A Surprise for the Sheikh

by Sarah M. Anderson

  Now it was Violet’s turn to hug Clare. “Oh, honey,” she said, and damn the stupid hormonal tears that started up again. At least this time, they were happy tears, right? “I’m so excited for you and Parker!”

  As they were comparing due dates, the chimes over the door jingled. All three of them looked up at the newcomer. A woman with long, thick black hair wearing a beautiful gold-yellow suit glided into the diner as if she were walking on rose petals—which was impressive, given her heels. Those suckers had to be at least five inches tall and yet this woman moved in them as if they were a natural part of her feet. The woman paused inside the door and removed her hat—not a cowboy hat, like most of the people here wore, but a short, wide number that was the exact color of her suit, complete with a feather that swept out over the huge brim.

  All in all, she looked like someone who might have gotten lost on her way to a royal wedding and wound up in Royal, Texas, completely by accident.

  And Violet recognized her immediately.

  “Wow,” Clare said in a hushed whisper.

  “Beautiful,” Grace agreed. “Who is that? She’s not from around her, is she? I’d remember the hat.”

  “Rafe,” Violet said. Both the women turned to look at her. “I mean, she looks like Rafe. Excuse me.”

  Her heart pounding, Violet slid out of her booth and approached the newcomer. What was Nasira bin Saleed doing here? Rafe had promised that he would try to arrange a meeting between Nasira and Violet—but Violet was pretty sure Rafe had said he didn’t think Nasira would come to America. “Hi—Nasira?”

  Because who else could she be? Looking like this woman did—the black hair and olive skin and the same nose and chin as Rafe?

  The woman’s face registered surprise. “I am sorry,” she said in an accent that was similar to Rafe’s, but very different. Whereas Rafe’s voice always made Violet think of warm sunshine and honey, this woman’s voice sounded almost like...like rain and fog and mist. It was not an unpleasant thing, but it was very unexpected. “Do I know you?”

  Violet stuck out her hand. “I’m Violet McCallum. I’m Mac’s sister. And you’re Rafe’s sister, Nasira—right? You look like him.”

  Nasira blushed. “Ah, yes. Violet. Hello. How fortunate I have found you so quickly. I have come to warn you and your brother that—”

  “That Rafe’s going to buy up the entire town and ruin Mac?” Nasira winced. “Yeah, sorry—it’s kind of too late for that.”

  Nasira clutched at her hat and paled. “Oh, no—I am too late? What has he done?”

  Violet decided she liked Nasira immediately. “Why don’t you have a seat? Would you like some coffee? Then we can talk.”

  Clare and Grace introduced themselves and Nasira politely said hello, although she did not shake hands. “Well,” Clare said, standing and giving a knowing look to Grace, “we best be running along. But Violet—you call us the moment you need anything.”

  “Anything at all,” Grace added.

  And then Violet was alone with Nasira. Once the other women were gone, Nasira sat in the seat Grace had vacated. She sat very stiffly, her back straight and her chin up. She placed her fancy hat on the table next to her and waited silently while Amanda Battle, the owner of the Royal Diner, poured the coffee.

  “Anything else I can get you all?” Amanda said, trying not to stare at Nasira.

  The Royal Diner was pretty much ground zero for gossip in this town. Violet glanced around. Luckily, aside from a few stragglers, Violet and Nasira had the place to themselves.

  “I think we’re good,” Violet said, smiling warmly at Amanda.

  She and Nasira were silent until Amanda was out of earshot. Then, with the most graceful gesture Violet had ever seen, Nasira leaned forward and said, “Tell me what has happened. What has Rafe done?”

  So Violet told Nasira what she knew—about Samson Oil, the land grabs, the Wild Aces, everything but her relationship with Rafe. She doubted if just casually blurting out that a person’s brother had gotten her pregnant after a one-night stand was “done” in Al Qunfudhah. Violet’s life might be a total scandal, but she didn’t need to add fuel to the fire if she could help it.

