The Sheik's Pregnant Lover (Love By Accident) (16 page)

“But seriously, we’re all very excited to have you join our family.  When we first realized that Rashid was smitten with someone he’d just met, we were all eager to find out more about you.
  That’s never happened before.  Rashid has always been very casual about relationships before and never, ever brought any of them back to the palace.
”

Sidra stared down at the plate that was now heavy with
all of
the food Zarah had insisted she try. 
“How did you know Rashid was smitten?  And why do you assume that this person is me?” she finally asked, filling up on eggs and fruit, her eyes wide as she took in all the
information. 

Isla
laughed.  “Because he came back from England in an all fired up hurry to quell some stupid temper tantrum from Johan, a tribal leader up in the north who was just trying to get some concessions from Rashid for an oil license,” she explained.  “Rashid refused to give it to him and Johan won’t be poking the bear any time soon,” she winked at Sidra and
Zarah
laughed
, even the body guards at the door smiled in amusement
.  Apparently all of them knew what had happened to Johan but Sidra was still in the dark.

“Anyway, he tore back through the palace after putting down that skirmish and headed right back to England
, ignoring all the other state business
.
  And when he came back several days later in the grouchiest mood we’ve ever witnessed, tearing at his guards to try and find someone, we started to put things together and figured that Rashid had finally met a woman who was important to him.
  That’s how we knew that the woman he’d fallen for had come from there.  But he couldn’t find you.”

Zarah leaned forward.  “He had everyone looking for you!  It was pretty tense for a while.”

Isla
shooed her sister away again.  “She’s right.  He was livid when you’d disappeared.”
  She was beaming at the memory of her older brother being so upset.  True siblings, she thought, thinking of Ryan and how he loved to irritate her over small things just to get a reaction out of her. 

Zarah nodded her head in agreement.  “So when he disappeared again, and we heard that you were staying in his private quarters, we put two and two together and figured out that you were the one he’d been looking for.”

“But…” Sidra wasn’t sure she wanted to know how they were aware of her pregnancy.  Especially since she only found out about it a few moments before they walked in. 

“How did we know that you were pregnant?” Zarah asked, almost as if she were reading Sidra’s mind. 

Sidra blushed and bit her lip.  “That’s the question that’s most prevalent on my mind, yes.”

Isla perked up, her dark eyes sparkling with excitement and intelligence. 
“Because we spoke to Doctor Hamid this morning.  He was carrying a vial of blood and hurrying on.  He didn’t look nervous, was even excited.  So we figured it out from that reaction.”

Sidra sighed and put her fork down.  “I guess there isn’t much that can be a secret around here, is there?”

Isla
laughed and shook her head. “Not really.  But you’ll get used to it.  And it has both pros and cons to that invasiveness.”

Sidra laughed and looked up at the women’s smiling faces. “What are some pros to everyone knowing things before I do?”

Zarah and
Isla
both looked stunned.  “You mean you didn’t know that you were pregnant?”

“Not until Rashid told me right before everyone came in.”

“You mean…”
Isla
and Za
rah both turned to look at each
other,
then
grinned delightedly.  “Oh, this is wonderful news!  I can’t wait to tell everyone else!”

A dark shadow drifted into the dining room and three sets of eyes turned towards the doorway. 
“You’ll tell no one,
Isla
.  Or I’ll marry you off to
Hussan
El Hamin
” Rashid said as he walked purposefully into the room. 
He ignored the horrified look on Isla’s face and the anger that entered her
lovely
eyes. 

He looked around the table until he spotted Sidra, then his shoulders seemed to relax slightly.  It was almost as if he were trying to find her once again and it made Sidra feel a small bit better about the morning.  Except for the fainting part, that is. 

“Everyone out,” he commanded and Sidra was stunned when
both women
simply put down their forks and started walking out, regardless of whether they were finished with their meals or not.  Sidra quickly followed suit and laid her fork down, hurriedly wiping her mouth with her linen napkin before she followed Zarah.

“Not you,” he snapped and grabbed her arm as she passed by him.  “You and I are going to talk and we’re not going to be disturbed this time,” he commanded.  He was speaking to Sidra, but he was watching the others.  The two body guards who were standing by the door heard the order and turned to follow the
women
out the door, closing it behind
them
.  Sidra assumed they would stand sentry outside the dining room doorway until Rashid was finished. 

Sidra stood in the middle of the room, looking down at the floor nervously.  She wanted to ask him about all the things his sisters had told her, but wasn’t confident enough to question him. 
She didn’t know him well enough to gauge his mood either.  His sisters had mentioned something about him needing coffee and, of all the questions that came to mind, that was the one at the top of her list.  Instead she said,
“I’m not missing the irony here that I’m terrified of asking you anything and yet we’re apparently going to be married and having a baby together.”
  Her hands were clasped in front of her and she looked at him, then down at the floor, unable to hold his gaze after all that had transpired over the past several hours. 

Rashid smiled, impressed with her courage under the circumstances.  “It does seem to be a controversy we should overcome.”  He
walked closer to her, eliminating the distance between them at least physically.  He
stopped when he was less than an inch from her, looking down onto the top of her head.  “What do you want to ask me
?
”

She thought of all the questions that raced through her mind.  Could he ever come to love her?  Did he plan on marrying her and going off with another woman when the mood struck him?  Was there any scenario where he might be faithful to her?  “Why did you leave that day?” was what actually came out, her courage deserting her at the last moment. “Your sisters mentioned something about a tribal leader named Johan and some trouble up north.”

