Marrying the Sheikh (6 page)

TEN

The next few weeks flew by as Ella busied herself with planning the wedding of her other client, the football player, organizing Hannah’s upcoming baby shower and a few other client appointments for weddings coming up the following year. She continued to finalize the arrangements for Karim and Nadia’s wedding, too; working through the Amira, Djaron and a handful of other surrogates. Occasionally, she was able to pin Nadia down for a phone call, but that was almost always late in the day. The one time Ella had gotten a hold of her in the morning, Nadia had sounded like she had been recovering from the night before, but had told Ella she had just woken up.

Karim and Ella had had no contact, except for an occasional glance when she stopped by to deliver some samples or pick up payment for a deposit. One time, she saw Nadia leaving Karim’s office when she arrived. Karim came out and made a show of putting his arm around Nadia, pulling her close for a passionate kiss, and Ella felt her stomach flop at such an ostentatious show of feigned affection.

Why was Karim avoiding her, she wondered. She still couldn’t figure out what she had said or done, back on the island, to make him change so much. Before the trip to Eleuthera, they had gotten along just fine. Their phone calls were friendly and light, their meeting at the café was casual and comfortable. Even the time they spent on the jet together had been enjoyable. She wished Karim could be that way with her again, but the more she saw him, especially with Nadia, the more she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

With the wedding only a month away, Ella decided it was time to nail down the details about the cake. She had left several messages for Nadia, none of which were returned. Finally, in utter exasperation, she decided to stop by Karim’s office, unannounced, to see if she could get him to coerce Nadia into making a decision.

The building's main receptionist recognized Ella and buzzed her in, not thinking for a second that she wasn’t expected. She went back to her business of filing her nails as Ella made her way past the marble receptionist desk and into the gleaming silver elevator. Arriving on the 44
th
floor, Ella exited the elevator as the doors swooshed closed behind her.

She looked around and saw the usual bustle of activity. Women and men dressed in thousand dollar suits walked quickly around the office floor, chatting over numbers on their tablets and scribbling notes on legal pads. One wall of the entrance was made of floor-to-ceiling windows that showed a breath-taking view of Manhattan.

Ella smiled at the woman behind the desk and pointed toward Karim’s corner office. Again, the receptionist didn’t think anything of Ella being there, as she had been there dozens of times in the past several months.

Ella nodded politely and walked purposefully toward Karim’s office. With her sleek gray suit and hair pulled back into a business-like bun, she could easily have passed for one of the hundred or so staff members on the floor.

She rounded the corner that led to Karim's office and stopped short when she heard his voice booming down the hall.

“What did you think would happen?” Karim said loudly.

“I don’t care what happens!” a woman’s voice retorted.

“Well, you better care! This affects your family, too!”

Ella held her breath and her hand went up to her throat. That must be Karim and Nadia, she thought. She wanted to rush down the hall and listen more closely, but she didn't dare. She looked furtively around her to make sure no one was watching, then she pulled out her cellphone and pretended to dial.

“Don’t tell me what to do! I’m not one of your precious royal subjects!” Nadia spat the words out.

Ella listened, holding her phone to her ear as surreptitiously as possible, as the silence hung loud enough to break glass. Seconds later she heard Karim speak in a barely audible tone.

“Nadia,” he said. “You can't keep acting the drunk fool! The papers follow you everywhere you go! They already suspect…”

“Suspect what! What do they suspect, Karim?!” Nadia screamed.

“They suspect that you’ve got something to hide,” Karim paused.

Ella hung on his every word as she waited for him to confirm her suspicions about the pregnancy.

“They suspect that you’re trying to keep it secret, that you don’t want people to know that you’re
—
“

Karim’s voice cut off and the room went silent. Ella froze as she saw Karim swing his door open wide and stare directly at her.

“Ella?” he said, speaking her name for the first time since they had left the island.

“Um...” she fumbled with her phone and threw it back in her purse. Ella tried to look casual and walked toward the office, but she was sure she'd been rumbled.

“Yes, hi!” Ella put on her best cheerful face. “Nadia! I’m so glad you’re here. I was just…” She trailed off as Nadia marched toward the door.

“I’m leaving!” Nadia said curtly. With a glance back at Ella, she turned to Karim and placed a passionate kiss on his lips. “Call my girl. She’ll help you with whatever you need,” she said with a smirk as she stepped through the doorway. She shot one final glance at Karim. “And tell her about the island, honey.”

With that, Nadia disappeared down the hall, leaving Ella alone with Karim.

Ella blinked and looked up at him. He shuffled his feet, clearly uncomfortable at being left alone with her.

“Um, you said you needed something?” Karim cleared his throat and then moved across the office and sat behind his desk. Being in that position made him feel more secure, more authoritative, more in control. And right now, being in his office with Ella, he needed all the control he could get.

Ella watched and realized that any hopes she had of getting the truth out of Karim were gone. She let go of any hope she had of him leaving Nadia and spending time with her, and resigned herself to the fact that what she had felt on the island, on the jet, and at the café, were just wild school-girl crush feelings.

