The Sheikh’s Unexpected Son: The Blooming Desert Series Book Three

by North, Leslie

  “Are you the equipment?” The sexy heat in her eyes made him burn, then laugh.

  “I wish,” Raed said, and then he stepped back to give himself plenty of space. “This is a simple jab,” he said. “You’ll want to keep your feet balanced like this, and pivot—” He demonstrated the move, and once he was certain Lise had the basics, they moved on to a cross. A hook. An uppercut. She bounced on the balls of her feet, face screwed up in concentration, a sheen of sweat already gathering on her forehead.

  “That’s all nice.” Lise kept her gloves up by her face, the way he’d taught her. “But I want to see you kick that bag thing, too.”

  “The heavy bag.”

  “The heavy bag,” she repeated. “Do it so I can see.”

  Raed stepped over to the heavy bag and landed a solid kick to the middle of the bag, his body settling deeply into the motions. Martial arts had been his constant companion as a child. It was one of his first loves, even before driving, and all those years of practice were paying off. Every little gasp and ooh and aah from Lise made him feel like he’d won a competition. Or a hundred competitions.

  “And that’s kicking,” he told her.

  She raised her eyebrows. “You’re not bad at that.”

  “Do you remember everything I taught you?”

  “Yes.” She took a step toward him.

  “You ready to try?”

  “More than ready.”

  Raed moved away from the heavy bag. She’d probably want some guidance, but for now—

  Lise hopped into position and landed a killer punch on the bag, followed by a smooth hook and an uppercut. She repeated the series with the opposite hand and then fluidly moved into a side kick. She ducked low, working her way around the bag. Kick, uppercut, kick, hook—what? And she’d stood there and let him give her pointers on how to throw the punches?

  A laugh escaped from Raed on a cloud of amazement. “You were holding out on me.”

  Lise popped her head out from behind the heavy bag. “I’ve done kickboxing.” She sounded breathless, almost as if they’d just finished kissing, and it made him want her more. The sensation pulsed along every nerve in his body, seeming to gather under his skin in a tingling hum. “And I’m pretty good at it.”

  Raed went for a set of hand pads and came back to her, holding them up in a silent offer. Lise took him up on it. She threw punches into his palms, and kicks, too, Raed catching every one. They were matched, somehow, matched so well that he felt where she might kick before Lise even moved her body.

  “You could be a stunt double in one of my movies.”

  “Your movies are beginning to grow on me,” she admitted, landing a hook-cross-hook on his pads. “But that’s probably because you made me watch them.”

  “How did you get into kickboxing?”

  She was unfairly gorgeous with her blonde hair swinging like that and her huge green eyes focused on him. “Childbirth.”

  Guilt slashed across Raed’s chest. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Lise swiped a boxing glove across her forehead. “It was awful, yes. Going through it alone—it gave me a lot of feelings. And the newborn days were hard. But we can’t go back in time and fix that now. There’s only going forward.”

  Lise sent a final uppercut into his glove and stepped back, breathing hard. Raed had never been so humbled before, never once, not in his life. “Let’s cool down.”

  Arms stretched above her head, Lise took a short lap around the heavy bag and came back to him, handing off the gloves one by one. “Do you have a special way to cool down, too?”

  “Tai chi.” He showed her the first position, and then the second, but his heart raced with the intimacy of the workout and the conversation. And the way she was standing—it wasn’t quite right. “No, like this.”

  Lise imitated him, but it still wasn’t perfect. Her eyes scanned down the length of his body. He swore he could feel where her gaze landed, and it wasn’t enough—being in the same room as her wasn’t enough. Raed moved behind her and put his hands on her wrists, guiding her hands and body into position.

  It was torture, this tentative touching. This silent asking and asking and asking. He held his breath.

