The Sheik's Furious Bride (Love By Accident) (19 page)

That was an odd experience she thought as she walked out.  “We’re off to the marketplace,” she said to her guards, both of whom looked at each other over the top of her head.  Isla didn’t see the look, but she could feel it and tried to ignore the tingling sensation. 

She proceeded right to Hussan’s office and stopped in front of the man she suspected was Hussan’s lead assistant.  “Would you mind telling His Highness that I’m heading over to the marketplace to get spices and I’ll be back quickly?” she asked.

The man’s hands hovered over the keyboard as he looked up at Isla with a startled expression.  Apparently, no one dared to say things like that in Hussan’s offices.  But she was proud to be the first. 

She walked out, knowing that her guards were trailing after her.  She was relieved when a limousine was standing in front of the palace with a driver ready and waiting for her.  “Thank you,” she mumbled as she slipped into the back of the vehicle.  “We’re off to the spice vendors,” she explained before the door closed on her. 

The marketplace was very near to the palace and she wandered around to the various vendors, smelling the different spices and asking all sorts of questions.  She was starving by the time she was finished several hours later but eager to get back to the palace and provide instructions for the chef,
whose
name was Aabad, she’d learned during their discussion. 

In the kitchens, she walked right up to the man, startled him once again and handed him several bags along with written instructions for the dinner meal.  She took a yogurt out of the refrigerator, not wanting anything the man had cooked previously since it was probably horrible tasting. 

A servant came up behind her as she was leaving.  “Excuse me, Your Highness,” the short man called out. 

Isla stopped and looked back, noting that the man was rushing to her side.  “How can I help you?” she asked calmly. 

“
His Highness has asked to see you,” he explained, bowing low and blushing as he looked away from Isla. 

Isla remembered the previous evening when she’d asked him to discuss her responsibilities and he’d blown her off.  “Thank you very much for relaying that information,” she said and dismissed the man with a nod.  He hurried off, obviously thinking that she would rush to Hussan’s side now that she’d been summoned. 

But she moved off on the opposite direction
, unconcerned that the great man
himself  had
requested her presence. 

She walked directly to her bedroom and picked up the file that Hussan had given her that first day.  He’d said that it contained a list of all the things that needed to be done within the country.  It was time for her to get serious about finding a mission. 

“Are there any other living quarters within the palace?” she asked, stepping into the hallway to ask her body guards with the file tucked under her arm.  “I also need a computer with an internet connection and a desk if that’s possible.  If it’s not possible, then a table will suffice.”

The guards couldn’t figure out what to do and Isla almost laughed at their confused expressions, but she took pity on them. 
“
Never mind
.
  I probably need to talk to Hussan about this anyway.”  She considered her options.  She didn’t really want to go to him and ask for these things since he’d just summoned her and she was trying to make a point.  But if she went to his office, surely there would be a computer and a desk she could use there. 

It might even work better for her purpose
s. 

She didn’t realize the smile that formed on her mouth looked so
mischievous
but her body guards noticed and both of them looked at each other warily. 

She walked down the hallway to the palace offices, ignoring the startled glances and sudden silence as she walked by various offices or desk groupings.  She looked into each one until she found what she was looking for.  She knew that
Huss
an’s
office was in the opposite side of the area but she found an
empty
office and desk at the end of one of the hallways.  She settled behind the desk, testing out the chair and nodding her approval.  “This is perfect,” she stated emphatically. 

She then stood up and moved to the first person she could find, which was a couple of offices down the hallway.  “Excuse me, where could I find a computer and some pens and paper?” she asked.

The man behind the desk stared back at Isla through thick, heavy glasses, his whole body frozen with indecision about what to do and how to respond. 

When Isla calmly raised her eyebrows, the tiny gesture seemed to spur the man out of his frozen stupor.  “Um….
,”
he stood up, knocking over several files from the corner of his desk as he came around to the front.  He then knocked over a coffee cup full of pens and scrambled to try and gather them all up quickly, which only made the whole situation worse. 

“Ah…yes….um…” he dropped the pens and walked down the hallway to another office which turned out to be a storage area filled with office supplies.  He gathered up a box of pens, several note pads
and then turned back to face Isla, handing them to her while still trying to push his glasses higher up on his nose.  “The computer,” he stammered, “might be more difficult.  I don’t know where we get the computers but I’ll ask my boss to get one for you, Your Highness.”  He was barely speaking above a whisper towards the end of his statement and Isla knew that it was time to give the man some room to breathe. 

“That would be very kind of you,” she replied and turned
around, armed with her supplies
and marched back to her newly acquired office. 

With her pens and papers, she settled into the somewhat comfortable desk chair and opened up the file she’d been carrying around.  As she read through the information, her heart ached for all that Hussan needed to accomplish.  He had big dreams and high standards for his department heads.  The five and ten year plans were ambitious and detail oriented. 

What impressed
her the
most was that he not only had goals for almost every area in the country, he had
detailed
plans to reach all of those goals.  They were well thought
out,
strategic and inter-related so that each department helped the other.  She knew there would be infighting, but she also had confidence that Hussan could channel that towards a positive atmosphere.

