The Sheikh’s Forced Bride (The Sharjah Sheikhs Series Book 1)

by Leslie North

  She bit her lower lip. And then wrapped her arms around his neck. “How about you ask me again in a few weeks—after my article on arranged marriages comes out. I want to make sure your father doesn’t decide I’m really, really bad for you and your family.” He frowned. “You are going to make me work for this, aren’t you?”

  “Hey, what comes too easy is never appreciated. Besides, if we’re doing this for real, I want my sister here. And a few relatives. And some time to plan a proper wedding.”

  Khalid smiled. He swept her up into his arms. “I have a much better idea—let us discuss this while we are in bed.”

  14

  Ahmed smoothed his robes and asked, “This time you are really getting married?”.

  Khalid glanced at him. His palms had started to sweat and he paced in front of the doors that opened onto the gardens. Casey had wanted to wed in the gardens, and had said, “I’ve had enough of ballroom weddings.” Wetting his lips, Khalid nodded. “Hazim has his orders—if anyone tries to disrupt this wedding he is to have every palace guard stop the interruption. I am getting married.” He patted his brother’s back. “Now, lead the way please.”

  With a grin, Ahmed headed into the gardens.

  Khalid pulled in a breath, smoothed his keffiyeh and followed Ahmed. Casey waited for him, her sister Candace at her side and Fadiyah as well, both women in golden gowns. Fadiyah looked happily radiant and a diamond sparkled on her ring finger, but Khalid thought no woman could outshine Casey today.

  She wore a deep, red gown with gold embroidery. However, instead of the traditional robes, she had had the dress done in a modern style, fitted close with long sleeves. In a nod to tradition, a gold scarf covered her head.

  Khalid could see her hand shaking slightly—she was nervous, afraid something would happen or that Khalid would change his mind. Last night in bed she had confided her worries. He had done everything he could to sooth them, to use his mouth and his hands and his body to show her how much he loved her. Perhaps she would feel better once they were truly wed.

  When he reached her side, Casey leaned close and whispered, “Do you think anyone’s going to stop this wedding, or is third time the charm?”

  Khalid glanced down at her. “The entire Sharjah army could not stop me from making you my wife.”

  The ceremony proceeded. Khalid kept glancing around, half afraid he had cursed the day by saying no one could stop Casey from becoming his wife. He spotted Hazim near the garden doors. Hazim gave a nod and a thumbs up.

  And then suddenly it was done. Casey let out a long breath, Khalid’s father clapped him on his shoulder and said, “May she bring you as much trouble as you have brought me, and may your sons follow in your footsteps.”

  Khalid could only grin. Ahmed was there to congratulate him, as was Zaid, who leaned close and said, “Someday I will pay you back for giving me the mother of all headaches.”

  With a laugh, Khalid turned to the crowd. “To the feast!”

  The music, food and dancing went on late into the night, but when it seemed that everyone was wrapped up in the entertainments, Khalid sought out Casey and pulled her to the side and under a lighted palm. “Come, let us leave now before we have to endure one more set of congratulations.”

  “What about my sister?” she asked.

  He looked around and saw Ahmed dancing with Candace, the two of them laughing. “Oh, I think there is no need to worry about her.” Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned in and kissed her, taking his time to explore every inch of her mouth. He would never tire of these kisses or the way she seemed to melt against him.

  She gave a soft hum and pulled back. “Okay, what if I want to show off my new husband? It’s quite a coup, you know, getting the playboy Sheikh to settle down with me. Hmmm, maybe there’s a story in it.”

  Tugging on her hand, he led her toward the front of the palace, saying, “I would rather give you another story, one where I get to enjoy my bride.”

  “Typical tyrant,” Casey said. She stood with her back to the window of the penthouse suite in a luxury hotel. Khalid had spirited her away in a limo and now they had privacy as well as luxury. A private elevator had taken them to the top floor. Flowers decked the room, which had a sitting room as well as two bedrooms. Khalid had led her to the bedroom with the view and had said they would spend the next three days here.

  “You really do love giving the orders,” Casey said, her head tipped to one side.

  Khalid had stripped off his headscarf, outer robes and boots. He stood before her in a light shirt and the traditional baggy trousers of Sharjah. “Ah, but while I order the world, you are the one who orders my heart. What do you wish of me, wife?” He spread his hands wide.

  She turned her back to him. “Care to help me out of my wedding dress?”

  He came close, unzipped her gown and pressed a kiss to every inch he exposed. He slipped the dress off her shoulders. She shivered and said, “Do you think we could spend part of the year in New York? Maybe the summer months? Or the fall—it’s beautiful in New York in the fall.”

  With a wordless answer, he turned her and kissed her. She could feel the world just melt away. In his arms, nothing else mattered. She was not just part of his world—she was part of him. He swept her up and carried her to the bed.

  Laying her down, he said, “I have a surprise for you.”

  She propped herself up on her elbows. She’d worn no stockings—only red, silk underwear. She’d left off a bra as well—the dress hadn’t really needed one. Khalid tugged off his shirt and she took a moment to admire the lines of his back—his muscles worked as he gathered up something and came back to her.

