A Bride For The Sheikh (5 page)

“You’re not a bad player,” Angelina said after she’d won all four games against Rashid.

“You’re only saying that to make me feel better. I’d win a few of the games, if your gorgeous legs didn’t keep on distracting me.”

Angelina blushed as she bent down to pick up a tennis ball. Rashid had been throwing compliments at her all afternoon and she didn’t quite know what to make of it. Part of her felt a little overwhelmed by his charm, but part of her was excited to have a man like Rashid paying her so much attention. He was extremely handsome in a dark, exotic kind of way and the way he looked at her with his large brown eyes made her heart spin. He was coming onto her big time, but a part of Angelina didn’t care. She’d worked so hard for so many years, first at school and then at college, that she hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of having a boyfriend; they took up too much time, both physically and emotionally. However, she was on holiday and had earned a well-deserved break from studying. When she got back to England and entered law school, it would be back to the books with time for little else other than a part-time job, eating, and sleeping. Therefore, Angelina decided to enjoy Rashid’s attentions and as the afternoon progressed, she did little to discourage him.

“You’ve worn me out. Why don’t we get something to drink?” she asked at the end of the fifth game, which she only just won. “Do you live nearby?”

“It’s a bit of a drive.”

It didn’t occur to Angelina that the compound was only open to residents and she didn’t know that any guests had to be signed in. Therefore, it didn’t strike her as odd that Rashid was there. “I live just around the corner, in the villa near the main gate. We could go back to my house if you want.”

“I’d love to.”

Angelina’s villa was only a short walk away from the tennis courts, but the heat outside was so unbearable that they took Rashid’s car. She couldn’t help but notice that he drove an extremely expensive vehicle, but almost everyone in the country seemed to have a flash car, so all she said was, “Very nice. I’ve always wanted a Mercedes.”

“I’ll get you one.”

Angelina laughed. “Thanks. How about a silver one?”

“Consider it done,” Rashid replied, following her into the house.

“Sorry it’s a bit bare. It’s not actually my house. It’s my father’s. I’m just out here visiting for a few weeks. However, make yourself at home. I’m just going to have a quick shower.”

“A shower sounds like a very good idea.”

“What are you doing?” Angelina asked. She couldn’t believe that he was following her into her bedroom. However, from the look on his face, it was quite clear why he had followed her and what he had in mind.

“If you want me to leave, I will,” he said, putting his arms around her waist.

She felt her mouth go dry. Every particle of her brain said that she should kick this man out, but every cell in her body wanted him to stay. When she failed to respond, he leant down and slowly put his mouth against hers. Almost without thinking, she parted her lips and when she felt his tongue inside her mouth, she knew that she was his, all his.

An hour later, Angelina laid breathing heavily in her bed. She may have beaten Rashid at tennis, but he was more than a match for her between the sheets.

“I don’t normally go to bed with strangers,” she said, pulling the bed sheet up over her naked body. She wondered whether she should feel ashamed of having given in to this man so quickly, but he had such an unbelievable pull on her that it was almost inevitable and she felt nothing but a warm glow inside her.

“We’re not strangers now, are we?” he said, reaching under the sheet to cup one of her breasts in his hand.

“But we hardly know each other.”

“Let me guess. You’re a grade A student. You’ve studied hard all your life. You’ve just got into law school. Your father lives here on his own because your mother ran off with someone else with more money. You love your father and hate your mother.”

“Wow! That’s amazing. How do you know all that?”

“Because you have a book on your desk that everyone studies in their first year at law school.” He nodded in the direction of Angelina’s bedside table, on top of which was an imposing law tome. “Nobody takes a book like that on holiday unless they’re about to start their first year. Also, the fact that you take such books on holiday and the fact that you got into law school means that you studied hard at school and at college.”

“But how did you know all that about my parents?”

