The Sheikh's Accidental Bride (13 page)

FOUR

They made their way through the crowd and onto the dancefloor. People moved all around them as the music played and Lily began to feel more and more swept up in the grandeur of the evening. Khaled’s strong body pulled her in close while his arm rested on the small of her back, supporting her as they moved across the dance floor. Lily was lost in thought as her body reacted to the closeness of Khaled. She felt instantly drawn to him and her heart raced as they danced.

Khaled was an excellent dancer. He moved expertly and brought Lily along with him, never allowing her to get out of step. She smiled as he pulled her along gracefully and within minutes, they were standing at a table on the side, trying to catch their breath between their laughter.

“How about a drink?” Khaled says, holding Lily’s hand in his.

Lily nodded and they began walking toward rear bar, mercifully the one she hadn’t been working at. Before they got there, Lily spotted the professor again, standing in line. She turned and saw the woman in the green ball gown coming from the other direction. In a panic, she grabbed Khaled’s head and whispered in his ear.

“You want to get out of here?”

Khaled’s face erupted in a smile and he nodded quickly. They turned toward the front exit and ran hand in hand toward the elevator.

“No, this way,” Lily says, pulling Khaled through another doorway. She pulled him down several hallways until they were at a bank of unmarked service elevators. The doors opened quickly and they got in, smiling silently as the elevator whooshed to the top. The doors opened again and they stepped outside onto the roof of the museum.

“How’d you know about this?” Khaled asked, curious at just who this woman was.

“I told you, I’ve been to a lot of museums,” Lily laughed.

She walked across the rooftop and stopped, looking out across the Chicago skyline. Khaled still held her hand as the cool night air sent a shiver through her. He immediately took off his tuxedo jacket and walked in front of her, moving to slip the jacket over her shoulders. Lily looked up at him as he draped the jacket over her and then pulled her close. Their eyes locked as Khaled brought his lips down to meet Lily’s. She felt the warmth of him on her and pulled her body close to his. They kissed long and slowly, their lips gentle and meaningful.

Lily pulled back, shocked at what had just happened.

“I’m sorry,” said Khaled. He must have misread the look on her face. He was a playboy and used to fast women. But this woman was different. He hoped he hadn’t moved too quickly.

Lily blinked a few times and then smiled coyly as she looked up at him. “Don’t be, that was nice.”

Khaled breathed out a sigh of relief and then pulled Lily in close. They found a concrete bench and sat down, Khaled’s arms wrapped around Lily to keep her warm.

“Isn’t the city beautiful?” Lily said, remembering how much she loved the city lights compared to the barren sky of her hometown.

“Yes, I love the lights,” said Khaled as he stroked Lily’s arm. “Have you ever been to Al-Zumayn?”

“No,” Lily responded, revealing as little as she could.

Khaled exhaled and kept stroking her arm as he talked. “Well, it’s a small country, but we have some of the most expensive buildings in the world there. It is a playground for the rich and famous, they say.”

Lily leaned into Khaled and felt the rise and fall of his chest as he spoke. She felt butterflies in her stomach.

“My family is not exactly royal, but we have access to many of the same privileges as royalty. I have been to many exotic and beautiful places, and there are few that rival the skyline of my country. But New York and Chicago come very close.”

“What about Dubai? What about Paris?”

“Dubai?” Khaled laughed when he spoke. “Dubai is highly overrated.”

Khaled pulled Lily away and looked at her. He breath caught in his throat when he saw her face lit softly by the evening lights. She looked even more beautiful than she had in the museum.

“Now you know about me, tell me about you.”

Lily swallowed and smiled. She felt there was something happening here, but wasn’t sure what it was. She hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Maybe it was the champagne, but whatever it was, she didn’t want it to end. She had to keep playing along.

“Well, I already told you my name…but my friends call me Lily.”

“Lily,” Khaled said, nodded in approval. “I like that.”

