of the palace, perhaps even circling around it. A nice place to take a walk, she thought as she moved to the carved railing and leaned down to inspect the wonderful gardens below.
Stone paths meandered through what looked like a formal English garden. A fountain gurgled, while birds sang from nearby trees.
Hardly what she’d expected for a desert nation, she thought, then remembered the desalinization plant Alex had pointed out on their drive from the airport.
Bahania created much of the fresh water her people used. Interesting, but hardly what was on her mind.
She turned her attention from the garden to her left hand. Reyhan had placed a simple gold band there after the ceremony. He’d kissed her and promised to replace it with any ring she would like. At the time she’d thought he’d been caught up in the romance of the moment, making promises he could never keep. Now she knew he’d been telling the truth.
But why hadn’t he told her the rest of it? About him being the prince and that he’d always planned to return there? And why hadn’t her parents been able to find out that she was really married? Who had told them the ceremony had been a sham and why hadn’t they questioned the information?
Would it have made a difference? After the fact, she could say yes. But at the time? She’d been hurt and afraid and not that interested in being Reyhan’s wife.
Their few days together as husband and wife had been spent in bed. He had wanted her with a passion that had terrified and confused her. While she hadn’t minded him touching her, she hadn’t much liked it, either. He’d been too intense, too hungry, too everything.
Now the thought of those dark eyes gazing at her with unmistakable desire made her breathing quicken. Which so did not make sense. She had no reason to be attracted to Reyhan. She barely knew him. She wasn’t even sure she liked him. So why was she anticipating the next time she saw him?
Reyhan walked from the residential wing of the palace toward the business wing, moving quickly but with his thoughts still outpacing his steps.
There wasn’t a part of him that was not on fire with desire for Emma. He needed her as he needed the wide spaces of the desert. She was as much a part of him, and yet as out of reach as the stars.
If only he’d been able to keep her from coming to Bahania. But his father had insisted on meeting the woman Reyhan had married and then left behind. Royal pronouncements could only be avoided for so long, and in the end he had run out of excuses. So Emma was here—haunting him. He wanted her with a grim desperation that threatened his world, and he could not have her. Not before and not now.
She was, he acknowledged, the one woman on earth who could bring him to his knees. Him—a prince. A man of power and action. If she knew how he really felt…
He reminded himself she did not know, nor would she be affected if she did.
She’d made her feelings clear six years ago and there was no reason to think they would have changed.
Only twelve more days, he told himself. He could survive that, especially if he avoided her.
He reached the business wing and asked his assistant to come into his office.
When the young man was seated, Reyhan pulled out his schedule. He was about to find himself very, very busy.
Emma restlessly wandered around the suite. She might be an honored guest of the king, but she wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of what she could and could not do. Were there self-guided tours of the palace? The maid had disappeared and she didn’t know who else to ask. The last thing she wanted was to wander into some forbidden room and find herself at the wrong end of a pointy sword.
She stared at the phone and wondered what would happen if she picked it up. Did the palace have an operator? In movies, the White House always did, and the palace was at least twice as big. Wasn’t an operator required?
A knock on the suite’s main door saved her from finding out. For a split second, her heart fluttered in anticipation. Reyhan? Had his meeting ended early and had he decided to return to speak with her? Had…
She pulled open the door and tried not to look disappointed when she saw Cleo standing there. The petite blonde had a baby in her arms.
“Remember me?” Cleo asked. “We met last night.”
“Of course,” Emma said with a smile. “You came to rescue me.”
Cleo grinned. “Someone had to. These princes,” she said, shaking her head. “They have no idea how intimidating they can be, and between you and me, we can’t ever let them know.”
She walked into the suite and held out her daughter. “This is Calah. I’m going to say ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ and I really need you to agree with me. I know, I know. Every mother thinks her baby is beautiful. I hate being a cliché, but there it is.”
Emma glanced at the sleeping baby. “She is beautiful. You and your husband are going to have to beat boys off with a stick.”
“I suspect Sadik will just glare menacingly and that will be enough.” Cleo plopped down on the sofa and held out the baby. “Are you a cuddler or do infants make you uneasy?”
Emma sat next to her and took Calah in her arms. “I love holding babies. I’m a delivery room nurse so I’m around newborns all the time. It’s a great specialty and I love it, but every now and then I get the urge to move to pediatrics.”
Cleo’s eyebrows arched. “Ah, so you love children. Does Reyhan know?”
“I don’t think so.” The information would hardly matter. He might want heirs but not with her.
