The Sheikh’s Pretend Fiancée

by Leslie North

  When it was over, his cocky attitude was all but gone, and he carried her silently to the bed, where she fell into dreamless sleep.

  They returned to the suite the next day, and he almost never relinquished her hand. They played and cuddled, and he acted like the most attentive lover. “I told my friends about you,” he whispered in her ear. “Not just the investors, but my oldest and closest friends. They want to meet you before the wedding.”

  “What did you tell them?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the words.

  “Not the truth,” he admitted. “But as close to the truth as I could possibly get. I told them that my relationship with you has surprised even me, changed me, and that I was going to spend our entire marriage doing my best to make you happy.”

  Pushing herself up, she turned her head and gazed down at him. His eyes were open, and she thought she could detect some vulnerability in them. “All six months?”

  “I know that you’re making a sacrifice,” he said as he pressed his hands over her heart. “But I will do whatever it takes to make sure you don’t regret it. In that, you can believe that my vows will be true.”

  Heartfelt. Sweet. Sincere. For the first time since she’d entered this damning agreement, Liyah felt her hopes rise. Maybe, just maybe, Asad was falling in love with her, as well. And maybe, this sham of a marriage would turn out to be the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to her.

  She could barely sleep that night. Even after he’d made sweet love to her body, she’d ended up standing on the terrace and staring at the city below. Home. This really could be her home, but she knew what she had to do. She had to confess to Asad that she loved him, and see if he felt the same. Even if he didn’t, the constant questioning, the masks—they were driving her insane, and she just couldn’t live like this any longer.

  Liyah would go through with the marriage, no matter what. She’d already resolved to do that, but at least she would know what to expect.

  When she finally did fall asleep, a smile on her face, she woke up to a note from Asad saying that he was conducting some business in the city. Wanting to surprise him for lunch, she dressed and hurried to find the driver. “I need to discuss something with the sheikh,” she said breathlessly. “Can you take me to him?”

  Ori chuckled, and Liyah could have sworn she heard him mutter “about time” under his breath. Full of hope and love, she sat back and watched the city fly by.

  Dubai.

  Home.

  “He said he had some business in the market,” Ori said as he pulled over. “I’ll wait right here until you return. Take your time. Enjoy yourself.”

  Thanking him, she practically flew out of the car and into the throng of people. Peddlers and shoppers jostled her, but she paid them no mind as her eyes scanned the area for her intended.

  Liyah finally found Asad sitting at a small table at a restaurant patio. She was a little disappointed that he was already having lunch, but when the person in front of her stepped away, her heart dropped into her stomach, and she froze.

  He wasn’t alone. A beautiful brunette sat in front of him, their hands clasped around the flowers and candle that danced in the middle of their table. There was a charming smile on his face, the smile that he’d reserved for Liyah, and clarity finally settled in.

  Asad was never going to be interested in her. He just wanted to conquer her body. She was a convenience set up right in the middle of his suite for him to sample, and she’d signed on to be the appetizer for the next six months—but the main course?

  He couldn’t even refrain from his dalliances until they were married.

  Asad Sharif was never going to love her.

  She was such an idiot to fall for the kisses and the sweet words. Gullible. Naive. The perfect woman for Asad’s devious plan.

  There was no pain as she walked back to the car and slid in. “Take me to the palace,” she said calmly.

  Ori raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. The first thing that Liyah did when she returned to the suite was to pack her things. The dresses that Asad and Amira had bought her still hung in the closet, but she wouldn’t wear any more of those clothes. She couldn’t. If she was going to get through this, she needed to shed her vulnerable shell. When she left, she’d leave all this behind.

  After all her judgment of her mother, she hadn't picked a winner, either . . .

  Unable to hold the tears back anymore, she ran to Amira’s room and let herself go.

  Asad returned to the suite to have dinner with Liyah, only to find her dressed in a classy pair of pants and a lovely blue top. “Are you dressing up for me now?” he teased.

  “I had an early dinner,” she told him simply as she picked up her book. He waited to hear the details, but she barely looked at him.

  “I got you a gift while I was out today,” he said and set down a rose-colored box. He knew how much his bride-to-be loved the local food, and he’d gone to a small, well-hidden local place and purchased the best baklava around.

  She didn’t even look up from her book. “Thanks,” she said coldly, eyes glued to the open page.

  “What’s wrong, Liyah?” he said as he gently took the book away. “You’re not acting yourself.”

  Cocking her head, she stared at him. “I’m about to be the wife of a sheikh. I need to play the part. At least for now.”

  “What do you mean—for now?”

  Swinging her legs off the couch, she snagged the book back from him and stood. “I don’t believe my mother will be attending the wedding. I’m a little concerned for her, so after the honeymoon, I’ll be returning to the States.”

  “Okay. I’ll go with you.”

  “No, you won’t. We’ll be conducting the rest of this arrangement long-distance. You’re welcome to tell everybody that my mother has taken ill, and I’ve returned to tend her. I’m sure from there you can also spread some lies about my wild conduct while I was away and divorce me. I’d like to be paid right after the wedding.”

