by Leslie North
The Sheikh’s Crown
Sheikh’s Wedding Bet Series Book Two
Leslie North
Contents
Blurb
Thank You!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
End of The Sheikh’s Crown
Thank You!
The Sheikh’s Secret Bride Excerpt
Blurb
Is love more precious than wealth?
Shiekh Adil is the youngest of the three brothers of the wealthy Khalidizack family, and notorious for his playboy ways. The womanizer seems the least likely brother to marry after the high-stakes wedding bet with Shiekh Rameez. When the family entrusts him with a thankless job—supervising the loan of their art and jewels to the Louvre—he reluctantly accepts. It seems like a chore, until he meets the feisty woman who changes everything.
Samine Isme is a journalist covering the Louvre loan. Brilliant and independent, she has a cool exterior that Adil finds utterly entrancing. But the closer they get, the more he suspects Samine has motives that go beyond attraction. With the sudden theft of the Khalidizack collection on its way to the museum, they’ll have to work together to restore the treasures to their rightful place.
In a race across Europe tracing stolen antiquities, an old enemy emerges to settle a score. Now, Adil must face the threat to save his family’s honor and avoid his own disgrace, but can he trust that the woman he loves is really on his side?
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1
Amidst the glitz and the glamour of the wedding reception, she was the only thing worth looking at, and Sheikh Adil Khalidizack didn’t mind looking.
His eyes followed her as she worked her way around the room. He tensed when she smiled at the waiter as he handed her a glass of champagne. Tilting her head back, she sipped the sparkling drink, her gold, drop earrings catching the light as they sparkled against the slender column of her neck. She turned to speak to someone, her large dark brown eyes crinkling in amusement. As she turned, he gasped. Her burnt-orange dress with the delicious plunging neckline was backless, showing creamy smooth skin.
Adil snapped the stem of the champagne glass he’d forgotten he was holding as she turned again and the light picked up a thin gold rope that carried a green and gold pendant down between her breasts. Handing the glass pieces to the hovering server, he turned back to her.
He couldn’t help but be jealous of that pendant. It sat exactly where he wanted to place his fingers. He’d touch the swell of her breasts before following her curves lower to see where she was most sensitive. Focused completely on her, he began to move through the crowd. It was his duty to seduce at least one beautiful woman at his brother’s wedding. The family would expect it, and who was he to let them down?
“You’re like a panther stalking his prey.”
Adil turned abruptly to see Sheikh Rameez Molamid watching him with a wry grin. Rameez was a good friend of his father’s, and Adil had always thought of the man as an uncle. Distracted from his mission, Adil reached out to clasp the older man’s hand. “The wedding is a bore. Can you blame me if I have my eyes on a beautiful woman?”
“The wedding is hardly a bore. It’s the party of the year. You’re only bored because you’re used to it,” Rameez snorted. “I would think you’d be more excited. You’re one brother closer to owning Muharraq Island.”
“True,” Adil agreed with a sly smile.
Adil and his two brothers had struck a deal. The last one unwed would gain control over Muharraq Island. Their father had abandoned the property, and each brother had their own ideas of how to develop it. Adil imagined resort hotels and beautiful bikini-clad women. It would be the party destination for the rich and beautiful.
Masoud was the first to lose. While searching for Solomon’s Diamond, his middle brother had fallen in love with an archeologist, Fleur Summers. The woman wanted the diamond to be on display in museums, but the family needed it to secure their claim to royalty.
Eventually, they’d reached a compromise, and Masoud managed to get the beautiful redhead to marry him. Adil was happy for his brother, but he couldn’t imagine going through what he had to win her heart. There were too many beautiful women out there, like the sexy brunette here at the reception. If his brother had been more clear-headed instead of chasing after Fleur, he might not have come close to losing the diamond to a dangerous collector, Anton Negatin.
Masoud was clearly crazy about Fleur and vice versa, but as far as Adil was concerned, had Masoud kept his eyes on the prize rather than on the woman, they wouldn’t have to share the diamond, and Anton would have never gotten his hands on it. Still, Rameez was right. Adil was now one-step closer to his island.
“All I have to do is wait out Jaymin. He’ll find some sort of political match for the family, and that island will be all mine.”
“You think it will be that easy?” Rameez asked.
Adil reached over to snag a glass of champagne from a passing server. Turning, he gave the older man a wink. “I enjoy women far too much to be tied down to just one, and Jaymin is no doubt embarrassed that Masoud married before him. He is probably looking for a political match as we speak.”
“It’s always amazed me how different you three are. Jaymin, obsessed with responsibility. Masoud, completely bored with his family, and you.”
“What about me?” Adil asked wearily. He knew where this was going.
“Shirks responsibility. Playboy. Has no problems using his family’s name if it means he can get to a beautiful woman,” Rameez said easily.
It didn’t bother Adil. He’d heard the same thing from everyone all his life. With a shrug, he lifted his glass and drained it. “Your point?”
