ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance

by Knight, Kylie

  Rhea’s jaw clenched and she stared straight ahead. She didn’t say another word for the entire drive.

  The dress more than made up for the unpleasantness in the car. It was a full-length silk sheath, as blue as Eirene’s eyes, and shot with gold. It was simple, elegant, and Eirene loved it. Even Rhea approved.

  “Ugh, my dress is so mother-of-the-bride,” Rhea complained. “Poor Nicki has no taste.”

  That was something they could agree on. The bridesmaids’ dresses were even worse.

  “Let’s have some lunch,” Rhea suggested. “There’s a nice place a couple of doors down.”

  “Promise you won’t lecture me,” Eirene told her.

  “I swear. I’ve learned my lesson.”

  Eirene doubted that, but she agreed.

  Over lunch Rhea told her that she and her husband were moving to Berlin later in the year.

  “What? Have you told Mama and Papa?”

  “Not yet.” She sighed. “I don’t know how to. It’s another reason why I’m worried about your plans to go off to god-knows-where this year.”

  “Why are you moving though?”

  “Taki is being transferred. Honestly, if it was up to me…” she let the thought trail off.

  Eirene laid her hand over her sister’s. “It’ll be fine. You’ll have a wonderful time there.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ll come visit. I’ve always wanted to see Berlin.”

  Rhea patted her hand. “You always make me feel better. I’ll miss you.”

  “You won’t get rid of me that easily,” Eirene promised. She was surprised at how much it bothered her to think of Rhea and Taki living so far away. Rhea was so much a part of home. To not be able to hop in the car and drive over to see her was upsetting.

  Later, when she was getting ready for bed, Eirene remembered that Taki’s boss was Nick Katsaros, and the whole Katsaros family would be at Nicki’s wedding. What would happen, she wondered, if she cornered Katsaros and asked him to reconsider the transfer. Would he even know what she was talking about? Katsaros and Matthias Dimitrios were business partners and friends, but would he know Taki as anything more than Rhea’s husband? Would he even remember who Rhea was?

  Still, it couldn’t hurt, she decided. Just a few words, a simple request to see if Taki couldn’t be spared. Without any penalty, of course. She didn’t want her interference to cost him anything. She’d have to make that clear. She’d even dance with his odious son if it would warm the old man up a little, get him to see her as a potential daughter-in-law the way the families had long planned. She wasn’t above it if it would help her sister stay close to the family.

  On the morning of the wedding, Eirene and Rhea had their hair done and got manicures. Rhea had a lot to do so they parted company after an early lunch, and Eirene did a little shopping before she returned home. Paul was there waiting for her, looking fretful.

  “Where were you?” he demanded. I told you I’d be here by one.”

  “And I told you it would take me until at least two to get back. You don’t listen.”

  “And you don’t respect my time.”

  “Paul, I told you when I’d be home. You chose to ignore me.”

  “Your family hates me,” he said. He looked miserable and she thawed a little.

  “No, they don’t. They just don’t know you.”

  “I hate this city,” he said.

  She sighed. “Why don’t we have a drink by the pool? It’ll relax you. “We’ll be leaving here about five, so I’ll still have time to dress.”

  “Why don’t we just go upstairs?” he asked, slipping an arm around her waist. Was he asking what she thought he was asking?

  “Uh… Paul, this is my parents’ home. You’re not coming upstairs with me.”

  “Don’t be such a prude. Who cares anymore?”

  “My parents, that’s who. And if you think they dislike you now, you cannot begin to imagine what my father would think of you if he found you in my bedroom.” Or what he might do to you, she added silently. But the bottom line was that she respected her parents and their rules. She’d never even think about doing what Paul was suggesting.

  She fixed him a gin and tonic and got him calmed down.

  The wedding was everything Eirene expected. It was big, loud, lavish, and filled with relatives who asked her personal questions without a second thought. Paul enjoyed the ceremony, but ruined it by explaining to everyone who would listen that he was a student of religious rituals, and talking about how it compared to various other ceremonies. Guests who were willing to cut him slack for not being Greek ran in the other direction when he began to discuss the deeper meaning of Orthodox rituals.

  “So he’s nice to look at,” Nicki observed, “but does he ever draw a breath?”

  “He has good qualities,” Eirene replied, knowing how lame it sounded.

  “Well let’s hope that includes being great in bed.”

  Eirene smiled in a manner that she hoped implied that everything was great in that area, but couldn’t bring herself to lie outright. It wasn’t great, it was adequate. But adequate was all she expected. She’d long felt that the whole cosmic sex thing was a myth. No one she knew ever talked about how the earth had moved or even about their men ensuring they had a good time every time. She wasn’t stupid; she got that sex was more often than not a commodity to be traded for security, and sometimes she thought that she’d taken up with Paul because she had absolutely no illusions about him. It was a nice, low-key relationship based on mutual interests.

