Claimed For The Sheikh's Shock Son (Secret Heirs 0f Billionaires)

by Carol Marinelli

  Aubrey chalked her hands and feet and climbed onto the platform. She took to the trapeze and performed her routine the very best that she could, with a heart that at first felt very heavy.

  Yet Aubrey actually liked the trapeze.

  She shut out the gamblers below and the smoke and the noise, and made plans for her and Aayiz.

  Tomorrow she would call Philippe.

  She would ask him to consider her for spots abroad now and then, opening shows and expos and things so she would be away for only a few days at a time.

  In the interim she could concentrate on her music.

  Aubrey tipped backwards and hung by her knees and swung high. The hours were being counted down and as she swung and hung and twisted, she thought of how she’d taunted Khalid about being with someone else.

  And now the biter would be bit.

  She was certain.

  There were no clocks in the casino but to hazard a guess, in sixteen or so hours Khalid would take his chosen bride.

  She sat back up on the swing and kicked off again; with increasing momentum she kicked her legs and again tipped back.

  And she was most certainly seeing things for now there was a huge man in silver and black robes, and heads were turning, for even in Vegas Khalid stood out.

  Now she swung and she taunted, not the gamblers below but the man who approached and then stood beneath her. Aubrey didn’t quite know why, but she kicked her legs, and she dazzled.

  ‘Aubrey!’ His voice was deep, and still measured. ‘May I ask that you get down?’

  She ignored him.

  Terrified and knowing that if she did then history really would repeat itself, she stayed where she was.

  It was safer up here.

  And so she kicked her legs harder and then hung by her hands and stretched her legs wide apart.

  ‘Aubrey,’ he said, and the gaming table stilled at the authority in his voice. The croupiers at other tables stopped dealing, and her friends started to come over. ‘Get down.’

  She sat on the swing and looked down, and she defied him. ‘No.’

  Beside him stood a robed man, and Laisha as well as two bodyguards that Aubrey had seen at Jobe’s funeral.

  They all looked stressed.

  It was clear that none were used to the Sheikh Prince not getting his way.

  And neither was Khalid. His patience was starting to wear thin, for he wanted her to hear what he had to say.

  He took a step and started to climb onto the platform. It was completely forbidden for him to do so, but the casino’s own security were standing back and so was Vince, for it was clear no one could stop Khalid.

  ‘I’m not coming down,’ Aubrey said, though she was only swinging gently now. ‘Go and choose your wife, Khalid...’

  ‘I have chosen my wife,’ Khalid said.

  ‘And I have to live with it?’ Aubrey angrily checked. ‘Are you hoping for a quickie while you’re still single?’ From the gasps from his entourage, she should not be speaking that way, and they clearly expected their Prince to deliver a terse warning.

  Yet he smiled. ‘Aubrey, the bride I have chosen is you.’

  She stopped swinging as the enormity of his words hit her, especially when Laisha started crying and imploring Khalid in Arabic, and the men in robes seemed overcome.

  ‘Your father...’ Aubrey gulped, and then her eyes pleaded with him as she reminded him of the consequences if she agreed to marry him. ‘Hussain...’

  ‘Just tell me that you will be my bride,’ Khalid said. ‘And I will deal with the King, Aubrey, I will take care of everything and everyone.’

  ‘Even me?’

  ‘Especially you,’ Khalid said. ‘And my beautiful son Aayiz. If you will allow me to.’

  ‘Yes!’

  And when he held out his arms she dropped into them, just fell into his strong embrace and slid down the solid wall of his body till their lips were together again.

  The gamblers, the croupiers and especially her friends were all applauding and cheering, but it did not compare to the roar in her ears as he stopped kissing her and lifted her over his shoulder and took her out to the Strip, where a sheikh prince and a trapeze artist barely merited a glance.

  ‘It will be okay,’ he told her over and over when she started to cry.

  ‘How can it be?’ Aubrey asked, and tears filled her eyes. ‘Poor Hussain.’

