The Sheikh’s Pregnant Foreigner

by Leslie North

  Tali gave her a conspiratorial look that wasn’t lost on the crowd. “Chat rooms. You know. Anyway, we just wanted to extend our congratulations and wishes that we could have been there. Plan ahead next time, would you?”

  The entire room clapped, and whatever Hamid and Raed said was lost in the sound. She’d heard of them—of course she had. Tali’s wedding was big news in the Moonblade fandom, where they’d met. Gina’s heart was ready to burst out of her chest.

  The video flicked off, and Skandar led her around the tables where waiters were setting out tray after tray of dinner and delicacies.

  “This is so much,” Gina told him as they passed by a platter stacked high with rolls and another with meats that gave off a lovely roasted scent. “Where do the leftovers go? Which charity?” Skandar’s eyes met hers with an unspoken question. “I volunteer at a homeless shelter back in the UK. Do you have something similar here?”

  He leaned down and kissed her. “Of course. And speaking of plans involving food, it’s time for us to feed each other the wedding pastry.”

  “Oooh.” The scent of his skin was intoxicating, and Gina felt the light pressure of his lips against hers even after the kiss had ended. “Why didn’t you tell me about the pastry earlier?”

  Skandar laughed. “I worried you’d want to skip right to dessert and forget about signing the papers.”

  “I’d sign them again right now,” she teased, but he was leading her over to a smaller table where the wedding pastry waited for them. Skandar twined his arm through hers and goose bumps rose on her arms. It felt so momentous, even if the marriage had a time limit. No—she wouldn’t think about that. The pastries were bite-sized puffs on a silver tray, and he went first, lifting one of them to her lips. The flaky pastry tasted of wild cherry and almond.

  “Sour and sweet to symbolize the marriage,” Skandar said. Gina’s hand shook as she lifted his bite to his lips. He ate his flawlessly, then dipped a finger to the corner of her lip. “You missed a little.”

  She licked the pastry from his finger, and he let out a short breath.

  “Is it time for the dancing now?” Gina batted her eyes, teasing him.

  Skandar took her hand and tugged her onto the dance floor. From somewhere she couldn’t see, music played, and he pulled her close, a hand on the small of her back. Skandar leaned close to speak into her ear. “I know today has been overwhelming.”

  “And now this,” she blurted. She could feel him through his clothes—hard. Waiting. Ready. She blushed, struggling to find the words to explain. But the look in his eyes told her she didn’t need to.

  She rested her head on his shoulder as they turned to the music. “It could work,” he said, almost to himself. Gina didn’t ask him what he meant.

  10

  “This way is the royal gallery.” Skandar kept his pace slow and even on the way back to his rooms, but his heart raced—he needed Gina alone, behind a locked door. “And the throne room.” He pointed out another hall, branching off the main foyer. “We can tour all of it later.”

  Gina held his hand tightly. “Yes. I want to take off these shoes.”

  “Are they uncomfortable?”

  “No, not at all.” She tipped her head back and laughed as he swept her into the elevator. “Shahd chose flat shoes to go with the outfit. I just want all of this off me.”

  He pressed her back against the wall as the elevator doors whispered closed. “I want it off you, too.”

  She made a noise against his mouth, low and sensual, and it seemed to hum through his entire body. This woman—she deserved to have him ensure her pleasure, even if he could never fall in love with her. Feelings weren’t part of the plan. They had never been part of his plan. But she’d told him she wanted to stay in his bed, and the way she responded to him at the dinner was proof that she wanted this, too. Whatever it was, for however long.

  Still.

  Gina kissed him back, tongue flicking out to explore his bottom lip and battle against his own tongue. He broke the kiss only when the elevator stopped at his floor and the doors swung open.

  “Let me take you to bed,” he murmured in her ear. Let her have as many chances as she wanted to pull away from him.

  “Hurry up,” she whispered back.