“I’m sure you’re making some sort of statement, but what that could be eludes me at the moment,” the man himself
said from the doorway, leaning casually against the frame with his arms crossed over his muscular chest and his eyes revealing nothing of his mood.

Isla closed the file and put her pen down, flipping back the pages on the notebook where she’d taken several notes about ideas she had.  She leaned back in the chair and considered him carefully but tried to appear casual.  “Why do you think I’m trying to make a statement?”

He raised one eyebrow in response.  “Aren’t you?”

She nodded her head.  “Yes.  What’s my statement then?”

He shrugged and considered her pretty dress, thinking she looked extremely lovely in
that particular shade of blue
.  “I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me.  Why don’t you just say it so we don’
t have to guess with each other?
  At least until we know each other better?”

Isla thought that was a good way to go, but she wished he could at least try to guess.  It would show that he actually cared enough to try and understand her.  “I’m not sure it’s very important now.”  She stacked the file and the notepad together.  “Can I get a computer?  Or am I to survive without technology?”

He stepped into the room and leaned his back against the wall, still watching her carefully. 
“Of course you can have a computer.  But what do you need a computer for?  What are you trying to
do?”

Isla pursed her lips and leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and clasping her hands together.  “I want to help.  I’ve read through this file and I think your ideas are incredible.  I can help if you’ll just let me.”

She could see in his eyes that he didn’t want her to have anything to do with the operations he was currently planning so she stopped his rejection before he could say the words.  “Are you marrying me simply so I can give you children?”

His eyes widened and he shook his head.  “That’s not the sole reason.  Is that what you were thinking?”

She bowed her head and looked down.  “I don’t know what to think anymore.  Four days ago I thought I had you all figured out and I despised you.”

“And now?”

She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes low.  “Now….I
think
you’re magnificent.”  There, she’d said it and she didn’t regret it.  The word hung in the air between them, a tense silence
as she put herself in a vulnerable position that he could hurt her with.

“Look at me when you say something like that,” he growled out
after a long, tense silence
.

Isla heard the intensity of his voice and was startled.  She finally lifted her head and looked up at him, the truth shining in her eyes but what she saw made her heart race painfully.  The heat in his eyes was shocking and her mouth dropped open as she watched him.  He was no longer leaning against the door frame but standing up, his shoulders tense and his hands fisted on his hips.  He looked like the powerful sheik that he really was and it was awe inspiring. 

With a sudden jolt, she realized that she actually loved this man.  It was crazy to consider after only three days in his company, but it was true.  She loved him so completely that it hurt. 

The pain was probably because she knew that he didn’t feel the same about her.  But as she looked up at him, seeing that heat in his eyes, she knew that she would be okay. 

“If you think that about me, why are you in here?”

Her hand slid across the notebook that was on top of the desk.  “Because you have so much that you want to accomplish.  I want to help and yet, I get the feeling that you are trying to marginalize me.  You don’t want me leaving the palace, maybe even my rooms.  And that’s not who I am.  I want to be out there helping you.  I want to help you re-build Silaria by your side, hand in hand and I don’t think that’s what you want.”

It took him less than two strides to close the distance between them and he lifted her into his arms, holding her against him and crushing her in his strong embrace.  “You have no idea what those words mean to me,” he said with that sexy, husky voice that never failed to turn her on. 

He slowly loosened his hold and set her on her feet.  “Do you know how much I love you?”

She pulled back and shook her head, completely surprised by his words.  “You love me?”

“Damn straight I love you!  I think I’ve been in love with you since I saw you laughing at your brother’s wedding over the mis-matched shoes.  You were adorable but most women would have been furious or embarrassed over the situation.  You just laughed.  I was entranced from that moment on.”

She pulled back so she could look up at him more thoroughly.  “But I said all those horrible things about you.”

He laughed and shook his head.  “I didn’t care.  I knew you were just scared about the future.  I also knew that I could convince you that I wasn’t such a bad guy.”

Isla rested her head against his chest.  “It took you less than one day to get me into bed.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“I have no will power against you,” she said with resignation.

He put a hand on both sides of her head and turned her so that she had to look at him.  “And that’s a bad thing?” he demanded
once again but this time his voice was much more gravely
. 

“Yes!  I don’t like being so out of control when you touch me. 
It’s
embarrassing.”

His laughter grumbled deep in his throat.  “Honey, it’s actually the sexiest thing about you.  I love it when you make all those sounds and I can make you lose control.  You’re so beautiful and look like an ice princess, bu
t when I get you in bed, you’re
a completely different person.  The dichotomy is….
hot!
”

She grimaced.  “I don’t like it.”

He ran a hand up and down her back,
then
said, “Would it help if I told you that I have extremely little control when you touch me back?”

She held her breath as she stared at him.  “Is that true?  Or are you just saying that?”

He chuckled and hugged her.  “It’s completely true.  You drive me insane when you touch me and I love it.”

“Then you’re not just trying to get me pregnant?”

He glanced down at her worried expression and couldn’t figure out what she was saying.  “What are you talking about?  Why would I be trying to get you pregnant?”

“Because we haven’t used any protection.”

She watched carefully as his face turned from confused to
stunned
in only a few seconds. 
He then threw back his head and laughed, holding her tightly so that she couldn’t escape from his arms.