  ‘No,’ Khalid reassured her. ‘Hussain will be fine...’

  ‘But Abbad...’ Her heart twisted for she too had seen the dart of fear in Abbad’s eyes. It was Khalid who had been born to be King, who wanted to be King, and she couldn’t bear that their love would cause hurt.

  ‘I have spoken with the King,’ Khalid said. He put a hand on a pillar and shielded her petite body from the masses so that it felt as if it was only them. ‘He reminded me that if my wedding does not take place by the second sunset, then Al-Zahan will be no more, and I pointed out that the mainland people were happy and were ruled by a wise and kind queen...’

  She felt as though Khalid was the biggest gambler in Vegas when he told her what he had done.

  ‘I told the King that if he did not approve you as my bride, then Hussain did not want my role and neither did Abbad. That we would be more than willing to unite with the people of the mainland; that I had spoken with the Queen and would remain an ambassador to my people...’

  ‘No,’ Aubrey whispered.

  ‘Aubrey,’ Khalid said, ‘I pointed out that you have worn my scent for a year, that an amulet was given to us by Jobe on the day our son was conceived. Aayiz is my son and I shall never again deny him.’

  ‘But you want to be King.’

  ‘Only if you are my Queen. If the King does not approve, then the Al-Zahan kingdom ends. Better a kind queen and strong ambassador than a cold and cruel king...’

  Aubrey could feel her heart trying to escape her chest as she realised the lengths to which Khalid would go for them to be together.

  ‘No!’ she pleaded, scared now of what she had unleashed.

  But then Khalid smiled and the world felt right. ‘That is exactly what my father said,’ Khalid said. ‘The bastard was on his knees, imploring me to take you as my wife...’ He ached to kiss her but he could not. ‘Aubrey, we have to leave now. It shall soon be morning in Al-Zahan...’ He turned to his people, but Laisha shook her head.

  ‘There is not enough time, it is eighteen flying hours and we only have fifteen until sunset,’ she told him. ‘Al-Zahan will fall...’

  The aide started frantically rushing them to a car,

  ‘If we leave now,’ Khalid said, ‘we could still make it. I shall speak to the pilot—’

  But Aubrey had a better idea.

  ‘Khalid.’ She interrupted the secretary and the aides and even the future King. She stood in her sparkly leotard in the middle of the Strip and reminded them all of a gorgeous fact. ‘We’re in Vegas.’

  ‘The people must witness your union,’ Laisha said.

  ‘And they shall.’ Khalid smiled.

  He kissed Aubrey’s face, he kissed her eyes, he held her sequined hips in his strong hands and kissed her mouth. He released her, but Aubrey’s hands were knotted behind his neck.

  ‘Let go,’ he said.

  ‘Never.’

  ‘I mean it, Aubrey.’ Khalid prised off her hands and sobered her, drunk with love and lust, with his words. ‘There is a royal wedding to be arranged.’

  It was daunting and terrifying but then he whispered in her ear.

  ‘And then I’ll make love to you.’

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  A ROYAL WEDDING in fifteen hours!

  It might seem impossible but Aubrey was part of a sisterhood, and they all pulled together for this most spectacular event.

  Brandy made several calls,
and the lavish venue was chosen.

  Khalid liaised with the elders, who were surprisingly thrilled with the refreshing change, for they had seen the cruel ways of the King and had silently dreaded that their Sheikh Prince might one day turn his back on the land they all loved.

  But all that took time.

  With a baby to feed and a father who wanted to do it for the first time.

  Aubrey watched as Khalid sat on the sofa in their tiny home and gave a hungry Aayiz his bottle.

  ‘He’s tiny,’ Khalid said.

  He certainly looked it in his father’s arms.

  ‘I hate it that you went through all of this alone.’

  There wasn’t time, there just wasn’t, but Aubrey went and sat on Khalid’s knee and looked down at their son being held by his father.

