The Sheik's Arranged Marriage (13 page)

Jamal gave her a slight smile. “As he had three healthy sons already, there wasn’t much they could say in the way of argument with him.”

“I see.” Heidi hesitated. “Your father must have loved her very much.”

“She was his entire world, or so I’ve heard.” He squeezed her hand. “My father is the kind of man who loves with his whole heart, but he loved only once.”

Heidi didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted to ask if it was a family trait—if he, Jamal, was the same way. Did he love only once, and was that one great love Yasmin? Heidi didn’t want it to be so. If it was, she labored in vain because Jamal wouldn’t have any of his heart left over to give her. She was beginning to worry that friendship and passion weren’t going to be enough for her—but was she going to get a choice in the matter?

“What are you thinking?” he asked unexpectedly.

“About your late wife,” she said truthfully, although she was not going to tell him anything specific. Then she remembered she was supposed to be ignorant about Jamal’s past. “I mean I, ah, read in an article that you were married before.”

“Yasmin is off-limits to you, young lady.” He gently squeezed her fingers.

“Why?” Didn’t he want to talk about his great love? “

Because it’s only polite,” he said. “Your past is off-limits to me, as well. I doubt you are the kind of woman to kiss and tell, right?”

“Of course,” Heidi said easily, even as she wondered if that was true. After all, she didn’t have any kissing to tell about, except for his, so she hadn’t actually been tested.

“So you won’t tell me about all your dozens of lovers?” he asked, his voice teasing.

“Dozens is a slight exaggeration.”

“So it’s less than fifty?”

Fifty?
Heidi laughed.
“Definitely less than fifty.”

“Less than twenty?”

“Of course.”

He studied her, his dark eyes appraising. “I want to guess less than ten, but you’re so beautiful. Men must be a problem for you wherever you go.”

Oh, yeah, right. She practically had to step over them just to get to her car, she thought humorously. “You would be surprised,” was all she said, however.

Wait a minute. Had he just said she was beautiful?
Beautiful?
For real?
And she barely thought of herself as pretty. Did he mean it? If only she knew a way to ask.

“Still,” he
said,
standing, then pulling her to her feet. “You’re here now…in my power, so to speak. I have a sudden desire to make sure you never get away.”

He was making it impossible for her to breathe.
Really.
Her throat was all tight, as was her chest, and if her heart beat any faster, it was going to self-propel itself out of her body.

She couldn’t think of a single thing to say in response, so she allowed him to pull her close. He wrapped his arms around her. She knew exactly what was going to happen next and found that she couldn’t wait. She desperately wanted him to kiss her the way he had before.
All hot and passionate with tongues brushing and hands exploring.

Now, standing so close to him, staring up into his dark eyes and handsome face, she couldn’t imagine why on earth she’d been afraid of being intimate with a man. Jamal made her want to find out everything and do it over and over until they got it right.

“Now what are you thinking?” he asked as he leaned close and brushed his mouth against hers.

“Nothing important,” she murmured,
then
brazenly licked his lower lip.

He shuddered at her touch, which made her shudder in return.

“It must be important,” he said as he nibbled on her jaw. “You were blushing.”

“No. I never blush. It’s the lighting in here.”

“Liar.”
His voice was low and seductive. “But if you don’t want to tell me what you were thinking, maybe you’d like to hear what I’m thinking.”

She shivered again, but this time as much from apprehension as anticipation. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Jamal could shock her in forty-seven different ways if he tried. The trick was going to be for her to act blasé, because she was, after all, the experienced-mistress type. At least Honey was.

He trailed soft, damp kisses down her neck and followed the curve of her top until he reached her exposed cleavage. Once there, he dipped his tongue into the valley between her breasts.

Her breath caught and her knees nearly gave way. She clung to him, praying he would never stop.

“Do you want to know?” he asked.

“Huh?”

He laughed—a satisfied male laugh. “Do you want to know what I’m
thinking.
”

“Oh, ah, sure.”

Right now she would agree to anything as long as he kept touching her, she thought hazily, her head lolling back so that he could easily reach all of her throat.

“I have a fantasy,” he admitted. “I’ve had it for years and not once have I ever had it fulfilled.”

That got her attention. Heidi straightened and stared at him.
“Never?”

