The Sheik's Love Child (6 page)

He didn’t answer her for a long time. “Are you sure you’re not pregnant? And would you tell me if you were?”

Dani stared at his handsome face that was set in grim, determined lines. “A baby? Would I tell you if I were pregnant with your baby?”

“Exactly. And are you sure you’re not pregnant? Would you confirm that with a pregnancy test?”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“I’m saying we had unprotected sex seven days ago. I have word that you were at an obstetrician’s office and you’re now holding a baby’s blanket, in addition to pictures of you shopping for baby furniture. All evidence would point to a different conclusion than you are allowing. Although most women would be spouting the opposite so I’ll concede that I’m a little confused.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that several women have tried to convince me that they were pregnant when they were not. I believe you might be different and convince me that you are not pregnant, when you are.”

Dani sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Aren’t you the most insulting man I’ve ever met!” she exclaimed. “And arrogant, not to mention conceited.”

“Now that you’ve vented, please answer my question.”

“No, I’m not pregnant. And no, I won’t be subjected to a pregnancy test. And yes, I do consider you painfully insulting.”

“How do you know you’re not pregnant?”

“I know!”

“How?”

Dani hesitated because she didn’t actually know. It was still too early to know if she was or not since her period wasn’t due until next week. She hadn’t even considered the possibility, too wrapped up in her anger to think beyond getting through her classes and fighting the humiliating memories of those messengers.

“I see you’ve finally come to the realization that it is a possibility,” he said curtly. “We will be arriving in Basir in a few hours. At that time, we will endeavor to find an answer to our question.”

“I will not be subjected to a pregnancy test. Haven’t you put me through enough humiliation already?”

“Then we will be married immediately,” he said calmly and stood up to answer the phone.

“Married?” Danni said, horrified of that possibility. “Why on earth would we get married?”

“If you won’t consider the possibility, then we must be married. I don’t want my children to think they were conceived out of wedlock. No marks can be made against my children and the future heir of Basir.”

“I can’t marry you!”

“Why not?”

“Because, you’re royalty. And I’m,” she hesitated, trying to define who she was. “I’m a teacher.”

“I admit that my people would never accept you as the queen but only because of your nationality and not because of your profession. The marriage would only be for a short time. We will divorce once the child is born which will be long enough to legitimize his right to the throne. You may stay on at the palace or return to London, whichever is your wish,” he explained matter of factly.

“Leave my child? Are you crazy?”

Again, the small tilt to his lips indicated a possible smile but it never came out in full force. “I don’t believe that adjective has been applied to me lately but you are working through many epithets, I’m sure you’ll send that one my way again very soon.”

“You are crazy!” she exclaimed.

“You may also stay on at the palace or a residence nearby. That is your choice.”

She stared at his handsome face, trying to grasp everything he had just told her. It was like her life had turned into some sort of macabre play and she was in the audience shaking her head, unbelieving of the unrealistic plot. “Let me get this straight. We make love one night, you insult me by sending me money as if I were some sort of hired help to be paid off, now you think I’m pregnant so you kidnap me and threaten to take this theoretical child away from me.” She glared at him as he sat calmly in front of him, not showing any emotion to her summarization. “Does that cover everything?”

“You’ve put an interesting spin on the situation,” he said and stood up, walking over to a small refrigerator and pulled out a bottle. While pouring two drinks, he looked at her briefly. “How about if I try?”

She didn’t respond but crossed her arms over her chest, continuing to glare at him. “We met and made love, both of us involved and neither one remembering about contraceptives, I had a nice evening and wanted to show you how much so I sent you a gift. Now I realize that there might have been consequences and I’m preparing to keep you in the height of luxury with every conceivable comfort for the rest of your days while our…what was the term you used?” he hesitated before continuing and handed her a drink of ice cold juice, “Ah yes, ‘theoretical’ child, becomes one of the wealthiest, best educated and most powerful man in the world. Oh, and don’t forget that I’ve offered you my name and protection as well as many more nights like the one we shared last week where we lose ourselves in each other, finding more and more ways to pleasure the other, understanding that our bodies have a need for the other that is inescapable,” he said, more softly and closer to her ear.

He sat back and noticed her breathing had become rapid, her breasts were swollen just at the thought of the nights with him and her nipples hardened even as he glanced down and noticed. She covered her breasts, wishing he didn’t have this affect on her but his soft, deep chuckle only told her that he wasn’t fooled.

“What if the baby is a girl?”

Kalil smiled at this point, liking her spunk and daring. “If it is a girl, she will be revered in our culture as no other woman could be,” he said. “She will also be educated in the best schools and loved.”

“But not the most powerful?”

“Women are gaining a powerful place in society. I would expect my daughters to help other women fight for more equality.”

“That’s an interesting statement coming from a man who just kidnapped a woman.”

Kalil shook his head. “I am only protecting you. There are parties who would harm you in order to gain succession to the throne.”

Dani hadn’t thought of that. “Perhaps we should have discussed this prior to Saturday night,” she said, becoming intimidated again.

“Perhaps there were many things that we should have discussed. But that didn’t happen. Now we deal with the current situation.”

“I think I’ll take my chances on my own,” she said, lifting her head. “No one has to know that the baby is yours. And I promise never to tell anyone. You have my word on that.”

“Only a few moments ago, you were horrified when I suggested you leave your baby in the palace under my care and return to England. Now you make the statement that I forget my child. Interesting. And irrelevant,” he stated firmly when she started to speak. “Regardless of these issues, you are carrying a child of royal blood. My blood. It will be raised to rule Basir,” he said. The phone rang at that moment and he lifted it, listening for a long moment before putting it down. “I’m afraid I must deal with several issues my advisors have brought up. If you will excuse me, I’ll be back shortly. There is a bed through those doors if you become tired and I’ll be back for dinner.”