  When she’d finished, Nasira sat back—again, her back ramrod straight—lowered her eyes and said, “This is my fault. I am so sorry for the trouble I have caused.”

  The resignation in her voice alarmed Violet. “What? No way. I mean—okay, so something obviously happened twelve years ago. But I fail to see how that makes you personally responsible for what’s going on here.”

  She was horrified to see Nasira’s eyes tear up. “I brought your brother into a family problem without explaining it to him. It was unfair to him and unfair to Rafe.”

  “Yeah, so what exactly did happen back at Harvard? Mac insists he didn’t do anything with you and Rafe won’t tell me what he thinks happened either.”

  Nasira’s gaze sharpened, just a little, and she again looked more like her brother. “Are you and Rafe on good terms, then? Does he talk to you?”

  Violet realized she was blushing. “You first,” she said, trying to play for time. “Your story happened first, so you tell it first.”

  “All right,” Nasira said again, her voice a little cooler this time.

  Oh, yeah, this was Rafe’s sister. There was no mistaking it.

  After a long pause, Nasira leaned forward again, her voice soft—no doubt to keep anyone from overhearing them. “I chose Mac precisely because I knew him to be an honorable man who would not violate me,” she explained. She picked up a packet of sweetener and began to fiddle with it—the first sign of nerves that Violet had seen yet. “I know that may sound unusual to your American ears, but at the time, I felt that letting my father believe I had been compromised by a man such as Mac was the only way I could escape the fate he had chosen for me.”

  “A man such as Mac? I don’t understand—obviously, your father didn’t see him as an honorable guy.”

  A hint of color graced Nasira’s cheeks. Really, everything the woman did was grace embodied. “No, he did not. My father barely tolerated Rafe attending an American school, and Mac was not of royal blood. So to be ‘defiled’ by him—or so my father believed,” Nasira hurried to add when Violet opened her mouth to argue with that particular assessment, “was lowering myself even more.”

  What was it with these people? Ruined? Defiled? No wonder they were so screwed up. Did they ever fall in love and have sex simply because they wanted to?

  There had been that night, many months ago, when Violet had gone to bed with Rafe because she wanted to. She’d wanted one night of fun and freedom and—yes—good sex. And Rafe? He had wanted all those things, too.

  But did he now view her as ruined? Defiled? Had he lowered himself by making her pleasure his?

  Ugh, she was nauseous again.

  Nasira had dropped her gaze to the table, so she missed Violet’s reaction. “You must try to understand. I was to be wed to a horrible man, a man I feared greatly. He was well over sixty and had already had two wives who had died in ‘accidents’ that were not accidents. His first wife died because she only gave birth to girls and his second...well, I do not know why.”

  Violet gasped. “How could your father marry you off to such a man?”

  Nasira looked at her sadly. “I hope you can understand how different our families are. This was all expected when I was a child. I had been promised to the warlord for some time. He was a powerful man and my father wanted to keep him close. It was only when Rafe left for university in America and met your brother...” Her voice trailed off. “Rafe told me such stories, you see. And the way he spoke of his friendship with Mac, of you—of this place—it was almost too good to believe. For the first time in our lives, I envied Rafe.”

  Violet gave her a confused look. “Wait, what? I mean—you wer
e going to be married off to a monster and you didn’t already envy Rafe?” How did that even make sense?

  Nasira gave her that sad smile again, one that spoke of pain that Violet could only begin to fathom. “Rafe is second in line for the sheikhdom. In England, he would be the spare, as they say. But we did not grow up in England and my father treated Rafe harshly.”

  Violet stared at her. Harshly? How harshly?

  “But I am getting off the point,” she went on. “Rafe was in America and having all of these wonderful adventures, and I was envious. I managed to convince my father that, for my eighteenth birthday, I should be allowed to visit Rafe. Our older brother, Fareed, took my side. It was he who told me what Rafe was doing here in Royal,” she added.

  “Okay, so Fareed is a decent guy?”

  “He is not our father,” Nasira said emphatically. “He is a just and fair ruler of Al Qunfudhah.”