“No.” His dark gaze met hers. “It’s probably going to sound a little silly to someone as sophisticated as you.”

“I doubt that,” she said honestly. “Tell me.”

She wanted to hear any fantasy he’d had for years—especially one that hadn’t been fulfilled by Yasmin.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “I would love to see you do the Dance of the Seven Veils for me.”

She blinked.
“Dance of the Seven Veils?
Like in the movies?”

He licked the shell of her ear.
“Exactly.”

He kept licking her and nibbling on her lobe, which made it impossible to think. Still she forced herself to respond to his request. “Isn’t that where the woman ends up naked?”

“Yes. Then she and the handsome sheik make love.” He straightened and smiled. “You’d be a terrific dancing girl.”

And Jamal had the handsome-sheik part down cold. Now if only the thought of doing that for him didn’t make her stomach head directly for her throat.

“And, ah, you want me to dance for you?”

“I can’t imagine anything more perfect.”

She weighed her options. There was the whole issue of being naked and then having sex. That she would leave for later.
Far better to have an emotional heart attack in the privacy of her own bedroom.
Which left providing an answer to his request.
His fantasy.
Jamal wanted her to do something that Yasmin had not done.

“No problem,” she said before she could stop herself. “Give me a few days to find a costume, maybe take a couple of seven veils dance lessons, and I’ll be ready.”

He pressed her close. “I knew you’d be the one,” he said, kissed her briefly,
then
released her. “I’ll be in touch.”

Before she knew what was happening, he was gone.

“Just like a man,” she muttered into the empty room a few seconds later as the door shut behind him. Now what? She thought for a second,
then
realized there was only one person who would know about both the dance and costume.
Time for a talk with
Fatima
.

Jamal pulled his Lamborghini into the
midday
traffic and tried not to think about what had just happened with “Honey.” Unfortunately his efforts to avoid getting uncomfortably aroused came far too late.
Just being in the same room with her made him hard.
That, combined with holding her close and kissing her, was enough to send him over the edge. He wanted her, and he liked her. It was a deadly combination.

As he navigated his way back to the palace, he told himself that this time was different.
This time his wife actually seemed interested in having a physical relationship with him.
Yasmin had pretended to want him while they were engaged, but as soon as she had what she wanted, she’d quickly reverted. He’d known by the end of the first month of their marriage that something was very wrong. While he and Heidi had been married nearly that long, their relationship was only getting better.

She responded to his kisses with a passion that matched his own. He’d felt her tremble in his arms. He’d tasted her kisses and her growing desire. She wasn’t anything like Yasmin; perhaps they had a chance.

Jamal shook his head. He wanted to believe in what was happening, but he wasn’t sure. Yasmin had nearly destroyed him, and he vowed that no woman would ever have that power over him again. No matter what, he would always hold a piece of himself back. He’d kept his promise all the years since her untimely death, and there had been plenty of women around to test his resolve. Some had been quite determined to win his heart, but he’d kept it firmly locked behind a wall no one was going to scale. Not even Heidi.

Heidi. Just thinking about his charming wife made him smile. She was so obviously innocent, yet determined. Except for being female, she was like no other woman he’d ever known.
Of course, the women who had been around since Yasmin’s death had been there for a specific purpose.
Jamal was willing to admit to himself that he wasn’t very proud of what he’d been doing for the past six years.

In an effort to forget the things Yasmin had said and the way she’d rejected him, he’d found beautiful women who desperately wanted him in their bed. He’d sought out the hedonists, the exotic, erotic women of high society and had let them seduce him. He’d showered them with jewels, gifts and trips, while allowing them the thrill of having a prince as their escort. All he had expected in return was that they want him.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew that those women were supposed to make up for what had happened with Yasmin. Yet all their yeses couldn’t take away his wife’s many
nos
. And in the deepest, darkest place in his heart, he couldn’t help wondering if Heidi would tell him no as well.

Still, he couldn’t resist her subtle brand of charm. He had a unique opportunity to get to know his wife as both a blushing bride and a bold mistress. He’d thought her intelligent and funny from their first meeting, but now she was so much more. She was innovative and brave and incredibly innocent. He knew he had to be careful, to make sure that neither of them got hurt, but he also wanted to see how far she was willing to go in her game. Would she really do a seductive dance for him? And if so, would she want to make love?

