The Sheikh's Bride Bargain (You Can't Turn Down a Sheikh Book 4)

by Holly Rayner

  “You want a walk, boy?” Dakota asked.

  The dog barked his assent, so she clipped his leash to his collar and headed out the door, pausing to grab her keys and phone.

  The neighborhood was nice, leafy and peaceful, with a small pond that was perfect for walking a dog. Dakota exchanged token smiles with her neighbors as they passed. It was so strange that she had gone from being a national celebrity to being unrecognizable in the space of weeks. Everyone in Baraq had known who she was on sight, but to the people of this apartment complex, she was just another twenty-something walking her dog.

  Dakota was jolted from her reverie by the ringing of the cellphone in her pocket. She had been expecting her parents to call with plans for Sunday dinner, but she wished she could have made it home before they called—the wind often made it hard to hear what the person on the other end of the phone was saying.

  “Hello?” she said absently, steering Ghost around a piece of dropped candy on the sidewalk.

  “Dakota?”

  The phone slipped out of her grasp and clattered to the sidewalk, making Ghost jump. She stooped quickly and picked it up, sure she must have been wrong about what she’d heard.

  “Hello?” she asked again, hesitantly this time.

  “Dakota, it’s Majeed. Can you hear me?”

  The whole world seemed to shrink down to the phone pressed against her ear. “Majeed?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner,” he said. “This was the first time I could get away.”

  “No, don’t apologize,” she said. “It’s fine. I’m just so glad you called.”

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “How is it there?”

  “It’s all right. I’ve got a new place. All to myself, finally, no family drama.”

  “That must be…” he paused, obviously unsure. “Nice?”

  “Weird,” she said. “Nice, but weird. I can’t pretend I don’t miss them.”

  “I know what you mean,” Majeed said. “As much as I like retreating to my own wing of the house, if I had to live in the manor without the rest of my family, I think I’d go out of my mind.”

  “Fortunately, my apartment is smaller than your manor,” Dakota laughed. She was pleased to discover how easy it was to talk to him, how naturally they were able to pick up where they’d left off. “My apartment is even smaller than your wing in your manor. Oh, and I do have a roommate.”

  “You do?”

  “Of sorts. I got a dog.”

  “Wow, really?” Majeed sounded delighted. “I love dogs. Will you send me a picture?”

  “Are you on a cell?”

  “Yes. I got a second phone so I could call you without detection.”

  “Hold on, then.” She snapped a photo of Ghost and texted it to the number on her screen. “That’s Ghost,” she told Majeed.

  “Oh, he’s cute!”

  “I can’t believe you called me,” Dakota said. “I really thought I was never going to hear from you again.”

  “I couldn’t let that happen,” Majeed said. “I’m sorry if this is forward—”

  “I think we’re past that,” Dakota said.

  “Well, I feel as if what’s between us is really special,” Majeed said. “I don’t think I can just let it go.”

  Dakota closed her eyes. “I feel the same way. But what are we going to do? We’re half a world apart, and we have no realistic way of getting back together. Our families hate each other. If either of them knew we were speaking right now, we’d be in for it. I mean, for God’s sake, you had to buy a burner phone just to talk to me. How can this possibly work?”

  “I’d still be willing to leave Baraq to be with you,” Majeed said. “I meant it when I said that.”

  “But I still can’t take you up on it.” She sighed. “I wish I could, but I can’t be the person who takes you away from your country.”

  “I’m not going to just give up on us, Dakota,” he said. “Now that I have this phone, I can call you as often as I want. We can talk. We can stay in each other’s lives.”

  Dakota climbed the stairs to her apartment and let herself in. It was strange to be standing in this thoroughly post-Majeed place with him speaking into her ear. Worlds were colliding. But the thought of hanging up the phone, of cutting ties with him all over again, was unbearable.

  Maybe reopening communication wasn’t a good idea, but Dakota knew she didn’t have the strength to refuse. She wanted this too much.