“My point is that while you are incredibly different, you’re all the same. You value pride, wealth, and reputation more than anything else. But you’ve all forgotten the value of love. Masoud learned his lesson. When will you?”
“Not until that island is mine,” Adil said with a wink.
“And what happens if you lose, boy? Hmm?” Rameez pressed him.
“I am well aware that if all three of us marry, you win the island, which is why you are enjoying this so much. Well, rest assured, old man, I don’t intend to lose. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there is a beautiful woman somewhere in this crowd and I’m going to use the weight of my family to seduce her.” He left a chuckling Rameez and scanned the crowd. Even though the woman had commanded the room, she was now nowhere to be found. Adil grumbled at his bad luck. Every minute, more people pushed their way into the room.
“Do you know where Masoud is?”
Adil turned to find his oldest brother, Jaymin. “You do realize that you’re supposed to drink and have a good time at a wedding, right?” Adil asked as he took in the crease on Jaymin’s forehead.
“Of course, I know that,” Jaymin retorted.
“So, why do you look like you’
re about to snap?”
“For once, could you simply answer my question? I need to see Masoud before he leaves. Do you know where he is?” Jaymin asked.
Adil didn’t even flinch. His brother seemed always to have a twinge of annoyance in his voice, and it only increased when he spoke to Adil. “I have a feeling that Masoud is enjoying the party, enjoying his new wife, or getting ready to leave on his honeymoon. I can guarantee that what he’s not doing is hoping that you’re going to say or do something to ruin his big day. I would think that you would be more relaxed. I’m the only thing standing in your way of the island. What did you want to do with it again? Housing development or some nonsense?”
“I don’t have time for your stupid little bet,” Jaymin muttered. “I have a million things I need to be doing, and now, thanks to Masoud’s new wife, I have to pack up the items we’re loaning to the Louvre. Once she found out what we had in our possession, she insisted that we tour more than just the diamond. I don’t have time to do this. I need to speak to Masoud. If we could push the tour back until after his honeymoon, he can take charge of this museum tour mess his wife created.”
Adil snorted. “You’re joking, right? You want to ask Masoud if we can break our agreement with his new wife so he can have more to do when he gets back from their honeymoon? Do you even realize what people do at weddings? We drink. We party. We wish the happy couple well. We don’t stress them out with crap like this.”
“I’m not breaking our agreement. I just want to push it back. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have to do everything else in this family,” Jaymin grumbled.
Adil shrugged. “Sucks to be you. I have nothing but time. And I intend to spend the rest of my time…”
He didn’t even get to go into the sordid details of what he planned to do once he found his mysterious beauty. Jaymin shot him a strange look and an unfamiliar smile crossed his face. Jaymin never smiled. Adil hadn’t even known he knew how. “What?” he asked slowly. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You do have plenty of time, don’t you? Sometimes I forget there are three of us,” Jaymin murmured. “You’re going to do it.”
Adil blinked. “I’m sorry. I’m going to do what?”
“You’re going to pack up the items and see that they arrive safely to the Louvre.” Suddenly, Jaymin relaxed. If Adil didn’t know better, he’d say that his oldest brother was enjoying this moment.
“Fine,” Adil said with a shrug. “All you have to do is ask.” After all, how hard could it be to pack up some items and ship them off? He doubted he would even have to do the packing. Didn’t they hire people to do things like that?
“We have asked you to do things in the past,” Jaymin said pointedly. “You never follow through. Remember when I asked you to find a new doctor for mother? You said you couldn’t find anyone good enough. When I asked you to go to the conference in New York, you spent the week in Florida instead and told me that you got lost. And when we were all supposed to show up to Sheikh Hassima’s crowning, you couldn’t be bothered to come back from school. So let me make it very clear, Adil. If you don’t see this through, you’re cut off from the family.”
Adil froze and stared at his brother. “First of all, that’s ridiculously harsh. Second, Father is still the executer of the estate. You can’t make that kind of decision.”
Jaymin smiled wickedly. “Why do you think I’ve been so busy? Father has decided that I need more responsibility. He’s not turning everything over to me just yet, but we’re in the first phases of the transition. Soon, I will hold the purse strings. Do you really want to anger me, Adil?”
“You don’t have to threaten me,” Adil muttered with a glare. “I said I’d do it. It’s not like it’s a hard job.”
“Good to hear. It’s about time you took over some of the responsibilities of this family. And maybe if you’re busy, I won’t have to hear any more about this stupid bet. See Bruce, he’s handling the cataloging.”
Jaymin walked away, and Adil shook his head. He would have to discard the idea of bedding the beauty from the party, and that was truly something to regret. But he couldn’t afford Jaymin cutting him off. And once he got the job done, he could track her down. It wasn’t as if it would be hard to get the names off the guest list.
Moving again through the crowd, he searched for Bruce Summers. The man was Fleur’s stepbrother, and Adil didn’t like him at all. Bruce was the reason they’d lost the diamond in the first place. He’d betrayed everyone and sold the diamond to Anton, and Adil still had no idea why Masoud had given him a job managing the Khalidizack collection. Just because he was family now didn’t mean they had to trust him.
