The Sheik's Pregnant Lover (Love By Accident)

The Sheik’s Pregnant Lover
             
             
Elizabeth Lennox

Chapter 1

The storm approaching was extraordinary with
one
half of the
morning
sky lit up with the rising sun and the other half blazing with
fierce
lightening as an early morning storm
quickly
approached.  It was a rare,
meteorological
event that should have captured Rashid’s attention, but his eyes were captured on something much more fascinating. 

The woman standing on the side of the road, bent over the hood of her car had possibly the cutest derriere he’d ever seen in his
entire
life.  A
sweet
bottom like that should be on a
woman much more rotund, but instead, that amazing
, adorable
bottom was paired with a slender waist and long,
lean
legs that wer
e slightly tanned and looked to be well toned underneath the well worn denim
shorts
.  Her
lustrous,
dark brown hair cascaded over one shoulder and, although he couldn’t see the face at the moment, he was hoping that her facial features would match the figure he’d been surveying for possibly the last five minutes. 

While
Rashid Samara Bousaid, Sheik of Tasain continued his
fascinated
perusal, his
eyes glanced up at the storm once again, then at the
black
smoke rising out of the
obviously broken
engine of the ancient car.  Thinking to do the heroic act and save his damsel in distress, he nudged his stallion forward with his heels.  As
ruler
of Tasain, he rarely had time to ride anymore so when he’d woken with a
precious
free hour this morning, he’d immediately thrown on a pair of old
riding pants
and a well worn pair of
riding boots and left the house
before anyone could use up this unanticipated free time
.
  Seeing this lovely wood nymph
that
needed his assistance
had only improved his mood. 

“Need some help?” Rashid asked as he stopped his horse, Zafir, at the edge of the gravel road. 

Sidra
pulled her hand off of the filthy radiator where she’d just located the
mechanical problem
when she heard the deep voice.  She pulled her head out from under the metal hood of the useless vehicle and
looked around
to identify the voice.  What she saw was definitely not human, and didn’t appear to be friendly at all!  She stumbled backwards once before regaining her footing and realizing that the giant, brown muzzle was part of a horse.  An extremely
large
horse! 

The
enormous horse was staring at her with what looked to be furious black eyes
and bared teeth
.  When she took a step back, she realized that the horse was just standing there on the side of the road waiting and she took a deep breath, putting a hand over her rapidly beating heart.  “Goodness, you startled me,” she said and peered around the horse’s head to see the man sitting in the saddle.  And then her heart truly did increase in pace
, feeling as though it might just fly out of her chest
. 

As she stared at the tall, black haired man with crystal blue eyes, she just about
stumbled over her feet
all over again.  His skin was tanned and his shoulders were almost as wide as the horse’s.  Or maybe they just looked that way in the white polo shirt he was wearing. 

As he climbed down from the horse, her eyes were magnetized
by the
strong
muscles
flexing in his legs that
she could see even through the material of his riding pants.  As her eyes traveled upwards, she was even more impressed.  Her mind told her to look away, but her eyes had a different opinion and
she
couldn’t seem to stop herself from surveying the rest of the man.  Broad
, muscular
shoulders,
very
tall, and those eyes!  She’d never seen that color blue before and she’d seen lots of blue eyed people in her life.  Maybe it was just the
tanned
skin
and almost black hair
that made
those eyes
appear so incredible, but whatever the reason,
the man
was really quite magnificent. 

“I apologize for startling you,” he replied softly as he approached.  “I saw you from the tree line and noticed the smoke coming from your vehicle.  Do you need some help?”

Sidra
finally pulled her eyes away from the man, embarrassed that she’d been staring like that.  Could she be more obvious, she berated herself. 

She looked back
at the tiny vehicle
she’d rented at the airport this morning upon her arrival
and wanted to kick the
obnoxious
machine.  “The alternator belt has snapped and I suspect there’s a hole in the radiator.  So unless you have an extra
motor
belt and some soldering materials in that saddle bag, I don’t think there’s much you can do, but I appreciate your offer.”
  She tried to be brave and hold the man’s gaze, but he was just too tall, too intimidating and just too darn handsome.  She glanced down at her
clothes
, wishing she was wearing something more sophisticated than jeans
shorts
and this plain tee-shirt.  Even her hair was probably flat after having traveled most of the night on a cramped plane. 
Her only excuse was that it was going to be a hot day and she’d been traveling all night. 

Rashid had no idea what an alternator belt was and he suspected that the soldering materials would do something to fix the radiator, but wasn’t sure how.  “I’m afraid I don’t have either of those, but if you tell me where you’re going, I can help you find that location.”

She smiled at his formal
words which were softened by the
melodic
accent
but, coming from the United States, she suspected that perhaps most of the people in this country were pretty formal. 
H
is accent didn’t sound British
, though
.  It was foreign, but she couldn’t place it easily
and her mind wasn’t functioning in top form right at the moment
. 
Her heart sped up crazily when he smiled that incredible smile at her and she had to glance away again, although she peeked back up at him when she found a spare bit of courage. 