  Chapter 18

  “Perfect timing,” Dakota said as she turned off the tap and dropped a bath bomb into the tub. “I just got home from work, and I’m about to take a long, hot bath.”

  Dakota heard an intake of breath from Majeed on the other end of the line. Her face flushed red, even though he couldn’t see her. Having a man desire her was something she wasn’t used to yet. Majeed cleared his throat, attempting to regain his composure.

  “I thought you weren’t working,” Majeed finally said. During their last phone call, he had asked about the status of LeeWay Corp, and she had told him she no longer had a position at the company. “Does this mean LeeWay Corp is getting its feet back under it?”

  “No,” she said. “I took a job at a local marketing firm. It’s a step down from what I used to do, but at least it gets me out of the house. I was starting to go a little crazy, sitting around here all day with nobody but Ghost for company.”

  “That’s good,” Majeed said. “That’s impressive. I still haven’t gone back to work.”

  “Gone back?” Dakota was puzzled. “I didn’t know you’d stopped working.”

  “After you left, I decided I didn’t want to work for my family anymore,” he said. “I left my job at Ayad Aviation. We didn’t announce it to the press, but of course the news got out eventually. My father spun it to seem like he had been the one to fire me, and it’s all made for quite the scandal, actually. But that doesn’t matter. Now I’m not financially beholden to them, and it gives me the ability to do what I want.”

  “What might you want to do?” Dakota breathed.

  “It’s what I wouldn’t want to do. My father’s eager to bury the news of our wedding, so he’s trying to get another marriage arranged as quickly as possible.”

  Dakota gasped. “No!”

  “Believe me, I don’t want it either,” Majeed said. “You’re all I can think of, Dakota. I won’t let this happen. And the good news is that no one else’s family wants to make an arrangement with me now that I’m out of a job. My father will have to look pretty far to find someone who’s willing to accept a member of the royal family with no career and a tarnished reputation. Nobody wants me.”

  “I want you,” Dakota whispered, closing her eyes and imagining his kiss.

  The problem with their arrangement, Dakota realized after a few weeks, was that she couldn’t contact him. Majeed had made it clear that it wasn’t a good idea for her to call the burner phone in case he was in mixed company when it rang. At best, he simply wouldn’t be able to answer, and at worst, someone would notice it ringing and realize he was getting calls from the United States. With that knowledge, it wouldn’t be hard to put two and two together and figure out that Majeed and Dakota were still in contact.

  So every night she waited for him to call. Some nights she was rewarded. On those occasions they spent hours on the phone, rehashing everything that had happened since their last conversation until finally there was nothing left to say. Then they’d sit silently, listening to each other’s breathing and trying to close the vast distance between them, knowing all the while that it was hopeless.

  They were difficult conversations, but the nights he didn’t call were worse. Dakota would sit by the phone and wait for it to ring for hours. She broke down her nights into manageable time chunks—fifteen minutes for a shower, thirty to watch a TV show, forty-five to prepare and eat dinner—and after each activity, she would return to the phone and check to see if she’d somehow missed the alert that would signify a call or a t
ext. Her heart was in her throat all night, worrying about missing her chance to talk to him.

  One night, having had enough of sitting around and waiting, Dakota decided it was time to get out of the house. For a moment she even considered leaving her phone but pocketed it at the last second. On the off chance he called later, she wanted to be able to take it.

  You’re pathetic, she told herself as she locked the door behind her. Sitting around and waiting for a boy to call. But she couldn’t believe that. She knew this wasn’t like other times in her life she’d sat waiting for the phone to ring. She knew that Majeed loved her and that if distance and politics were no obstacle, he would have married her tomorrow. He would love to have her call, if only it were practical.