  Well, that had to count for something. “So you got to visit Rafe in America and while you were here, you decided to get out of the marriage by... Is seducing the right word?”

  Nasira’s eyes widened in horror and she shook her head. “No, no. I had convinced your brother to kiss me by explaining my situation but, at the last moment, I feared that would not be enough, so I made a foolish choice and snuck into his bed. That was where our father found me.” She dropped her gaze again and went back to mangling the sweetener packet. “I regret that choice, but please understand, I also do not regret it. What came after was...terrible.” She shuddered and Violet shuddered in sympathy.

  “You didn’t have to marry that guy, right? That’s what Rafe said. He said you were able to leave Al Qunfudhah and marry a man more to your liking.”

  “Sebastian, yes.” There was a note of sorrow to her voice that she tried to hide with a smile. “My life has been much easier than I had ever allowed myself to dream it could be. However, I do not believe Rafe’s was.” She didn’t speak for a moment and, for once, Violet managed not to open her mouth and charge into the gap. “It was a relief when our father died and Fareed took power,” Nasira said quietly. “Rafe was allowed to resume life in the outside world.”

  Violet felt herself gaping at Nasira like a catfish out of water but she couldn’t quite get her face under control. “You make it sound like your father imprisoned him because he didn’t protect you. Or your honor, anyway.”

  “It sounds that way because it was that way.” Nasira’s words were little more than a whisper. “I believe that, in the years between my actions and our father’s death, Rafe held one thought that sustained him. And now that he has regained his power and his wealth by his own hands...”

  “Revenge.”

  Nasira set the sweetener packet down and returned her hands to her lap. Violet could see her composing herself. “For a long time, I’ve wished that there had been another way. It is all my fault.”

  What Violet needed was a drink. Of course, she couldn’t exactly wander over to the bar and do a line of shots, no matter how much she might want to block out the world for a while. “Well. This certainly puts a new spin on things.”

  “Oh? And what about you, Violet? You speak as if you know Rafe.”

  “I do. I...” She took a deep breath. “I don’t really know how to say this without it sounding bad, so I’m just going to say it. I’m pregnant and Rafe’s the father.”

  She wasn’t sure what she expected Nasira to do with that bit of information, but bursting into tears and smiling at the same time wasn’t it. “Nasira?”

  Amanda Battle hustled over. “Is everything okay?”

  “Um—tissues?” Violet said. Just watching Nasira cry was making her tear up, too.

  Amanda hurried back behind the counter, bless her heart, and reappeared with a box of tissues. “Thanks,” Violet said. Amanda got the hint and retreated back to the counter.

  “My deepest apologies,” Nasira said, grabbing a tissue and blotting at her eyes. “It is just...well, I am very happy that Rafe has opened himself up. I had believed that part of him might have died after...”

  “But you’re crying,” Violet said gently.

  “It is nothing,” Nasira said, which was pretty obviously a bold-faced lie. “I am quite happy for you and for Rafe,” she repeated.

  “But...”

  Nasira tried to smile but she didn’t make it. “I have long wanted a child of my own and we have not been blessed with one. Sebastian is an honorable man. He wishes to have an heir and I...I cannot. I recently lost the baby I was carrying and now he will not...” Her voice trailed off with such hopelessness that it almost overwhelmed Violet.

  “Oh.” This time, Violet didn’t even try to rein in her own tears. “I’m so sorry. This must be—oh,” she repeated numbly. Because seriously, the fact that she got pregnant after one time had to be salt in the wound.

  “Please,” Nasira said, drying her eyes and putting on a good face, “do not apologize. Tell me more of Rafe. You are aware of his scheme, yes?”

  “I figured it out. And when I confronted him about it, he told me the rest. I just...look, I get that he blames Mac. But it’s been twelve years. And your father—how long has he been dead?”

  “Almost seven years,” Nasira said.

  “Why is he still doing this? I thought...” Now it was her turn to look down at the table. “I thought he cared for me. But when I confronted him, he told me that Mac had ruined you and he was just returning the favor.”

