Sheikhs of Al-Dashalid: The Complete Series

by Leslie North

  Handshake after handshake. “It’s good to see you,” Rami said, over and over, and, “This is my wife, Catelyn,” and, “We’ll have to discuss that later, won’t we?” The more people they talked to, the more the light dancing in his eyes dulled. It was unpleasant, watching his shield come back up until finally he took his arm from her and left several inches of space between them.

  Catelyn swallowed hard, looking for a familiar face. But she didn’t see anyone. Not Daya, not Adira…not even Issam. They were somewhere in the crowd, she was sure, but where?

  Rami was taken aside by a man. “Kassim Abadi,” Rami said by way of introduction. “My wife, Catelyn.” His smile didn’t seem genuine. It was only meant, Catelyn knew, to smooth the way into the conversation.

  “I hope you won’t mind if I claim a few minutes of your husband’s time,” Kassim said. “I have to speak with him about a rather urgent matter.”

  It was always urgent, and Catelyn flashed a forgiving smile. The moment she turned away, she let it fall and stepped away into the crowd.

  She stood alone, fuming. Rami had effectively abandoned her. He hadn’t even warned her that it would be like this. He was so attentive, so full of desire, when they were alone together, but here… At the thought of being in the bedroom with him, her mouth watered. She wanted more of it, despite how oblivious he was being. For a moment, watching the people swirl around her, she let the battle between her emotions rage. Wanting him. Hurting that he was hardly helping her to navigate this event.

  Well, that was silly. Catelyn was a grown woman, and she didn’t need any man to tell her how to attend a party. She only wished he’d put more effort into it. Then again, there was a ticking clock on their relationship…

  It was too much. She put the thought out of her mind and went to find a refreshment. A few minutes later, gripping a glass of sparkling water, she made her way to the head table.

  To her relief, she found Adira sitting there, waiting for the dinner service to begin. She smiled up at Catelyn and patted the seat next to her. “You look…overheated,” Adira said. “Is it too hot in here?”

  “No,” Catelyn said, trying and failing to force a smile onto her face. “Just…on my own.”

  Adira narrowed her eyes. “Is Rami neglecting you?”

  “I wouldn’t call it that,” Catelyn said, trying to feel out the situation. “I knew when I married him that he would be busy with official events. I just didn’t realize that it would come so soon.”

  “It’s never-ending,” agreed Adira. “Are you prepared for your speech?”

  Catelyn’s stomach flip-flopped. She’d nearly forgotten about the speech she was set to make after dinner—her first statement as a member of the royal family. “Yes and no,” answered Catelyn.

  Adira’s eyes went wide. “Surely you have the language prepared…”

  “Yes, the speech is all set.” Catelyn looked out over the groups of people coming together and pulling apart. She watched as Rami made his way toward the table. He stopped to talk to people three times. Catelyn could see that whatever he was saying, it wasn’t the right thing. One woman, once his back was turned, raised her eyebrows at the woman standing next to her, she shrugged.

  At the head table, Rami sat down directly across from Catelyn. In his eyes she saw only a flicker of the lust that had consumed him not long ago. He held her gaze for a long heartbeat before Zafir appeared next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder.

  Rami’s father didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss, and he certainly didn’t encourage Rami to sit with Catelyn.

  The dinner service began, and Catelyn could hardly enjoy it. The food was as rich and sumptuous as ever, but to her it was tasteless. Rami spent the entire meal talking with his father in hushed voices.

  She was starting to sweat beneath her dress. Catelyn had spent hours the night before practicing a few remarks in Rami’s language, and then her plan was to deliver the rest of her speech in English. After that, Rami was going to offer up a toast.

  She put down her fork with a sharp ting against her plate.

  “Are you all right?” asked Adira, her voice low.

  “Completely,” Catelyn lied. Her heart pounded. She didn’t want this version of Rami, who ignored her, who rattled off too many statements in every conversation, who had retreated so fully into his royal persona that she hardly recognized the man who had pounced on her in his dressing room.