When his eyebrow
s
went up, she realized that he’d asked her a ques
tion and she jumped slightly. “
Oh, um…yes…location.”  She
slammed the hood of the car closed and pulled the map off of the roof of the car.  She’d spread it out earlier in an effort to try and find out where she was and how she could reach her destination.  She
looked back down at the map she’d been trying to figure out and pointed to her desired location.  “I’m visiting a friend and I know she’s here,” Sidra said, pointing to a
place
on the map she’d identified at the airport, “and I think I’m here.  But nothing seems to be making any sense.”

Rashid looked at the map
spread out on the car’s hood
and, without cracking a smile, turned the map so that it was oriented properly, which meant that it was no longer upside down.  With a long finger, he pointed to where she was.  “If you follow this road back around,” he explained, smothering his amusement at her groan of frustration, “then you’ll be
to your destination
in about five minutes.”

Sidra smacked her for
e
head and shook her head
in
embarrassment
. “I’ve been driving around in this ridiculous rental car for the past hour! 
And now you’re telling me I’m only five minutes away?”

“It would appear so,” he said and one side of his mouth turned up with
the amusement he couldn’t hide any longer
.  “It’s a common mistake,” he lied, trying to make her feel better.  She looked annoyed with herself but her pretty
hazel
eyes were looking back
up at him so he tried to hide his laughter, but it was difficult
. 

Sidra glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, feeling ridiculous in front of this incredible stranger who probably never had trouble reading a map. 
“Go ahead, you can laugh.  I’m a
directional
idiot but my only excuse is that I’m not used to reading a map.  I generally just plug in the location of wherever I want to go and my car’s GPS tells me to turn right or left.”  She grimaced and looked away, “Or make a U turn and try again when I miss a particular turn.”

Rashid laughed softly and folded her map.  “Since the storm is approaching quickly
and your vehicle doesn’t appear able to participate in the endeavor
, perhaps you would allow me to help you reach your destination?”

Sidra looked around him, staring at the giant horse, then back up at the handsome man.  “I think I’ll just phone my friend and tell her where I am.
  She can pick me up in a few minutes.  Surely she can out-drive that storm,
”
she said as she glanced back over her shoulder at the approaching
dark clouds
. 

Rashid chuckled
at her obvious fear of his horse.  She was cute in a sexy, kittenish kind of way as she looked warily at the large animal
.  “Nonsense,” he replied.  “I promise no harm will come to you.”  He turned on his heel and grabbed Zafir’s reigns.  The slender woman was already backing away and shaking her head but he ignored her and threw himself into the saddle.  Maneuvering Zafir alongside the woman, he simply reached down and pulled her onto his lap, then squeezed his knees to tell Zafir to move.  “I’ll have you to your friend’s house in no time,” he said.

Sidra clenched the man’s arm
s
as if
they
were a life jacket and
she
could barely breathe for several
moments as the horse cantered in the direction she hoped was her friend’s apartment
.  She wasn’t sure if
her breathlessness
was because she was on top of the
scary
horse or because her whole back was pressed against this man’s muscular chest and abdomen, his thighs pressing against the backs of her legs. 

“Relax,” he said a moment later, his mouth sensuously close to her ear and she shivered involuntarily. 

“I can’t.”

“What’s your name?” Rashid asked, and pulled her higher up on his thigh to help her get more comfortable, his arm holding her around her stomach and waist.  She was more slender than he’d thought, but round in all the right places.  From his vantage point, he had an excellent view of her lovely
breasts
, the
nude colored lace on the upper swell enticing him as no other lingerie had ever done before. 

Sidra heard his voice but honestly wished he would stop talking.  His deep, husky voice was creating ripples of pleasure
to
shoot throughout her body and she was having a great deal of trouble concentrating on staying on top of the horse. 

“Sidra,” she
finally
whispered and tried to look off into the distance.  She didn’t see the storm clouds, nor did she see the sunrise coming up over the horizon in the other direction.  All she saw were his strong hands holding her even though her eyes were no longer looking downward.  His arms were extremely strong and on the one hand, she felt very secure and comforted by that strength.  But on the other hand, she was more aware of him as a man than she should be.  It was embarrassing to feel so strongly
about
a man she’d just met only moments ago.

“That’s a very nice name,” he replied.  “Latin meaning ‘of the stars’.  Very appropriate.”

She turned slightly and looked up at him.  “How do you know that?” she asked, then quickly pulled her eyes away.  Those blue eyes were looking at her as if he could tell that she was quivering inside, as if he knew how much she wanted him to touch her! 

“Latin is a very basic language.”

She was horrible with languages so couldn’t add anything to that comment.  She supposed Latin was basic but since she could barely pass her required French courses in high school, she had to accept his word for it.  “What’s your
name?”

“Rashid.”  He didn’t bother to tell her that very few people outside of his
family
were allowed to call him by his first name.  He could have told her his title, which was what most people used, but he didn’t want that between them.  There was something about this woman that was different.  He had no basis for that assumption
but there was something about her that pulled at him.  Something deep and invisible, but powerful.  He should probably walk away from her, ignore her allure and ride in the other direction.  This feeling, or perhaps instinct,
was probably dangerous since he’d just met
her
.  She could be an assassin for all he knew.  But he was going with his gut on this one, which told him that she was feeling exactly as he was right at the moment. 
He couldn’t define it, but it felt wonderful.  And she felt perfect in his arms.