The Sheikh’s Stubborn Assistant

by Leslie North

  She bit her lower lip as she searched his face.

  His expression was warm and open. Honest.

  For the first time since she’d met him, she knew that she was finally getting something straight from him. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay. But I am not staying, Khalid. Please tell me that you know that.”

  He reached out and gently touched her face. “I know, darling. I know. I don’t expect you to change your mind or give me another chance. But I need you to let me do this one thing for you.” His hand dropped, and he took a deep breath. “I’ll see you first thing in the morning. You have a lot of work to do.”

  The warmth of his touch was replaced by a cold chill that broke her heart even more. Every time she thought she understood him, he did something to completely throw her off her guard again.

  The problem was that she didn’t know which side of Khalid was real.

  But it didn’t matter. She was leaving soon.

  Right?

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” she echoed.

  It didn’t take long to choose the artists and pieces to showcase. When it came to art, Katie always went with her gut reaction. She chose a theme that she knew Dubai would love: Arabian traditions blended with Western-world misconceptions. Even the donors would be intrigued enough to make an appearance.

  It was too late to get a plaque made for each piece so she chose to go with artist monologues explaining the pieces. It was a risk to include the artists in events like this, but she employed Mila and Liyah to help make sure that the artists dressed well and brushed up on their etiquette.

  Vendors and caterers were more than happy to accommodate the gallery on such short notice. The gallery space itself was already elegant, showing subtle hints of thoughtful yet understated design that receded into the background, allowing the artwork to stand out. Not a whole lot needed to be done there, thankfully.

  Katie stayed busy, but in the end, she pulled it off. As a professional, she kept Khalid appraised of everything.

  He didn’t intervene. In fact, he acted as professional as she did, but she did notice a few changes in him. He frequently touched her. Not inappropriately but just enough to cause her pulse to race and make her wish for more.

  He didn’t beg her to stay. He didn’t try to bring up the topic of feelings again.

  She started to believe that maybe all he really wanted to do was make up for his wrongs.

  And let her go.

  Two hours before the event, she hung the last painting and stepped back. The caterers were running around and setting up, but she paid little attention to them. Instead, she took a moment to marvel at the culture that surrounded her.

  A couple marrying for love.

  A young woman reading.

  Gorgeous landscapes filled with natural and indigenous plants.

  A portrait of three people practicing three different religions in harmony.

  Peace, beauty, and love. It was the perfect theme for bringing together two very different art cultures.

  “You’ve done a wonderful job,” Khalid said quietly from behind her. “Although I didn’t expect anything less from you.”

  Katie slowly turned around. “Thank you. I don’t think I’ve said this before, but I do appreciate the opportunity to show you what I can do.”

  “Me?” Khalid asked with a small smile. “Or Dubai?”

  “Dubai, at first. But you, too,” she admitted. “It shouldn’t surprise you. You are my boss.”

  “Did you want to impress me because I’m your boss or because I’m your ex-lover?” When she didn’t immediately answer, he took a step closer to her. “You’d better go home, my love, if you plan to have enough time to change before the event.”

  His love. So close to the words that she longed to hear him say, even if she wasn’t entirely sure that she would believe him. “I’ll see you in a little bit. I should be back before the artists arrive.”

  “No need. I’ll be speaking to them myself. Take a deep breath, Katie. Tonight is going to go perfectly. You’ve put too much work into it for it not to. I only wish . . . well, I suppose I’m not allowed to say it.”

  Katie cocked her head. “Say what?”

  “Say something that you might misconstrue as me asking you to stay.”

  Immediately, her mouth went dry. Her heart slammed against her ribcage. “Do you want to say it because it’s true or because you hope that it will make me stay?”

  “Because it’s true.”

  “Then say it.”

  He smiled and nodded. “I only wish that you could be here to see the fruit of your labors.”

  She’d already been thinking about staying for the auction, but she hadn’t made any final plans yet. She wanted to see how this event went first and to see if Khalid was really able to trust her.

  “I’ll see you in a little bit, Khalid. Thank you, again, for the opportunity.”

  As she walked past him, he reached out and brushed his fingers along her back. The touch followed her all the way home.

  Mila had already sent over a few dresses for her to choose from, but she knew instantly that the one laid across her bed wasn’t from Mila.

  Slim. Sleek. Black. As she slipped it over her head and hooked the halter strap behind the back of her neck, the fabric clung to her curves. It dipped low down her back, and a slit rose high up on her right thigh.

  Sexy. Sophisticated. It had Khalid written all over it.

  In addition to the dress, there was also a vase of roses on the desk with a card.

  I made so many mistakes, Kadija. The least that I could do was make sure that you believed in yourself again. You are an incredible woman. You’ve made me a better man.

  Fingers trembling, she picked up the card and pressed it to her chest.

  Khalid believed in her.

  Knowing that he would be handling the final preparations, Katie took her time getting ready.