  He pushed through the doors to his rooms and took in the low sound of servants preparing things in the bathroom. Skandar could sense that they were still here after a lifetime of listening for the silence that meant he could let his guard down. “They should be done soon,” he told Gina.

  “Who?”

  “The servants.”

  Her cheeks pinked. “They’re still here?”

  “I asked them to prepare something for me.”

  He led her down the hall to his personal suite, twice the size of the guest suite and done up in shades of gray and white.

  “It’s like walking into a dream,” Gina said as he took her into the master bedroom, with a king-size four-poster bed, a cozy sitting area, and a walk-in closet bigger than her childhood bedroom.

  They reached the main bathroom, and she gasped.

  Skandar saw how it must look. Three of the palace staff had gathered around the massive sunken tub in front of wide picture windows that looked out over the desert, a mountain range in the distance. Steam rose from the bath as the servants added expensive oils to the water. One of them lit a trio of candles next to the bath, and the third rose from her place and lowered the lights.

  “Well done,” he said, and they all bowed and left the room, slipping out as if they’d never been there.

  The weight of the day fell from his shoulders, and the rest of the world faded from Skandar’s attention. Gina was the most important thing in this room—in the palace.

  He started with her hair.

  It had been swept behind her head into a neat chignon, and he turned her around and began working the pins from her hair. One by one, he dropped them onto the marble countertop. Gina sighed as her hair came down, her shoulders relaxing. “That feels so good.”

  “The bath will feel even better.” Skandar stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her from behind to undo her robe and work it down her shoulders, following the fabric with kisses along the curve of her neck. He unhooked her bra and tugged it away. By the time he pushed her panties down over her hips and her knees to her feet, her breathing was fast and shallow, and as Skandar straightened again, she leaned into him.

  Gina’s hands came up to the front of his robes. “I don’t know if this is totally fair.” She pouted, over-the-top and teasing, and he laughed. “You’re dressed and I’m naked.”

  He ripped his robe off and dropped it to the floor, shoving down his own underthings. “There. Better?”

  She bit her lip and ran her fingertips over his chest, lighting up all the nerves there and dragging pleasure down the front of his chest. “Perfect.”

  They found their way into the sunken tub, and Skandar could not take his eyes off the water as it threaded its fingers through her hair, darkening the strands as she sank into the heat with a moan. He edged onto one of the seats and put his arms out to the sides. There had never been a more stunning view from the tub before. Not ever.

  Gina turned to face him, the surface teasing at the tops of her breasts. “This is the deepest tub in the world.”

  “You could be right.” She tipped her head back and wet the rest of her hair. “Are you sure you feel safe out there alone?”

  She pretended to consider it, cocking her head to the side, then pushed off and came to him on the crest of a hot wave. Gina settled into his lap, straddling him with only an inch of water separating her from him. “Now I’m not going anywhere.” She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him.

  It was different this time. She’d been transformed into someone more tentative, a little more unsure, and he found it unbearably hot. They’d been together in the desert, of course, but it had been hurried and furious, as if there was no time to do anything else. Here, h
e could take his time with her.

  Gina pulled back and her eyes searched his, more deeply than they’d ever had time for in the desert. Her eyes were an astonishing shade of green—lights and darks running into one another like sun through leaves. Those eyes travelled slowly down his body, followed by her fingertips.

  “You’re something else,” she whispered.

  He let his head fall back against the edge of the tub as she explored him, the feather-light touch reaching down and down and down until she came to the ridges of his hips. He was hard between them, the water still forming a barrier, and Gina tiptoed her fingers around to the front of him and took his length in her hand. Skandar opened his eyes. She worried at her lip with her front teeth, a little grin playing there, and though he pulsed in her hand, he didn’t want the focus to be on himself. It was enough to let her add soap to a soft cloth and work it over his body, inch by inch.

