by Leslie North
“Can’t wait.”
Resting her head on his stomach, she smiled sleepily as he played with her hair. The television screen flickered in the darkness, and she lifted her head and smiled at him. “You don’t ever talk about your family,” she whispered.
Kashif stroked her cheek and shifted as he pulled her up on the couch so she could snuggle under his arm. “You never asked. What do you want to know?”
“Your father runs a whole country. That has to be stressful.”
“My father is a beloved man. He’s strict and hard, but he’s a good man.” Kashif stroked her cheek, and she felt a shudder go through her body. Wrapping an arm around his hard chest, she reveled in the feel of him.
“What about your brothers?”
“My youngest brother is a good guy. He’s fun-loving. I always joke that he has it the easiest because our father has no expectations of him. Jarik is more like our father. He’s serious and responsible. I sometimes think that he’d make a better Sheikh.”
“You don’t think that you’ll make a good ruler? I think you will.”
“Really?” he smiled indulgently at her. “Do tell.”
“And stroke your ego?” she laughed. “You don’t need it.”
“I don’t?” he reached over and started tickling her. “Tell me!”
Shrieking with laughter, she struggled half-heartedly to get away from him, but he was soon on top of her. Clasping her wrists in his hands, he lifted them above her head. “Tell me,” he commanded again.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you,” she said softly. “You should have confidence in yourself. I’ve seen you with the people in the town. You’re kind and attentive. Even though you don’t know them, you listen to them and ask after their families. You’re an alpha male, but you care about those under you. You’re brilliant and driven.”
“Alpha?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Did you just compare me to your dogs?”
“Only a couple of them.” Kristy smiled as she teased him. He slid his hands under her shirt, but he no longer tickled her. Instead, his touch was slow and scorching.
“Kristy,” he whispered. “Do you have any idea how I feel about you?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “No. How do you feel about me?”
Stroking her bare skin below her breast, he stared at her, and she saw the strange anguish on his face. Afraid that he might say something that she couldn’t bear to hear, she tugged her arms free and framed his face. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
“I don’t even know how to begin to tell you. Let me show you. Please,” he pleaded.
“Show me.” She raised her head and kissed him. The feel of his lips on hers was familiar, but things were different now. There was something new in the way that he kissed her. In the way that he touched her.
It felt like love. She desperately wanted it to be love. She wanted to know that she wasn’t the only one losing her heart in this relationship.
For three whole weeks, he was hers. But the day of the race, she went to greet him at the dog runs only to find that someone else waited for her. He was clearly Middle Eastern, like Kashif, but there was nothing gentle in his eyes.
“Are you Kristy Cohen?” the man growled.
“I am,” she said hotly. “You’re not a guest here, and you’re trespassing.”
“Prince Kashif has returned home. It is in your best interest not to get in touch with him.”
“He’s missing the race?” she asked in surprise. “Is everything okay? He was so looking forward to the Iditarod.”
“This is what he does,” the man said with a cruel smile. “He takes a few weeks and pretends to be someone new. He enjoys a woman, and when he tires of them, he leaves.”
Kristy felt sick to her stomach as she stared at him. “What?” she whispered. “No, you’re wrong. He was here for the race. He told me.”
“Surely, you’re old enough to know that men will lie to get what they want. Clearly, you were good in bed, or he wouldn’t have stuck around so long.”
“How dare you!”
“We will not speak of this again. Contact him, and I promise that you’ll lose everything, including this precious…farm.” The man looked around in disgust.
Kristy tried to stand tall until the man was out of sight. Then, she did something that she hadn’t done in a long time.
She broke down into tears.
Pretending to be sick, she stayed in her bedroom for days. Her father begged her to come out and see a doctor, and when she finally emerged, he’d simply hugged her and told her that no man was ever worth her tears. She was too strong for that.
So Kristy stiffened her resolve. She threw herself back into her work, and she tried not to think of him again.
Months later, that proved to be harder than she could have ever imagined.
3
Four years later
“Momma, momma, momma, momma.”
The chant continued softly in her ear until it was followed by a giggle and a series of coughs. Kristy bolted upright and immediately reached for her daughter.
The pretty little blonde had been battling a cold for the past couple of days, and apparently they’d fallen asleep together. Kristy’s back hurt from sleeping at a strange angle, but she wasn’t about to complain. It was hard enough getting a full night’s sleep while owning the farm and raising a toddler. It was next to impossible when said toddler had a cold.
Blinking drowsily, she glanced at the clock. It was still the middle of the night. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey, baby.” Arella had taken to repeating everything she heard, but she still stumbled over her words at times. More so, these last few days while she wasn’t feeling well. Kristy had worried that her language development wasn’t progressing as it should but the doctor had merely smiled and reminded her that children progress at different rates. Before she knew it, Arella would be speaking in full sentences. Kristy hoped that would be the case. Leaning over, she kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Do you feel better?”
The toddler nodded and made a few babbling noises as she rubbed her belly. “Hungry.”