“Easy. This looks like a bachelor place and you yourself said your father lives here, not your parents, so your mother must have left you. Your father’s working here because he needs the money. Let’s be honest, why else are any of the foreigners here? I love my country, but most workers aren’t here for the local culture. If he needs the money, it’s because he didn’t have enough back home, so his wife probably left him for someone richer. Also, the way you talk about money not being important in a relationship probably means that this is an issue that’s personally affected you, so I guess your own parents split up because of money. You’re here visiting your father, who you get on well with, so I presume you don’t get on well with your mother.”

“Well done, Sherlock Holmes. But what about you? All I know is that you’re from Bezira, you’re lousy at tennis, but great in bed.” She put her arms around him.

“And you’re even better in bed than you are at tennis.” He began caressing her other breast. “I’m twenty-eight and I studied Media Studies at Oxford.”

“So you’re clever, as well as very sexy.”

“No, not
the
Oxford. I went to the other one, Oxford Brookes University. I’m not nearly smart enough to get into the traditional one.”

She appreciated his honesty. Quite a few other people would have let her believe that when they said they went to Oxford, they meant the main university.

“And what do you do now?” she asked.

“I’m making love to a very beautiful woman.” He started kissing her neck.

“No,” she laughed. “I mean, what’s your job?”

“I work at the local newspaper where I oversee some of the content.” Angelina could feel his kisses getting hotter as his mouth moved slowly across her body. “I have lots of brothers and sisters and I’m the youngest in my family.” He moved his hand between her legs.

“What’s your full name. Rashid what?”

“It’s Sheikh Rashid bin Jafari Al Abid.”

Angelina thought that there was something familiar about his name and was about to ask him about it, but at that moment he entered her for the third time that afternoon and she was completely lost to the sensation of it.

She had forgotten all about his surname by the time they got up and got ready to go out. There was no food in the house, except some slightly stale bread, so Rashid offered to take her out for an early dinner.

“I’ll have you home before your father gets back from work,” he promised, though Angelina left a note for her father on the kitchen table just in case, saying that she was going out with a friend.

“Is that all I am?’ he asked. “Just a ‘friend’? I was hoping that I could be something more.”

“You are more, a lot more.” She kissed him and felt the soft brush of his beard against her cheek. “However, I can’t introduce you to my father through a note in the kitchen. Come on. Let’s go.”

They went outside and braced the sweltering heat for a few seconds until they got into Rashid’s air-conditioned car.

“Where would you like to go? Somewhere local?” he asked her as he drove through the compound gate.

Angelina liked all sorts of food. “Local would be great,” she replied. She’d asked her father about the local food, but he’d said that he hadn’t had much of a chance to try any, and she was sure that Rashid would be the perfect guide to restaurants in Bezira.

After a short drive, Rashid stopped the car near a local market area. “This is the old
souk
, or market in Zakir,” he explained, “and this restaurant may not be much to look at, but it serves the best Arabic food in the country.” He led her inside a small restaurant and up a narrow wooden staircase at the back. On the first floor, there was nothing but two walls of curtains. One of the waiters came over to them, bowed low to Rashid and pulled back one of the curtains to reveal a private dining area. The floor had an Oriental carpet on it and was covered in cushions. In the middle was a low wooden table.

“Come in and sit down. You don’t mind sitting on the floor, do you? It’s how we traditionally eat.” Rashid led her behind the curtain. He said something to the waiter in Arabic and then sat down next to Angelina. The waiter pulled the curtain after him, leaving them completely alone.

“I would never have found a place like this on my own,” Angelina said.

“I thought I would never find you, but I did and I am eternally thankful.” He took one of the dates from the table and put it in her mouth. “These are Medjool dates. They’re the best dates you can get. They’re almost as sweet as you.”

“You’re very sweet too.” She bent forward to kiss him, but was stopped by the waiter pulling back the curtain. He was carrying what looked like a mountain of food. Some of the dishes Angelina recognised from the buffet table at the palace, and some of them were new. However, it was all delicious and she tried everything, eating with her fingers as Rashid said was the custom to do. When she’d finished, he took her hand and licked her fingers, one by one, until they were all clean. He then slipped his hands under her skirts and began to pull down her underwear.