  ‘I love being his mom,’ Aubrey said, and then she realised she hadn’t yet told Khalid just how deeply she felt. ‘I love you, Khalid, so very much.’

  They were the words he needed to hear, and he wanted her so much—and to give those words their due—but with six hours to go it was time to separate.

  ‘I can do my own make-up,’ Aubrey said, ticking things off, ‘but I want Mom’s hair done and...’ She panicked. ‘I have to find a dress.’

  ‘You go and sort out your dress and your wedding party,’ Khalid told her. ‘I will take care of the rest.’

  ‘What about flowers?’

  ‘Go!’ Khalid said.

  ‘Should you really leave it all to him?’ Stella checked, though loud enough for Khalid to hear.

  ‘Stella,’ Khalid said in his rich deep voice to his future mother-in-law, ‘I will take care of everything.’

  The smile he gave told Stella that she did not have to worry now.

  Khalid was left delightedly holding his baby as the women headed off with a diamond clip full of his cash to get ready for the wedding.

  Aubrey chose a dress in the purest white that swept the floor, even in heels.

  ‘You look beautiful.’ her mom said with tears in her eyes. ‘Aubrey, I am so happy for you. You deserve this.’

  ‘So did you, Mom,’ Aubrey said, and they hugged and Aubrey understood her mom so much better now.

  For the first time since the accident, her mom’s hair was skilfully styled, and a small hairpiece, carefully blended, made such a difference and covered some of the most loathed scars. Then the colour technician performed his own brand of magic on Aunt Carmel’s red and white hair.

  And then it was Aubrey’s turn and she chose to wear it up, so it showed her silver locket to best effect, though a few subtle curls were let loose.

  With less than an hour to go, there was a knock on the door to their sumptuous hotel suite and Aubrey found herself smiling at Vanda, the make-up artist who had helped Aubrey that day in New York.

  ‘By royal appointment,’ Vanda squealed, and did a happy dance in the corridor outside.

  Brandy had said she would organise the flowers, but when a bouquet of peonies arrived in soft whites and the palest blush pinks, Aubrey knew that Khalid had chosen them, for they were the same type of flowers that had been on the table at their New York City dinner on the night they had met and made love.

  ‘You’re going to take his breath away,’ Vanda said as they made their way down.

  Vegas had everything, and that included luxury.

  Stella worked here every day, and Aubrey had been here on occasion, but she had never thought she might marry here.

  Had never thought that she would be surrounded by family and friends and that her gorgeous Prince would stand waiting for her, holding their son.

  Khalid wore an embellished robe of rose-gold and a kefeyah and to Aubrey he seemed more beautiful each and every day. Aayiz wore deep navy and they looked so handsome and so full of love that Aubrey had to rely on her mom’s hand on her arm not to run to them.

  ‘Slowly,’ Stella reminded her. ‘Enjoy your moment, Aubrey.’

  Aubrey was so proud of her mom, who had dreamt of this day for herself but was so thrilled to be here instead for her daughter.

  She saw his brothers and sister there, and they smiled so widely as she walked on her mom’s arm to the gorgeous strains of Brandy and her wonderful girlfriends singing ‘The Wonder of You’.

  Oh, it made her cry. It was the perfect song, especially when sung by dear friends, and as she reached Khalid’s side, she touched his hand, the man who would one day be King.

  ‘Did you choose this?’ Aubrey asked Khalid.

  ‘I accepted Brandy’s suggestion.’

  She was glad that he had.

  And then a huge screen lit up and she realised just how busy Khalid and his aides had been, for there was a live stream from the palace. They stood as if beside the golden dome, and heard the cheers of the crowd as their Prince and his chosen bride first came into view.

  It was a wedding Khalid had never envisaged, yet it made complete and perfect sense, for he loved her, every facet of her, and when the elders spoke to gathered family and friends, Laisha translated the words whispered over centuries in the Al-Zahan desert.

  All his life, Khalid had wanted for nothing.

  Save love.

  All her life, Aubrey had wanted for everything.

