A Bride For The Sheikh (7 page)

“This drives like a dream,” Carla said as they drove through the city. “I would quite happily have a thing with a sheikh if I got one of these in return.”

“I didn’t do it for the car,” Angelina said.

“Carla, how could you say such a thing?” Sarah asked from the back seat. “Can’t you see that Angelina’s upset? I don’t blame her. That was a nasty thing that your friend Chrystal did.”

“She had every right to announce her engagement. After all, it was her engagement party.”

“Then how come Rashid wasn’t there, or her father?” Angelina asked.

“It’s how they do things out here,” Carla replied. “In the Middle East, women all gather together in one place and the men all get together in another. The wedding will be the same. After the ceremony, all the women will go to one tent to party and all the men will go to another. Men and women don’t mix in the same way as they do back home.”

“When they do mix together, a lot of the women have to wear a veil,” Sarah added. “If they party separately, the women can let their hair down, literally, though I can’t see Chrystal wearing a veil once she’s married.”

“If I know Chrystal,” Carla said, “she’ll find a way round it and not everyone in the Middle East covers up. However, Chrystal would shave off all her hair to get at Rashid’s money. That woman would stop at nothing where money’s concerned.”

“Hello, love. I got your note about going to a party. Did you have a good time?” James asked as Angelina walked through the door.

“Not really. A lot of people I didn’t know. I’m sorry, but do you mind if I go to bed? I’m tired. It’s been a long day.” Angelina didn’t want to be abrupt, but she didn’t feel like talking.

“No problem. This heat can really get to you. I’ll just lock up and then I’ll bring you a cup of hot chocolate to help you sleep.”

“Thanks, Dad. See you in a bit.”

When her father came into her bedroom ten minutes later, Angelina was already in her pyjamas and lying in bed. She could smell Rashid’s heavy cologne on her bed sheets and she wondered whether it would be too suspicious to get up and change them so late at night. In the end, she decided to wash them first thing the next morning. It seemed strange to think that just the day before she and Rashid had been lying together in the very same spot, making love and enjoying each other’s presence with Angelina so innocently unaware of everything that was going on behind the scenes. If only he hadn’t spoken to her that night at the palace, if only she hadn’t given in and let him come into her bedroom, and if only he hadn’t told her again and again that he loved her.

“Are you okay?” her father asked. “You look a bit upset.” He handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

“Thank you.” Angelina took a sip. The warm taste of the chocolate felt comforting in her mouth.

“One of your friends left their car in our driveway,” her father said as he sat on the edge of her bed. “It’s a very nice car. It’s the strangest thing, though; it looks like it has royal number plates. I can’t imagine any of the royals have moved in next to us. They all have massive palaces and mansions in the main part of the city. You don’t know anything about it, do you? One of your new mates nick a royal car, did she?” He laughed.

Tears started rolling down Angelina’s face.

“I’m sorry, love, did I say something to upset you? What’s the matter? Please tell me that one of you didn’t really steal a royal car. That’s about the worst thing you could do in a country like this.”

“It’s worse, much worse.” Angelina sobbed. She reached out for a tissue from the box beside her bed and blew her nose. “It was a gift, a gift to me. It’s all been a huge mistake.”

“There, there.” Her father patted her on her back. “What happened? You can tell me.”

Through her tears, Angelina told her father all about how she’d met Rashid and how she’d thought that he was just a regular guy, but then he’d given her a car and her neighbours had told her who he really was. She left out the bit about them making love in her bed, the very bed that she was sitting in at that moment, but she told him all about how Chrystal had announced her engagement to Rashid that evening and then told her on the terrace that Rashid was just using her. By the time that she finished, she had worked her way through almost the entire box of tissues.

“I’m so sorry that all this has happened,” her father said once she’d finished. “You poor thing! You’re meant to be here having a relaxing break and then you get mixed up with some idiot sheikh. The best thing you can do is completely ignore the bastard. Don’t answer his calls, don’t open the door to him. I don’t care if it costs me my job.”

“They can’t sack you over something like this.”

“My dear, the royal family is the government and they’re my employers. They can do whatever they want.”

“But you can’t fire a person just because their daughter refuses to see someone.”

“The royal family can do whatever they want. They’re very rich and with money comes power. I know people who’ve been sacked for a lot less.”

“Like what?” Angelina asked.

