One Night with The Sheikh: An accident of fate brought them together, and it would bind them for the rest of their lives.

by Clare Connelly

Samir shook his head testily. “It is not necessary.”

  “Least we could do.”

  “Rupert,” Grace laced her fingers through Sam’s and threw him a look of apology. “How dare you? How bloody dare you?”

  “Grace, please, I know you think he’s the best thing since sliced bread, but do you even know his last name?”

  She opened her mouth and then shut it again. How in the world had she neglected to ask his surname? It had simply never occurred to her. “His last name is going to be my last name,” she said fiercely, holding her hand up and showing him the enormous ring. “We’re getting married, Rupert. So whatever you might think about Sam, if you want to stay friends with me, you need to stay quiet.”

  Rupert swore under his breath and turned away. “It’s a mistake, Grace.”

  Samir had frozen at her words. He looked down at the woman who had just been guilted into accepting his proposal, and he felt a weight of guilt himself. For Rupert was right. Nothing about Samir was as it seemed. Grace knew nothing about who he really was and what his life really involved, but he told himself it did not matter. There would be time to explain once they were in Elaminar. For now, all that he cared about was getting her there.

  “Do you mean it, Grace?”

  She beamed a smile up at Samir, but immediately it transformed to a grimace when she saw the damage that had been inflicted on his cheek. “Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry.” She pressed her lips against his cheek, and put an arm around his waist. Though he didn’t much like playing the victim, he rather enjoyed the form Grace’s sympathy took.

  “Sit down, Sam, let me take a look at that.”

  “I told you, it isn’t necessary,” Samir said with a wave of his hand at Ashley.

  “Let him take a look, Sam,” Grace urged worriedly.

  Sam’s eyes met hers and Grace felt a frisson of excitement tremor through her stomach. “For you, my beautiful Grace,” he said, pressing his lips to her forehead.

  Grace turned around and looked at Rupert. “I’m so angry with you, Rupert. How could you be so silly? Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

  “Anyone else, Grace, and I’d be overjoyed. This guy?” He lifted his hands in the air in frustration. “You’re an actress. Aren’t you meant to be perceptive?”

  She fluttered a hand to her neck and searched for the right words. “I know that I have to marry him. I get it. It’s fast. It doesn’t make sense. But since he left two years ago, I’ve been living a half life. And every day I’ve had with Jacob, I’ve wished Sam was here to enjoy it. It takes less than an instant to fall in love when it’s real. I fell in love that night and I never really fell out of it again.”

  “Grace, with all due respect,” Ashley said quietly as he pressed an ice compress to Sam’s cheek, “you’re really going to put Jacob on a plane to a country you know nothing about?”

  Rupert’s eyes glinted victoriously as someone came to his team, finally. “Exactly! What if you can’t leave? What if it’s one of those barbaric countries where kids are the property of the father only?”

  “I’m not an idiot,” she said calmly. “I’ve done my research.”

  Sam’s heart rate increased wildly as he prayed she hadn’t been googling his country. It wouldn’t take long to discover his identity with a computer and a search engine.

  “I spoke to a solicitor this morning. Sam has no rights to Jacob, yet. He’s not listed on the birth certificate. Jacob’s passport is British. Besides, Elaminar isn’t one of those countries. It’s progressive and modern, and I’m not even a little bit worried about that stuff.”

  Samir’s green eyes looked at the woman he was going to bring home as his fiancé, and mother of his child, and he wondered just how much she’d hate him when she learned the truth. While the country was progressive and its laws modern, he was the one person in the land who was above the law. His son would be regarded as such from the moment they hit Elaminarn air space. Her passion was a beautiful thing, but he imagined her rage would be too, when she realized he had no intention of letting her, or Jacob, leave Elaminar again.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Grace, this is my friend Kal.” Sam said quietly, keeping an arm firmly around his fiancé’s shoulders as they stood outside her apartment. Beside her stood two suitcases, and he suspected both were filled with things for Jacob. It amazed him how much stuff a child required. They were very small but very fiddly little creatures.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Grace said with a small smile. She was nervous, and Sam couldn’t blame her. She’d agreed to come to Elaminar for a week, but he knew she was opening herself up to a whole future of uncertainty.