“Who’s hungry?”
“Me, hungry.”
“I’m hungry,” Kristy corrected her automatically. It was no wonder that the little girl was hungry. She hadn’t eaten much in the past few days. “Okay, let’s see if we can rustle up a snack for you, and then we’ll go back to bed. How does that sound? Maybe cuddle with the pups?”
Arella clapped her hands excitedly. She loved the farm. She’d had a special connection with all the animals, and Kristy had a feeling that they loved seeing the toddler as much as they loved seeing their food.
Mistywood Farms wasn’t all that big. It had mostly started out with dogs and horses, but because they had the space, her father had taken in some animals in need. They now had three cows that had been rescued from an abusive farm, two pigs that were previously looking at a dire future, and a three-legged goat that managed to get into everything. Children and adults would come out for their riding lessons and stay to visit with the animals. She occasionally sold some fresh milk, and she was thinking of getting a few chickens to add to the mx.
With Arella resting on her hip, Kristy carefully managed the steps in the dark. As she turned on the light in the kitchen, it flickered for a few seconds before going dark.
A certain four-letter word was right on the tip of her tongue, but she was trying to be more careful about what she said around Arella these days. Crossing the kitchen and praying that she didn’t trip over any of Arella’s toys, she fumbled for the lamp and sighed in relief when light flooded the room.
So now, she just needed to change the light bulb. That wasn’t so hard. She’d just add it to her very, very, very long list of things to do.
Setting Arella down, she opened the cabinet and reached for the cereal. Arella quickly scrambled for the door and cried out, “Pups. Pups!”
Immediately, three Huskies scrambled
in and quickly started licking and nosing the toddler. Kristy looked down and frowned. The two oldest dogs, Dusty and Jane, were allowed to be there, but what was Shadow doing in the house? Abandoning the cereal, she went to check on the dog door only to find it smashed. Rather than panic, she put her hands on her hips.
“Tripod,” she hissed. “Get in here!”
It didn’t take long before she heard the unmistakable sounds of hoof beats on the floor. The goat looked at her innocently, as if to say that there was no way he could have kicked in the dog door. After all, he only had three legs.
And there was one more thing to add to her list. “Out,” she ordered. The goat bleated in response and stood his ground. It didn’t help when Arella came running over and put her arms around the scruffy animal.
“No. Stay!”
Too tired to put up a fight, Kristy shook her head. “Fine, but if he eats anything, you have to pay for it,” she said halfheartedly as her daughter nodded her head solemnly.
Thirty minutes later, she had Arella fed and in her own bed. The three dogs curled around her, and the goat settled on top of Arella’s collection of stuffed animals. Kissing her daughter on the forehead, she whispered good-night and headed back to her own room.
She could get a few more hours of sleep, or she could start on the things that she needed to do around the farm.
The to-do list won out.
Exchanging her pajamas for a pair of jeans and a form-fitting red flannel shirt, she pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed downstairs.
It was just before six in the morning when Kristy collapsed at the front desk. There was a new lightbulb in the kitchen, and she’d dragged out all the Christmas decorations. She couldn’t repair the dog door without picking up supplies in town, but she did manage to cover it to keep some of the night chill, and any other wandering animals, from creeping in.
She stared at the books and tried not to cry. There were three lodging cancellations in the past month. So close to the dog-sledding race, she couldn’t believe that people were actually cancelling their reservations.
She knew why, though. Paradise Frost was the new farm about twenty miles south of them. Closer to the city, it boasted brand new accommodations and a state of the art practice track. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have any dogs of their own. These days, most racers brought their own dog teams anyway.
What the hell was she going to do? If she didn’t find a way to book every room for the racing season, she was going to lose the farm. She’d have to sell it, and then what would her father think? After spending years in Alaska’s brutal winters, he’d taken to warmer climates. If he came back, he’d start to stress again, and his doctor had already warned about his high blood pressure and the strain on his heart. No, it was better for him to relax under the sun and not worry about the stress of running the farm.
Too bad he hadn’t stuck around. The winters grew warmer each year. By the time Arella went to school, Alaskan winters would take on a whole new meaning.
“Damn, damn, damn,” she muttered.
Closing her eyes, she pressed her fingers to her temples in an effort to come up with some new ideas for saving the farm. The bell sounded over the door of the lodge, and her eyes flew open. Who the hell was coming in this early?
The bundled up figure dragged in two duffel bags and dropped them on the floor. Pulling his hood back, he ran his hand through his hair and dusted off the light layer of mist. She got a good look at his face and felt her blood freeze.
“Hello, Kristy.”
4
A million things swirled around in her head.
Looking at him, he didn’t seem to have changed much; he was still as handsome as the day she met him. Possibly more. Was that even possible? The laughter that used to be evident in his eyes was gone and for a moment, Kristy wished she could see it again. If only to commit it to memory.
She suddenly worried that he’d somehow figured out that Arella was his daughter and came to take her away. That was followed by all the horrible things that she wanted to say to him. Finally, she settled on being professional.