  Still, it would have been nice if he’d made more of an effort. When she tried to get him to dance, he flat-out refused. Well, if he thought she’d just sit there and watch the way he was doing, he was mistaken. If he wouldn’t dance with her, she’d find someone else. The room was filled with her cousins. One of them would be willing.

  She was dancing with Nikos, a distant cousin on her mother’s side, a mining engineer who had recently been working in South America, when another man cut in, and swept her away before Nikos could tell her about the difficulty of extracting… whatever it was he’d been talking about.

  “I thought I’d save you from my cousin,” the stranger said. Except he wasn’t exactly a stranger. He looked so familiar. Probably a cousin. “He’s a great guy, but when he gets started in on mining, it’s all I can do to stay awake. “You’re Christ Dimitrios’ daughter, right?”

  “Eirene, yes.”

  He smiled and she realized that she was dancing with Simon Katsaros. No one else had a smile like that. Up close it was staggering.

  “You know we’re sort of unofficially engaged,” he told her.

  “I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that subject.”

  He laughed and she hated it that it excited her, hated that she found him attractive with his black curls and eyes the color of old cognac. She was swept away by his beauty which the newspaper and magazine photos didn’t come close to capturing. She knew she was staring so she looked away.

  “I remember you being about five feet tall and knock-kneed,” he told her.

  “High heels and a long dress help a lot.”

  “You don’t know how to take a compliment.”

  “I didn’t hear one.”

  He laughed again. “Fair enough. What I should have said was that you’re far more beautiful than I recall.”

  “So are you.”

  “Good genes,” he replied, and she knew it was true. Helena Katsaros was stunning.

  “Now who doesn’t know how to take a compliment?”

  “My parents taught me to be modest.”

  “With your media coverage?” she asked. “Please. Pull the other one.”

  “Are you here with anyone? I mean other than family. I saw Christ and Thea earlier.”

  “I have a date, yes.”

  “I don’t. I’m supposed to be squiring around one of the bridesmaids, but she’s already disappeared.”

  “I woul
dn’t think you’d want for someone to take to a wedding. Considering all I read about you, that is.”

  Simon rolled his eyes. “Don’t believe everything you read about me. I’m just an average guy with too much money.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say it,” Eirene replied. It was what she’d thought all along.

  “But I’m doing something with that money,” he added.

  “Charity work? Making the world a better place?”

  “Uhh… I started my own business.”

  “Well done,” she said, with a touch of sarcasm. As if starting your own business with daddy’s money counted as actually doing something.

  “To tell the truth, I wanted to work at Katsaros, but my father isn’t keen on the idea.” It wasn’t precisely the truth, but it would do.

  “Why not? Are you an idiot?”

  “Well, I might be, yes, but he’s oddly territorial about his work. He doesn’t like to share it with anyone.” And that was a flat out lie. What Nick Katsaros had told his son was: “You’re a smart boy, Simon, but you’re not willing to apply yourself to any work I give you, so it’s best if you don’t try right now. We can revisit this in the future.” Simon had been both relieved and mildly insulted.

  “How odd.”

  “It’s an odd family. But then you know that, don’t you?”

  “Our fathers are business associates, and our parents are in the same social circle. That doesn’t mean I really know much about you or your family.”

  “Except what you read in the gossip rags.”

  “I don’t read gossip rags!” she protested, realizing belatedly that he’d put her on the defensive. “My mother leaves them around hoping I’ll read them and be consumed by the desire to marry you and have a lot of babies.”

  “And it’s not working?”

  “Not really.”

  “Pity. We’d have made some pretty children.” That was the truth, she thought. She knew she was pretty, and he was stunning… she would have liked to see what their offspring would look like. It made her unaccountably wistful just thinking about it.

  The dance ended and Simon escorted her back to her table where Paul was staring at his cell phone.

  “Is this your date?” Simon asked.

  “Yes. Paul, this is Simon Katsaros. Simon, Paul Andrews.”

  The men shook hands, though Paul did so without much enthusiasm. “Simon’s father is a business associate of my father’s,” she explained.

  “And we’re also distant cousins, but that’s not really a thing since I think virtually everyone in Greece is related to everyone else.” Simon was going for a laugh, but Paul didn’t get it. He wasn’t Greek. “Okay. Well, I leave you in good hands. I’m going off to dance with some other spinsters as befits my role as a groom’s man.”

  He disappeared into the swirl of dancers and Eirene heard Paul make a disgusted noise. “What?”

  “I can’t abide useless types like that.”

  Before she’d met Simon and danced with him, she’d have said much the same thing. In fact, Eirene still thought Simon was rather useless, but hearing that same sentiment from Paul, with his expression of sullen superiority put her back up a little.

  “He’s a businessman, Paul. You may not appreciate that, but he’s not useless.” And that was sharper than she’d intended. She drained the wine in her glass and refilled it.