  Maybe this was how it always was.

  Maybe, in fact, it was a blessing that they would only have to spend a year together.

  And in that case—

  “Rami.” Her voice was sharper than she’d intended, and he looked at her, startled. “I need to speak with you for a moment.”

  Her husband stood up immediately, and they walked on opposite sides of the table to a more secluded alcove at the side of the ballroom.

  “What is it?” She could practically see the wheels in his head turning.

  “I don’t feel comfortable making the speech,” she said bluntly. “I think you should be the one to do it.”

  “What?” Lightning flashed in his eyes. “Catelyn, we agreed on this—it’s already been planned. It’s part of your royal duties while we’re married.”

  The mention stabbed at her heart, and the sharp pain of it rendered her speechless. She turned her head, throat going tight, and swallowed hard. Then she faced him again. “I’m not making the speech. You’ll have to do it on your own.”

  Rami gave her a long look. “What’s this about?”

  “I don’t—I don’t want to get up in front of this crowd.” She fought to keep her voice even. “I don’t know anyone here, other than your family, and I—I just think you should do this.” She lifted her chin.

  Rami’s face softened. “I’ve been awful, haven’t I?”

  The gentle tone of his voice made her own heart melt. “Yes. You’ve been—I don’t recognize you, like this.” Heat rose to her cheeks. “I miss you. The you that did…all those things in the bedroom.”

  He cracked a grin. “It makes perfect sense.” Rami stepped forward and put a hand on her waist, drawing her close. He leaned down to press a kiss to her cheekbone. “This isn’t your country. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have tried to force you into a public role when you weren’t ready for it.”

  Despite herself, Catelyn lost herself in the scent of him. It took everything she had to stand back instead of wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him until they had no choice but to go back to bed.

  Zafir stepped up on the stage then, and Rami nodded toward him. “I’m up next,” he said, and Catelyn allowed him to guide her back to the table.

  Zafir’s introduction was short, and then Rami approached the microphone. This time, he sought Catelyn’s face at the head table and gave her a smile that took her breath away.

  “Thank you all for coming,” he said smoothly. “This foundation would be nothing without all your support. And before we begin recounting all this year’s victories, I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your tireless confidence.” He looked right at Catelyn when he said it.

  She had a hard time being angry after that.

  14

  “You have to charm her,” Catelyn said for the hundredth time.

  “And how, exactly, do I do that?” Rami paced the suite. Window. Door. Window. “She did not find me very charming the last time we met.”

  Catelyn blew out a breath between pursed lips. “Lydia’s the kind of woman who wants you to…prove yourself to her. She wants to know that you know about her business, but in a specific way.”

  Rami snorted. “I do know about her business.”

  His wife smiled at him, one eyebrow raised. “And I bet you told her all about it.”

  “We did discuss various strategies, but—”

  “That’s the thing, Rami. In order to charm someone, you need to make them feel important. You need to make them feel smart.”

  He narrowed
his eyes, pausing in the middle of the suite. “So…I need to act like I don’t know about her business? Wouldn’t that backfire completely?”

  “No.” Catelyn cut her eyes back at her computer screen, then turned her attention to him again. “You need to make her feel like she’s the expert. No matter how much you know, make sure she knows better. Ask for her advice. Consult her on the finer points of—” She waved a hand in the air. “Strategy. Future plans. Anything. If there’s one thing Lydia loves more than parties, it’s being flattered—but not in an obvious way. You can’t just kiss her butt and expect her to fall all over you.”

  Catelyn sniffled, and the noise silenced all the thoughts in Rami’s brain. “Are you all right?” He hadn’t noticed until this moment, but she sounded a little congested.

  “I’m fine,” Catelyn said. “Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

  He laughed. “Only the most frustrating woman on the planet.”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “Lydia has her quirks, but so does everyone.” Catelyn gave him a pointed look. “Including you, husband.”