  His mouth dropped open, and ice filled his veins. He’d never, ever seen her act like this before, and she didn’t even bother to wait for a response.

  Instead, she stalked to her room, and he heard the unmistakable sound of a lock turning.

  14

  There was a lovely breakfast cart waiting outside her room the next morning. Fresh fruit, warm pita and lemon hummus, cardamom-sugar cakes, and Darjeeling tea.

  All her favorites.

  Too little, too late, she thought to herself, but she’d certainly earned a little groveling. Grabbing a plate, she filled it, poured herself some tea, and wandered to the terrace. Although it was early, Dubai hardly seemed to sleep, and the streets were already buzzing beneath her.

  “You must know that he loves you.”

  Coughing in surprise, she whirled around. “Amira,” she grumbled, “You nearly made me spill my tea. How did you even get in?”

  “I have a key to all my brothers’ suites. They have no privacy when it comes to me,” the other woman said as she sauntered in. “Did you hear what I said?”

  “I did, and you’re wrong. I know you want to think the best of your brother—and you should. He’s family. I’m more than happy to be the villain here, but Amira, he was with another woman. He clearly does not love me.”

  Amira perched daringly on the thin railing. “He would not do that to you,” she insisted. “Even if he didn’t love you, he would not risk being seen with another woman.”

  “I know what I saw. Maybe he’s lost his mind. Maybe he’s getting cold feet.” The idea of getting cold feet before the wedding that would dissolve in six months anyway made her giggle. “Anyway, I’m not shutting him down. I’m still marrying him. I’m just changing some of the terms. As you already pointed out, I do have a choice.”

  The princess shook her head sadly. “You’re freezing him out, though, and he’s as bullheaded as our father. He’s not going to tell you that he loves you until you force him. You must give him a chance, or t
he two of you will never recover.”

  Liyah was already certain that she wasn’t going to recover. She gave her friend a pointed look and let loose some of her anger. “Weren’t you the one who suggested that I play hot and cold? Consider this my cold side.”

  “I’m sorry,” Amira whispered, and she bit her bottom lip. “I can see that you’re hurting, but I knew from the moment you seated us in that lounge and tried to play server that you were meant for my brother. I’m only asking that you give him a chance to get over his pride and show you.”

  “I’m sure that there are plenty of other women who will help him get over his pride,” Liyah said dryly, even though her heart was breaking. “I won’t be one of them. In fact, I believe that I’m going to stay with Sahaar until the wedding. I’m sure our wedding night will be more romantic that way.”

  “What the hell do you mean, she’s gone?” Asad bellowed. “Our wedding is in a week!”

  “Calm down,” his sister snapped. “She’s spending the next week with her exchange family.”

  “The hell she is,” he grumbled as he started to move to the door. “I don’t know what is going on with her, but I intend to find out.”

  “Why?” Amira asked softly. “Why not, for once, tell her how you feel? She’s been dumped into this farce of a relationship, and she can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. She’s protecting herself, and I’m the one who told her to do that.”

  “Is she?” Asad asked coldly. “Or is she just showing her true colors, now that it’s time to collect the money.”

  For a moment, he thought his sister might slap him, but what else was he supposed to think? Liyah had practically changed personalities overnight, and the only thing that had changed was that he’d tried to open up to her and be honest about how he felt.

  Exactly what Amira was telling him to do now. Only Liyah had shut him out.

  “If you think that’s true, then you deserve to be alone,” Amira hissed and spun on her heels and stalked out. Asad could see the icy trail that followed her. In all their years together, through the fights and the squabbles, he’d never known Amira to be truly angry at him.

  Everything was unraveling.

  He left Liyah alone until the night before the wedding. Then, he could remain aloof no longer. Banging on the door of the small home where she was staying, he was surprisingly humbled when a small, elderly woman answered it.

  “Sheikh,” she said respectfully, but he could see the disdain in her eyes. “I suggest you leave.”

  “You’re Sahaar? I’m sorry to disrupt your night, but I must see her.”

  “She’ll be at the ceremony tomorrow. That’s all you need to know.”

  “I’m coming in, whether you let me or not,” he growled.

  For a moment, he thought the old woman was going to challenge him.

  Liyah appeared at the top of the stairs. “It’s all right, Sahaar. I’ll speak with him. You go and get your rest and try not to worry, okay?”

  Sahaar grumbled under her breath, but she let Asad pass.

  He thundered up the steps, and she led him into her room and shut the door. “You have a lot of nerve, threatening a sweet woman like that,” she hissed quietly as she whirled around. “Are you concerned that I’m going to disappear in the middle of the night? I want to be paid, remember.”

  The words he’d so carefully rehearsed left him as soon as she mentioned the money. Icy cold betrayal spread slowly and painfully through his chest. Angrily, he reached out for her and pulled her against his body. “Are you going to miss this when you’re gone, rolling in all that money?” he whispered in her ear.

  "Have you no feelings at all?"

  He released her. “I could ask you the same question. You are hot and then you are cold." He arched a brow. “I just want to know why.”

  "Why do you care? I'm your toy, bought and paid for. Why do you care what I feel?"