  And then Lise relaxed back into him, and all the pretenses dropped away. This wasn’t for fitness or sport—it was to feel her breathing close to him. Clearly, she wanted to feel him. He let himself sink into the embrace, wrapping his arms around her from behind and meeting her eyes in the mirrored wall. They looked right together. She tipped her head back into his shoulder, and he ran his hands up, up, up to cup her breasts, using his thumbs to stroke her nipples through her workout gear.

  Her body responded to him instantly, nipples peaking, and he dropped his head low to kiss her ear. Yes, everything in him cried out. Yes. Raed worked his way down the side of her neck. The salt of her skin worked him up, making all of him tense, and then—

  His phone rang.

  He stepped back with a hiss, digging into his pocket, anger and relief surging together. Some of her hair had come loose from the ponytail, and Lise pushed the strands back as he answered the call. Yes, he wanted her. He wanted her badly. But that wasn’t what Qasha needed—not necessarily. His life plan didn’t include falling for Lise in any permanent way.

  Did it?

  10

  Raed couldn’t keep his mind off her the next morning.

  The image of the two of them in that mirror felt burned into his brain, and no matter how much Raed wanted a high-powered partner to take on the world with him—to sit at his side in his business, if not his personal life—it didn’t feel...right. How was he going to spend the rest of his life without Lise, even if he had everything else he wanted? His heart tugged one way. His mind tugged another. And his work was lost in the balance.

  He flipped back to another sheet of information about his university and how it would work with his foundation, but his mind slid off the words on the page. Lise had been so angry when he found her in the classroom. That emotion had bristled over her even during the workout until she managed to shake it off. They’d spent time with Jake, and she’d been more subdued, but when Raed brought up her frustration, she’d brushed it off again. What was going on with her?

  Was it something he’d done?

  It couldn’t have been the kiss in the gym, because she’d already been on edge before that.

  Someone knocked at the door. His head of security, a frown on his face.

  “Abdel. What is it?”

  The man stepped carefully through the door, his dark suit flawlessly pressed. “I wanted to give you an update on a recent security breach.” Abdel’s tone was as careful as his suit. “Yesterday, one of the new guards allowed an unauthorized entry into the palace.”

  Anger flared, along with adrenaline, but Raed didn’t let himself react to it. Things happened at the palace. He had never required guards to run after him whenever the slightest thing happened.

  “The guard has been reprimanded and reassigned,” continued Abdel. “The young man logged the visit but didn’t hand off the information according to our procedures. The visitor claimed to have been trying to visit you, but he was never officially cleared for entry. While he was here, he encountered Ms. Danbury.” Abdel cleared his throat. “We’re confident it won’t happen again.”

  “What was the person’s name?”

  “Bradley Taylor.”

  Raed snapped his papers back into place in front of him. “Thank you, Abdel.”

  The head of security correctly interpreted this as his dismissal and left with a bow. Raed wanted to crumple all the pages, then light them on fire one by one. This Bradley Taylor wasn’t going to be a thorn in his side for long. And he wasn’t going to be a thorn in Lise’s. He’d been the cause of her bad mood, of course. He’d weaseled his way past palace security, and he’d upset Lise.

  Raed called out to his secretary, who found Bradley’s local address in a matter of minutes, and then Raed stalk
ed out of his office, hands in his pockets, arguments on his mind. He’d go to this guy’s hotel, let him know exactly what he thought, and then—

  “Where are you going in such a temper?” His mother appeared from a side hallway, her cats at her feet, watching Raed with a curious gaze. “You’re a storm cloud, son of mine.”

  “I’m going to speak with a man who upset Lise yesterday and set him right.”

  Nenet cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure you should be doing that?”

  I’m sure I would punch him if the entire country weren’t constantly watching what I did. “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “I don’t know.” His mother picked up one of her cats. She gave it a quick pet and set it back down. “Should you be fighting Lise’s battles for her when you should be fighting for her?”

  “Nonsense,” he scoffed. “There’s nothing between us like that. I’m concerned for her, that’s all.” He explained what Abdel had told him, then swept past Nenet, dropping a kiss on her cheek as he went. “It’ll be taken care of within the hour.”