  Nasira gasped in horror. “He said that?”

  Violet nodded. “And I feel like such a fool because he made all these promises that sounded so good, about how I would always have a place in his country and how our child would be both a bin Saleed and a McCallum and...and it was all a trap. He didn’t care for me, but I fell for him.”

  Unexpectedly, Nasira reached across the table and took Violet’s hand in hers. “Do not think such things,” she said, a harder edge to her voice. “I know Rafe and I know he does not say such things lightly. He does not allow himself to grow close to people in general and women specifically. That was what was so unusual about his friendship with Mac. I do not think that, before that time, Rafe had had many friends”

  “Really? But he’s so charming. Too charming,” she admitted.

  “I shall speak to him,” Nasira said decisively.

  “What? No, you don’t have to do that.”

  “Please,” Nasira said, but it wasn’t a request. It was an order, and Violet remembered that, touching moments aside, she was technically sitting across from royalty. “This whole thing began with me and will be ended by me. Rafe has no just cause to treat you like this.”

  “I just don’t want my baby to be this rope in a tug-of-war between me and Rafe,” Violet said. “I don’t want to keep his child from him but I can’t live in fear that he’ll take my baby and disappear into the desert and I’ll never see my baby again.”

  “I will not allow it,” Nasira said. “And if Rafe attempts such madness, Fareed will step in. You will be the mother of a bin Saleed. That affords you certain rights and protections, both in Al Qunfudhah and I assume here in America.”

  Violet nodded. “I mean, I guess. I haven’t even seen a doctor yet. Everything’s happened so fast...”

  And what she really needed was for things to slow way, way down. At least long enough that she could get a handle on the situation. Honestly, at this rate, she was becoming numb to the shocks. She wouldn’t even be surprised if the ghost of Rafe’s dad, the old and seemingly really cruel sheikh himself, floated into the diner. It wouldn’t faze her at all.

  She glanced toward the door. Well, maybe not too much, anyway.

  “Do you know where Rafe is?” Nasira asked.

  “He’s been staying at the Holloway Inn—it’s about thirty minutes from here,” Violet said. “That’s where we met the f
irst time.”

  Nasira brought up the inn’s information on her phone. “Ah, I see.”

  “What about you? Do you have a place to stay? Do you want to see Mac?”

  Nasira blushed, and in that moment, she looked much younger—probably more like the girl who’d been so desperate for a way out that she’d do anything. “He wouldn’t be happy to see me, not after what Rafe has done,” she said quietly. “I shall take a room at the inn where Rafe is.”

  “Will you call me and let me know how it goes?”

  “Of course.”

  They exchanged numbers and Nasira stood to go. “Thank you,” she said, putting her hat back on her head.

  “For what?” Violet asked, trying not to be jealous of Nasira’s style and grace. God knew Violet couldn’t pull that level of class off. The one time she’d tried, well, she’d ended up pregnant.

  “For caring about Rafe. He needs that more than you could ever know.” Her face took on a battle-ready look. It was a beautiful battle-readiness, but still, Violet decided that, in a throw-down, she’d put her money on Nasira. “I will not let him destroy this chance.”

  “I don’t know that I care for him anymore. Not after all of this.”

  Nasira gave her a smile that sent a shiver racing down Violet’s back. “We shall see.”

  Then Rafe’s sister swept out of the Royal Diner just as quickly as she’d arrived. Violet glanced back to where Amanda was trying hard to look as though she wasn’t listening. “Not a word to another living soul,” she said.

  “Not a word!” Amanda held up the Girl Scout sign. “On my honor!”

  Violet sighed. She needed to warn Mac that the plot had thickened yet again. But she sat there for a little bit longer, trying to make sense of everything Nasira had shared. Realistically, she knew it was possible that Nasira was here because Rafe had called her, that she was a hedge against damage control. If Rafe’s plan blew up in his face, he’d want a soft, beautiful woman to help with the public relations disaster.