  By the time she got back to the museum, a few guests were already trickling in. Khalid appraised her openly as he held out his arm. “You look beautiful,” he murmured.

  She accepted his arm and nodded her head as a donor passed them. “It’s the dress. It’s an excellent fit, although that should not surprise me. Thank you.”

  “It’s not the dress. It’s the woman.” His voice was still low, but she could detect the hesitation. “Did you get my flowers?”

  “Flowers? Was that you? I didn’t have a chance to really pay much attention to them. They were gorgeous, as well. Thank you,” she teased him gently.

  His jaw clenched, and she smiled to herself. She didn’t feel all that bad about lying to him. She wanted to watch him squirm a bit.

  The venomous older woman she’d seen around the museum stopped in front of them. Her eyes were practically shooting daggers into Katie. “Khalid. I see that you ignored my advice.”

  “Ziva.” Khalid looked completely at ease, and he didn’t let go of Katie’s arm. “I had already informed you that I would be ignoring your advice.”

  She was obviously furious, but Katie could see the woman’s wheels turning in her calculating mind. There was something else happening here, something that had nothing to do with the gallery. “Well, in any case. I suppose that this is okay. It will add some color to the auction.”

  “Ziva, this is Katie. She’s the curator for this collection. Katie, this is Ziva. She’s one of our generous donors.”

  Katie immediately put on a warm, professional smile, but Ziva completely ignored her. She just shot Katie an angry look and swept away.

  “I don’t think that she likes me very much.”

  “Don’t mind her. She’s angry that I’m not marrying her niece.”

  “Oh.” Katie wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond to that. “Is there something wrong with her niece?”

  “Not at all. She’s beautiful and smart, but she’s just not for me.” He gave her a mysterious smile. “Now that you’re here,
I must take my leave. I’m not here as the gallery owner, tonight.”

  Katie gave him a confused look. “You’re leaving?”

  “I’m leaving your side, but not the event. I have another role to play.”

  “What’s that?”

  “An artist.”

  Katie was too shocked to say anything as he slipped away. She immediately scanned the paintings, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

  The crowd was quickly thickening, and as she walked down the gallery and around the curve, she was stopped several times. Her curiosity was burning inside her, but she also took time to double-check the artists to make sure that they were behaving themselves. Liyah and Mila had done an excellent job. They were well-dressed, polite, and all smiles.

  When she turned the corner, thinking she’d reached the exhibit’s end, she saw her two friends standing with their husbands around a space that she hadn’t needed. They weren’t alone. At least ten other people were crowded around.

  “It’s her,” someone whispered, stepping away.

  Immediately, heads turned to stare at her. Feeling her cheeks growing warm, she rubbed suddenly sweaty palms over her dress as the crowd parted, giving her a view of what all the fuss was about.

  Khalid stood next to a painting of his own. It was a portrait.

  Of her.

  It depicted the night she had stood on his balcony. The city was laid out below, lights glimmering, fading into the distance in the background, but the focus was on the woman in the painting.

  Khalid was talented. He’d captured her physical appearance perfectly, but he had gone deeper. She had an ethereal glow about her, a soft smile, and nothing but love in her eyes.

  Khalid cleared his throat nervously. “I know that most of you only know me as the gallery owner, but there was a time when I myself was an artist. I stopped painting when life got in the way, but recently I was drawn once again to beauty. My painting will not be a part of the auction, but I thought it would be fitting to include it in our theme of beauty and love.”

  He met her gaze. “I call it Taming the Beast because that is the face that calms the storm. It is the love that starts fires and melts ice. It is the muse who makes a man believe in himself again. I couldn’t keep her, but I’m better for having met her.”

  A hush fell over the crowd, but Katie could only see him. Licking her lips, she spoke, her voice barely over a whisper. “What would you do if she stayed?”

  “I’d want desperately to continue working with her until she might decide to give me another chance, but I’d ask her what she wanted from me.”

  “The truth.”

  His reply was instant. “Love. I’d spend the rest of our days showing you how I feel. Proving to you what I’ve wasted all this time denying. That I love you. If you still love me, or if you even thought that you could learn to love me again, I’d ask you to marry me.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she pressed her fingers to her trembling lips.

  He turned to indicate the woman in the painting, an oddly vulnerable gesture. “And if she didn’t find love in her heart for me, then I’d let her go because she deserves to be free.” He faced Katie again and smiled, but she could see the pain in his eyes.

  “Yes.” The word slipped out before she could really even think about it, but she already knew what was in her heart. She’d never stopped loving him. She never would stop loving him.

  Khalid faltered. “Yes? You want to be free?”

  Walking toward him, she lifted her hands and rested them on his chest. “Yes, I still love you. Yes, I want to spend the rest of my days with you. Yes, I will marry you.”