Rashid nodded and took her hand, pulling her back to the dining room table and sitting down with her.  “There was an emergency and I couldn’t be out of the country during those kinds of issues.  I have lots of perks, such as being able to order my sisters and
miscellaneous family members
out of the dining room
or other situations
, but there’s a down side to being a ruler as well.
  Resolving that problem took precedence and I’m sorry I couldn’t speak to you personally before I had to leave.  I know it left you confused and hurt.
”

Sidra couldn’t help but laugh at the idea that ordering sisters about was one of the perks.  “You weren’t able to order them out of your bedroom very effectively.  What’s the difference with the dining room and your private quarters?”

Rashid also
chuckled softly
and shook his head.  “Zarah and
Isla
have a mind of their own sometimes but they know when to listen, which has served them well over the years.”
  He reached out to touch her hand, trying to get her to look at him but he could tell she was still too embarrassed.  “Apparently in my bedroom, they had no qualms about ignoring me.  Maybe it was the threat of marrying her off that got one to lead the other off.” 

“
We passed by a room filled with other children. 
I
initially
thought all those kids were
theirs
.”

Rashid quickly shook his head to negate that idea. 
“Good grief, no!” he chuckled.  “
You met both of them.  I don’t know of a man who could handle either of them right now.  He would have to be insane to even try.  Or at least that’s what I assume on some occasions
,
”
he said as he rolled his eyes with memories of his sisters’ antics over the years. 

“
Your sisters love you very much.  They gave me a great deal of advice.  Most of which I don’t think is very valuable,” she said with a grimace. 

He smiled, wondering which of their tricks they’d relayed to his new fiancée. 
“What did they tell you?”
He shuddered to think what Sidra might learn from those two hoydens.  He knew he was going to have to do something about Isla soon.  She was getting too old and needed to find an outlet for her ambitions.  He suspected she was becoming smothered by palace life here. 

Sidra bit her lip and looked up at his blue eyes, wondering if she dared to tell him the most interesting fact she’d heard from his sisters.  When he only stood there in front of her, waiting patiently, she took a deep breath and said,
“
One of them told me that
you were grouchy after coming back from England.”

Rashid nodded, not denying that he’d been a changed man after that trip. 
“I was.  I couldn’t find you
.  N
o one knew who you were or where I could find you.  I was furious that you hadn’t left any forwarding information.”

She shook her head at his last statement.  “I did leave my contact information with Laura.  She just went on assignment unexpectedly after I left.  I didn’t know that until last week when I spoke to her
on the phone but she didn’t mention that anyone had asked about me
.”

“Why did you contact her last week?” he asked gently.

She looked down at her hands and
bit her lip nervously
.  He’d almost admitted that he had been looking for her.  It wasn’t clear, but his sisters seemed to be fairly sure that Rashid had some feelings towards her so she was going to take the risk and throw it all out there.  “I was hurt that you hadn’t called me so I
finally broke down and
contact
ed
her and asked if you’d even called to find out where I was or how to find me.”

He seemed relieved that she’d admitted that. 
“I had my security men stationed outside of her flat for about two weeks.  They must have just missed her.  I might fire them for that,” he grumbled.

“For what?
”

“For giving up.  If they’d stayed a couple more days waiting, we might have been able to be together this past week.”

Sidra’s whole body warmed at the thought that he might have wanted to be with her earlier than now.  “So why did you hire my firm to re-decorate your palace?”

He took her hand and pulled her closer, eliminating the last few inches that separated them. 
“
W
hy do you think?”

She looked up at him hopefully. 
“So you could get in touch with me?”

“Of course.  And to get you over here on my own turf and make sure that you stayed put.  I didn’t want you running off while I was trying to convince you to stay here with me.”

Her whole body was starting to tingle with excitement.  “
A
nd why would you want me to stay here with you?”

He took her hand and turned it so that her palm was up while his finger trailed tantalizing circles over the surface.  The movement caused shivers to run up her arm and down her spine.  “Because you’re an incredibly beautiful woman.  And what we started in England by that creek seemed pretty special.  I didn’t want to lose it.”

She felt that silly grin form on her face.  The one she’d been wearing that whole week after she’d arrived back from England.  “I thought it was pretty special too.  But when I didn’t hear from you, I thought I had just been….” She didn’t want to put a name to what she’d thought, so she left the sentence dangling. 

“You thought I’d left to avoid saying goodbye.”

Sidra nodded sadly.

“And you thought that I’d only used you for a quick conquest,” he suggested, watching her carefully to try and discern the truth. 

Again, she nodded and looked back up at him. 

He took her hands and held them firmly in his.  “I couldn’t get away but I tried to find you.”

She smiled broadly.  “Your sisters said you were pretty angry over the past three weeks.”

“I’ve been furious.  I thought you’d gone ahead and left, just using me as your first lover and moved on to other men.  When I saw you at the hotel after finally tracking you down
, you were with another man and I just about lost it right then and there.  And then when you wouldn’t come back to my suite to discuss the issue with me, that only seemed to confirm the issue.”