  “What are you planning?”Smiling, he straddled her. “You had no time to do a proper job of your henna for your wedding—so I am going to paint you with my vows.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Henna itches.”

  “Ah, but warm honey does not—and I have the pleasure of licking it off you after.”

  She lay back and spread her arms. “What will you write?”

  He dipped a brush into a pot and then painted onto her breasts. “I will write of my love for your beauty.” She sucked in a breathe. The honey was warm—and sticky. And oddly sensual. He swirled the brush around one taut nipple. “I will write of how you are unlike any woman I have ever met before. I write of your courage and spirit—and also how I met you in jail.”

  She laughed and took the brush from him. “Do I get to write something, too?”

  He handed her the honey pot and lay back on the bed. “What do you wish to write on my body?”

  She straddled him. His erection rubbed against her thigh. “Beautiful lover.” She swirled the words over his chest. “That’s about all I know in Arabic.” Leaning over him, she settled the honey pot and brush on the nightstand. Her breast brushed his mouth and he reached up to lick the honey from her skin. She gave a groan.

  Flipping her onto her back, he loomed over her. “Ah, before I forget, I have a wedding present for you.” He rolled off the bed and came back to her with a slip of paper.

  She stared at it a moment and then looked at him. “You bought Luke’s magazine?”

  Khalid shrugged and stretched out next to her. “You may keep writing for this Luke or not—as you choose. But I did not like the idea of his magazine struggling. And this idea of his to do more articles on Sharjah—it is a good one. We need more people to know that Sharjah is both a safe place to visit and a lovely one.”

  She tossed the paper aside and threw a leg over his legs. “You mean you want me to turn into a…a travel writer.”

  “You say that as if it is a bad thing?” He ran his fingers up her arm and bent to lick the honey from her other breast.

  She gave a moan. He pushed her back onto the bed. “Tell me I can inspire you to write lyrical praises for Sharjah?”

  She ran her fingers over the muscles on his chest, trailing her hand down to his stomach and then dropping lower. “Why don’t we talk
about this later. Much, much later. I want to get back to your reputation as an amazing lover and just how you earned it. I also have honey starting to dry on my skin and—”

  He cut off her words with a kiss that left her breathless. When he pulled back, he said, “I am yours to command, my love.”

  Epilogue

  Casey stared at the article she’d written. Luke had published it—and that was that. It disappeared without a trace. However, the background material she’d sent Luke was still generating emails. Frowning, Casey knew she’d made a discovery—one that didn’t please her.

  She was a better travel writer than she was a reporter.

  Reading over the background material, she could see she’d already been starting to fall in love with Khalid—and Sharjah. Looking up from her laptop, she stared out to where Khalid was swimming. They’d decided to spend a week at one of the beach resorts in Sharjah—the place left her longing to write about it. White sands, crisp blue water, happy people and an environmental slant on the resort so everything was recycled or reused.

  She was also getting used to being married to a Sheikh—it had more than a few advantages, including having been able to fly her sister to Sharjah and then home again on a private jet. Candace was still raving about the wedding and had sent Casey two hundred photos of the event.

  Coming out of the water, Khalid grabbed a towel to dry off.

  Casey’s mouth went dry—dripping wet, the man was beautiful. Tall, tan and movie-star muscles left him quite the eyeful. She picked up her tropical fruit drink and said, “I’m done as a reporter.”

  Khalid sat down in the chair next to her and pulled her feet into his lap. “Oh, and why?”

  She waved at the scenery—the palms, the warm breeze from the desert and the sun glinting on the bay and the luxury hotel behind them, built low so it blended into the rocky coastline. “This—I’m becoming a travel writer. All I seem to want to do is focus on raving about this lavish, carefree lifestyle.”

  The corner of Khalid’s mouth curved. “What if you had a look behind things? A Sheikh’s life is not all about fun. I have a business meeting to attend for my father this afternoon. I could ask the hotel manager to let you talk to the staff. They would show you the other side of the pleasure—how much work it is to make the guests feel pampered.”

  She sat up suddenly. “That’s it. I don’t have to do travel articles—that’s fluff. But a book—that’s something substantial. It wouldn’t just be a travel guide, it’d be the insider’s guide. A look behind the scenes.”

  She jumped up and kissed him. “When can I start? This afternoon? You don’t need me at this meeting, do you?”

  Khalid grinned. “Want…yes. Need…no. Besides, I think my father has been sending meetings my way as a way of testing if what you told him is true—that his sons are ready for responsibilities. But I also think he would shudder to have you at one of these meetings. He is not quite certain what radical American ideas you might have.”

  Grabbing her wrap, Casey slipped it on over her swimsuit and grabbed her laptop.

  Khalid stood and slipped his hands up under the cover-up and onto her skin. “We have time before my meeting and your tour of the hotel. I suggest we use it well—and I want to thank you, my lovely wife.”