  Lie, whispered the voice in his head. There’s a lot more than nothing between the two of you. A son, for one thing. And your heart—

  Ten minutes later, his driver pulled up in front of Bradley’s hotel. A member of the staff met him at the door with the room number. Standing in for Hamid did have its advantages—no one refused him any information. But Raed wished this man, Bradley, had managed to mind his own business. At the hotel room door, Raed knocked louder than was strictly necessary.

  “One moment.” There was a rustling inside, and then Bradley—patting at his rust-colored hair—pulled open the door. His eyes went wide. “Sheikh Al-Qasha. To what do I owe the pleasure? I—I tried to make an appointment with you. Several times, actually, to firm up the details of the project, and it was never possible. I have to say, I’m surprised to see you here. Delighted, of course.”

  “You tried to make an appointment and you couldn’t, so you...found a way in?” Raed kept his voice deadly calm, his eyes admiring, as if he were impressed with Bradley’s tenacity.

  Bradley shrugged, a sheepish smile playing on his face. “I thought there might be alternate ways to make a connection.”

  “Ah.” Raed nodded. “Ms. Danbury.”

  “I let her know where things stand with the university.” Bradley took his hand off the door and stepped forward, almost out into the hall, just like they were two men who knew each other well and were just chatting. “It seemed important that she be aware of the way her project could affect us.”

  No doubt the slimeball had pressured her. No doubt. “How could her work possibly affect the university’s plans?”

  “Only—the appearance of it.” Bradley crossed his arms over his chest and peered at Raed. “The way you’ve been working so closely with her lends a different...air to things. And the university deserves preference, I would think, as your alma mater. The university should have the honor of being your pilot project.”

  The appearance of it. This man was insinuating—again—that Raed had chosen Lise for the pilot out of base attraction. How dare he? Raed slipped his phone from his pocket and brought up a contact on his screen.

  “It’s very fortunate,” he mused. “Very fortunate that I came to see you today.”

  “Is it?” Bradley’s smile brightened. He leaned forward, trying not subtly at all to see who Bradley was calling. “I thought you might agree, if we could get a meeting together. It’s obviously not any kind of judgment against you, Sheikh Al-Qasha, it’s only that—”

  The phone was ringing. Raed’s heart slammed against his ribs even as he kept his expression neutral. “Yes. Hello, Marcus. It’s Raed. Do you have a moment?”

  “For you, of course. No problem at all. We could schedule a video conference, if you’d like, or I can meet you anywhere—” The chairman of the university board seemed more than happy to take his call.

  “That won’t be necessary. I’m calling to make an assurance.”

  Bradley’s eyes practically glowed now. Oh, he thought he’d won. He thought his little stunt had paid off. He was waiting for Raed to say that of course the university’s project would be first no matter what, that he needed the association with his alma mater to kick off his foundation.

  “I’m listening,” said the chairman.

  “I wanted to assure you that absolutely nothing—and I mean nothing, Marcus—will go forward between the university and my foundation until Bradley Taylor is removed from the board of directors.”

  The smile disappeared from Bradley’s face. He took a sharp step back into the hotel room.

  “That means no scholarships,” said Raed. “No learning center. All meetings are canceled until I have my own assurances.”

  “Raed—” The chairman’s voice had gone tight. “I’ll need a few minutes to—”

  “Take all the time you need. I’ll fill you in on the situation in private later,” assured Raed, and then he ended the call and turned on his heel and left. No need to stand there looking at that snake of a man any longer. He was halfway down the hall when he heard Bradley’s door shut behind him. Very, very cautiously. Bradley didn’t want anything to draw Raed’s attention. It was probably the first smart decision he’d ever made.

  Raed let his driver shut the door of the SUV behind him and leaned back in his seat. Adrenaline still clung to his veins, but his heart was settling back into a regular rhythm.