  “Likewise,” Kal said, lifting the bags easily and placing them in the boot of Sam’s Range Rover. “There is an infant restraint on this side of the car,” Kal nodded to the kerb and Grace leaned forward to inspect it. She didn’t have a car anymore, and she therefore didn’t have an infant restraint.

  “It looks safe,” she said tentatively, and Sam felt a strange lurch of something like pity for this beautiful, confident woman who was suddenly awash with doubts.

  He asked Kal in his own language if the seat had been professionally installed and Kal responded with his usual shortness at stupid questions. Despite the fact Samir was ruler of Elaminar, the bonds of their friendship made Kaliq one of the few people who spoke openly and honestly to him.

  “It has been checked by a proper installer. Allow me.” He took Jacob from her arms and easily placed him into the seat, fastening the seat belt and double checking it for good measure. Then, he turned his attention to Grace. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a cotton blouse, with her hair pulled up in one of those voluminous buns right on the top of her head. She looked as beautiful as ever, but there was a sadness in her expression that he ached to rub away. Unfortunately, he suspected he was going to be adding to it before much longer.

  He put his arms around her waist and pulled her against him firmly. “I love you, Grace. Everything is going to be fine.”

  She nodded, but tears stung her eyes. “I just hate leaving things like this with Ashley and Rupert. I want them to be a part of my life. I want them to be happy for me.”

  “They will be, my love. They simply need time to adjust.”

  She nodded again. “I know.”

  “Come, don’t cry.” He chased one of her tears with his thumb, and he couldn’t help but feel guilt at her emotional state. He pressed a small, chaste kiss against her forehead, aware now of Kaliq’s presence. Their interaction would change, once they landed in Elaminar, and even he hadn’t started to contemplate what that would mean for Grace, and for him.

  She shivered a little, safely in the confines of his arms, and repeated her mantra that this was for the best. “Come on,” she said with a shaky attempt at a smile. “We don’t want to miss our flight.”

  Kaliq threw Sam a look over her head. Samir couldn’t miss a flight if he tried. His gulfstream was permanently at his disposal and the flight crew his command. “You’re right. Let’s go.” He squeezed her hand, and waited while she climbed in beside their child. His heart lurched at the sight of them together, and he promised himself that he would find a way to make up for his trickery.

  The whole trip to the airport, Sam sat in the front seat, talking to his friend Kal, in a language she had no understanding of. It didn’t even occur to Grace to feel left out. After all, she had bigger fish to fry. She hadn’t told her mum she was going. And certainly not her father. There was no sense in alerting them to any of this until she was married. Her mother would definitely disapprove, and her father had no right to weigh in on the matter either way.

  As for Sam’s family; there were three sisters and a mother to meet, and the last they’d seen him, he’d been engaged to another woman, or as good as. How would they react to the sudden emergence of a new fiancé and readymade toddler?

  It had all seemed relatively easy, a few nights ago, when she’d impulsively agreed to marry him. Now,
as his sleek black car powered towards City airport, she felt besieged by nerves. For the first time in years, she didn’t have a job, and she didn’t have her best friends with her, to tell her everything was all right.

  She leaned forward and grabbed the toy Jacob had just dropped, only for him to gleefully pitch it forward once more. He was in a frustrating stage of dropping everything over and over again, simply to see what affect it would have. She picked it up once more and said, firmly, “Last time.” When he dropped it yet again, she averted her face and let the realization sink in that the toy was gone, for now.

