by Leslie North
“Catelyn Wolf at Elite Occasions,” she said smoothly into the phone.
“Oh, my goodness, Catelyn, I’m so mortified.” Catelyn recognized the voice on the other end of the line. It was Marissa Keller, and she’d been the first to book with Elite Occasions after the news broke. And it was a big account. As in—a multimillion-dollar wedding.
“What about?” Catelyn asked, her voice level. It was early in the process for a bridal meltdown, but Catelyn was prepared nonetheless.
“I’m almost certain I forgot to congratulate you on your wedding.” Marissa had a gentle Southern accent, not unlike Catelyn’s mother.
“Don’t be silly!” Catelyn chuckled. “I’m sure you did. You’re so sweet for thinking of me.” This wasn’t why Marissa was calling, though. She knew it like she knew when the groom was going to get cold feet. “Was there anything else you wanted me to check on while you have me on the phone?” Marissa’s wedding was still in the venue selection phase. There was no new news on that front.
“I only—” Marissa cleared her throat. “Maybe I’m crossing a line,” she said delicately. “But I only saw photos of your wedding. Do you—do you have honeymoon plans?”
Catelyn laughed. “Not at the moment. And Marissa, let me assure you—even if I was called away unexpectedly, my team is the best in the business. We’re all working to make sure your event is perfect. And if one of us can’t make it, the other two are more than capable of covering. You’ll never be on your own.”
Marissa huffed out a breath. “Oh, thank goodness. Not—” Catelyn could practically hear her blushing over the phone. “Not that you shouldn’t have a honeymoon. Everyone should have a wonderful honeymoon. I just got into a little bit of a panic—”
“That I might not be there every step of the way. Put that thought right out of your head. We’re here for you.”
“I’m glad to hear it. You know,” Marissa said, her tone thoughtful. “The moment I saw those photos, I knew you were the planner for me. I mean—if you can handle a royal family, no wedding is beyond you.”
“That’s right. Just sit back, relax, and we’ll meet next week to choose a venue.”
“I’m so excited. Oh! I’m sure you’re busy,” Marissa said quickly. “I’ll let you get back to it.”
“Talk soon,” Catelyn said, and hung up the phone.
She went back into the conference room and dropped into her seat. “That was Marissa Keller.”
Laura straightened up. “Is she…backing out?”
“No.” Catelyn flicked her eyes between her friends. “She said the reason she wanted to hire us is because she knows I can handle anything. ‘If you can handle a royal family, no wedding is beyond you.’ Those were her exact words.”
Daisy and Laura exchanged a look, and Catelyn held her breath. She didn’t feel awesome about the photoshop job, but how could they delete it now? It was a lie, yes—but it was the lie that launched a thousand weddings. And three careers. The paycheck from Marissa Keller alone was going to keep Elite Occasions afloat for a year.
“We’ll keep it up for now.” Daisy sounded firm. “We can’t delete it without fessing up, and I—” She looked the other women in the eye. “I’ve got loans.” She shrugged her shoulders. “We can take it down later, when everything has…died down.”
“Meeting adjourned,” Catelyn declared.
The three women stood up from the table as the phone in the outer office rang again. “My turn,” said Daisy, and she rushed for it.
Catelyn went back to her office and sat heavily in her chair. Ugh. This was not how she’d wanted to launch their business to the next level. Even if Daisy and Laura disagreed, wasn’t it best just to delete it now? She brought up the blog on her screen. If she left the blog post up, she was going to have to go to sleep every night knowing that it was there. It was enough, really. The contracts they’d signed in the past four days would keep them going for long enough. Especially the Keller account.
Her gut churned. “Laura?” That was it. She was going to tell them and then delete it.
Laura’s footsteps came fast. Too fast. She appeared at the door of Catelyn’s office, breathless. “Cate—”
“I have to talk to you. I changed my mind. I—”
“The sheikh is here.”
The words took several heartbeats to register. “What?”
