Emily laughed, this time sounding more tired than anything else. “Then who is going to come with me? And I’m surprised you’d say that about your own staff.”
“Me.” He took out his cell phone and started tapping out a flurry of messages. This would involve making some modifications to his schedule, but there was no way on earth she was going without him.
Emily drew herself up to her full height. “No, Zaman. That won’t be necessary. And from what I understand, none of the other racers will be there, so—”
“I don’t care.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket and looked her in the eye. “I’m coming with you or you’re not going.”
She must have heard the resolve in his voice, because after a long moment, her shoulders slumped the slightest bit forward. “Fine,” she breathed. “We leave in an hour.”
It took Zaman more than an hour to tie up loose ends around the palace and squeeze in some of the meetings he couldn’t reschedule, so the SUV he rode in with Emily arrived later in the evening. Gill was out on the course with Majalun, due to arrive at the rest point any moment. A second car with Korah and a load of gear had arrived ahead of them. They’d do the whole thing again the next day, shadowing Maj and Gil, camping overnight, then finishing the final leg on the third day.
Zaman hopped out of the SUV, and Korah, the driver, and the driver of the first SUV approached. Their driver asked, “Where would you like your tent, Sheikh Zaman?”
He chose a spot under the shelter of a tree. “There. Set it up quickly and put both our belongings in my tent.”
“And the second tent?”
“Leave it,” he said.
“I brought my own tent,” Emily said from behind him, and he turned to find her watching him with arms crossed loosely over her chest. “I’ve been camping a hundred times in my life. I’ll be fine,.”
“You can tell me all about it while we eat,” he said. “For now, the extra tent is staying packed.”
He moved off to oversee the servants. They had the tent up in record time, and a second man brought Emily’s pack, hesitating at the door.
Her jaw was set, and her eyes ablaze, but in the end she didn’t argue.
14
“If you want to stay angry, you’re well within your rights.” Zaman held a stack of stainless steel tiffin boxes in each hand. “But I’m going to serve you this delicious food anyway.”
Emily sat resolutely by the fire with her hands tucked under a blanket. The temperature had dropped in the desert, so Zaman had brought out the loveliest blanket she had ever seen. She had been too achy to sit on a stool carved out of a stump, so he had brought out a camp chair that had a built-in footrest. He was making it very difficult to stay angry with him. It was also exhausting to be so angry.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh.
Zaman blinked. “That’s not what I thought you’d say.”
“It takes too much energy to be royally pissed.”
He laughed out loud. “Pun intended?”
It brought a smile to her face. “No. But it’s still true.” She watched him as he opened the round, metal containers and dished out a bed of rice on each plate, then topped it with the same kind of lamb they’d had at the family dinner. Her empty stomach rumbled, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.
Zaman noticed. “What’s wrong? You don’t like the lamb?”
“I—I love it so much.” She swallowed a sudden ache in her throat. “I’m so hungry. I can’t wait to eat.” Emily’s voice trembled.
He gave her a wry grin. “You’re not overcome with emotion over my kindness?”
“Sure, that too.” She took the plate and dug in. This pregnancy business was so bizarre. Sometimes, she thought she’d never want to touch another piece of food ever again in her life. Other times, she was so hungry she couldn’t picture herself not eating everything he’d piled up on the plate for her.
“I’ll take it.” Zaman settled into the chair next to hers, and the two of them ate together, looking out at the last of the desert sunset sinking below the horizon. The staff had set up their tents a short distance away, and their laughter floated over on the breeze. Maj was tethered nearby, happily munching his feed and heaving the occasional sigh of a well-run horse. Emily had seen to the horse before she’d allowed herself to sit.
“It’s gorgeous out here,” Emily said quietly. “So different from the green of Kentucky.”
“Yes. Kentucky is like stepping into a greenhouse. Or one giant oasis.”
For a moment, Emily could feel the humidity of the air on her skin, feel all the moisture rising from the green fields near her farm. The air had been soaked with it. But the dry slip of the desert breeze felt familiar, too. It could become a second home.
It was easy to be fond of camping here, what with the tent so enormous it was almost a building and the memory foam mattress Zaman had insisted on wedging into the back of the SUV. It was more than that, too. She was fond of Qadir. The stable staff had taken her in as one of their own, and her time out on the trails with Zaman made every breath feel light and happy.
But then there was the fact that her food was gone. She caught herself pouting down at the plate when Zaman said, “Has your dinner done something to offend you?”
“It’s gone. That’s what.”
He got more for her, and when that was gone Emily finally felt sated.
“I like it here,” she mused. “I like it here a little too much, I think.”
“No such thing as liking it too much. Have some dessert.”
“See?” Emily laughed. “You’re only making it worse.”
They shared basbousa, a cake made from semolina and lemon syrup. It exploded on Emily’s tongue like pure joy. “Delicious,” she said, “even if it’s nothing like ‘s'mores.”
The night sky darkened above them, millions of stars coming out. It took Emily’s breath away. “I could stare at this sky all night.” A yawn edged out on the tail end of her sentence. “If I weren’t so tired.”