  With a groan, he pushed himself up from the bench and took them both to the other side of the tub, where a shallower bench held her just underneath the surface of the water. Candlelight glittered on her skin as he bent to kiss the side of her neck, the pad of one thumb working slowly over her nipples. They peaked in the heat of the water and he lifted her up to taste them.

  It was Gina’s turn to rest her head, exposing the long, pale line of her throat. “I’ve—I’ve never done this before.”

  Skandar swirled his tongue around one nipple, then the other. “Had sex inside a palace?”

  “Played in the water like this.”

  “Oh, but there’s so much more.” He brought her close, still facing him, repositioning her so that she sat on his lap, his hardness pressing against her skin. It was bordering on torture to wait, but he’d do it, for this. Gina’s head fell back against his shoulder as he arranged her legs over his, spreading them wide so the water could kiss the secret parts of her. Then he brought his fingers down, at first just touching her folds, tracing paths between her spread thighs. Her breathing quickened, and she put one hand up to clutch at his arm. The bite of her nails paired perfectly with the little sounds she made in the back of her throat.

  Skandar inched his way to the tight bundle of nerves between her legs and stroked. Slowly. Lazily. Like he had all the time in the world. Perhaps that wouldn’t be true in the morning, when he had to resume his duties as the ascendant king, but it was true enough now.

  “Oh,” she said. “Oh.” Gina’s legs flexed in the water and she arched back against him, hips rising to meet his hand and the pressure of the water. Bucking, bucking, bucking. Her cry echoed off the elegant marble in the bathroom. When it was over, she curled into his lap and put her arms around his neck.

  He took a cloth from the side of the tub, added soap, and rubbed it over her, washing her. Gina gasped and shook when he cupped his hand between her legs, and a thrill moved up his spine. So she wasn’t finished yet.

  Skandar teased her, washing and rinsing her hair and his, and then he lifted her in his arms and carried them both out of the tub. He knelt before her and dried her off with all the attention he’d used while they were bathing, which had her shivering, goose bumps rising on her skin. “Are you cold?”

  “No,” she breathed. “I’ve never been so turned on.”

  He was more cursory with his own towel, and then he brought a robe to put over her shoulders.

  In his bedroom, the staff had set up a tray next to the bed. Skandar settled Gina against the pillows and wrapped himself around her, reaching for one of the strawberries on the tray. “Hungry?”

  Her eyes locked on his as she drew the fruit between her teeth and bit down. “Mmm.”

  “Good?”

  “Very good.” He ate the other half himself, and they shared several more strawberries before he picked up a small pot from the tray. Skandar sat up over her with it cradled in one hand and a delicate spoon in the other. Gina’s eyes danced. “What’s that?”

  “A honey mixture from the palace garden.” He held the spoon above her breasts and let it drip, one droplet, then two, then three. Then Skandar bent to lick them away.

  Gina groaned, pressing herself back against the pillows and spreading her legs. More honey. More skin. More licking, all the way over her belly button and down between her legs. The pot crashed into place on the tray as he gave himself over to eating her instead. She was so sweet, so sensitive, and it only took a few brushes of his tongue to make her come.

  Of course he didn’t stop.

  Why would he, when he could bring her pleasure again and again?

  Her sweetness met his tongue for the second time, and she pushed him back, face flushed and eyes dark with desire. Gina swept her hair back from her face.

  “Lie down,” she said. “On your back.”

  “I like it when you’re this way.”

  She shot him a look, lifting another small pot from the tray. She lifted the spoon out, and he saw it was covered in chocolate. She teased him with it, putting it in her mouth and licking it clean, and then let it hover over the iron-hard length of him as he stretched onto his back. The melted chocolate met his skin with a burst of heat, and Gina crawled between his legs, looking up at him with such intensity that he had to grit his teeth to keep from spilling before she got started.

  “I think we’re in for a long night,” he managed.

  And then there was nothing else to say, because Gina’s mouth was on him, her tongue playing him like an instrument. He’d been with women before. Of course he had. But they had nothing on her enthusiasm. There was a certain innocence about her that made every kiss and swirl of her tongue a thousand times hotter.