  At a loss for where to go, Dakota found herself walking in the direction of her brother’s place. Dylan had managed to keep his job at LeeWay Corp, thanks in large part to the fact that nobody else knew any of the system setup details. As a consequence, he still had a generous income and had been able to buy a sizable house for himself and Rachel in the nicest part of town.

  Having gotten through five years of long-distance romance, Dylan and Rachel now spent most of their time holed up together, and the other Lees hadn’t seen Dylan in over a week. Dakota understood. After all, if everything had gone according to plan, she would probably still be away on her honeymoon right now, instead of walking down these darkened streets to her brother’s house.

  He answered the doorbell on the first ring, dressed in sweats and a ratty T-shirt and looking unsurprised to see her. “Hey, Dakota. I was starting to wonder when you’d drop by.”

  “I figured you and Rachel would want to be alone,” she said, nodding her thanks as he held open the door to let her in. “It must be nice to be back in the same country after all that time apart.”

  Dylan shrugged. “The way we see it, our relationship survived a major test. We’re both feeling pretty invincible right now.”

  “That’s great,” Dakota said, meaning it. But she couldn’t help the little tremor of sadness that went through her at Dylan’s words. What wouldn’t she give to have her relationship with Majeed be so simple?

  “We’ve got leftovers,” Dylan said, leading her into the kitchen. “We tried make-your-own sushi tonight. You want some?”

  “You made sushi?” Dakota had assumed her brother had been living on takeout. Now she watched in awe as he pulled a tray of perfectly crafted maki out of the refrigerator and placed it on the counter. She took a seat and accepted the plate he passed her.

  “Try everything,” Dylan encouraged. “It won’t keep for long, and we could really use an outsider’s opinion.”

  Dakota took a bite. “It’s really good,” she said. “Restaurant quality.”

  Dylan sat opposite her and filled a plate of his own. “So what brings you here in the middle of the night? Just missing me?”

  “It’s not the middle of the night, it’s nine thirty. And no, I have never missed you in my life,” she said, grinning. “I came for…well, to talk, I guess.”

  “What about?”

  Dakota hesitated. She couldn’t very well tell her brother about what was going on between her and Majeed. She would have to try to get his advice without letting him know why she needed it. “I guess I wanted to check on you and Rachel,” she said, fidgeting.

  “Like I said, we’re doing fine.” Dylan regarded her, his expression puzzled. “The hard part is over now.”

  Dakota took another bite of sushi and tried to sound casual. “How did you get through that?” she asked. “The odds were so against you two. How did you manage to keep faith during all that time?”

  “Well, we talked on the phone every day…” Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “Is something going on with you?”

  “No. What? What do you mean?” Dakota swallowed, knowing how suspicious she sounded.

  “You’re being weird,” Dylan said.

  “I’m just asking about you and Rachel.”

  “No, you’re not. You were there for that. We lived together at the time. You know I talked to Rachel every day. You’re wondering if there was something about our relationship that you missed, aren’t you?”

  “Why would I be wondering that?”

  Dylan’s eyes widened. “You’re in a long-distance relationship.”

  “That’s crazy,” Dakota protested feebly.

  “No, it isn’t. You have a long-distance boyfriend, and you’re trying to figure out how to make it work, so you came here for my advice. And you didn’t want me to know that’s what’s going on because…” Dylan drew a deep breath and stared at her. “Oh, Dakota. No way.”

  “What?”

  “It’s Majeed, isn’t it. You’re still seeing him.”

  “We…we talk on the phone sometimes.”

  “God. You really like him, don’t you? I had no idea. We all thought you were just going along with the plan?”

  Dakota stared at her plate, tears obscuring her vision. “We’re in love, Dylan.”

  “When did that happen?” His voice was gentle now, and she looked up. He was watching her with an expression of sympathy on his face. “Before we left Baraq?”

  “Before the wedding.”

  “So you were marrying for love.”

  “Yeah,” she said, wiping her tears away with a napkin. “We were. And then it all got ruined, and I got sent back here.”