  He thrilled at the word on her lips. “Don’t tempt me like that,” he said darkly.

  “Why?” Catelyn smiled, the corner of her mouth lifting in a wry grin. “Would I make you late?”

  Rami checked his watch. Yes. It would make him late, and this was a meeting with his father’s commerce advisor. Not a man he wanted to irritate, despite outranking him. “Yes. You would.”

  Catelyn shooed him away. “Don’t let me distract you.” Her mouth was a perfect, satisfied pout. “I’ve got work to do, too. The things that need doing at Elite Occaisons…” She shook her head. “We might need to hire a fourth person, if I’m going to be—” She pressed her lips shut for a heartbeat. “For the next year.”

  Rami’s stomach dropped to his toes at the reminder. In Al-Dashalid, it was easy to pretend that the fantasy was and had always been real. Even the media had joined in the celebration, accepting his whirlwind romance as absolutely natural. It helped that they loved Catelyn—every time they went outside the palace, their picture ended up in the newspapers.

  “I know how important your business is to you,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “If you need to hire someone else to make sure it’s running smoothly, you should.”

  “I think I might,” Catelyn said. “I’ll have to talk to Daisy and Laura about it.”

  “Of course.” He wanted to carry her to bed, but the meeting was in five minutes—as it was, he would only have a few moments to spare. “I’ll see you here after my meeting?”

  It was an invitation, and Catelyn knew it. She swiveled toward him in her chair and raised her cheek to be kissed. He let his breath caress the shell of her ear and watched the shiver travel down her back. “I’ll be here,” she said. “Me and this mountain of work.”

  She was clicking away by the time he reached the door.

  Catelyn did not have time to come down with a cold.

  That was the truth of it—they had to leave Al-Dashalid in a week, and beyond that, there was so much to do for Elite Occasions that she had to grab every spare moment by the throat and wring the productivity out of it.

  No matter how crappy she felt.

  After Rami left the suite, she waded through another group of emails, firing off responses and trying to ignore the increasing stuffiness in her nose. Her eyes began to burn, and one by one, tissues piled up on the desk next to her. Catelyn stopped between emails to swipe them into the bin beside her desk and went back to work.

  But now—oh, now her ears felt pressurized, uncomfortable.

  A sneeze snuck up on her. It was a near thing, lunging for the box of tissues, but she made it just in time.

  “Gross,” she said to no one, and then the door to their suite opened, and Rami breezed back in. He was surprisingly graceful for a man of his height, Catelyn thought, though she didn’t have anyone to compare him to. Not really. But she couldn’t imagine being that tall and moving through the world with such precise movements.

  Rami scanned the room. “Who are you talking to?”

  “Nobody,” she said, then sneezed again.

  His eyes locked on her, and Catelyn felt the urge to turn away, to hide the fact that she was sick. “You’re not well,” Rami said. Cover blown.

  “It’s nothing.” Her voice sounded wrong, even to her. “It’s just a little cold.”

  In an instant, Rami had crossed the room and was bending over her desk. “That won’t do,” he said, pressing the laptop shut. Catelyn’s head pounded. “To bed with you.” He scooped her up in his arms and took her to the bedroom, where she curled into the pure white sheets. Then he bustled around the room, taking off his jacket. Catelyn propped herself up on two pillows.

  “No jacket?” Now that she was away from the computer and lying down, the headache was subsiding.

  “No shirt, either,” Rami said wickedly. He pulled off his dress shirt and undid the buckle on his pants. “I’m canceling all my meetings.”

  Catelyn pushed herself fully upright and immediately regretted the decision. “What? You don’t need to do that.”

  “I do,” Rami said. “My wife is ill and needs my full attention.” As if to really drive the point home, Rami took his phone out of his pocket and turned it off. He tossed it onto an overstuffed chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows. He finished stripping down, leaving only his boxers and a white undershirt.