“Just before I came, a bloke on my project honked his horn at a driver who was hogging the road. Turns out the driver was a member of the royal family. The bloke had to leave the country two days later. Had his contract terminated. They didn’t give him a reason, but he was pretty sure why they did it. It’s his job that I’ve got now.”

“But they can’t do that. You can’t terminate someone’s contract just because they beep their horn at you on the road. That’s not right. It must be illegal. Why didn’t he take it to court?”

“Already a lawyer, eh?” Her father laughed, but he did so without much feeling. “What was the man supposed to do? Take the richest family in the world to court for breach of contract? It would’ve cost him thousands and who do you think would’ve won? No. It’s best just to keep quiet and go. As they say at work, it’s a strange place and if you don’t like it, you can leave. However, I’m sorry you got caught up in all of it.”

“You won’t get sacked over this, will you?” Angelina hadn’t realised that her actions could cost her father his job, a job that he so desperately needed as there was no work available back home.

However, instead of saying no and reassuring her, all he said was, “Don’t worry about me. Just look after yourself. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just move back home and see what I can work out.”

He stood, wished her goodnight and turned out the light. However, it wasn’t until she could see dawn breaking through the windows that Angelina finally fell into a disjointed, fitful sleep.

“Rashid! How are you? You have no idea what you’ve been missing out here in LA!”

“And you have no idea what time it is here in Bezira, Hamad. It’s six o’clock in the morning.” Rashid rubbed his eyes. He’d only answered the phone because he’d hoped it would be Angelina and in his half-asleep state, he hadn’t registered the number that was ringing. If he’d known it was Hamad, he wouldn’t have answered. He was half tempted to hang up on him and go back to sleep.

“You’ll never guess what I’ve been up to! I’ve been to three Hollywood parties and a movie premiere, and I don’t mean just the regular seats, I mean the full red-carpet treatment.”

Rashid had been to Hollywood before, when he’d been out visiting his mother, and wasn’t interested in hearing about how his cousin was mixing with the stars. “Hamad, I’m going to hang up now. Call me back when you have something important to tell me.”

“I was just coming to that. Guess who just left my hotel suite after a night of getting hot together?”

“I don’t care.” Rashid called out to one of his servants to bring him a cup of coffee.

“You’ll care when I tell you who it is. Come on, guess who it was.”

“Just tell me, so I can get on with my day.”

“Okay then.” Hamad named a famous actress. “Come on. Tell me you’re not impressed.”

“All right, I’m impressed. Now can I hang up?” Rashid was quite impressed. The woman who Hamad had slept with was one of the top movie stars in Hollywood. However, he wasn’t in the mood for hearing about Hamad’s sexual exploits.

“You’re in a very bad mood today. I can tell even though I’m all the way over here in California. Are you having problems with your new girlfriend? If you’ve got issues with performing, you know, having difficulty doing it with her, I know a really good doctor in Bezira I can recommend.”

“Hamad, there is nothing wrong with me and if you must know, having sex, making love to her is wonderful.”

“So you’ve done it already! What’s she like?”

“I absolutely refuse to discuss my sex life with you. I plan to make this woman my wife, so what she’s like in bed is none of your business.”

“Okay, I get it. But if the sex isn’t an issue, why are you being so miserable?” Hamad asked.

“There’s more to life than sex.”

“Not much. So tell me, what’s the problem?”

Rashid explained how he’d met Angelina and how he hadn’t mentioned his royal status and that when she found out, she said that she needed some time to think about it. “The problem is, I don’t have much time. I have to present her to my father in nine days, otherwise he’ll announce my engagement to Chrystal.”

“I don’t see what the big issue is. She’s had a night to think about it—now go and see her. Take her some presents, tell her how much you love her and have done with it.”

“I’ve already told her that and given her a Mercedes, but she didn’t seem very impressed with it,” Rashid replied, wishing he had Hamad’s simplistic view of things.

“A Mercedes? What kind of present is that? I’ve only been away a few days and already you’ve messed up. A car is a man’s thing. Girls like girls’ things—you know, flowers, jewellery, that sort of thing. Go and get some and take them to her as soon as we hang up.”

Rashid remembered the box of gold jewellery in the back of his car. He could take her that. “But she said she would call me. I really ought to wait for her to phone me first.”

“I cannot believe I’m hearing this! You are Sheikh Rashid bin Jafari Al Abid, the son of the sultan, the richest and most powerful ruler in the world, and you are waiting for some woman to call you! What is she? The Queen of England? Even the Queen of England is happy when your father calls her.”