“And I’m a lot like you. I have royal blood in my lineage,” Lily said. She knew that practically everyone could trace their family tree back to someone who was royal, so that wasn’t entirely a lie.

“And my father traveled a lot.” True again. He was a truck driver and traveled all over the country. “I’ve been to many places and seen many great treasures from all over the world.” True and true. This wasn’t so bad, Lily thought. “But of all the places I’ve lived, I like Chicago the best.”

“You live here?” Khaled asked, sounding rather surprised.

Lily caught herself and recovered quickly. “When I’m in the United States, this is my favorite place to stay.”

Whew, that was close
, she thought. Even though she felt bad about being less than honest with Khaled, she wasn’t outright lying.

Khaled smiled, feeling more confident that this spur of the moment meeting could turn into something much more. He knew the clock was ticking to find a bride. And so far, everything about this woman seemed to fit the conditions his parents had imposed. Khaled felt like he wanted to get to know her more. He didn’t think she needed to know anything about the pressure he was under to find a bride. He would just see where this went and then take it from there.

“Thank you,” Khaled said as he pulled her close again.

Lily lifted her face up to his. “For what?”

“For interrupting me in the museum,” Khaled said as his lips parted into a smile.

Lily’s heart skipped a beat and she smiled back, bringing her face even closer to his. “Thank you for letting me!”

Their lips met again and this time they lingered, the heat passing between them and igniting a fire neither one of them had felt before. When they separated, they looked into each other’s eyes and felt electricity pass between them.

“This is crazy,” Lily said, the enormity of what she had just done finally sinking in. Not only was she sitting on top of the museum that she was fired from months before, she was kissing a man she had met just moments before. And not just any man, the son of the benefactor who was responsible for her losing her job at the museum. And he was a Sheikh! She broke eye contact with Khaled and looked away, her mind racing.

“I know,” Khaled said. Escaping to the rooftop with her was proving to be exhilarating and crazy and Khaled was enjoying every second of it. He didn’t want it to stop. “So why not make it even crazier? What are you doing for the next two weeks?”

Lily looked at Khaled as if his hair were on fire. “What? Why?”

Khaled turned and grabbed both of Lily’s hands in his. “Come away with me!”

“Now you’re the crazy one!”

“I know,” Khaled said as the adrenaline pumped through his veins. “I know we’ve only just met. But I feel like meeting you is a breath of fresh air. You’re so different from the other society girls downstairs. You’re so different from all of the other girls I’ve met. I want to get to know you!”

Lily’s mind raced. Of course she was different because she wasn’t a society girl. Although it was insane, she wanted to get to know Khaled better, too. And since she had just quit her job, she really didn’t have any plans for the next two weeks. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. She could get away and see how the super-rich live. And who knows? Maybe she could convince Khaled to start donating to the museum again so that she could get her old job back.

“Yes,” she said, hardly believing the words that jumped out of her mouth. “Yes, I’ll go away with you!”

Khaled drew her close and planted another deep kiss on her lips. They sat for a while longer until the chill in the air was too much. After a few more long, exploring kisses, they walked hand in hand back to the elevator and down to the museum entrance.

“Thank you for a lovely evening, Lady Lillian Bailey,” Khaled said, bowing slightly to Lily.

Lily smiled back and curtsied. “Thank you Sheikh Khaled.”

He drew her in for one more kiss before parting. “My car will pick you up. Just give me your address and my driver will be there by eight in the morning.”

Lily’s mind raced. Her address? She couldn’t give Khaled her address. She had a nice apartment, but it was in the West Loop not in Old Town or Gold Coast. If he saw her old warehouse conversion apartment, he would know instantly that she wasn’t royalty.

“I’m staying at the Hotel Arcadia,” Lily spouted out, coming up with the first luxury hotel she could think of. “I’ll be in the lobby at eight.”

“Until then,” Khaled said as he bid her goodbye. He turned and walked back toward the ballroom, leaving Lily alone in front of an ancient Egyptian exhibit. She watched his tall, lean body disappear down the hall and let her breath out when he was finally out of sight.