  “You’re having another glass of wine?” he asked. Was he determined to irritate her?

  “I’m going to have all the wine I want, thank you very much. It’s a wedding and I’m having a good time.”

  “It’s just… well, you know how you get, Eirene.”

  She drained her glass and refilled it a second time. “No, Paul, tell me how I get.” He’d been such a pill about this wedding right from the get-go, and now he was determined to ruin it for her. She wasn’t going to have that.

  “Never mind,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  “You’re goddamn right, never mind,” she snapped, feeling a bit light-headed as the wine began to do its work.

  “There, see? The language.”

  “Oh my God, Paul, when did you turn into a prissy old maid?” she asked. But she already knew the answer. He’d always been one. Paul was so uptight that mutual friends had been known to joke about having the pole surgically removed from his ass before they got married.

  “I think I’m going to go sit outside until you come to your senses,” he said and left the table. Eirene marched over to the bar and ordered a brandy.

  “Well if you’ve moved the party over here, I’m with you.” It was Simon, standing at her elbow. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he said to the bartender.

  She found she was a little irritated by Simon, too, but not nearly so much as by Paul, so she managed a smile. “You’re welcome.”

  “What’s up? Where’s Mr. I-Disapprove?”

  She nearly snorted the brandy out her nose. “Is that what you thought of him?”

  “Due respect to you and your taste in men, but I can’t help but feel he must have some redeeming quality that’s invisible to the rest of us.”

  “He has a huge cock,” Eirene blurted, and discovered that Simon could blush.

  “Well, uh… I think that about covers it,” he managed, and took a bracing sip of his brandy.

  “I’m just kidding. He doesn’t.”

  “That’s a shame. I’m sorry for your sake.”

  “Oh God,” she said and started to cry. Simon took her by the elbow and steered her out of the reception, and down the hall to a little alcove with a bench. “Sit down, now, and cry all you want. I’m not going to tell anyone.” He handed her a handkerchief.

  Eirene took it, blew her nose and said, “I don’t know what I see in him. We have similar interests, but we’re so different!”

  “Similar interests make for good friends sometimes, but partners? It’s usually not enough.”

  Eirene drank down her glass of brandy, noting Simon’s look of alarm. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I don’t want to go back in there, though.”

  “Okay, how about we go down to the lobby bar and have a cup of coffee together?”

  “Or a drink.”

  “Or a drink,” he said without much enthusiasm.

  “Spoil sport,” she said, but she was thinking of Paul when she said it. “Race you!” She hitched her skirt up to her knees and flew down the hallway with Simon coming up the rear.

  She woke with a foul headache and a taste in her mouth that reminded her of the bottom of her parents’ canary cage. What the hell had happened at the wedding? She opened her eyes. And where the hell was she? In a panic she looked around and saw Simon stretched out on the chaise, eyes closed, a shaft of sunlight falling on him. He looked like a young god, and for a moment she wished with all her heart that their so-called engagement was a real thing, and not just a product of their parents’ wishful thinking.

  And then she realized that she was lying in a hotel bed, in her underwear. “Oh God,” she muttered.

  Simon must not have been asleep because he heard her and his eyes opened. “Morning. How you feeling?”

  “Like hammered shit,” she admitted.

  “I tried to get you to drink a lot of water last night before you went out, but you kept spitting it at me and yelling about how you were a sea urchin.”

  Eirene cringed. Yeah, that’s what Paul had meant when he’d said, “you know how you get.”

  “For the record, Simon, did we—” She couldn’t bring herself to say it, though.”

  “Ah, no. You were very out of it and there are rules about that. I did undress you and put you to bed though.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, I didn’t think you wanted your family or boyfriend to see you like that. I mean, rare form and all, and I enjoyed it, but I thought I’d err on the side of caution.”

  “Thank you. Oh, my head.” She clutched at it.

  “Let me get you some water and aspir
in.”

  She eased herself up onto her feet and groaned. She hadn’t felt this rough since that week she’d spent in Rome with some friends, the semester before she met Paul. Maybe there really was some value to hanging out with a prissy old maid. Oh God, had she really called him that to his face?

  “Here.” He gave her a handful of aspirin and a glass of water. “Finish the water. You’re dehydrated.”

  “You know a lot about hangovers, huh?” Eirene tossed down the aspirin and drained the water.

  “Comes with the territory.”

  “I have to go.”

  “Whoa, calm down. Your family thinks we drove out to Rafina to watch the sunrise and have breakfast. They were thrilled. Let’s not ruin their fun so soon. We’ll get some breakfast in, you’ll start to feel better, and then you can go home, say you’re exhausted and go to bed. Everyone wins.”

  “You always have an angle?”

  “No angle here, Eirene. I just saw a train wreck waiting to happen and pulled the switch. I’ll drive you home as soon as you stop looking like you angered the gods. Why don’t you go take a shower?”