“Your new husband.” Laura’s lips turned up at the corners, but she pressed them back into a thin line. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t an appropriate joke for the moment, but honest to god—”
Daisy skidded to a stop next to Laura. “Should I offer him a drink? Catelyn, brush your hair.”
“Brush my—guys, stop.” Catelyn held up a hand. “This isn’t funny.”
Laura’s eyes went wide. “We are dead serious. Sheikh Rami is here. In the office. Right now. I came to warn you, and Daisy left him alone out in the—”
“I hope I’m not intruding,” said a rich, smooth male voice from outside the door, and then he appeared behind her friends.
Rami.
Tall and dark, his eyes sparkling. Oh, god, he was delicious. Gray slacks, a white shirt—he was every inch a prince. Gorgeously muscled. He was hotter than she’d remembered. Catelyn pressed her thighs together under the desk, then remembered herself and stood up.
“Welcome to Elite Occasions,” she said, too fast. Her lips felt numb. “How—how can we help you?”
Rami gave her a little smile. “I came to talk about some…interesting news coverage I recently became aware of.”
“We’re so sorry,” Daisy burst out. “We’ll take the blog post down right away—”
“That’s what I came to discuss.”
“Taking the blog post down?” Laura sounded professional, but her face was pink. Rami had that effect on people. “It’s easy. A couple of clicks, and then it’s deleted. You know what? We should—we should sit down.” She motioned for Rami to come into Catelyn’s office. He was too tall for it, filling the room with a scent like citrus and sunshine. Catelyn gripped the edge of her desk.
“Let’s discuss.” Rami motioned to all of them, and how could they do anything but obey? Catelyn sank back into her desk chair. Daisy and Laura perched on a small sofa she kept next to a coffee table filled with decor samples. “But…I’d like to take the opposite tack.”
“You…want to leave the post up?” Laura looked at him like he’d descended from the moon.
“It would be beneficial for a number of reasons.” Catelyn remembered this brisk tone from Lydia’s party. “The information already exists, and deleting it would be embarrassing for my family.” Rami ticked off the reasons on his fingers. “I’m legally required to take a wife by the age of thirty, and that time is very near. The reputation of your business depends on the truthfulness of your blog, to be frank. And finally, I’ve learned a few things about you.” His dark eyes searched Catelyn’s face, and she felt short of breath. She squashed the wild desire to straddle his lap, put her arms around his neck, and kiss him. It would have the happy side effect of shutting him up.
“Like what?”
“You’re connected to someone who I very much want to make a business deal with.”
Catelyn didn’t follow—and then it was clear. “Lydia?”
“Yes.”
Her head spun. “So…you want to leave the blog post up…to get close to Lydia?”
Rami laughed, a low chuckle. “I want to do more than that. I want to make it absolutely real. And soon. I’m invited to negotiations with her in three weeks.”
Daisy gasped, then clapped a hand over her mouth.
Laura was not so speechless. “Are you kidding? You want to marry her for a business deal?”
“And a number of other reasons, which I’ve outlined,” Rami said, not taking his eyes from Catelyn. A heat burned in his gaze that made her desperate to be alone with him—but this? A wedding? It was all too absurd.
Panic rose, choking her. He was sitting right there
, but that wouldn’t stop her from—
Catelyn grabbed at her mouse, knocking it off the desk in the process. She scrambled for it, but by the time she had it back up on the desk, Rami was at her side, leaning over. She tried to hit the Delete button on the post, but Rami put his hand over hers. “Wait.”
He took the mouse from her hand as if he owned it and everything else in the world and scrolled up.
He stopped on Catelyn’s favorite picture. The one of her, looking down into her bouquet, the perfect blushing bride. And him, looking at her, his face full of love. It was a punch to the gut.
“You can have this,” he said softly, and she could almost believe they were the only people in the room. “It can be a true fantasy. A real wedding. We can spend a year dividing our time between here, Al-Dashalid, and traveling the world, and then divorce once I’ve achieved my goals.”