  To hell with the cold. “I would feel so much better—” Catelyn cleared her throat. “If you’d come to bed with me.”

  Rami grinned. He didn’t hesitate, bounding across the room in two long strides. But he was careful as he climbed in next to Catelyn.

  “I feel a little bad,” Catelyn said. “You should be preparing for the trip. The meetings—”

  “They can wait.” Rami leaned down and tugged the collar of her T-shirt away from her collarbone. Then he pressed his lips to the ridge there. “Besides, I am preparing for the trip.”

  Catelyn’s core heated at the kisses he was lavishing her with, and she let herself sink back into the pillows. “How so?”

  “I’m taking care of my wife. I need you to be healthy, otherwise it’ll be a lost cause.”

  Rami took the hem of her shirt and tugged it up so he could keep kissing her, slowly, deliciously, all the way down her rib cage and toward her belly button. Catelyn closed her eyes. She could swim in that sensation forever. Why not? It was so good, so good…

  When Rami reached her panties, he hooked his thumbs in the waistband and tugged them off.

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t be—”

  “Shhh.”

  Catelyn gave herself over to him, eyes closed, pillows supporting her back. Rami kissed down the front of her leg and then turned his attention to the inside of her thigh. It made her wet, to feel him swirl his tongue against that delicate skin. He kissed closer and closer, up the line of her leg until—

  He pulled away.

  “Rami, no—”

  “Shh.” Rami stroked his fingers between her legs, his touch feather-light, and Catelyn groaned, arching her back. “Greedy,” Rami commented. Another stroke, and she wanted more. But he teased and tempted, those fingers playing over her slick folds.

  “Rami, please.”

  “Only because you asked so nicely.” He drove two fingers inside of her, twisted them, finding a hidden spot that made her clench around them. Catelyn curled toward him and he caught her easily in his arm. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and spread her legs wide for him. She didn’t care how it looked. She only cared how it felt, and it was filthy and delicious all at once.

  He withdrew his hand again, only this time the bed shifted. Before she could protest, he was there, the warm thickness of him nudging at her entrance. More kisses fell like rain along the side of her neck.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, yes…”

  Oh, he was so gentle as he filled her, sinking in to the hilt a
nd drawing back with a care that made tears come to Catelyn’s eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time a man—or anyone, really—had treated her as if she was utterly precious.

  But after a few strokes, Rami gritted his teeth. “I want…” It was clear he was holding back.

  “Take it,” she said. “Take what you want.”

  “I want more of you,” he said, his voice rough, and she knew what would come next. She welcomed it.

  He pulled out and thrust back in, a fierce movement that drove the breath from Catelyn’s lungs. Rami braced himself against the bed and curled one hand around the back of her neck, a hard grip that held her in place while he picked up the pace. Her own hips responded, meeting him with every thrust, and it didn’t matter that she had a cold. All that mattered was the heat between them, the driving pleasure that sparked through her core.

  Rami lowered his lips to her ear. “Come for me,” he said, and his tone told her that it was an order. It sent her over the edge and she came hard against him.

  He pressed his forehead against her collarbone, following suit.

  When he had finished, Rami sucked in a deep breath and fell onto his side, keeping her firmly in his arms. His breathing was so even that she could have fallen asleep. She would have fallen asleep, if it weren’t for the ache in her heart. So sweet. So hot.

  “Do you feel better?” Rami murmured into her ear.

  “I’m not quite cured yet,” Catelyn said, and Rami skimmed his palm over her stomach. She sighed. “I shouldn’t spend the afternoon in bed. My work—”

  “How is the business, anyway?” Rami propped his head on the heel of his hand, considering her.

  With a whoosh, all her worries tumbled back into her mind—only now they seemed muffled, farther away. “It’s been harder than I thought,” she admitted. “Being away from New Jersey. And I’m nervous about the trip to Texas.”

  “You are?” Rami frowned.