“Interesting. So tell me everything about your life.”
Emma gently rocked the baby and breathed in the sweet scent of her. “There’s not much to tell. I’m a nurse, I live in Dallas and now I’m here. But what about you? How did you come to be here, and married to a prince?”
Cleo drew her feet up and leaned back against the sofa. “Well, I already told you I’m from Spokane. I grew up dirt-poor and without much family. Eventually I w
ent into the foster care system, which turned out to be a good thing because I got to meet Zara. She was the daughter of the woman who took me in. Anyway, we became good friends, then practically sisters. Years after her mother had died, Zara went through her things and found these letters to her mother from the king of Bahania.”
Emma stared at her. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. He’d met her when she’d been a dancer and he’d fallen for her big-time.
Apparently theirs was a great love, but Zara’s mom knew it would never last so she bailed without telling him.”
“How sad,” Emma said.
“I agree. I mean she could have tried to make it work. Anyway, Zara found the letters and the two of us headed over here to see if the king really was her father. And he was.”
“That must have been a shock for both of them.”
“It was. I mean viola`, instant princess. She also met Rafe, who is American but also a sheik, and she married him—but that is a more complicated story.”
Emma laughed. “Oh, right. Because this one isn’t. So you stayed with Zara and then married Prince Sadik?”
“Not exactly. He and I—well, it was sort of spontaneous combustion. But he was a prince and I worked at a copy store. I mean until I’d come to Bahania I’d never been anywhere. I knew I wasn’t princess material. So I went home. But I had to come back for Zara’s wedding to Rafe, and I was pregnant and I didn’t want anyone to know. The king found out, then Sadik, then we got married, but he wouldn’t admit he loved me and it was horrible, but he came to his senses and now we’re blissfully happy.”
Emma didn’t know what to say. “That’s an amazing story.”
Cleo grinned. “I know. I can’t wait until Calah is old enough to hear the romantic bits. I won’t tell her about getting pregnant or anything.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, I should warn you. Both Zara and Sabrina are pregnant. I think there’s something in the water, so don’t drink anything but bottled.” She glanced at her daughter. “Unless you want one of your own.”
Emma was dealing with enough changes right now, although a child…She shook off the thought. No point in going there. Not now.
“I don’t think this is a good time for me,” she said. “Plus there’s the whole needing-a-man thing.”
“Is this where I point out that you have a husband?”
One who had made it plain he’d found her anything but interesting in bed? “No, thanks.”
Cleo nodded. “I understand. But that doesn’t mean I won’t think it. So how did you and Reyhan meet?”
“It was at college. My first semester.” Those days felt like a lifetime ago. “I was a brand-new freshman—technically an adult, but not emotionally. Not even close.” She shrugged. “I’m the only child of older parents. They’d given up on ever having children when I came along. I was a surprise, but a happy one. My parents were so thrilled, they were determined to keep me safe no matter what.
Which meant keeping me sheltered. It took my entire senior year of high school to convince them to let me go to a college that required me living a couple hundred miles away.”
“Reyhan’s older, right?” Cleo asked. “You couldn’t have had a class together.”
“We didn’t. I was socially backward, and I would never have had the courage to talk to an actual man. I was walking home from the library when a couple of drunk guys started hassling me. I’m sure it was harmless, but I was too inexperienced to know what to do. I panicked and started pleading with them, which they found pretty funny. I was terrified and took off running. I ran smack into Reyhan. My books went flying, I’m sure I screamed and it was a mess. By the time it was sorted out, the guys were long gone and I was convinced Reyhan had rescued me from certain death.”
Cleo sighed. “That sounds romantic.”
Emma hadn’t thought of it in that way. “I thought he was handsome and mysterious. Very attractive, of course. I was stunned when he asked me out.” She shifted the baby, taking more of her weight on her lap.
“But you said yes.”
“Would you have said anything else?”
“Probably not. The rescue would be really tough to ignore. It’s very princely.”
She laughed. “I say that so calmly, but I’m used to Sadik being royal now. At the beginning it was a big deal to me.”
“Do you miss your old life?”
“Not even for a minute. Not just because this is so much nicer—which it is. But because of Sadik. I love him.” Her dark blue eyes glowed with affection. “He makes me insane, but that’s okay. I drive him crazy, too. Besides, being different keeps things interesting. And he loves me.” She glanced at Emma.
“Handsome, arrogant prince types may be hard to tame, but when they love, it’s with every part of themselves.”