Zaman was on his feet in an instant. “The tent awaits.”
Nerves bubbled up in her chest as they went. She’d stepped inside for a minute while they were setting up, but hadn’t been back in—when she was angry, it had seemed like a concession even to go in.
The large, round tent was warmly lit inside, and Emily felt her shoulders relax the moment they stepped across the threshold. “Oh! You brought two beds.”
Two full-size beds dominated the space, one on either side of the tent. Both had been set up next to a heavy hanging that was probably meant to keep out the cold, and both looked like clouds of bedding with brightly colored woven blankets topping them off. She stole a glance at Zaman, who was acting very casual. “I thought you might want your own place to sleep.”
Something tugged her toward his bed, but she resisted. Getting in bed with him now—well, it would be giving in. She’d been so determined to make her own decisions. To make her own way. And she couldn’t very well hop under the covers with him now, even if the thought of curling up to sleep next to the warmth of his body was almost irresistibly sweet.
A small alcove held a basin of water that, Emily learned, refreshed itself through a tank below. She washed up and brushed her teeth, then let Zaman do the same while she climbed into her bed. It was more luxurious than her real bed back in Kentucky. She settled into the pillows and started drifting toward sleep in spite of herself. That basin thing was a camping game changer. Emily might live on a farm, but she wasn’t very fond of roughing it. Her work was better because she got to come into a real house at the end of every day.
Or, lately, a palace.
She held the thought about the basin until she felt the bed dip next to her and wrenched her eyes open.
“You should go to your own bed,” she blurted.
Zaman looked unbearably sexy in a pair of gray sweatpants and a tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt in black. If this was his camping gear, then she wished they could go c
amping every day. “We should talk about the future.”
She groaned and pulled the covers over her head. “Not now, Zaman.”
He gently uncovered her again. “Why not now? We’re alone in a tent, with no one to bother us and a long time till morning.”
“Because there’s nothing to discuss yet.”
“Not so. I’ve been working on a plan.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t know if I want to hear about your plan. If it involves me being restricted because of the pregnancy, then it’s a no go.” It wasn’t a stretch to think he’d want to set boundaries for her, when he’d been doing it since the moment she arrived in Qadir. “I won’t be tied down. Especially when my family needs me.”
Her eyes caught Zaman’s, and she startled at the heat she found there.
“Don’t you see? I need you, too.”
The admission started a blaze low in her belly, and suddenly it was hard to breathe with him sitting so close. “Do you?” She shouldn’t touch him, but she couldn’t help herself. Emily put a fingertip at the collar of Zaman’s shirt and traced the skin underneath. He was so warm, and she wanted to feel more of him. She wanted it more than she wanted to argue. “In what way?”
“In all ways.” Zaman’s voice was low and husky with desire, and when he bent to kiss her, all the resolve she’d built up fled with one last pathetic protest.
Emily groaned against his lips. “I hate that you taste so good.” It was not fair that he was this good at kissing, that he knew how to wrap his hand around the back of her neck like that, that he knew that dancing his tongue against hers would make her arch and shiver.
Zaman opened her jacket slowly and unbuttoned the shirt underneath, then dragged his mouth down between her breasts, inch by inch. It was hotter because she was still dressed, the rough play of the fabric on her skin bringing her fully awake. Just in time, because Zaman stripped off his shirt and pants and boxers and climbed into bed with her, gloriously naked.
“Shouldn’t I—”
“Get undressed?” He gave her a wicked grin. “No. Stay just as you are. We’ll only take off the things that count.” And he did away with her leggings and panties. “Don’t you want to stay warm for this?”
“For what?”
For the part where he dipped his head between her legs and brought her to a fast and furious orgasm using only his mouth. It was like he knew that sleep was teasing her from a short distance, her muscles already tired from the day, and she didn’t have much time before she’d just collapse against the pillows. He made the most of every second.
And then he was over her, inside her, thrusting deep while she held tight to the hard muscles of his ass. The low noises he made in the back of his throat sent her spiraling toward another cascade of pleasure, and she shuddered under the force of it.
When he was finished, he let his head drop to her shoulder and breathed hard. Emily stroked his back in lazy circles while he settled, her mind already drifting into a dream.
Eventually, Zaman shifted, starting to pull away.
“No,” she murmured. “Stay here, with me.”
He did.
15
Emily didn’t seem upset when she woke up the next morning, and all through the rest of the trial she was focused and content. At least, he thought she was. Every so often, he’d catch her frowning off into the distance, like something nagged at her.
By the time they returned to the palace, he’d made a decision.
It was true—they hadn’t discussed their plans. But perhaps presenting one in full would make it easier for her than starting with the things they disagreed on. The main thing was that she needed to stay in Qadir. Zaman didn’t think he could bear it if she went back to Kentucky and continued the pregnancy without him, and he couldn’t abandon his duties in the royal family. He functioned as the ambassador to too many groups, both within Qadir and across the world, to give up his royal life entirely.