  His orgasm started low in his belly with a clench that drew up his balls, a tight tension rising, screwing itself together until the sensation was too much to take. His breath hitched, and he buried his hands in Gina’s hair, all the responsibility of the day flooding out of him, caught by her sweet mouth. An aftershock of pleasure rushed in, coating him in what felt like a million tiny lights, each one a nerve ending that belonged to her now.

  Skandar was ready to go again almost as soon as he’d finished, and when Gina climbed into his arms, he gave himself over to the sheer, painful want of her. Her lips met his, and he hardened against her, pushing into her slicked folds as if he belonged there.

  He did.

  When it was finished, minutes or hours later, they fell against the pillows while he fumbled for a switch at the side of the bed that let darkness fill the room. Gina shivered against him, the curve of her ass an invitation he’d have to wait to take. So tired. Too tired. He looped an arm around her, and his fingers brushed against the still-flat surface of her stomach.

  “I was always a little scared of the idea of children,” she murmured in the dark. “In fact, I still am, a little bit. But with you here...”

  His hand froze against her skin, and then he broke himself out of that stillness and massaged a slow circle above her belly button. There was a life inside her. And no matter what the future held, she was his wife. For now.

  “My baby,” he murmured against her hair. “My wife.”

  She wriggled against him, her happiness evident in the movement, and then she relaxed in his arms. Gina’s breathing evened, and within minutes she was asleep, her body pressed against his.

  Safe.

  His baby.

  His wife.

  His.

  11

  Gina had stepped into a whole new life. One minute, she was in the desert climbing a dune to collect samples of a night-blooming plant and tumbling down the sand, her hair a mess. The next, she was in a palace with her new husband, learning how to embroider with his mother, Karima, and shopping with his sister, Shahd. They visited boutiques with a full security team. Gina went to the hairdresser for the first time in six months. Or was it a year? She met the palace doctor, who confirmed that everything looked well with the pregnancy.

  She dropped her hand to her belly and tipped her head back to let the air conditioning in one
of the royal SUVs cool her face. One walk from palace to SUV, and she was feeling the heat. Skandar’s hand on hers made her open her eyes, and the look in his own eyes made her breath catch.

  “Hi.”

  “Are you too tired to go to the match?”

  They were on their way to an event at the Royal Mahamar Polo Club. The club’s team was competing against the Zairayat Racing and Polo Club, and Skandar had dressed in a crisp white button-down that set off his skin and the dark fire in his eyes. Keep it under control, Gina.

  “I’m not too tired. It’s just that the air conditioning in these SUVs is fantastic.”

  “It’s sunny today. As sunny as you look.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Do you like polo?”

  Gina folded her hands primly in her lap. “I only played water polo at university, but I’ve been studying.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Studying polo?”

  “I got a book.” She reached into the designer bag Shahd had insisted on getting during one of their outings and pulled out a bluffer’s guide no larger than her hand. Gina winked at Skandar, who rubbed a hand over his mouth and laughed. “You laugh now, but soon I’ll know more about polo than you do. Or at least I’ll be able to fake it.”

  They pulled up at the club shortly after, a long, white building with a graceful cobblestone path out in front. Inside, sun streamed through the windows on polished wood paneling and the kinds of chairs Gina had seen in movies. They looked antique and expensive, and Skandar slowed his pace to let her take it in as they crossed the lounge area and restaurant and came through to the back. A warm breeze with tendrils of cool air lifted a few strands of hair from her neck. Bleachers looked out over the wide green polo field, but Skandar led her to the left, to a staircase blocked off by a velvet rope. He opened it with a flourish.

  “The VIP box.” He caught her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

  Heat deepened in her cheeks, and Gina cleared her throat as they ascended the stairs. “Don’t you play? Why aren’t you out on the field today?”