A Bride For The Sheikh (12 page)

“Well done! My mother really liked you.” Rashid gave Angelina a big kiss.

“She did? What’s she like towards her enemies?” Angelina asked.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be much easier next time and I hardly ever see her. She spends most of her time in LA.”

“And to think that she lectured me about responsibility and using money wisely, while there she is living it up in California.”

“She doesn’t ‘live it up,’ as you put it. My mother is the head of several major charities and spends a lot of time with people like Bill Gates, working on how they can use their money to help others. She’s much more responsible than me!”

“Speaking of which, your mother told me that you still had all yours.”

Rashid’s face dropped. “She told me that, too, while you were still waiting in the bedroom. She went and saw my father. Apparently, he legally can’t accept my decision. I still own the palace, the titles, the cars, everything. I suppose you’re going to leave me now, aren’t you? I wouldn’t blame you, but it was wonderful while it lasted.”

Angelina couldn’t bear to see him so sad and she couldn’t bear the idea of being without him. She put her arms around him and held him close.

“So this is goodbye then?” he asked.

“No, it’s the beginning. It looks like I’m going to have to learn a lot of etiquette rules.”

He pulled back in surprise. “You mean you’ll marry me?”

“I mean that we still have a relationship.”

“But you have to agree to marry me; otherwise, my father will make me marry Chrystal next week.”

“What?” Angelina had had quite enough surprises for one day. She wasn’t sure she could deal with any more.

Rashid sat her down and explained how his father had arranged for him to marry Chrystal, but he’d given Rashid two weeks to find a foreign bride. He now had just five days left to present Angelina to the sultan as his prospective bride.

“So you just grabbed the first foreigner that you could find, which happened to be me.” Angelina now realised why he’d been so desperate for her to marry him even though they’d only just met.

“No! When I met you at my father’s palace, I immediately felt that we had a bond, a connection. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.”

Angelina knew what he meant. She’d felt it, too.

“From there, it was just one small step to falling madly in love with you.” He put his hand on her leg.

She felt the strong chemistry that existed between them whenever he touched her. It was like an electric current. She knew that she meant more to him than just a substitute to marrying Chrystal. After all, he’d given up everything for her, or at least he’d tried to. “So when do I meet your father?” she asked. “I’ve met your mother and survived it, so I might as well meet your father.”

“Can I take that as a ‘Yes’?” he asked.

“Yes, Sheikh Rashid, I’ll marry you.”

“You have made me the happiest man on earth!” He hugged her. “And I will spend the rest of my life making you the happiest woman.”

“I am already,” she replied.

“Even with all my money?” he asked.

“Yes, but there is just one thing...”

“Anything. I’ll do anything you ask.”

“You must get rid of these plastic sofas. I never want to see them again!”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Angelina’s presentation to the sultan took place a few days later. They had already told her father, James, who, after a few initial reservations, was very happy for both of them. When she arrived at the palace, she wore a long, black dress and a light cotton scarf over her head, which covered most of her hair. Rashid had briefed her on all the necessary formalities and customs of the palace, but she felt that having gone through it all with his mother, she was more prepared and more relaxed this time.

“Just try not to contradict anyone,” Rashid said as they drove there.

“Why would I do that?” she asked.

“You contradicted my mother when you met her.”

“How do you know? Were you listening?”

“The kitchen wall at that place was very thin. However, I don’t think Motin cares.”

Rashid had moved out of the apartment and gone back to his palace. When he told Motin that he could live there instead of sleeping on the kitchen floor of the restaurant, the waiter was overjoyed and practically cried with happiness. Angelina saw it as the first small step in the pair of them trying to help others using the money that they had at their disposal. She and Rashid still planned to move to London while she continued her studies, but when they were finished, they would come back to Bezira to work, he as a journalist and she as a lawyer.

“One more thing,” Rashid said as he waved to one of the guards at the palace gates. “Don’t tell my father you think his palace is ‘over-the-top,’ or something similar.”

“Why would I do that?” Angelina laughed. She might have contradicted his mother, but she was hardly going to insult the sultan.

“It’s one of the first things you said to me and I know it’s what you think about my place.”

“While we’re on the subject, maybe we could do a bit of redecorating...” Angelina had been meaning to say something about it for the last few days. She loved Rashid, but she didn’t think she could ever get used to living with so much gold and glitz around her all the time. She would end up taking refuge in Rashid’s simply decorated bedroom all the time just to get away from it all.

“While we’re away in London, we can get people to decorate it however you want. Just tell me what you’d like done.”

“No, we’ll do it together.” She knew that their taste was similar and that they would agree on most things. “We’ll design a home that’ll be perfect for both of us and our children.”

At the mention of children, Rashid brought the car to an abrupt halt, even though they were still a few metres away from the main entrance to the palace.

“Children? You’re pregnant?” he asked. His eyes lit up and he was grinning even more than he had been when she agreed to marry him, if that could be possible.

Angelina knew that if she said yes, he would have screamed for joy. She was sorry to disappoint him. They had taken the necessary precautions and she was certainly not pregnant.

“However, one day I will be and we’ll have lots of beautiful babies,” she reassured him.

He started up the car again. “We better make sure that when we redecorate, we don’t forget about a nursery.”

“And absolutely no gold and no Old Master paintings in it. Those paintings should be in a museum, not locked away in a private palace where no one can see them.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe we could set up a museum? We could put my car collection in it as well. After all, it’s not as if I ever drive most of them.”