“Don’t you—have to be married?” she squeaked.
“Someone more suitable can be found by then.” Rami, apparently, had thought of everything. “In the meantime, we’ll avoid great embarrassment. And your business will flourish. As will mine. No one ever has to know.” He took his hand off the mouse and pushed it back toward hers. “Of course, the decision is yours.”
Catelyn hovered her hand over the mouse. One click, and all this would be over. She wouldn’t breathe in Rami’s scent anymore. She wouldn’t have the chance to stand close to him, even if it was under false pretenses. And…she supposed that the content would remain on TMZ…
She glanced at her friends. Their faces were pale, and they sat frozen on the sofa, waiting. The business hung in the balance.
“Guys…” Catelyn cleared her throat. “I need a few minutes alone with Rami.”
5
Catelyn’s friends leaped up from the couch and dashed into the hallway, shutting the door of the office behind them.
She stared after them, then took a breath in and let it out.
“Perhaps we should sit somewhere more comfortable.”
“Yeah,” agreed Catelyn. “This is a little awkward.”
“That’s an accurate description.” Rami offered Catelyn a hand. She looked at it, then looked into his eyes, having to crane her neck to do it. Then, so tentatively it made his heart squeeze, she put her small hand in his and stood up. He wondered how easily he could lift her into his arms. She was short—very short—and he guessed it would take no effort at all.
They went to the middle of the office, and Catelyn sat down on the sofa. Rami took the seat he’d used before, and they faced each other. Catelyn darted her eyes to the door; Rami followed her gaze. There were four shadows in the crack underneath the door. He cleared his throat, loudly.
The shadows disappeared with a near-silent shuffle, and they were alone.
Catelyn looked at him, her blue eyes so striking it took his breath away. “I think we should start over.”
“How?” She’d been the one to post the blog, so—
“With your…explanation.” She folded her hands on top of her knee, and he knew instinctively that this must be how she sat with clients, seemingly at ease but taking in every detail. “Why, exactly, do you think that getting married would be better than deleting the blog post?”
He felt more vulnerable, somehow, without additional people staring him down. “The biggest reason is family honor.” He didn’t relish the memory of Issam laughing at him. “My brothers would understand deleting it and moving on, but my parents—they would be mortified. We’re the royal family of Al-Dashalid. This kind of…joke…is not acceptable.”
Catelyn bit her lip. “I can see that.” He saw the struggle move across her face like a storm. He wondered if she faced the same dilemma he did—wanting more of her, but needing to keep things locked down. He could not admit to her how often, exactly, he’d thought of her since that night in Texas. If Kyril could marry an American woman—and the true love of his life—why shouldn’t he prove he could do the same? Damn Issam for seeding doubts into his mind.
“Beyond that, your business needs help.”
She frowned at him. “How would you know that?”
“By your blog. I spent some time perusing it, and either you’re bad at posting, or you don’t have as many clients as you’d like.”
“That’s—” Catelyn nodded. “That’s accurate. We don’t have as many clients as we’d like. Or at least we didn’t until TMZ picked up on…the most recent post.” She raised a hand to her forehead and brushed aside a loose wisp of her blonde hair.
“There’s also the way Lydia tried to push you to take a position with her company. I learned that she was your mentor in the past.”
“After college, I was a junior assistant at Morris International in the event planning department. She knew my mother and wanted to pass along her business acumen.” Catelyn pursed her lips. “I guess not enough of it rubbed off.”
“I’m not sure that’s the case. Perhaps it’s only an issue of marketing. Now that you have the attention—”
Catelyn flicked her eyes back to her lap.
“With the spotlight on you, I suppose you’ll have a chance to prove your worth. Lydia was pushing hard to poach you for her own company. I assumed it was because your business had been a resounding success, but perhaps she was throwing you a lifeline.”