Emma fought against a surge of envy. She had always wanted to be loved like that by a man. It wasn’t that her parents hadn’t cared for her, they had. But their love had been about protecting her from a difficult and frightening world. She’d always wanted just to be loved for herself.
Cleo shrugged. “Okay, I get carried away. That’s part of my charm. So enough about me and my past. Are you excited about living in the palace?”
“It should be an interesting vacation. At least that’s how I’m trying to look at it.”
“Your one chance to be a princess?”
“Something like that.”
Cleo grinned. “What if you find you like it so much, you want to stay?”
“Not an option. As soon as my two weeks are up, I’m heading back to Dallas.” And her regularly scheduled life. There was nothing for her here in Bahania. She ignored the little voice inside that whispered there wasn’t much for her back in Dallas, either.
Chapter 4
Reyhan had hoped the large palace would provide enough room for him to avoid Emma, but he had not taken his father’s need to meddle into account. Now that the king had passed control of much of the day-to-day details of the country on to his sons, he had far too much free time to plan ways to torment them. His newest strategy began with an invitation for both Reyhan and Emma to join him for dinner.
Reyhan studied the casually worded e-mail and knew the phrase “if it’s convenient” was there for show. Should Reyhan protest it was not convenient, his father would change the request to an order. Defying one’s father was easily accomplished. Refusing the king was another matter, especially when Reyhan needed the monarch’s agreement to the divorce.
Which was why he found himself walking toward his father’s private quarters that evening, trying not to think about how he would survive several hours in Emma’s company.
Before she had arrived, he had nearly convinced himself that everything was different. That he no longer had feelings for her, and even if he did, that she was not the same woman. But a few minutes with her had told him that not only did she still have that ultimate power over him, she had somehow retained the gentle sweetness that had first drawn him to her.
When he reached his father’s suite, he squared his shoulders. He was Prince Reyhan of Bahania. Royal, powerful and without weakness. He would survive this meeting and any others. He would endure and in the end, Emma would be out of his life forever.
“My son,” his father said happily as Reyhan walked into the main salon. “How
good to see you.”
“And you, my father.”
The king’s cheer warned Reyhan that his father might have a trick or two coming during the dinner and that he would be wise to stay alert.
He crossed to the wet bar and poured himself a Scotch, then walked to the large sofa facing the French doors leading to the balcony. Only one cat lay on a center cushion. Reyhan avoided it as he sat down.
“Emma should be here shortly,” his father said, stroking the large Persian draped across his lap.
Reyhan had offered to escort her himself, but the king had said he preferred to speak with his son privately first. Now Reyhan waited patiently.
“Your wife is a very pretty young woman,” his father said.
Reyhan nodded. He never thought of Emma as “his wife.” If he had, he would have claimed her, despite her wishes to be as far away from him as possible. He would have wanted to have her, take her, be with her. It had been safer for them both to be on opposite sides of the planet. Literally. He’d forced himself to think of her only on rare occasions, usually at night, when he couldn’t sleep and the sounds of the Arabian Sea had echoed with her soft voice.
“I arranged tonight’s dinner so I could get to know her,” his father said.
Reyhan didn’t like the sound of that. “She will be leaving in a few days.”
“Until then, she is my daughter-in-law. A relationship of some importance.”
Reyhan wasn’t sure if his father meant that or was trying to make trouble. On the king’s side was his close ties with Cleo, Sadik’s wife. She was a favorite and spent much time in the king’s company. If that happened with Emma, as well, his father might not want to agree to the divorce. Reyhan knew he could not stay married. Not to her. Not with his need burning so hotly inside.
Before he could come up with a reason to keep them apart, there was a knock at the main door. He rose, bracing himself for the impact of seeing her again.
“Come in,” the king called.
A young woman pushed opened the door, entered and bowed her head. Emma followed her, pausing uncertainly just past her escort.
Reyhan set down his drink, then crossed to her. As he approached, he took in the emerald-green sheath that clung to her sensual curves, the elegant upswept way she’d styled her dark red hair and the makeup emphasizing her eyes and mouth.
She needed no artifice to make her more beautiful, yet he appreciated the effort…and the results.
Wanting flared, as did heat. He ignored both, concentrating instead on the excitement and apprehension battling in Emma’s green eyes. A tentative smile tugged on the corners of her mouth, as if she wasn’t sure which emotion would win.
When he stopped beside her, he reached for her hand. The second his fingers closed around hers, the ache inside of him increased to unbearable. Still, he dismissed the painful need and settled her small hand in the crook of his arm.