“And some of the carpets, the vases, the manuscripts...” The list went on. Angelina thought it would be a perfect way to make the most of the beautiful antiques that were scattered around Rashid’s home.

“I’m sure my father would contribute to it,” Rashid said as they entered his father’s palace. “He could give us that, for example.” He pointed to a large wooden cabinet with intricate inlay that stood against one wall. “That’s from France. I think someone once told me that it belonged to Louis XIV. It would be perfect for a museum. In fact, we could set up the finest museum in the whole of the Middle East and then, while we’re in London, we could start collecting for it. We could go to the auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. We could—”

“Rashid, how are you?” Hamad, with his arms outstretched, greeted his cousin like a long-lost friend. Next to him was Chrystal, looking more demure than Angelina had ever seen her. She was dressed in a high-necked, long-sleeved, pale blue dress. Her hair was pulled back and over it she was wearing a navy blue scarf. The only thing that stopped Chrystal from looking as if she was on her way to join a convent was an enormous diamond ring on the index finger of her left hand.

“Hamad! What a wonderful surprise!” Rashid hugged his cousin. “And Chrystal. How are you? What brings you both here?”

Angelina could tell that Rashid was trying to hide the surprise in his voice.

“We’ve come to pay our respects to dear old uncle, the sultan. And you? I thought you’d disinherited yourself, or something like that. Your mother was in a rage when she found out.”

“Looks like I’m not disinherited after all,” Rashid replied. “Seems like it’s against some ancient law, so I’m just the same as I always was.”

“So you’re still the rich and powerful Sheikh Rashid?” Hamad asked.

“Afraid so.” Rashid nodded.

“Excellent! Glad to hear it.” Hamad slapped his cousin on the back, but the colour was draining from Chrystal’s face. “We must go, but I’ll call you later. We have lots to talk about.” Hamad excused himself and left the palace with a rather shaken-looking Chrystal by his side.

“I gather that was your cousin,” Angelina said after they’d walked off.

“It was. I’m sorry but I couldn’t introduce you formally,” Rashid began. “It’s just not the way things are done here.”

“I know. In Bezira, it’s not proper for a man to introduce a woman to another man,” Angelina said.

“You’re a quick learner.”

“More importantly, did you see how Chrystal ignored me? There’s nothing in your local customs about women ignoring other women. Your poor cousin. She’s obviously got her claws into him.”

“He can more than handle her and she’ll let him carry on with his wild ways, just as long as she has full access to his bank account. In some ways, it might not be a bad marriage.”

“Marriage? They’re engaged?” Angelina thought about the massive ring on Chrystal’s finger.

“Without a doubt. They’ve just announced it to my father. That’s the only possible reason why they were both here. They came to get the sultan’s blessing, the same as us. By the look on Hamad’s face, I’d guess my father said yes. They’ll probably be married in a week or two.”

“That’s a bit quick. Your cousin’s barely been back in the country for more than a few days.”

“Hamad and Chrystal have known each other for years, in more ways than one. He’s wanted to get his hands back on her for a while now. As for Chrystal, she’s desperate to get
her
hands on a rich husband. Hamad’s not nearly as rich as me, but he’s not poor.”

“Did you see the look on her face when you said that you were just as rich as ever?  Maybe she’ll ditch your cousin and start chasing you again.” Angelina dreaded the thought, but it wouldn’t be long before she and Rashid were many miles away in London, though she wouldn’t put it past Chrystal to follow him there.

“No, she won’t. Hamad’s got more than enough money to keep Chrystal happy for the rest of her life.”

Angelina wondered how much money Chrystal would consider to be enough. If Chrystal was anything like Angelina’s mother, there was no such thing as enough money. People like that always wanted more. “How can you be so certain that she won’t split up with your cousin and throw herself at you again?” she asked.

“She can’t do it. It’s not possible. She’s publically engaged to Hamad now. They’ve asked for my father’s permission and it looks like he’s given it. She’s as good as married to him. They can’t turn back now. It’s official”

Angelina couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Chrystal doing her best to get hitched to Rashid’s cousin as quickly as possible, only to find out that Rashid wasn’t poor anymore and that she was now stuck with the lesser of the two men.

“The same will be true for us.” Rashid took her hand. “Once I introduce you to my father as my intended wife, there’s no going back. Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied, taking his hand in her own. She was nervous about meeting the sultan, but she was a hundred per cent sure about marrying Rashid. He was the man who’d been destined for her and if that meant accepting a foreign culture and being responsible for an immeasurable amount of wealth and power, then that was her destiny also. “Yes, let’s go. I’m ready.”

Together, they went in to the royal audience chamber and announced their intentions to his father.

* * * * *

From the author

I hope you enjoyed reading
A Bride for The Sheikh
. This is my fourth sheikh romance and was inspired by some of the things that I’ve seen and heard about while I’ve been living in the Middle East. However, as with all my sheikh romances, although the unlimited wealth and immense power do exist to different degrees, Sheikh Rashid and his bride, Angelina, are purely works of fiction.

If you would like to see some of the images that helped to inspire this book, as well as a collection of my favourite sheikh pictures, you can go to my picture boards on
Pinterest
at:

http://pinterest.com/KatherynLane
.

You can also connect with me online at the following places:

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/KatherynLane

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http://www.facebook.com/KatherynLane.Author

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http://www.goodreads.com/author/KatherynLane

My blog:
http://Katheryn-Lane.blogspot.com

If you’d like to email me, my address is:
[email protected]

I would love to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Katheryn Lane

* * * * *

Also by Katheryn Lane