  There was a look of desperation on his face, and his voice was raspy as he spoke. “Katie, before you agree, I need you to know that I didn’t allow you to curate this just so that I could propose. I just knew that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t show you how I felt. I wasn’t trying to manipulate you or . . .”

  Immediately, she pressed a finger to his lips. “I know, Khalid. All I wanted was to prove myself to you and to know how you felt about me.”

  “You don’t need to prove yourself to me, Katie—and—and I’ve always loved you.”

  “I love your painting. You’re very talented. Will you continue painting?”

  “Yes. I love you. Will you marry me?”

  “I already answered that.”

  “I just wanted to make sure.”

  “Will you please kiss me now?”

  He wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and capturing her mouth.

  The whole gallery erupted in cheers and applause, and Katie suddenly remembered that they weren’t alone. Giggling, she pulled back. “I think you just stole the spotlight away from my event.”

  “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “How?”

  He grinned. “I’ll let you curate a collection for our wedding?”

  Winding her arms around his neck, she grinned. “I’ll hold you to it.”

  Epilogue

  Everyone joked that Shekinah’s sneaking in a few fertility statues to the romance collection that Katie curated for the week-long wedding celebration was the reason that she got her first grandchild, but Liyah informed everyone that she was already pregnant by the time Katie and Khalid’s wedding took place. The whole family was ecstatic.

  After the worst of the morning sickness waned, Liyah insisted on resuming her library work and travels, and Asad stuck to her like glue. In fact, he surprised everyone when he let his sister take over some of his duties. He joked that it kept her out of trouble since she had no one left to practice her matchmaking on, and it did seem to make her happy. She proved to be just as skilled at business as she was at meddling in love.

  The gallery was prospering and growing and kept Katie so busy that she was surprised to see Liyah return from their latest trip, complaining of having swallowed a watermelon. Whole. Where had the time gone?

  When Liyah went into labor, Asad refused to stay on the sidelines. Much to everyone’s surprise, he demanded to be in the room. Of course, when he got to be too controlling, Shekinah and Amira kicked him out. Temporarily. There was no way they’d have been able to keep him away.

  After four hours of labor, Liyah gave birth to a beautiful and healthy boy. Exhausted, Katie and Mila headed back to the waiting room where Rashid and Khalid were waiting.

  Khalid immediately wrapped his arms around Katie and pulled her close. “You’re amazing,” he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

  Chuckling, she pulled back and propped her head against his chest. “Me? I’m not the one who just pushed out a baby! Are you excited to be an uncle?”

  “I’ve already got a set of paintbrushes to give him,” he admitted.

  “Paintbrushes?” Rashid scoffed. “He’s going to be a world-class football player!”

  Mila rolled her eyes. “Maybe he’ll be a football-playing painter?”

  “A painting football player? What nonsense are you two cooking up?” Asad boomed as he threw open the doors. “My son is going to be a brilliant man of business!” Pride was written all over his face as he crooked his finger and beckoned to them. “Come and see!”

  Khalid kept his hands firmly around Katie’s waist as they filed down the hallway. The past eight months had been surreal for her. The gallery had expanded, and it was so popular with the public that it almost ran on ticket sales alone, but the donations hadn’t dropped off, either. They were able to fund scholarships for young artists in Dubai and blend local color with historical masterpieces. Other galleries were following suit.

  Katie worked as the head curator, but she also oversaw two other curators in the gallery. Khalid took more of a backseat to continue his own love for painting, but they still butted heads when it came to business. Still, no matter how much they argued at work, they never brought it home with them.

  He was an amazing husband. In fact, her whole new family was overwhelmingly supportive.
When her father hadn’t show up to the wedding, Sahaar had walked her down the aisle and given her away, and for the first time ever, she felt like she belonged.

  Entering Liyah’s room, the sudden hush of the others’ babble brought Katie’s thoughts back to the present moment. She felt an absurd urge to tiptoe as she approached the bed.

  Liyah was beautiful as she held her baby, and Asad was immediately at her side. Their eyes were glued to the bundle in her arms.

  Khalid stood close behind her, and his hands crept to her stomach. “I want one of those someday,” he murmured in her ear.

  “Me, too,” she admitted as she covered his hand with hers. In that moment, safe in her husband’s arms and surrounded by the people who loved her, she’d never felt happier.

  End of The Sheikh’s Stubborn Assistant

  The Sharif Sheikhs Series Book Three

  PS: Do you love hot-blooded Sheikhs? Then keep reading for an exclusive extract from The Sheikh’s Diamond.

  Thank you!

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  BLURB

  True love is priceless—or is it?

  Sheikh Masoud Khalidizack is terminally bored by palace life. With his elder brother inheriting his father’s responsibilities and his younger brother treating life like one big party, he often feels left behind. When a family friend suggests a bet to see which brother will be left unwed at the end of the year, Masoud thinks it is impossible to lose and he’s already making plans on what to do with the prize - Muharraq Island.