  It wasn’t right to leave things with Ashley and Rupert in such a mess. Rupert’s behavior was unforgivable, but he’d been with her through thick and through thin, and he deserved a little patience from her. She pulled her phone from her handbag and tapped out a quick message. Guys, I know you’re struggling to understand all this. I know it’s happened super fast. But I love you both to bits. I hate that we’re fighting. I’ll be back in a week and we can sort it out then. G.x

  Rupert was standing in the middle of Jacob’s bedroom when the text came through. He was looking at the toys and the empty cot with a matching feeling of emptiness in the pit of his stomach. Something about Sam just didn’t ring true, and it was about more than just his jealousy. After all, it had been years since he’d thought of Grace as anything other than a sister. Sure, she was gorgeous, and maybe a part of him still loved her romantically, but mostly, he just wanted her to be happy. But Sam was not the man to make her so.

  He groaned in frustration as an elusive thread of a memory whispered through his mind, yet again. Ever since he’d first clapped eyes on Sam, he’d had the strangest feeling that he knew him from somewhere.

  It was useless. He thrust his phone back into his pocket and walked downstairs, into the small room he used as a studio. It was then that he remembered. “Idiot,” he cursed himself, running across the room and reaching for a pile of magazines he used in some of his collage artworks. He flicked through them hastily, cover after cover, before finally he saw it. The cover of Time magazine. He’d torn the heading off, but there was Sam’s face, unmistakable. With fingers that trembled, he flicked his way through the magazine until he found the accompanying article.

  “Holy guacamole,” he cursed, in the Jacob-approved way he had learned to adopt months ago, when Jacob first started mimicking everything they said, particularly the worst words. “Oh, Grace. What have you done?”

  He picked up his phone and dialed Ash at the hospital. This was news he had to share, and a decision he needed help to make.

  Grace was so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t even realized they had bypassed the main entrance to the airport until they were on the tarmac. She leaned forward, confusion making her words sound anxious. “Sam, where are we?”

  Kal threw his oldest friend a disapproving glance. He had never known Samir to resort to lies to achieve his goals. When Samir had informed him of his plan several days earlier, he had been sure Sam’s honorable disposition would make him back out. But here he was, with a woman who apparently had no idea what the hell she was getting in to.

  “It’s okay, Grace.” Sam said, reassuringly, and because he knew this was the vital few minutes, he crossed to the passenger side of the car as soon as Kal had cut the engines and removed Jacob from his restraints. He passed the toddler to his friend and watched them retreat, up the stairs of the private jet. He felt his heart swell with pride at the easy going nature of his son, who happily waved back at him from the entrance to the jet.

  “Sam,” Grace said warily as she emerged from his car. “What is this?”

  “I will explain everything once we’re onboard.” His words were firm, his expression blank.

  “No! You will explain everything right now.” She was past wary now. She was frantic. Her phone vibrated in her back pocket and she saw that it was Ashley calling her. She hung up on him. She had more to worry about now than her fight with her friends.

  “Please, Grace, come onto the flight and we can talk more privately.” He nodded towards the army of ground staff milling around. And, she saw, security staff, with guns. One of the men looked vaguely familiar and a flicker of recognition made her glare up at him.

  “I don’t know who you are, but I do know that that man has been following me around for days.” She remembered having seen him when she was buying tulips, and again when she was at the park with Jacob, only it hadn’t struck her as odd until now.

  “Yes. That is Tariq. He is one of my agents.”

  “Agents? Good God. What are you talking about?”

  “Sir, the airport has requested we clear the tarmac.” A woman in a uniform dress said to Sam and he nodded.

  “Grace, this plane is leaving in two minutes, with or without you. But my son is already on board and he will remain there.”

  And the bottom of the world fell out from beneath her feet. “Your son… my son…” She blinked up at him, but she hardly recognized him. He had always been huge, larger than life, but now, he took on an almost goliath proportion as he walked away from her. She watched as he ascended the steps and disappeared into the sleek looking jet. She had no choice but to follow him.

  She barely registered the extremely opulent interior of the private jet. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the seats were plush and covered in a pale leather, not to mention sinfully enormous. A handful of flight crew were busying themselves arranging platters of food, and Sam was sitting on one side of a table, staring broodingly out of the window.