  That was when the clarity set in. When his thoughts at last arranged themselves into something coherent beyond Put Bradley Taylor in his place, right now, right now, right now.

  The scholarships were on the line. The driver pulled away from the hotel. “Do you mind if we take an alternate route back to the palace?” he asked. “There’s some traffic at the city center I’d like to avoid.”

  “By all means,” Raed answered. Because his drivers often traveled with a backup motorcade, it could snarl traffic in the city. He didn’t want to do that. Not now that he’d solved the real problem, which was a man who’d gotten overconfident to a fault.

  But—the scholarships and learning center. They were intended to be the flagship project for his foundation, both in terms of attracting new sponsors and attaching the foundation to elevated causes. Raed had spent years thinking about it, because he knew there was no better cause than education. The palace had other initiatives to help with hunger and homelessness in the city, and his foundation was set to build on that. The university’s program was the very first step. Donors all over the world would be clamoring to sign on.

  If it was still on the table.

  He’d called it into question just now in his interaction with Bradley. Called it deeply into question. The university was on the defensive now, the board scrambling to react, and why had he done it?

  For Lise.

  He thought of her punching the heavy bag, kicking it, glaring at it as if it had personally offended her. Bradley had personally offended her. She’d done difficult things in her life, far more difficult than dealing with one overbearing man, but it had hurt her—and Raed hadn’t been able to stand for it.

  He’d gone to that hotel to avenge her.

  Raed looked out over the city as they went past little cafés and bookstores. A movie theater. A restaurant with patrons eating outside. A couple sat close to the edge of the fenced-in patio, laughing together in broad daylight.

  He’d done it because someone had to stand up for Lise. He had to stand up for Lise. And not because there could be anything between them. Not anything more than there already was. Never anything public. Sitting on a patio for lunch, just the two of them, couldn’t be done. If Raed took her on an actual date there would be gossip.

  He couldn’t take her on dates.

  Or could he?

  Raed smiled.

  11

  The quiet knock at the door of the cottage came earlier than Lise was expecting. It was a few minutes to Jake’s bedtime, and she lifted her head from the
book she’d been reading to him, the little boy curled happily in her lap.

  “Who do you think that is, buddy?”

  Probably Raed. He tended to drop in and help get Jake ready for bed. Lise scooped up her son, and he wrapped his arms around her neck. She’d miss this closeness when he was older, she knew, and so she savored it while she walked to the front door and pulled it open to reveal Raed.

  And someone else, too. The queen mother’s maid, a lady named Maram. Raed’s smile sent shivers of pleasure down her spine. “Maram, you know Lise.”

  The other woman, dressed in soft black clothes, dipped her head. “Of course I do. Always a pleasure, Ms. Danbury.”

  “Please, call me Lise,” she said automatically, feeling shy, of all things. This was Maram. She saw everything that went on in Nenet’s quarters, but still—it was a different experience having another person on her doorstep. “Is there something I can do? I don’t—” Flustered, she held Jake a bit tighter to her chest.

  Raed cleared his throat. “Jana has family commitments this evening, but I’ve brought Maram to stay with Jake while we go out to dinner.”

  Each word hit her like its own separate ring of a bell—while we go out to dinner.

  “You and me? Together?”

  He laughed, the sound blending with the dusky evening. “Yes, together.”

  Lise didn’t dare look at Maram during the exchange, didn’t dare see if the woman was watching with undisguised interest, though from the corner of her eye, she could tell that the maid was a consummate professional. She was already exchanging small waves with Jake, pretending not to hear their conversation.

  “I thought I had to be kept under wraps,” she scoffed. “Have you gotten us an invisibility cloak?”

  “Not quite.” Raed’s half-grin made her want to tell Maram that they were fine for the night, thank you very much, and bring Raed to her bedroom. But Lise’s pulse raced along with her excitement. A dinner out. A dinner out. That would presumably mean that other people would be nearby. Close enough to know if the sheikh was kissing her, or watching her with desire, or dragging his fingertips along her wrist...