After several minutes of pushing his way through the increasingly large crowd, he finally zeroed in on the man he’d been looking for. And look at that. Adil smiled when he saw Bruce was talking to the mysteriously beautiful woman he’d had his eye on earlier.
“I think I can multi-task,” he murmured. He could pack away the antiquities and still seduce the beautiful woman.
2
Samine Isme tried to look casual as she moved through the party. She’d spent a small fortune on her dress in an attempt to blend in with the wealthy crowd and sneaking into a royal wedding was no small matter. With no invitation, it should have been impossible, but all it took was a small distraction for her to mingle with the group walking in and voila, no one suspected a thing.
At first, she kept to herself. There was no point in inviting unwelcome attention until she’d found her mark. Butterflies fluttered about in her stomach, and she had to take several breaths to calm her nerves. It wasn’t every day that she snuck into the wedding of a sheikh.
Finding the white American proved to be harder than she’d imagined. The Khalidizacks rubbed elbows with people from around the world, and Masoud’s wedding showed the diversity of their friends. Europeans, Americans, Australians, Greeks, and South Africans mingled with all their wealthy friends within the Middle East. Finally, she zeroed in on him.
He wasn’t ugly, but he was rather plain with brown hair and glasses. Dressed in an expensive suit, he looked uncomfortable in the crowd. From what Samine knew of Bruce Summers, he had expensive tastes and loved to socialize with the rich and famous. The wedding should have been right up his alley, but she knew his relationship with the Khalidizacks was rocky. His new brother-in-law, Masoud, had appointed him head of the family’s antiquities, but since he’d betrayed the family earlier, not everyone trusted him. Bruce, no doubt, was feeling the effects of the family’s cold shoulder.
“You look like you could use a drink,” she said smoothly as she smiled at him.
He looked startled and gave her a once over. “It is a party,” he said with a tight smile. Immediately, his eyes shifted, and she felt a little panicked. Her own plan rested on the fact that Bruce would find her interesting. More than interesting. If he didn’t pay any attention to her, she’d never get what she wanted.
“Samine Isme,” she said as she held out her hand. He’d be rude to ignore her, and he gently reached out to shake it. There was no zing in the touch, and his eyes didn’t rest on her for too long.
“Bruce Summers.”
“Oh, brother of the bride,” she said with a smile. “You must be pleased to see your sister so happy and in love.”
He grunted noncommittally, and Samine frowned in frustration. None of this was working out in her favor. “I also heard that you’re now the manager for the Khalidizack antiquities. That must be an exciting job.”
Surprise sparked in his eyes, and he narrowed them as he gazed at her. She’d finally caught his attention, but his eyes filled with suspicion, not interest. “What did you say you did, Ms. Isme?” he asked slowly.
Damn. “I didn’t, and I’m quite embarrassed you’ve caught me. I’m supposed to be enjoying the party. I told myself right before I left that I was going to leave work at home, but I’m a writer, and I can’t help but be fascinated with this whole s
tory. True love discovered over the dangers of the Solomon Diamond. And now the family is going to share their collection with the world. Oh, I’d love to be able to write a story about it.” She batted her eyes and tried to look innocent and excited at the same time. The truth was that she really was excited. The story would be magnificent.
But she was hardly innocent.
“Ms. Isme, the collection isn’t ready to be inspected. I apologize,” he said stiffly.
She was about to reach out and touch his arm lightly to try to hold his attention, but another voice interrupted them.
“You don’t belong here.”
The husky voice made her stiffen, and she turned slowly to see a gorgeous man slowly raking his eyes over her body. Immediately, her heart sank. She was busted. Sheikh Adil Khalidizack, the youngest of the three brothers, no doubt wanted to know why she was crashing his brother’s wedding.
She dug into her purse and pulled out her credentials. “Samine Isme.”
Surprise crossed his face as he reached out to take her cards. “You’re press?” he asked incredulously. “How did you get past security?”
“I’m not here to cover the wedding,” she said quickly. That, at least, was true. Especially since her credentials were fake.
He handed her credentials back, and she couldn’t help but notice that his hands lingered on hers. Even more embarrassing, she could feel a dull flush creep up to her cheeks. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d practiced this conversation in the mirror a million times. Of course, she assumed she’d be saying this to Jaymin Khalidizack. But, if she got past Adil, she could get to Jaymin.
“If you’re not here to cover the wedding, then why are you here?” he asked as he handed her a glass of champagne.
She accepted it, but her fingers trembled. “I’m here to cover the loan to the Louvre. The collection is said to be quite impressive, and I’d like to have a look at it before it gets to the museum. Not to mention that it’s quite generous of your family to unveil the collection to the public eye. History isn’t meant to stay buried.” She laid on the flattery a little too thick and wondered if she should dial it back.