  “You must be so mad,” Dylan said softly.

  “I just want to know what to do,” she said. “I want to know how to make it work. There has to be a way we can be together.”

  Dylan shook his head. “I don’t think there is, Dakota. You can’t go back to Baraq, and he has to be there.”

  “You and Rachel—”

  “It was different with Rachel and me. We were always talking about the future, about where our life together would be when we finally finished the things we were doing. I would move back to the States, or she would come to Baraq, or maybe we’d go somewhere else, but our future was always ahead of us, and it was always together. You and Majeed…I’m sorry to put it like this, but you don’t have a future. There’s no way you’ll ever be in the same place, and you can’t be long distance forever.”

  Dakota felt like sobbing. “What do I do?”

  “I think you have to end contact with him,” Dylan said. “I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you want to hear. But I think the best thing you can do is to get over this. The next time you speak to him, tell him that it’s over, and ask him not to contact you again. And whatever you do, make sure you keep it a secret from Mom and Dad. I don’t even want to think about the drama that’ll get stirred up if they find out about this.”

  Chapter 19

  For days, Dakota found herself turning her brother’s words around and around in her mind, looking for deeper meaning in them. End contact with him. Get over this.

  A part of her kept trying to tell herself she didn’t have to listen. After all, there was a reason she hadn’t sought advice from any of her family in the first place. When it came to the bin Ayads, the Lee family couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t count on good advice from that corner, could she?

  But she had to admit, of all her family members, Dylan had always been the first to prioritize what was right for Dakota. And he hadn’t caused the problems at the wedding. She trusted Dylan. If she was honest with herself, she was looking for a reason to disregard what he had said because she didn’t want to do stop contact with Majeed.

  But there was too much truth in it to ignore. Her brother had been right about a crucial point—there was no future for Dakota and Majeed. No matter which way she turned it in her mind, it always ended badly. She couldn’t go back to Baraq. If Majeed left, it would cause a scandal, and Dakota would always feel guilty for taking him away from his birthright. And if they both stayed where they were…well, what kind of relationship would that be? To have seven thousand miles between them, never to be able to embrace or kiss? She loved Majeed,
but she knew that would drive them both mad.

  So maybe Dylan was right. Maybe there was nothing else that could be done. It was the conclusion her thoughts led her to every time, and yet every time she pushed it away and tried again, hoping that somehow the facts would fit together differently. The thought of ending things, of telling Majeed to stop contacting her and never hearing his voice again, was simply too painful. Dakota didn’t think she could bring herself to do it.

  Of considerable help was the fact that she hadn’t heard from Majeed since the night she’d gone to Dylan’s. Dakota had never thought she’d be glad to have a long stretch of time without a phone call from Majeed, but it had been four days now, and every moment the phone didn’t ring felt like a reprieve. She couldn’t end their relationship if he didn’t call her. After all, she had no way of reaching out to him. It was out of her hands, she told herself. As long as the phone didn’t ring, she didn’t have to make a decision.

  By the end of the fourth day, however, she was starting to feel on edge. Had Majeed made the decision for her? Had he decided on his own that it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep in contact with her and gotten rid of the burner phone? Or was it possible that his family had discovered what was going on and taken steps to cut him off? Could he be in trouble? What if the Emir was involved somehow?

  She had gotten into the habit of sleeping late on weekend mornings since her new job required her to arrive at 8 a.m. during the workweek. But the Saturday after her conversation with Dylan, she was jolted awake by a knocking at the door.

  Her immediate fear was that it was her parents, here to read her the riot act for her continuing communications with Majeed. She didn’t think her brother would tell them. But then again, if he was really worried for her well-being, he might. If she hadn’t managed to convince him that she would follow his advice and end contact with Majeed, Dylan might think it was necessary to intervene. She was now wide awake. She grabbed her robe and pulled it on, trying to decide whether she could deny that anything was going on between her and Majeed.