She walked toward the bench at the end of the exhibit hall and slumped into it. What had just happened? Just a few hours ago she was serving drinks to people in stuffy suits and ball gowns. Now she was being picked up at an upscale hotel and whisked off for a two-week vacation with a man she had just met! And not just any man, a Sheikh! She rubbed her temples as the events of the evening and the residual effects of the champagne pounded in her head.

Lily, Lily, what have you done?
Not only was it bad enough that she had quit her job, now she was going away for two weeks and wouldn’t have any income during that time. That was really bad planning on her part. Actually, she laughed ironically, for someone who had always planned so well, it was incredibly reckless. And yet something had made her want to do it.

She had felt drawn, almost pulled to Khaled when she first saw him. And then, when he kissed her, all her resolve had melted away. She knew there was something special going on between them, she just didn’t know what it was.

“Well, kid, you’ve never let yourself do something crazy before. So why not?” Lily smiled as she thought about seeing Khaled again. She walked around the ballroom and entered the staff room through the back door. The ball was still going on and Lily quickly grabbed her coat and purse and disappeared back out into the cool night air.

FIVE

“You did what?!” Jill’s voice rang through the phone.

“I know, I know. It was stupid, it was crazy, and I shouldn’t have done it,” Lily said, pacing around her apartment like a wild animal. In the two hours since she’d left the museum, she had gone back and forth about her decision. During the cab ride home, she had been excited about getting to know Khaled. But when she arrived home, reality kicked in and she feared she had made a terrible mistake.

“No, no, no, no… It was exactly the right thing to do!” Jill squealed with delight. “Girl! You never do anything spontaneously. I’m surprised you haven’t booked the date you’re going to fall in love! Sometimes you gotta throw all that rigidity to the wind and fly by the seat of your pants!”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that what if—”

“No ‘what ifs.’ Just go with it. That’s what being spontaneous is all about. You take what’s coming and enjoy the ride. And from what you’ve said about this guy, it sounds like it will be an enjoyable ride, indeed.”

“But I wasn’t completely truthful with him,” said Lily.

“How untruthful were you?”

Lily exhaled. “I kind of gave him the impression that I’m from a royal family.”

Jill laughed through the phone. “Wow! Did you come right out and say that? Or did you just say things that could have been construed that way? There’s a big difference, you know.”

Lily thought about the semantics of what her friend was saying. “Well, I didn’t make it clear one way or the other.”

“There you go!” said Jill. “You weren’t entirely untruthful. You just told a little white lie. Heck, it probably wasn’t even your fault. And besides. Who cares? It led to the invitation of a lifetime! Seriously Lily, when will you ever get the opportunity to do something like this again?”

Lily vacillated as she watched the city lights twinkle in the distance. From her West Loop apartment, she was able to glimpse the Aon Center and Two Prudential Plaza, two of Chicago’s tallest buildings. The lights danced in the wind and she remembered the chill she had felt sitting on top of the Field Museum. She thought about how she had misled Khaled. But then, she thought about how she felt when they kissed and the warmth of his embrace.

“Okay, okay I’ll go,” she said with a newfound resolve.

Jill yelled happily through the phone. “That’s what I’m talking about, girl! Ever since I’ve known you, all you’ve done is work like a dog. You’re so concerned with everyone else, with making them happy, with not inconveniencing them, that you forget that you need to take some time for yourself. You deserve happiness, too, you know.”

“I know,” Lily said, but she didn’t really believe it. She didn’t know why, but she never felt like she was meant for fairy tale kind of happiness. She knew she could achieve whatever she set her mind too. And she had no doubt that with her intelligence and perseverance, she would go far. But love? Like, head over heels, sweep you off your feet sort of love? Lily always thought that was for other people. But a vacation? She could handle that.

“Thanks Jill,” she said to her friend. “I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on. In the meantime, can you swing by and water the plants while I’m gone?”