  Clenching his jaw, his eyes bored into her. "Are you a woman with no intuition? Do you see the way I watch your every move? Merge my soul with you when we make love? Do you think me so low that I would pretend to want you? I do not have to pretend. I own you, but I would not have to pretend, even if I didn't."

  She took a step back, and there was nothing but raw pain on her face. “You do not own me. You're enjoying me for the period of our contract terms. And you have, haven't you? You've enjoyed me. Many times. I’m surprised you're not bored right now."

  This was a mistake. He should never have come here. Taking a shaky step back, he wondered if he could outrun her rage, escape the cutting remarks. “You will not get paid if you do not show up tomorrow,” he warned her.

  “Trust me, I’ll be there. I didn’t go through all of this just to skip the best part.”

  Three hours before the wedding, Liyah’s mother finally called her back and tearfully apologized for missing her wedding. “I’ll be there in spirit,” she said.

  “Mom, why haven’t you called me back? I’ve been so worried,” Liyah muttered.

  “Oh, sweetheart, you’ll understand after your own wedding. Time will just slip on by and you won’t even have realized it. That’s what love does.”

  Liyah felt completely alone. All her life, she and her mother had been side by side, and now, when she needed her mother the most, not because she was getting married but because she was in pain, her mother wasn’t there.

  She’d been abandoned for a virtual stranger.

  Two hours before the wedding, she cried and blew into a paper bag while Mila and Sahaar tried to finish her hair and make-up. When she got up and started pacing in a panic, they got so disgusted that they told her to get married looking just like she did. It would serve the bastard right, anyway.

  One hour before the wedding, she was calm and collected. She politely asked Sahaar and Mila to finish helping her get ready. Chances were looking good that this would be her only wedding ever, and she didn’t want to look like a complete disaster.

  When the door to her dressing room opened and Amira stuck her head in, Liyah felt her heart skip a beat.

  “It’s time,” Asad’s sister said quietly, and there was so much sadness in those words that Liyah feared she would be crushed beneath them.

  15

  Lightbulbs flashed as the press took their pictures, and Liyah tried desperately to focus. Asad held her hands, rubbing his fingers over her knuckles during the ceremony, and smiled gently at her. How ironic that she was marrying the man she loved with all her heart, and all she wanted to do was throw up.

  “I vow to love and cherish you until the day that I die,” he said softly, his eyes boring into hers. The whole crowd fell silent. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that you were special, and I’ve spent this whole time trying to figure out how to make you mine. Now I have you here, and I am never letting you go. You are my heart, Liyah. Every beat of it beats for you. You are my breath. With every breath, I’m filled with you. And I vow that none of this will change, so long as I live.”

  He slid the ring on her finger, and she nearly burst into tears. How long she had been waiting to hear those words, and now that he’d said them, she knew that he didn’t mean them.

  Digging deep, she reinforced her spine and straightened her body. Mila passed her the ring, and Liyah kept her head high.

  “I vow to stand by your side and support you in everything that you do,” she murmured. The words failed her, and for a moment, she was silent. Everyone stared at her, and she briefly closed her eyes. She’d practiced this moment, these impersonal vows that she’d written, but this was the one time that she could be honest with him and still pretend that she was hiding behind a lie. If she let the moment slip away, she might regret it.

  “You have changed my life,” she said hoarsely. “You’ve shown me a love that I never thought was possible, to be loved and to love in return. You’ve given me a hope that I never thought was possible, a hope that true love really does exist. I know in my heart that, no matter what
, you’ll be the only man that I will ever love, and even though I’m sliding this ring onto your finger at this moment, it’s something that I could have told you a long time ago, and it still would have been true.”

  He looked completely stunned, and for a moment, she thought she might faint. The rest of the Westernized ceremony was nothing more than a roaring in her ears until Asad led her away. Next, instead of the ceremony being over, they were seated at the head of a large table in exquisite plush seats and given two goblets with which to exchange a toast. Only then did the festivities start. Belly dancers. Singers. Jugglers. It was a huge affair, and as usual, she felt herself lost in the crowd.

  The whole affair lasted three days, and in those three days, she barely saw her husband. Everyone drank and laughed and danced, and even Liyah let the alcoholic spirits dull the pain. She danced with Amira and Mila, and when she turned around, she was horrified to see Bashar watching her.

  “I thought I was doing what was best,” he whispered in her ear. She could barely hear him over the music. “But you are not happy. Perhaps you need more than a marriage to the man you love to make you smile.”

  She was about to demand that he explain himself, but someone grabbed her arm, and she was dragged away.

  The check was on the nightstand when she woke up. Liyah had a horrible headache, but she managed to dress herself and pack her bags. Sitting on the steps outside, she dropped her head to her knees as she waited for the car to pull up.

  This was it. She’d said her goodbyes to Amira and Mila last night, but her husband was nowhere to be found.

  It was just as well. After those vows, there really wasn’t anything left to say, was there?

  The car pulled up, and as she stood, she saw one of the attendants rolling a cart with more bags out. “Oh, that’s not mine,” she called out, but they ignored her.

  With no energy to fight them, she moved slowly to the car. The driver opened the door, and she sucked in her breath.