“Stop! What are you doing?” she asked, though it was quite clear what he was trying to do.

“It’s time for dessert,” he muttered into her ear as he pushed her body down onto the cushions that covered the floor.

“But what if someone comes in? What if the waiter sees us?”

“I gave him very clear instructions not to disturb us.” Rashid lifted his robe and shifted his weight onto hers. Angelina didn’t need very much persuading to give in to him and the thought that a flimsy curtain was all that separated them from the outside world only added to the tension and excitement.

“You’re insatiable,” she said when they’d finished.

“I will never get enough of you, even if I made love to you every day for the rest of my life. You are the most wonderful, beautiful, sexy person in the whole world.” He ran his hands down the inside of her thighs.

“You’re very sexy too. I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” She put her arms around his bare back.

“Angelina.” He looked deep into her eyes.

“Yes?”

“There’s something I want to say to you. There’s something I have to tell you.” He kissed her softly on her forehead. “I love you and I—”

A shout in Arabic came from behind the curtain. Rashid shouted back in Arabic.

“What is it?” She couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying.

“Some idiot out there thinks he’s reserved this space for his family. One minute.” He pulled on his robe and Angelina pulled her skirt back down and smoothed down her clothes. She looked at her watch. It was much later than she thought. She ought to call her father in case he was worried, but she couldn’t find her phone. She wondered whether she’d left it in Rashid’s car. Perhaps it had fallen out of her bag. She asked him for the car keys and went to look for it, while he began a heated discussion with the waiter and an older man who stood on the other side of the curtain with a heavily veiled woman and two young children.

When she got to the car, she searched everywhere for the phone. She knew that she’d put it in her purse, but it was unzipped, so it might have fallen out. Rashid had taken several of the corners quite sharply. She peered under the passenger seat and then she saw it; it was under one of the rear seats. However, there seemed to be something in its way, something that looked like a large wooden box. She opened the door to the back seat and tried to shift the box. Something seemed to jangle inside the beautifully carved box when she moved it. She lifted the lid and peered inside, only to discover that it was filled to the brim with a king’s ransom worth of gold jewellery. She wouldn’t have been more shocked if the box had been full of live snakes. Why did he have a box full of extremely expensive women’s jewellery in his car?

As he drove her back to her house, Angelina could feel the presence of the box directly behind her. However, she’d had no right to go snooping around his things, so she didn’t feel she could ask him about it. She also wondered what he’d been about to say to her in the restaurant, but when she asked him, all he said was that he loved her and despite the fact that they’d only just met, she couldn’t help but believe him.

The next morning, Angelina woke up to the sound of the doorbell. Rashid had dropped her off at her house the night before with the promise to pick her up at midday and take her out to lunch. Surely it wasn’t lunchtime yet? She looked at her alarm clock. It was only nine o’clock. The doorbell rang again.

“Coming!” she called out, as she threw a dressing gown on over her pyjamas.

She opened the door only to see a brand new silver Mercedes sitting in the driveway of her father’s house.

“Could you please sign for this?” a young man in uniform asked.

“Sign for what?”

“The car.” The man handed her a set of papers and pointed to where he wanted her to sign her name.

“There must be some mistake. I haven’t bought a car.”

“It’s a gift from Rashid bin Jafari Al Abid. You are Angelina Smith, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but I can’t accept this!”

“I can’t take it back. Maybe you should take the matter up with Rashid bin Jafari Al Abid. If you could please just sign the papers to say you’ve received it,” he said, as if he were delivering a parcel and not a car.

Angelina signed. The man looked relieved, handed her the car keys and got into a small truck that was waiting at the end of the driveway, beyond the Mercedes. Angelina took the papers inside with her and shut the door, more to escape the heat than anything else.