Catelyn arched an eyebrow and let the insult slide by. “I’m still surprised you remember that. It was—what, one sentence over the course of the whole conversation? And I was nobody to you then.”
That was hardly true.
“I remember everything about that meeting,” Rami said. There was no use in being coy. “I’ve thought about it many times since then.” His words smoldered with meaning, and Catelyn took another deep breath.
“Still,” she said, and her cool tone snapped both of them back on track. “Marriage is…a lot to ask. I could call Lydia on your behalf, or even go to Texas with you. I’m assuming that’s where your invitation is for. Her estate, right?”
“Accompanying me to that weekend wouldn’t solve the other issues,” he reminded her. “I only have three months until I turn thirty, and I need to be married by then.”
“But if you want to divorce after a year—”
“Irrelevant.” Rami gave the word a confidence he didn’t feel. “You’re my only prospect now. I haven’t been…hunting for a wife. But you know what they say. People want what they can’t have.” He hated the thought of having to return Catelyn to her life, if she did agree to this plan. But what he said was true. “I’m sure a more…traditional bride will appear by the time our agreement ends.”
She gave him a look of pure disbelief. “Nobody wants to marry you?”
“Nobody that’s been vetted. And I haven’t employed a matchmaker.”
Catelyn shook her head. “I don’t believe that for an instant. You’re wealthy, royal, smart, and…” Her voice trailed off.
“Do tell,” Rami said. “I’m dying to know what’s last on your list.”
She blushed furiously. “You’re very attractive.”
“As much as I like to hear that, I do have my flaws.”
Caitlyn snorted in amusement “That’s a relief. I can’t imagine how you’d be if you were perfect.”
Rami laughed out loud. “You American women are bold. But like I said—I’m not everyone’s dream husband. I can be…a little overbearing. It’s something I’ve been aware of for some time. My brothers are not afraid to tease me about it.”
Catelyn nodded slowly, and he could tell she was remembering the brief time they’d spent together at the party. “I didn’t think you were overbearing. I thought you could use some practice reading a room.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“You know—listening to other people. Watching for their reactions. If you did that, you’d be pretty near perfect.” She grinned.
He leaned forward, flashing her the smile he’d used in a hundred magazine photo shoots. Naturally, a magazine photo couldn’t ruin t
he moment by talking. But Rami sensed that he was holding his own in this discussion. “I know the ideal person to help me with that.”
Catelyn raised her chin. “Who’s that?”
“You.” He watched her carefully as she spoke. “Making this marriage official would be beneficial on multiple fronts.”
“I think the advantage is weighted heavily in your favor.” She gestured around her. “It’s not like I can marry you and leave my business behind for a year. By the time I got back, it would be gone.”
“Who said anything about leaving your business? I can provide anything you need to work while we’re out of the country. Anything.” Rami took note of the way her eyes widened, and her breathing quickened. “A new laptop. High speed wifi. A jet, if you think that would improve things. I’d never stand in your way.”
“Ha,” she retorted. “You hold all the cards. If I say no, you can sink my entire business.”
“This is all business. Naturally. Each of our interests depend on the other. Wouldn’t you say?”
She gave him a hard look, her blue eyes seeming to darken a shade. “That’s all this marriage would be. Purely business.”
It stung to hear those words from her mouth with that heat in her eyes, but Rami put on his best offended expression. “Of course it would be. I have no desire to fall in love. My only desire is to marry you in Connecticut five hours from now.”
She blinked, and he saw understanding bloom in her eyes. “There’s no waiting period to get married in Connecticut.”
“Exactly.”
Catelyn met his eyes and straightened her back. “Are you certain there are no…alternative solutions?”
He gave her an amused grin. “If you have any that would cover all the bases, so to speak, I’d be open to some discussion.”
She grimaced. “You’re so…insistent. On covering all the bases. But why should I accept a deal that’s so one-sided? You’d get far more out of this than I would, even businesswise.”