She looked down at her feet and walked over to the desk. “Karim,” she said, too exhausted from the emotional roller coaster to play games anymore. “I don’t know what you guys are doing. I don’t even care at this point. I just need someone to approve the darned cake.”

Karim tried to hide his smile but couldn’t. The corners of his mouth turned up and despite his best intentions, he let the smile breath through.

Ella saw it and sat down in the chair across from his desk, even more confused than ever. Here was this man who had stopped speaking to her for no apparent reason. This man who had dodged her at every opportunity for the past month. The kind, funny man who had opened up to her in the hotel room on the island. Here he was again, in front of her in his office.

Ella didn’t know what to think anymore. She looked at Karim with a flat, exhausted expression. “What?” she asked, watching as his eyes twinkled with delight.

“Nothing,” Karim said, still smiling.

He was tired, too. The past month had been hell for him. Things with Nadia were going from bad to worse, and she had left him to handle nearly everything with the wedding. With his feelings for Ella, he knew he couldn’t have direct contact with her, so he had to juggle his staff to handle all of the interactions with Ella. And he had to have more staff to look after Nadia. She had gotten out of control and Karim was certain the media would catch her in a weak moment and reveal the truth about their wedding.

Ella sat back and sighed. “Fine,” she said, her sense of humor failing her. Still, she was glad Karim was speaking to her again, despite the kiss she had just seen. She still believed what Karim had told her on the islan
d
—
that there was no love between him and Nadia.

“So, will you, or Amira, or Djaron, or someone just approve the cake so I can get it ordered, please!”

Karim reached his hand out and Ella handed him the pictures and prices. He looked them over briefly before signing the invoice.

“Done. Anything else?” He didn’t want to usher her out, but was afraid he had already to start to lose his resolve. He had told himself he wouldn’t be mean to Ella anymore, but he had to keep their interaction to a minimum. Just being in the same room with her for more than a few minutes was driving him crazy.

Ella looked at him with wide eyes, shaking her head in disbelief.
Okay
, she thought.
So that’s how he’s gonna play this
. She stood up and grabbed the paperwork.

“Nope, that’s it for now. Thank you,” she said as she turned to leave.

She got to the door and then remembered what Nadia had said. She spun around and looked at Karim. “There's just one more thing,” Ella said.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“What was Nadia talking about when she said ‘tell her about the island?’”

Karim sat back in his chair and clasped his hands over his face. He slid them down until they rested on the leather blotter on his desk. Ella didn’t know what was coming, but based on his body language, it wasn't good news.

She stood at the door and waited for his response. “Well,” Karim said slowly, watching Ella’s reaction. “Nadia said that since the weather is so unpredictable in Eleuthera, she doesn’t want to hold the wedding there anymore.”

Ella threw her hands up in the air. “What?! Are you kidding me?” She looked down at her watch as if it were a calendar, calculating the days in her head. “She wants to change the venue thirty, no
—twenty-nine
days before the wedding?! Are you serious?!”

Ella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Once, and only once, had she let a client change their venue. And that was six months before the wedding, and even then it had been a fiasco. Ever since then, Ella had included it in her contract that any venue changes were the responsibility of the client and Ella would not be responsible if the vendors could not accommodate the changes. Clients needed to understand how difficult it was to secure a location for a wedding, and she couldn't be responsible if not.

Karim just nodded. He wanted to laugh, just a little, at the sight of Ella. Her professional demeanor had quickly come undone. The tight bun that rested on the top of her head had started to unravel and loose hairs hung down against her soft cheeks. The steely cold look she had in her eyes began to shine with frustration, making them even brighter and greener than before.

As polished as she still was, Karim could see the real girl underneath coming out. He could tell that Ella just wanted to do a good job. She didn’t care about the praise, the money, the accolades. All she wanted was to make her clients happy and give them what they wanted. And Nadia was making that impossible.

“So,” Ella asked from her position at the door. “Where on earth does she expect she will have the wedding now?”

Karim cleared his throat and looked down as he spoke. “The Plhrra Hrrlll,” he said mumbling from his spot at the desk.

Ella put her hand on the door frame and looked at him with her head cocked. “Where? Did you say what I think you said?”

Karim looked up quickly and then shot his eyes back down to the papers on his desk. He said it again, this time a little louder. “The Plaza Hotel.”

Ella threw her arms up in the air. “You’ve got to be kidding me?!”

She turned and walked in a circle, unsure how to react. “She thinks she can move a wedding with three hundred guests from an island in the Bahamas to one of the most desired venues in New York in less than a month? In the springtime? Is she out of her mind?”

Karim looked up and shrugged as if to say “Sort of.”

Ella took a couple of deep breaths and steadied herself before she spoke. “Okay,” she said slowly keeping her eyes focused on the skyline behind Karim’s desk. “I'll call the Plaza straight away and see if it's even possible to get a spot. Then, I will call all of the vendors and see if they can transfer their services to local vendors.

“Then,” she paused, collecting herself. “Then I will call the cake company and let them know that you have finally approved the
—
” she looked down, unsure of what cake flavor she had even selected. “The red velvet mocha berry cake.”