The Sheik's Pregnant Lover (Love By Accident) (7 page)

He sighed and shifted her
so they could both sit up
, handing Sidra her clothes.  “I guess you’re right.”

Sidra dressed and wished she could spend the rest of the day in his arms.  But she didn’t want to get him fired.  She didn’t even care about Laura today.  Although she still didn’t want to tell her anything about her romance with Rashid.  It was still too new, too raw. 

As she dressed, she watched him out of the corner of her eyes, amazed at how incredible he looked without clothes on.  “
Y
ou’re staring,” he said, without looking back at her. 

“How did you know?”

He laughed and turned, sweeping her up into his arms and placing her on the top of the rock.  “I can feel your eyes.  You’re molesting me with your
gaze
. 
And I now know that y
ou have a naughty mind.” He kissed the swell of her breast a moment before she pulled her sweater down to her waist. 

She blushed because she had been thinking about how incredible he was and how much she wanted to start that whole process over again. 
“I guess I’d better hurry up.”  She sighed and stood up, her legs more than a little wobbly. 

“Will you meet me again tomorrow morning?”

She smiled, relieved that he still wanted to see her.  “I’d love it,” she sighed, going into his arms willingly. 

He kissed the top of her head, enjoying the feeling of her soft body against his, even though they were now wearing clothes.  He preferred her naked, but he’d take anything he could get. 
“
T
hank you for the surprise this morning.”

“Thank you!” she laughed.  “I’m glad you were surprised.
”

Suddenly, Sidra heard her name being called.  She looked up at Rashid.  “I think that’s Laura.  We’ve been out here too long.”

He bent to kiss her.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.  Hurry,” he said and pushed her gently in the direction of the voice, rolling up her blanket and sending her on her way.

Rashid climbed on his horse and rode in the opposite direction, winking at her over his shoulder moments before he disappeared into the woods.

Laura appeared
a moment later and looked from one direction
to
the next
.  Sidra had a huge
smile on her face as she realized how sweet it was that Rashid had left so quickly, respecting her wish to not reveal their relationship to her friend. 

“Where have you been?”
Laura
asked, looking around
at the stream and the large rock
.  “
T
his is one of my favorite spots.”

Sidra smiled, secretly agreed with her friend
and decided this was her all time favorite place on earth
.  “What’s on the schedule for today?” she asked and started walking back to the village.

By the evening, she received a message. 
She knew immediately that it was from Rashid and she smiled at the bold, confident letters on the outside. 
After opening it, she felt as if her world had
just turned upside down.  He apologized, but told her that an emergency had come up and he couldn’t meet her tomorrow morning.  Her first thought was that she had been used.  Rashid had gotten what he’d wanted and was now moving on to the next conquest.  But she continued reading and smiled, instantly
relieved.
 
“Leave your contact information with Laura and let me know how I can reach you.  We’re definitely not done, my beauty!”

Sidra hugged the note to her chest and sighed with happiness. 

“What’s that about?” Laura asked as she poured both of them a bottle of red wine while the sat out on her tiny little balcony that overlooked the woods. 

Sidra considered how to answer, then carefully said, “If someone comes around looking for a way to contact me, I want you to feel free to give them my phone number or e-mail address, okay?”

Laura looked at her, startled.  “What do you mean?”

Sidra’s smile grew wider.  “Remember that man that brought me to your flat the first day?”

“The gorgeous one on the enormous horse?” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

“That one,” Sidra confirmed.  “I’ve been meeting him each morning in the woods.”

Laura sat up and stared at her friend.  A smile growing on her face now as understanding dawned.  “And what has been happening in those woods out there?” she asked slyly. 

Sidra refused to give her details, but only said, “We have spent our time talking and getting to know each other.”

Laura laughed.  “After only a few days, you think you’ve gotten to know him?”  She shook her head.  “Sidra, you’ve dated a lot of guys.  You should know by now that men really aren’t that easy to get to know.”

Sidra shook her head.  “I don’t know all about him.  But I know that he’s kind and wonderful, very gentle and one of the most interesting men I’ve ever met in my whole life.”

Laura watched her friend’s expression carefully.  After several moments, she nodded her head.  “I guess he’s pretty special then, huh?”

Sidra shook her head.  “Yes.  He’s very special.  Just promise me that you’ll give him my contact information.”

Laura agreed and Sidra steered the conversation in a different direction, knowing that Laura would ask questions that Sidra would not be comfortable answering.  At least not yet.  Maybe in the future, when she knew Rashid better and understood where he was coming from and what he wanted out of life.  She worked through the problems of a long distance relationship, knew that there would be a lot of issues to overcome.  But in the end, she realized that there really wasn’t anything about the man she disliked.  He was her ideal man!

Chapter
5

Sidra sat in her office and stared at the designs in front of her.  She should be working out the details, contacting clients and finalizing issues on a current project.  Instead, she was staring into space, wondering what Rashid was doing
, where he was and if he thought about her at all
.

And in her darkest moments, she hoped that, when he was thinking about her, he wasn’t laughing with his friends about what an easy conquest she had been. 