“I’m not surprised; we own most of London.” Rashid’s father had invested heavily in the UK, amongst other places.

“Rashid, you and I are the grandsons of the great Sheikh Akbar Tariq Khasid. What do you think he would have done? I will tell you. He would have kidnapped this woman, taken her straight to his harem and made her succumb to his every desire, by force if necessary.”

“That was a long time ago. Things have changed. We don’t go round kidnapping and raping women anymore. This is the twenty-first century.”

“Sometimes I think those years you spent at Oxford made you a little soft. Go and get your woman. If you love her, you must be with her. And one last thing, Rashid.”

“What?”

“Good luck and if you’re not lucky, I’ve met more than a few Hollywood actresses who’d be more than happy to be your wife. And of course there’s always the insatiable Chrystal.”

“Thank you, Hamad, but I know who I want and it isn’t some movie star and it certainly isn’t Chrystal Longhorn.” Rashid then said goodbye and drank the coffee that the servant had brought him, even though it was now almost cold.

A couple of hours later, he was knocking on Angelina’s door.

She answered in her pyjamas and dressing gown. It looked as if she had just got out of bed. With her hair all messed and signs of sleep in her eyes, she looked ravishing. Rashid wondered whether he should take her there and then. He knew that if his cousin were in his shoes, he would. However, that wasn’t his style. He didn’t want to appear to be forcing himself on her. Instead of taking her in his arms, he handed her a huge bouquet of flowers and the wooden box of gold jewellery. “These are for you, my love,” he announced.

“Go away. I don’t want them.” She tried to shut the door in his face, but he was already over the threshold.

When she refused to take his presents, he put them down on the kitchen table. The box of gold was too heavy to carry much longer.

“Don’t you want to see what I’ve brought you?” he asked.

“I don’t care. Leave me alone.”

“Okay then, I’ll show you.” He opened the lid and started arranging the jewellery on the kitchen table. There were dozens of pieces: bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings. By the time he’d finished, he’d made an impressive display.

“What’s this? Chrystal’s gold?” she asked. “Not good enough for her, so you brought it over to me?”

Rashid was completely confused. “What’s Chrystal got to do with this? I bought this for you, as your...in payment for...” He was about to explain that this was her bride price, the traditional gift that a man gives his betrothed before they marry, but he wasn’t sure how to explain it to her.

“In payment for sex? Is that it? So you didn’t think a car was enough?”

“I gave you the car because you asked for it. I’ll give you anything you want, anything.”

“What I want is for you to leave me alone.”

Rashid thought about what Hamad had said: he was the son of the sultan—who was this woman to turn him out?

“No. That is one thing that I won’t do,” he said. “I love you and I want to marry you. I can’t stop thinking about you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“But what about Chrystal?” she asked.

“What about bloody Chrystal? Why do you keep mentioning her?” Rashid would have been happy if he never heard that woman’s name again in his life.

“She had a party last night at her place with a bunch of women and told everyone that she was engaged to you.”

“What? She did what?”

“And she said that you were just sowing your wild oats with me and that the car was payment for sex.” Tears started rolling down Angelina’s checks.

Rashid was furious. He knew that Chrystal was a bitch, but she’d stooped to new lows this time. “It’s all lies. You mustn’t believe a word she says. She’s a mean, nasty woman who will do whatever she can to hurt other people.” He tried to put his arms around her, but she shrugged him off.

“But I know she’s sleeping with you. She told me about your birthmark and said that you’d given her a gold bracelet like this as a gift.” Angelina picked up one of the larger bracelets off the table and showed it to him. Rashid could see the similarity between it and the bracelet he’d given Chrystal.

“I admit, I have slept with her, and I did give her a gift, but that was a long time ago—a very long time ago.”

“So you admit it, you’ve had sex with her.”

“Yes, I have, but it’s in the past. It’s over. I’m not sure what Chrystal’s playing at, but it’s you I want to marry, not her.”

“But I barely know you.”

Rashid could see her eyes soften. “We can get to know each other better.” He slipped his hands under her dressing gown and put his arms around her. He could feel the warmth of her skin through the thin cotton of her pyjamas. “It looks like you just got out of bed. How about we go back there and I show you how much I love you?” He nuzzled her neck and breathed in the scent of her hair and her skin. He could feel her heart racing against his chest.

“I don’t know, I’m not sure,” she muttered, but when Rashid picked her up and carried her into her bedroom, she didn’t resist.