She remember saying to Rashid that she’d like a silver Merc, but she said it as a joke. She didn’t really want him to go out and buy her a car! In a bit of a blur, she had a shower and got dressed. She was just drying her hair, when the doorbell rang. “What has he sent me this time?” she asked as she opened the door. However, it wasn’t another delivery, but Sarah and Carla, the girls who lived across the street.

“You dark horse! You never told us that you were seeing a sheikh! We’re impressed. You’ve been in the country for less than a week and already you’re dating Bezira’s most eligible bachelor!” Sarah exclaimed.

“According to
Hello
magazine, he’s considered to be one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. He’s certainly one of the richest,” Carla added.

“Have you been stealing my
Hello
magazine?” Sarah asked her sister. “I haven’t even read it yet, though it looks like it won’t be long before you’re in it, Angelina.”

“I’m sorry,” Angelina replied, “but I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The royal sheikh who dropped you off last night,” Sarah said. “We saw his car pull up outside your house. The same car that was parked outside all yesterday afternoon.”

“Have you been spying on me?” Angelina asked.

“It’s a small compound. Everyone knows everything about everyone else,” Carla replied.

“So what’s he like? How did you meet him?” Sarah asked.

“I think there’s been a mistake. The person I was with yesterday isn’t a royal. Trust me, he’s not,” Angelina said with a bit more conviction than she felt.

“So how do you explain the brand new Mercedes in your driveway with royal number plates?” Sarah asked.

“Only royals can have number plates that are just numbers,” Carla explained. “Common people like us have a combination of number and letters. Look around at the other cars here and you’ll see what I mean.”

Angelina looked at the cars parked in the other driveways. All their number plates began with three letters and ended with three numbers, while the Mercedes’ number plate was just four numbers.

“You see,” Carla said. “It’s the same type of number plate as Sheikh Rashid’s car.”

“How do you know Rashid’s name?” Angelina asked.

“His full name is Sheikh Rashid bin Jafari Al Abid,” Sarah said. “He’s twenty-eight and the youngest son of Sultan Jafari Al Abid bin Akbar Tariq Khasid, one of the richest men in the world.”

“Some say the richest. Can we come in?” Carla asked. “It sure is hot out here.”

Angelina invited them into the house. She now knew why Rashid’s name had sounded familiar. She’d heard the sultan’s name announced when she went to the party at the palace. But why hadn’t he told her? Why had he let her say all those things about the royals when he was in fact one of them? Angelina wasn’t sure whether she was more angry or upset. She explained some of it to the other two women.

“Sorry,” Sarah said, drinking a tall glass of water, “we just presumed you knew who he was.”

“Maybe he’s going
incognito
to see if you’ll love him for who he truly is and not because he’s a royal,” Carla suggested, helping herself to another biscuit.

“He gave the game away with the Mercedes, though.” Sarah got up to get herself another glass of water. “It sounds more like Cinderella to me. You meet at a ball and leave before midnight. He then searches everywhere and at last finds you. You didn’t leave behind a glass slipper, did you?”

Angelina could see that the whole thing was a bit of a joke to them, but it wasn’t to her. She thought that Rashid had really liked her; he’d even said that he loved her and she’d believed him. She thought about how she’d let him make love to her the previous day—not just once but several times and in the restaurant as well.

“Are you okay?” Carla asked.

Angelina suddenly realised that she was crying. “I’m sorry. It must be the heat or something.”

“Look, I’m sure he meant to tell you,” Sarah said.

Angelina remembered that Rashid was about to tell her something when they were interrupted by the Arabic family shouting.

“Why don’t you come to a party?” Carla suggested. “It’ll cheer you up. An old school friend of mine here in Zakir is having a get-together at her place tonight. Just a bunch of girls—no men and absolutely no sheikhs!”

It sounded like just what Angelina needed. “I’d love to. Thank you. Are you sure your friend won’t mind?”

“Chrystal won’t mind. She’s lots of fun. You’ll love her,” Carla promised.