Without another word, he moved down the stairs and disappeared, leaving Dani sitting in the luxurious setting looking bewildered. She covered her stomach, wondering if it was possible that she really was pregnant. But then she remembered Carrie’s attempts and knew that it was a pretty remote possibility. It was her first time having sex. She knew it happened but it was improbable in her case.

Chapter 6

Dani walked off the plane behind Kalil, shading her eyes from the intense sun beating down on them. She was led to a limousine surrounded by a police escort. Kalil escorted Dani to the middle limousine but discussed something in Arabic with another passenger, leaving her completely out of the conversation.

At the palace, Kalil escorted her inside but that was the extent of her communication with him.

“This is Alea. She will be your personal assistant,” he said and then walked off in the opposite direction.

Dani watched him until he was out of sight. Then she turned to find her “assistant” standing in front of her, waiting patiently. “May I show you to your rooms?” she asked.

Dani was shown to a suite of rooms. There was a living room that was about ten times the size of her tiny apartment, and a bathroom at least twice the size. The sunken bath itself was larger than her bed and it was already filled with warm, soapy water. It looked fabulously inviting but she resisted. She didn’t tell Alea anything but thanked her politely and waited for her to leave.

Searching through her purse, Dani was horrified to find that she only had a few euros in her wallet. She still had her credit cards but she wasn’t sure if they would be widely accepted. She just needed to get to the embassy and she would be okay, she told herself. There, they could help her get on a plane and she could get back to her own life. Once she was able to confirm to Kalil that she wasn’t pregnant, she was sure he would be grateful that she didn’t stick around for long.

Slipping out of the room, she looked down the long corridor, wondering if anyone would stop her. If she appeared casual, she suspected that everyone would assume she was where she was supposed to be.

Tucking the blanket under one arm and feeling silly for still having it with her, she moved forward with purpose, retracing her steps as best she could. Whenever she reached a place that didn’t seem familiar, she simply turned around and backtracked until she was in familiar territory again. But after forty five minutes of walking, she realized that many of the corridors looked familiar simply because she’d already been lost in them before.

It was only by some miracle that she ended up in the entry hall that she’d initially been abandoned by Kalil a long time ago.

Dani tentatively opened the front door only to find several guards standing in front of it. They all glanced up at her, inquiringly but none said a word. So Dani braved through and just started walking. There was sunlight which meant she was outside. That was progress, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t until she reached a cement wall that she realized why no one had stopped her. She was in a small courtyard with no way out. Walking back into the palace was embarrassing, but the guards politely opened the door for her, allowing her re-entry. And there stood Kalil, his arms crossed over his chest waiting for her.

“Looking for something?” he asked arrogantly, one eyebrow raised enquiringly.

Dani just leaned against the heavy doors, fighting back tears of frustration. “Yes!”

Kalil relented, walking towards her and looking gently down into her eyes. “I’m sorry the suite of rooms was not to your liking. We will find something else,” he said and put a hand at the small of her back. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

Dani hated to admit it, but she was famished. Shaking her head, she didn’t want to accept anything from him. “No, thank you. But if you are hungry, please don’t let me keep you from your dinner,” she said, not bothering to look at him.

“But I insist that you join me,” he said, and a few more feet they were back at her rooms. Alea was standing in the center of the room, nervously wringing her hands. She was even more terrified when Kalil walked in. Immediately bowing low, she spoke softly in Arabic and it sounded suspiciously like an apology.

Kalil spoke back and dismissed the woman who quickly left the room. He hadn’t spoken harshly, but Dani imagined that even softly spoken words from Kalil could be lethal in some cases.

“What did you say to her?” she asked, sitting down in one of the silk covered chairs.

“I told her to leave,” he explained and walked over to her, took her hand and led her to the courtyard that was now cooling off with the setting sun. There was a lovely table filled with white roses, candle light and silver covered plates. “Are you sure you aren’t hungry?” he asked, dropping her hand and picking up one of the covers. An amazing aroma wafted to her and Dani couldn’t stop her stomach from letting him know that she was indeed hungry.

“No, thank you,” she said, ignoring the food in favor of stepping back into the shadows. “Please enjoy your meal.”

“I would enjoy it more if you would eat it with me.”

“That’s generous, but no thank you,” she repeated. She turned to leave but his voice stopped her.

“You can’t leave the palace, Danielle,” he said, voicing her worst fears.

“Why?”

“Because you are under my protection. No one will allow you to leave.”

“Because of today?”

“No, if you had been in danger of coming close to an exit, someone would have stopped you immediately,” he said, sitting down in one of the chairs by the table. “Luckily, you were not in danger,” he said simply. “Please sit down. If this food doesn’t tempt you, then I’ll have the chef prepare something else. You just have to name it and it will be done.”

“I don’t want anything from you,” she said emphatically. “I want to go home now.”

“This will be your new home for however long you want. After the baby is born, a respectable amount of time will have to pass before we can divorce but you don’t need to live here during that period unless you choose to.”

“That’s impossible!”

Kalil stood up and sighed deeply. Taking her hands in his, he led her back over to the table. With one fork, he lifted it to her mouth. When she wouldn’t open for him, he rubbed his thumb sensuously along her lips which parted automatically, with the persuasion. He fed her a bite of a delicious cheese, the flavor bursting in her mouth as he said, “Danielle, just try and relax. I am sure you can enjoy your time here,” he said, then picked up another bite. Dani couldn’t take it anymore. The flavors were so wonderful and she really was hungry. Closing her eyes, she savored the tastes, loving the way the food slid down her throat and warmed her inside.