As soon as Emily was settled back into her rooms at the palace, he went to his father’s office. Hasim sat behind his enormous desk, reading something in a folio. The sight of him reminded Zaman of being summoned there as a teenager, when he wasn’t taking his classes seriously enough. But he swallowed the nerves. Hasim would know what to do.
“How was the trial?” Hasim said by way of greeting. “I heard Majalun did well.”
“We’re very happy with his performance,” Zaman said. “I think Korah will turn into a fine trainer one day—he’s flourishing under Emily’s tutelage. But—” Zaman dropped into a chair across from his father.
“But there is something else on your mind.”
He couldn’t help the massive grin that spread across his face. “I want to propose to her. I want her to know that I’m serious about her and about our baby. She…has her own reservations about staying here, and I’m looking for a way to show her that it’ll all be all right. More than all right.”
Hasim’s face broke into a smile that echoed Zaman’s. He folded his hands in front of his face, then put them down on the desk, beaming. “That’s wonderful news, son. I had hoped—” He waved a hand in the air. “Never mind what I hoped. I have just the thing. Come with me.”
Zaman followed his father to his private quarters, which had grown more understated in the years since his mother died. Still, there were reminders of her everywhere—in the photos in dark frames on the fireplace mantel, in the dried wedding bouquet that sat centered on a table in the sitting room, and in the watercolor paintings his father had had framed and hung in the hall to his bedroom. Hasim took him to a low dresser in one corner of his room and opened a shining hardwood box on the top.
“This was one of your mother’s favorite rings.” The ring glittered in his palm—a diamond surrounded by tiny rubies on a white gold band. “I got it for her on one of our trips to France.” Hasim took a deep breath. “She would be proud of all her sons, and I know she would be proud if you used this to propose to your bride.”
Zaman felt like he was holding the world in his palm when he took the ring. That feeling stayed with him while he arranged for a romantic dinner in his rooms that evening, but as he pulled on his suit jacket, it hit him—the ring was not the world. Emily was. Emily and his baby and the life they could have together.
He answered her knock not much later. She wore a pink gown, the color so pale it was almost white. His heart squeezed to see her that way. It was only a few steps from a wedding gown.
“Come in, come in.” He ushered her in with his hand on the small of her back and took her to the table that the servants had arranged for him earlier. The low centerpiece was made from roses, simple and beautiful, and a candle guttered in a glass holder for ambiance. He’d asked for his mother’s favorite China to be brought out for the occasion, too, and the gold-edged dishes gave him a sense of peace.
She was going to say yes.
A servant stood by in the corner, waiting for Zaman’s signal, and Emily gave him a nod as they came through the dining room. Her face lit up at the sight of the table. “This is beautiful, Zaman.”
“It’s not half as beautiful as you are.”
She blushed several shades deeper than the color of her dress. “What’s the occasion?”
He kissed her temple and guided her to her seat. “The occasion is that you are the mother of my child, and I’d like to celebrate that with you.”
He saw her shoulders tense, but then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Are you seducing me with a fancy dinner so that we can talk about the future?”
“It’s your favorite dish.” He beckoned the servant forward. Zaman didn’t care if he ate this particular lamb dish every day for the rest of Emily’s pregnancy or his life, if it made her happy. And from the light in her eyes, he knew that it did.
“Aren’t you tired of this?”
“If you’re not tired of it, I’m not tired of it.”
“What would make you tired of something?” Emily said, a sly grin on
her face.
“If it involves you, then nothing. I could never tire of you.”
She looked at him from under her lashes. “Are you sure about that?”
“Let me show you how sure I am.” Zaman went around the table and knelt down next to her, slipping the ring from his pocket. He took her other hand in his. “This ring belonged to my mother. I’d like you to have it and wear it always.” A sudden rush of emotion filled his chest. “I want you to stay here with me, Emily. Will you marry me?”
Emily’s face froze, her eyebrows drawing together. She pulled back from him a fraction of an inch. “I—how? How would that work?”
“Once you say yes, you’ll move into my quarters and stay here with me at the palace.”
A flicker of unease crossed her face. “And what about the horses? What about Riah, and the rest of my work? What about home?”
“I’ll find someone else to fill in. Daud, if he’s the one you’re most comfortable with. I don’t want you working with the horses while you’re pregnant.”
She gave a short laugh. “My mother worked on the farm all the way up to her delivery day with both me and my sister.”
“I believe it,” he said, passion heating his belly. “But I don’t want you to get hurt. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I simply can’t.”
“You can’t stop bad things from happening just by keeping a person away from horses,” Emily said, but he wasn’t listening. The words poured out of him in a rush. She would stay until she had the baby, and when she was fully recovered, she could manage the stables if she wanted. If she didn’t, she could choose horses to train as a hobby. But she’d spend most of her time as mother to his child. It would keep all of them safe. It would keep all of them from being thrown from a horse, like Emily’s mother had been, and Zaman would have his family close—
“Stop,” Emily said loudly, her face red. “If you think I’d agree to this, then you don’t know me at all.”
“It’s a plan that takes everything into account,” insisted Zaman. “Your safety. The baby’s safety—”
The Sheikh’s Stubborn Employee: Qadir Sheikhs Book Three Page 8