  Casey blinked. “Thank me for what? You’re the one who just gave me a great idea.”

  “And you are the one who has helped my father see me for more than a…a sulky Sheikh. You are like a breath of air every day. I think I am a better man with you. And a lucky one to have you as my wife. I…I feel almost as if I have been given a true chance to prove myself…and to step out from my father’s shadow.”

  She heard the hesitancy in his voice and knew the words did not come easy to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she told him, “You’re not the only one who had a chance for a new life here. I…I might have been stuck doing the same thing over and over, trying to be something I really wasn’t. I always thought Luke was holding me back—that if only I could get a spectacular story that would make my career. Now I can look back and see I wasn’t writing with my heart—I was trying to impress everyone. Sharjah showed me a new world—and my real talents. I’m the one who needs to thank you,” she confessed.

  Khalid tightened his hold on her waist, his skin cool against hers. “Shall we take our mutual thanks and admiration into the bedroom where it can be better expressed?”

  Casey laughed and kissed her gorgeous husband. “Please. Always. Forever.”

  Standing up on tiptoe, she kissed him, hungry for more, running her hands over his back. He pulled away, let out a long breath and took her hands. “Too much more of that in public may lead to both of us in jail for it will have me stripping off that very small bikini of yours to make love with you on the sand.”

  Wrapping an arm over her shoulder, he started back to their room. She fell into step with him. Resting her hand on the small of his back, she asked, “Do you think this really will last? Will we be this much in love with each other in ten years? Twenty? Fifty?” He stopped and turned her to face him. “I love you, Casey. I will always love you. This will last not just ten years or twenty or fifty but for as long as the sands burn and the ocean whispers.”

  She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Take me to bed and make love to me, my Sheikh. And then you’re off to a meeting and I’m getting a tour and starting a book. And we’re going to live one amazing story.”

  He pulled her closer to him. “But of course we are.”

  End of The Sheikh’s Forced Bride

  The Sharjah Sheikhs Series

  Book One

  PLUS: Do you like your heroes strong, powerful and Russian? Read an exclusive excerpt from Leslie North’s bestselling novel Her Ruthless Russian (The Karev Brothers Book 1) below.

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  Her Ruthless Russian

  The Karev Brothers Series Book 1

  Blurb

  Born into a Russian Mafia family, Vlad Karev is no stranger to violence…but this time it’s personal. Someone has murdered his father and Vlad can’t rest until he finds the killer. When the trail leads to an art gallery, Vlad wants to dig deeper, but he needs help from the owner’s daughter. The pretty redhead is far too innocent for a man like Vlad, but he’ll do what it takes to get the information he needs. His obligations are to the family, even if that means using the fiery woman.

  Madison O’Connor works hard to keep her family’s gallery going, although secretly she has little interest in art. But when she discovers her father’s been laundering money for the Russian Mafia, she’ll do everything she can to keep him out of jail. She hates to lie, but she has a plan…seduce the Russian bad boy to learn the mob’s secrets. Never mind his dangerous exterior or icy blue eyes, Madison’s going to get her family free of the mob, even if she has to use Vlad Karev to do it.

  As the killer gets closer, so do Vlad and Madison. But is their connection just the means to an end, or could their romance be real?

  Download Her Ruthless Russian from: www.LeslieNorthBooks.com

  Her Ruthless Russian

  The Karev Brothers Series Book 1

  Excerpt

  Vlad took that as his cue to intervene. Raising his hand, he signaled to his bodyguards to remain in the car before crossing the street without even looking for traffic, his attention solely focused on the scene in the alley. His long strides devolved into a mor
e casual stroll as he came up beside the woman; she turned to regard his arrival with a stricken expression, unwittingly opening up her private exchange with the mover to encompass him as well.

  "Fifty percent discount, and she gets to keep the clipboard," Vlad said.

  The self-described supervisor looked him up and down. He had to look much more up than down. "Why do I give a fuck what you think?" the man demanded. "Mind your own business and keep walking!"

  The look Vlad was getting from the woman wasn't much more encouraging. Up close, she was as beautiful and harassed as he had guessed from across the street. Thick, red hair blazed like a firestorm around her neck and shoulders, giving the impression that she had wrestled with it that morning before ultimately deciding to take it down from its restraints. The color of her mane contrasted with the starched monochrome of her white blouse, which was just translucent enough to betray the dark impression of the brazier she wore beneath it. A smattering of freckles across her high cheeks and button nose filled Vlad with an immediate and unexpected desire to see just how far the constellation extended. Did they cover the rest of her body; her neck, her shoulders…? Did her lovers count them before going to sleep on them?

  Those were the tamest of the thoughts he entertained while looking at her. Even though his eyes were concealed behind his sunglasses, he thought she felt the suggestive weight of his gaze. He watched with interest as a mute flush rose up beneath the freckles whose full territory he was considering.

  "Hey! You listening to me, pal?" the driver demanded. The two movers had returned from inside the gallery, their hands freed from carting the broken frame. They flanked their supervisor, although they eyed Vlad with a good deal more wariness.