“And we can go in your new car,” Sarah added. “Nothing like royal number plates for getting through traffic.”

Chrystal?
That was another name that Angelina had heard before in Bezira, but she wasn’t quite sure when.

Sarah and Carla left shortly afterwards, with promises to call round at seven o’clock that evening to go to the party, which left Angelina over an hour before Rashid turned up.

Originally she’d planned to get herself all dressed up, with her hair done and some make-up and perfume on, but if Rashid wanted her to see the “real” him, then he could see the “real” her too. Therefore, when he rang the doorbell at midday, she answered it wearing the same old shorts and T-shirt that she’d thrown on earlier.

“I see the car’s arrived. Do you like it?” he asked, coming towards her for a kiss, but Angelina avoided him and walked off to the kitchen.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, following her. “Is it the wrong colour? The wrong model? I can get it changed.” He put his arms around her waist.

“Get off me!”

“What’s the matter? Are you ill?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s you! Why didn’t you tell me who you were, that you were a royal prince, the son of the sultan?”

Rashid sat down at the table, brushing aside the biscuit crumbs still on it from earlier. “I tried. I was about to tell you at the restaurant and then that family came in and insisted we had their reservation.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when we first met?” she asked.

“What did you expect me to say? ‘Hello, I’m the son of the sultan’? I’m not that kind of person and from what you’ve told me, you don’t seem like that type of person either. I told you the important things about myself. What does it matter who my father is?”

“It matters a lot!” Angelina paced around the kitchen, too unsettled to sit down. “How can you possibly think that it isn’t important? You tricked me into thinking that you were just a normal person, but you’re not; you’re the son of one of the richest people on earth.”

“And you said that money wasn’t important in a relationship,” he objected.

“It’s not, but being the sultan’s son is. You have pictures in
Hello
magazine, you’re listed as being one of the most eligible bachelors in the world, you’re a well-known, important person.” Angelina saw him smirk when she mentioned how eligible he was. “This isn’t funny, Rashid!”

“I’m sorry, but I was just thinking that if I’m so important and well-known, how come you didn’t recognise me when we first me?”

“Because you’re a B-list celebrity and I don’t waste my time following celebrity gossip.”

“Angelina, please don’t be angry with me.” He tried to look at her, but she turned away to stare out of the window at the rather forlorn bushes that were being scorched by the sun in her father’s backyard.

“It’s not my fault that I was born who I am,” he continued. “I didn’t ask to be a royal. When I was at Oxford, it was awful. I spent the first two terms with everyone thinking that I was a terrorist and then, once the students found out who I really was, I spent the next few years being surrounded by sycophants.”

“Don’t expect me to pity you just because you were born a royal prince.”

“But you told me that things like money and status weren’t important to you, and I love you for it.” Rashid stood and walked towards where Angelina was standing by the kitchen sink. “I love you, I really do,” he said and put his arms around her.

Angelina didn’t know what to think. Feeling his arms around her felt so good that she was tempted to give in and lead him to her bedroom where they could make love all afternoon, oblivious of who he was. However, she just couldn’t get her head around the fact that he wasn’t just a regular person.

“Things have changed, Rashid. You’ve changed,” she said, pulling away from his embrace.

“No, I haven’t. I’m still the same man who loves you and who made love to you yesterday. Nothing’s changed.”

“I just need some time for all of this to sink in.” Angelina saw his face drop.

“Some time?”

“Yes, a bit of time to get used to the idea of you being who you are.”

“Of course. I’ll leave and come back this evening. We can talk then.”

“No, I don’t mean a few hours. I mean some real time to think about all this.”

Rashid looked worried. “How much time?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk.”

“Please, don’t leave it too long.” He gave her his phone number and tried to kiss her goodbye. However, Angelina moved her head so that he missed her mouth and his lips just lightly brushed her cheek.

Angelina was glad that Sarah and Carla had invited her to their friend’s house. A girl’s night out was just what she needed to take her mind off everything.