  Furious, Grace stormed over to him and stood, hands on hips. “What the hell is going on here?”

  Sam turned his head to look at her, and the sheer complexity of emotions that surged through him made his stomach roll. “Allow me to introduce myself properly,” he said, as the door of the airplane was locked firmly in place. Beneath them, the engines began to whir to life. “I am Samir Almassi, King of Elaminar.”

  His statement, so baldly and confidently delivered, would have made her giggle were it not for the evidence surrounding her. This was no joke. The man she had fallen head over heels in love with was royalty. And they were on his private jet, and bound for his kingdom.

  She sunk down into the chair opposite him, her face contorted with shock. “I don’t know what to say.” She stared across at him imploringly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Would you have come to Elaminar if I had?” He leaned forward in his chair and locked his gaze to hers.

  Grace looked away, feeling angry, furious and terrified. “So you’re kidnapping us?”

  “If you want to be so melodramatic about it,” he shrugged carelessly. “Grace, I’m sorry to have lied to you. But Jacob is heir to the throne of Elaminar. You can see that he must be raised there?”

  “Must be…” She felt dizzy and hot as his words sunk in. “I need some water.”

  He nodded over her head and said a word she didn’t know. Water appeared almost instantly beside her. She drank it greedily, replacing the glass on the tray only once it was completely drained. “My son is going to be raised by me,” she said, when she was finally able to speak again. The plane built up speed and she felt it lift off the ground, the last physical contact with her homeland.

  “He will be raised by us. His parents. This is why we will marry, my love.”

  “Don’t,” she said, louder than intended. “Don’t call me that.”

  He frowned. “Why? My desire to marry you is as genuine as ever.”

  “I can’t believe it.” She rung her hands together, startling visibly as her fingertips made contact with the ring he’d given her. She’d been so happy that night. Now, it outraged her. She was furious at the way he’d tricked her into falling in love with him. It had all been a ruse, to achieve one aim. To get Jacob to his country. And in his control. He’d never loved her. “If you think I’d marry you…”

  “Grace, think very carefully about what you’re about to say. You ha
ve had a shock. Why don’t you let yourself come to terms with your situation before reacting?”

  She glared at him, the picture of calmness and acceptance. “I hate you.”

  Sam refused to acknowledge how strangely her statement affected him. As the plane soared higher in the sky, he realized he wasn’t feeling the relief he had anticipated. He felt hollow and empty inside, instead.

  As soon as they reached a cruising altitude, Grace unbuckled her seat belt. “Where are you going?” Samir asked with a quiet firmness to his tone.

  She looked down at him, and seeing him in this light, wondered how she’d ever missed it. He was so obviously regal. Every inch of him screamed ‘power’. Had she been so blinded by their attraction and her feelings for him that she’d missed the obvious? He was a man used to giving orders and being obeyed. “Anywhere else. To sit with Jacob.”

  “He is bonding with his new nanny. He is fine.”

  “New nanny?” She went to grab the back of his chair for support but missed, and her hand slid down to his shoulder instead. The warmth tingled along her arm and she pulled away with a sound of disgust.

  Samir regarded her carefully. “Naturally, Jacob will have several nannies. As my wife, you will be expected to take a part in at least ceremonial events, if not actual governing.”

  “Stop it!” She shouted, not caring who heard. “Stop talking like that. I will never marry you. I can’t. How can you even think it?”

  Samir unbuckled his own seat belt and, because there was only way to put an end to this foolishness, he took his fiancé by the elbow and led her to the back of the plane, into one of the three private cabins, luxuriously fitted out as bedrooms. “What are you doing?” She asked crossly as he propelled her into the room and latched the door shut behind them.

  “Something I cannot do in front of my staff.” He kissed her before she could even guess what he was intending. His lips moved over hers passionately, and for maybe the first three seconds, she thought about kicking him in the shins. But the idea quickly got swallowed up by the desire that he never failed to spark in her when he was near.