Jamal turned into the long driveway that led to the palace. There was one problem in Heidi’s plan, and he wondered if she’d thought of it yet. As his wife, she was both allowed and expected to be innocent. Yet as his mistress, she was going to have to have some sexual experience. The mistress could not be a virgin.
Which meant she, as Heidi, was going to have to overcome that particular obstacle.

Would she try to seduce him, or would she simply end the game? He found himself hoping it would be the former, and he promised himself he wouldn’t make it difficult at all for her to have her way with him.

“You can’t be serious,”
Fatima
said as she arranged several starburst lilies in a magenta vase. A box of unopened long-stemmed white roses sat on the table beside her.

Heidi stood across from her, admiring the older woman’s swift fingers as blossoms were placed, removed, trimmed, then put back in exactly the right spot. She’d had her share of flower-arranging classes at finishing school, but she’d never understood the art of the whole thing.

“I am serious,” Heidi said. “I need to know where to buy the veils, and I need a video or something to learn the Dance of the Seven Veils.”

Fatima
shook her head. “You must have misunderstood him. That dance was invented by
Hollywood
years ago. There’s no such thing in real life. Open that box, child, and start separating the roses for me. There’s a good girl.”

Heidi smiled. At times
Fatima
still thought of her as twelve or thirteen. If only life were that simple now.

“I know what he said,” she told the queen. “I was standing very close to him so it’s not as if I couldn’t hear. He distinctly said the Dance of the Seven Veils.”

Fatima
looked at her.
“Such nonsense coming from my own grandson.
He’s just trying to get your clothes off.”

Heidi opened the box of roses and began laying them out on the table. They were long and perfect. The creamy blossoms gave off a lovely fragrance, which was unusual for long-stemmed roses. But then
Fatima
probably had them grown just for her.

“I’m pretty clear on his goal,” she admitted, trying not to think about actually being naked in the presence of a man. “What I don’t know is what to do.”

“What do you want to do?”

Heidi had been thinking about that as well. It would be easy for her to call Jamal and tell him she knew he was trying to get her naked.
Except he thought of her as an experienced woman of the world.
No doubt he was, if not testing her, then finding out how far she would go. It was a question she hadn’t answered herself yet.

“Can I learn something similar? Maybe modify a dance to include the veils.”

Fatima
looked at her over the flowers. “Oh, they all include veils. It’s the taking off of the veils that is going to be different.” Thin, dark eyebrows
raised
slightly. “I take it things are going well?”

Heidi handed her three roses. “Yes…sort of.”

“That’s not a definitive response.”

“I know. I find it all confusing.” She tried to form an accurate answer. “I like Jamal. He’s being good to me.” Briefly she recounted how Jamal had brought her information on the general she’d been researching. “He’s funny and considerate and I like being with him. But it’s very strange being his mistress and his wife.”

“Sounds to me as if you have the best of both worlds.
Don’t wives always want to be mistress and vice versa?”

Heidi shrugged. “I don’t know about that. I’m afraid he’s more interested in Honey than in me.”

“He can’t be. You’re the same person.”

“I know…” Her voice trailed off.

Heidi didn’t know how to explain that so far Honey was seeing a lot more action. She’d been the one getting the passionate kisses while Heidi, as the patient wife, received little more than a peck on the cheek.

“I like the idea of being his mistress,” Heidi said slowly. “But being married to him as well makes it confusing. I don’t know that I like that he’s with someone else.”

“But he’s not.”

“Isn’t he?” She shook her head and handed over more flowers. “That’s where I start to lose my mind.”

Fatima
placed the roses in the vase and shifted them slightly. “You can decide about your mind later,” the queen told her. “Right now you have a bigger problem.”

“What’s that?”

Fatima
smiled. “You can buy veils at the marketplace easily enough, and I’ll find you a dance video. But that’s just the logistics. What are you going to do about the rest of it?”

“The rest of what?”
Heidi asked, truly confused. “If I have the costume and a dance, I’ll be fine.”

“Will you? How intriguing.
Because if I remember correctly you were going to make Honey a woman of the world.”

“She is.”