At times, she couldn’t believe she was mooning after a man she
had known
for four days, and only part of those days was she with him.  She was being ridiculous, but that last note when he said he would call her
, it
had made her think that he might be as invested in their relationship as she was.  Their time together had been short and wonderful and, after receiving that note, she wanted so desperately to explore a possible relationship. 

But after three weeks with no word, she knew that she’d placed her hopes in the wrong direction.  She should be moving on, dating someone else or doing something to take her mind off of the time she’d spent in his arms.  Instead, she was having problems sleeping because she thought about what it would be like to be in his arms, to fall asleep each night wrapped around him and wake up in the morning to his incredible smile
and those wonderful eyes staring down at her
. 

She was working longer than normal hours so she didn’t have to go home to her
lonely,
empty apartment, a space that had seemed perfect before she’d visited Laura in England and run into the most incredible man she’d ever met in her life. 

Now everything seemed flat, pointless
and instead of the vibrant colors she’d decorated her apartment with, the whole area felt as if it were in black and white
.  She went through the motions each day,
but with little enthusiasm.  She woke
up
before the sun came up and fixed a cup of
coffee, skipping breakfast because nothing appealed to her. 
Her drive into the office was now irritating because she was so annoyed with the traffic whereas before, her mind hadn’t focused on the traffic.  She’d been too focused on what she would be doing during the day, what her clients might want in the rooms they’d commissioned her to redesign, or where she might find that one, perfect accessory for a coffee table that would make the whole room come together.  That was all gone. 

Work was the same each day and she found very little to be inspired about with her ongoing client list. 
She started to realize that all of her clients were asking for the same thing, slightly different but the rooms she designed all had the same feel to them.  There weren’t any surprises or interesting details. 
She had to snap out of this because her boss was starting to look at her funny, as if she’d missed something very important. 

Sidra
hated this, prayed every morning that she could snap out of this depression but when night time rolled around, she knew she’d be up until the early morning hours thinking about Rashid, wondering what he was doing now, where he was. 
And why she hadn’t interested him enough to bother calling, if only to check on her and explain why he’d left so abruptly that last day. 

The first week
back from her vacation
, she’d been walking on cloud nine, eagerly answering the phone and hoping to hear Rashid’s deep voice and laugh with him about whatever had taken him away from their last secret meeting.  By the end of the second week, she’d been sad and confused.  Why hadn’t he called?  Had it been something she’d said or done?  Or had the emergency he’d been called away to deal with actually been something that had hurt him?  Was he in trouble and she was just sitting here, not doing anything to save him?  To help him? 

By the third week, her confusion had changed to anger and depression.  She’d given herself to a man she hadn’t really known and this was the result.  He’d moved on, damn him!  And now she needed to do the same.  She could maintain her righteous anger all the way until she fell into bed at night.  Then she cried herself to sleep, wondering if he was hurt or if he was actually seeing another woman.  She’d convinced herself that she had been a weekend fling, and that made her angry that she’d spent an additional two weeks waiting for him and worrying about his health and well being. 

She’d been a fool to trust him!  She’d given herself to a man who didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye.  Rashid had been a coward who had avoided their last morning together
simply because he thought she might
put demands on him that he didn’t want. 
Or perhaps he was just one of those guys who prowled for women and played on their stupidity.  She had no idea and wished she could just eliminate him from her mind. 

Damn him!   She’d gone into the relationship with her eyes wide open.  There had been no need for him to try and convince her that there would be more after their four days.  She’d expected to say goodbye that
morning
and never see him so he’d played with her emotions by sending the note and giving her hope that he might want more than just a weekend fling. 

Okay, she thought as she sat outside her office building for lunch one day, so maybe there had been a hope that there could be more.  She had to be perfectly honest with herself because she’d been wondering how to handle a long distance relationship, how often she could fly over to England to see him.  Had he somehow seen that in her looks?  Had she revealed too much too soon? 

She dumped her uneaten yogurt into a trash can and stomped back to her office.  She didn’t need this kind of self doubt and recriminations.  She was a grown woman, she’d had sex with a gorgeous man, get over it!  Women did that all the time and didn’t have any issues moving on in their lives.  She had to put that weekend into perspective and give up her anger. 

She’d trusted him and now she was paying the price!  Damn him!  She’d been a fool over a man who didn’t deserve her attention much less her hopes. 

That one
letter had been so cryptic.  What kind of emergency had taken him away that last day?  Had a horse gone down or was it more serious?  Had something happened to him? 
And why should she even care?  She’d been dumped, she reminded herself. 

She had no idea
what had happened to him or what kind of emergency had come up
.  And
what’s worse,
no way of finding out.  She had to just hope and pray that he was okay.  And in the back of her
mind
weak, hopeful mind
, she wondered if there was any possibility of running into him again
someday
.  She’d even searched horse training web sites, searching for news of him but how probable was that?  The man lived outside of London, she
didn’t
even know if he was a well known horse trainer, or if he
really
was a horse trainer or a veterinarian or just a stable hand. 

No, he wasn’t a stable hand.  Rashid had too much confidence, too much arrogance for him to have that kind of role in life. 
Not that there was anything wrong with being a stable hand, but she’d always thought of those roles being filled by teenage boys.  Perhaps she’d read too many
romance novels
in her lifetime to realize what kinds of people worked at a stable.  She didn’t even know how to ride a horse, much less take care of one.