  Save love.

  Khalid dressed her finger and wrist in a hand flower bracelet made of gold from the palace.

  When Khalid spoke, his words were measured and clear.

  ‘Aubrey, I shall provide for you, and I shall care for you.’ Then he told her more than Al-Zahan law required him to. ‘I offer you my love.’

  A critic might say he was a touch emotionless in his delivery.

  But that critic did not know Khalid.

  ‘Khalid, I accept your love,’ Aubrey said, and she looked down at their entwined hands, and she had to actually remind herself to breathe, for the air seemed trapped in her throat.

  They were officially married now.

  * * *

  It was still morning in Vegas when they left their reception.

  But the hour didn’t matter.

  It was night time in Al-Zahan and there were celebrations there too, for not only was their beloved Crown Prince now married, there was a new prince too.

  Prince Aayiz.

  He lay now, in another luxury suite, being watched over by his devoted nanny and aunt.

  And finally it was just them.

  He undressed her slowly.

  The gorgeous white dress dropped to the floor, and she felt too short when she took off her heels and faced Khalid and watched as he removed his fine robes.

  And when he was naked she told him something. ‘I nearly said yes to being your ikbal.’

  She blushed in shame at her own weakness and then she put her jewelled hand up to his chest and he pulled her in and kissed her trembling mouth.

  He kissed her onto the vast bed and she sank, and never wanted to come up for air.

  He kissed her neck and then the locket, he kissed her breasts and her stomach, made taut from the fingers he slipped inside her.

  ‘Are you telling me you nearly said yes to being my mistress?’

  ‘Yes...’ she gasped.

  ‘You nearly said yes?’ Khalid checked, removing his skilled fingers and leaning over her, pressing her into the bed with his delicious weight as he spread her legs. ‘Yes to living in the desert and being made love to day and night unsheathed?’

  ‘Yes,’ Aubrey said as he took her, and she wondered, truly, how she’d ever said no.

  ‘You will always be my favourite and chosen one.’

  But then, as she came, she knew.

  ‘I’m your only one, Khalid.’

  And she was.

  Absolutely, Aubrey knew that she was.

  EPILOGUE

  ‘DO YOU MIS
S HIM?’ Aubrey asked.

  She often wondered, and sometimes asked, but Khalid always chose not to answer.

  But on a day such as today, with the sun high in a blue Al-Zahan sky, with the pomp of the coronation behind them and the most stunning view from the hundredth floor, she wondered if Khalid missed his father, who had passed away.

  The hundredth floor!

  Aubrey looked as Khalid held not just their tiny new daughter but a fifteen-month-old Aayiz, who frankly, since his sister had been born, to Aubrey looked enormous.

  Khalid held them both with ease.

  He did not immediately answer.

  He looked out to the ocean and the impressive yachts, and to a country where not just the rulers prospered but the people were starting to as well.

  There was no bridge to the mainland, of course not, that would be years in the making.

  But the surveyors were out.

  And today the Queen and her Prince Consort would visit discreetly, for they adored Aubrey. A personal visit. The official one would take place at a later date.

  Khalid had never for a second gambled with his people, for he had known the Queen would be a better bet than a prince who had no choice but to wait before he took over from a bitter, toxic king.

  He felt Aayiz’s hand on his face, and wondered how a father could not turn and smile at that innocent touch.

  Then he looked down at his newborn daughter, just four hours old, with impossibly long fingers and a very squashed nose, made up for by her rosebud mouth.

  And he loved her from the depths of his soul.

  How, Khalid pondered, could a king not want the best for all the people he loved?

  It hadn’t all been plain sailing. Khalid privately struggled with Stella.

  The more he heard, the more he had to fight for his neck not to arch.

  Yet he fought to see the best in the mother of the woman he loved.

  Now Stella lived in a stunning apartment overlooking the Strip and reminisced with Carmel about days of old, and he had ensured the best surgeons had taken care of her scars.

  At first he had done that for Aubrey.