“Then won’t Jamal be surprised when he finds out his woman of the world happens to be a virgin.”

Heidi opened her mouth,
then
closed it. Words failed her, but then so did her brain. It shut down completely.
Fatima
’s words echoed over and over again in her head.
A virgin.

“Oh,” she said at last.

“Yes. Oh. So you see, my dear, the issue of the veils is small potatoes when compared with your real problem. Which means before you can go any further with him as his mistress, you’re going to have to find a way to make love with him as his wife.”

Heidi felt herself blush. “Oh, Lord, what do I do?”

“Simple enough.
You seduce him.”

Two days later Heidi prepared to sneak out of the palace and head down to the souk for an afternoon of shopping in the centuries-old marketplace.

She was less concerned about buying herself anything new than about her need to find veils and practice with them.
Fatima
had come through with a video that Heidi could modify to include a Dance of the Seven Veils, but without the sheer lengths of fabric, she hadn’t figured out what she wanted to do yet.

Not that she didn’t need a few things for
herself,
she thought as she fingered the plain, blue-gray dress she wore. While she didn’t especially like the “Honey” styles of overt sexuality, she was ready to try something more flattering for herself. Maybe a few tailored dresses and pantsuits. Not to mention evening clothes. She was going to have official functions to attend in the next few months.

But for now, veils were her main concern, she thought as she left the suite she shared with Jamal and made her way toward the front of the palace.
Veils and a growing sense of panic at the thought of having to seduce her own husband.

Heidi still couldn’t believe what
Fatima
had told her. Just thinking about it made her go numb. But the queen had been right. Honey the seductress couldn’t possibly be a virgin. And a good instructional video only went so far. She was going to have to change her status in the innocence department—and fast. Otherwise “Honey” was going to have some explaining to do.

But how?
she
wondered as she headed for the rear of the palace and the walkway leading to the garage. She wasn’t sure that Jamal was interested in her that way. He was still in love with Yasmin, which made the entire situation even more awkward than it had to be. Still, he’d had lots of women in his life in the past six years, so he wasn’t completely against the idea of being intimate. And he’d gotten quite angry at her on their wedding night when she’d talked about a mental and spiritual union as opposed to a physical one.

So maybe he wouldn’t mind if they consummated their relationship. The trick was going to be bringing up the subject,
then
casually indicating her willingness to do that with him. Maybe she should avoid the face-to-face conversation and simply send him e-mail!

Heidi was still grinning at the thought when she rounded a corner and smacked right into a very broad, strong chest. Powerful arms came around to hold her steady. In less time than it took for her heart rate to jump into overdrive, she recognized Jamal’s scent and feel.

“Heidi,” he said, sounding surprised. “Where are you off to?”

“I, ah, well, me?”

She stumbled over the words as her brain sought to find a plausible excuse for her being in this part of the palace. The long corridor led directly to the garage. So where was she going? It’s not that she wasn’t allowed to leave. She even had her own car to drive, but she felt a little guilty to be heading off to the marketplace on a “Honey” errand.

“I, um, yes, you,” he said, smiling at her. His gaze narrowed. “You have the most interesting expression on your face. If I didn’t know better, I would swear you were sneaking off and didn’t want to be seen.” He touched a finger to her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Is that true?”

His dark eyes seemed to see right down into the center of her being. So she settled on the truth and hoped he wouldn’t ask for anything specific.

“I’m going to the souk,” she admitted.

“Shopping.
Out to spend my money, are you? No wonder you’re acting guilty.”

“I’m not. I just thought I’d get a few things.”

Jamal’s gaze drifted over her body. She felt fluttery inside, which was crazy because he wasn’t attracted to her. She only got kisses on the cheek. He saved his passion for Honey.

“I’m teasing you,” he said, releasing her chin. “I want you to have beautiful things, so I’m pleased you’re going shopping.” He paused as if lost in thought, then squeezed her shoulder. “What if I join you? I can cancel my meetings for this afternoon and tag along. What do you think? Would you like a man’s opinion of your selections?”

Heidi opened her mouth then closed it. Talk about being caught between a rock and hard place. If she told Jamal no, he wouldn’t understand why. He would think she wasn’t interested in him, or their marriage, or that she was being difficult.