“Sheikh Shadid, right? It’s been awhile.” She was proud of how even she kept her tone as she walked behind the desk. “How can I help you?”
He eyed her cautiously. “You look good.”
“You must really have money to burn if you flew out all this way to see how I looked,” she said with a frown.
“I didn’t. I actually wanted to see if you had any vacancies. I’m looking to try my hand at the Iditarod race again, so I’ll need a room and a team.”
Lodging. Dog rentals. As desperately as she wanted to kick him out and tell him never to return, all she could think about were the repairs that the farm needed. She still had a fence to mend plus feed to buy for next month. His money would help with all of it, but why did it have to be him of all people? Forced to think of the farm and her daughter before her own comfort, she made her decision.
He could stay, but that didn’t mean that she had to be nice to him.
“Let me check,” she said briskly as she opened her book. Pretending that she was rearranging some things, she finally nodded. “I think that’ll work. Will you be leaving right after the race?”
He stared at her for a long minute before nodding. She quickly wrote out the information card and slid it his way. Turning her back to him, her hand hovered over the keys.
“Deposit is fifty percent of the total bill. It’s non-refundable. You’ll receive a final bill when you leave. Here is the pamphlet of information on dog rentals to look over.”
She’d automatically put him in the same room as last time because it was the biggest and had a gorgeous view, but for some reason, she had trouble giving him the key. She imagined him in the same bed where he’d first made love to her.
“Kristy?” he asked in a soft voice.
Snatching the key off the hook, she reached over and grabbed the credit card from his hand. “You’ll be in the same room as before. Do you have any questions?” she asked tersely as she swiped his card.
“Just one,” he said intensely. “What happened when I left?”
“What do you mean?” She tried to blink innocently at him. “Dad retired two years ago. He’s traveling in warmer climates these days. I’m in charge now.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
Setting her jaw, she glared at him. “What do you think happened?” she asked coldly. “Life went on. Here is your key. Do you need help with your luggage?”
“Kristy…”
“You’re quite early, but breakfast will be ready in about two hours. We’ll be serving lunch between noon and one. Dinner will be between six and seven.”
“Kristy…”
“When you’re ready to take a look at the dogs, please let me know. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with our selection. Henry is my dog handler. He will be in at eight, and he can answer any questions you may have about them.”
He clamped his mouth shut, and she could see the anger in his face, but she held her ground.
When she’d found out that she was pregnant, she’d done everything she could to contact Kashif. She wrote him letters begging to speak to him, and she even tried to fly out to see him. She heard nothing in return, and her Visa was denied by the palace. Finally, in one last ditch effort, she wrote him a letter telling him that she was pregnant.
In return, she received a check for two hundred thousand dollars. Humiliated, she’d ripped the check up. She’d carried a lot of anger with her until Arella was born. Then, like magic, she realized that without Kashif, she wouldn’t have her beautiful daughter in her life. So, she let go and tried not to think of the past.
That didn’t mean that seeing him didn’t hurt. And if he thought he could show up and take her daughter away, he had another thing coming.
She was just as beautiful as Kashif remembered. Those tangled, strawberry blonde locks and her beautiful blue eyes had haunted his
dreams. After he’d been called away, her silence had made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship with him but that didn’t stop him from thinking about her.
Seeing her now, bristling with anger, he wondered if coming here had been the right decision. Given her silence the past three years, her hostility caught him by surprise.
But this was his last chance to race. His father had already admitted to wanting to step down soon, and Kashif would wear the crown. It had been a burden on his shoulders ever since he was born, and it was partly the reason that he was such a thrill-seeker. Once he was Crowned Sheikh, there would be no more adventures.
Jarik, his younger brother, was much more serious and shouldered responsibility better. Kashif knew that his brother didn’t understand why he needed the adrenaline boost or a reprieve from the stress. He thrived in diplomatic situations while Kashif would much rather be out experiencing life.
Samir, on the other hand, enjoyed being the youngest. He never seemed to have a care in the world. His life was always about women and partying. In so many ways, he envied that.
Opening the door to his old lodgings, he glanced around and noticed that everything was radically different. The furniture had been moved around, and rather than the navy blue color scheme that decorated the room previously, everything was greens and browns. It was nothing like he remembered, and yet he couldn’t stop the onslaught of memories.
Kristy lying naked on the bed, waiting for him. The intimate showers they’d shared. The way they’d cuddled on the couch and watched television. The late night conversations.
The way her body had felt wrapped around his.
Looking up, he saw a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the doorway. He almost reached up to take it down. He hadn’t celebrated Christmas in twenty years, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.
As his hands brushed against it, he had second thoughts. This wasn’t his place. It belonged to Kristy, and if she wanted to decorate for Christmas, she could. He knew it was all part of the scenery. The snow went hand-in-hand with Christmas; although, from what he had seen on the drive in, there wasn’t more than a few inches of snow on the ground.