Jill laughed at Lily’s request. She knew that Lily didn’t have any live plants. She might have been a master history buff, but a horticulturist she was definitely not.

“You mean pick up the mail?” Jill asked, knowing that’s what her friend had meant.

“Yeah, thanks. You’re the best. I’ll text you when I get wherever it is I’m going.”

“Okay. And Lily? Remember to have fun. This isn’t an assignment. It’s a vacation.”

Lily smiled and said goodbye to Jill. She put the phone down and gazed out at the Chicago night. The trees lining her street were shedding leaves quickly as the wind spun them wildly. She turned back to her apartment and went to her bedroom to pack. But what was she packing for? She didn’t even know where she was going? She figured she’d hope for the best – warm weather, maybe even tropical – and plan for the worst.

She took her suitcase out of her closet and heaved it up on her bed. She unzipped it and stopped when she saw the card lying in the empty suitcase. Lily picked it up and looked at it. She hadn’t used the suitcase since she going home for her grandmother’s funeral the previous year.

Lily’s grandmother Dora was her hero. She was an adventurer who had traveled the world and defied all female stereotypes of her time. Lily had been very close to her grandmother and Dora had spent many afternoons telling Lily wild stories about her travels. That was when Lily had felt the first twinges of wanting to get out of her small Missouri town. Grandma Dora introduced her to so many amazing sights, sounds and experiences through her stories. Lily wanted to experience it all.

Dora had been an activist in the women’s lib movement of the 1960s. She went to rallies, protested against war and traveled the globe with the Peace Corps. She married a Vietnam vet and they had Lily’s mother, Betty. But that didn’t slow Dora down. She learned to fly a plane when she was in her forties and when Betty was grown and Dora’s husband had passed, she flew to Costa Rica and took up surfing. She lived a while there, returning for brief periods to Missouri to visit. It was during these visits over the years that she and Lily formed an untenable bond.

When Lily left for college, Dora had just returned from three months in Africa. She didn’t know it at the time, but it was to be her last trip. While there, she had contracted a virus that progressively sapped her strength. Over the next few years, her health had declined. Lily had kept in touch with Dora while at school and in Chicago, but Alzheimer’s had set in and Dora was not always Dora. The last time the two had spoken had been a week before Dora died, just after Lily lost her job at the museum.

“Now you listen here,” Dora had said, a hint of her previous spark returning momentarily. “Don’t you let this get you down. It’s a setback, just a setback, you hear me?”

“Yes, Gramma, I hear you.”

“When I was getting my pilot’s license, I got delayed three times. Did I ever tell you that?”

“Yes Gramma, you did,” Lily said politely, but that didn’t stop Dora.

“Well, I’m gonna tell you again. The first time was when I was tending bar. I had a big event to go to and I was supposed to take my test the next day. I had to take a bus back from the event and the bus broke down. So I missed the test. The second time was when your mother got sick. I think it was right after you were born. She got the flu so bad and your daddy was on the road. So I had to come take care of you.”

Lily swallowed hard. She had loved it when Dora told those stories. Even though she had been a baby when this occurred, she swore she could remember Dora taking care of her that time.

Dora went on. “The third time, the third time they told me that I didn’t have enough flying hours. They just didn’t want a woman getting her pilot’s license. But I did have enough hours, I did take the test and I passed it!”

Lily listened as Dora’s tone reverberated with excitement. She was so grateful to have Dora in her life, she was inspired by her.

“Just keep your chin up, Peanut. And don’t ever stop living your life.”

Those were the last words Dora had said on that phone call; the last that she ever spoke to Lily.

Lily lifted the memorial card out of the suitcase and looked at it. The front held a picture of Dora in her mid-fifties, standing next to her bi-plane. On the back of the card was a copy of her obituary, which read like an action adventure story.

“Don’t ever stop living your life…” Lily said out loud as she took the card and placed it on her nightstand. “Don’t you worry, Gramma, I won’t.”

Without further ado, Lily turned around, went to her dresser and started packing.