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

by North, Leslie

  “It may be best if we reconvene a bit later,” Stephen was saying when Raed snapped back in. “Things are moving quickly, as I’m sure you understand, and—”

  Katharine held up both hands, an accommodating expression on her face, but Raed saw the competitive flash in her eyes. “That’s no problem.”

  “I’ll leave you to the scheduling.” Raed said his goodbyes and left the call before the end of the meeting.

  It had only been a few minutes when his phone rang.

  “Hello, Stephen.” Raed rubbed his fingers over his forehead. “Thank you for rescheduling. I wasn’t at my best in that call.”

  “You were a bit distracted,” Stephen said, his tone careful. “Katharine—she’s not going to wait forever for the foundation to make up its mind.” The foundation—for Raed to make up his mind. There was a pause. “Do you need more people on the team?”

  “Why would I need more people?”

  “Your availability hasn’t been the same lately,” Stephen pointed out. “You’re not available in the mornings or the evenings, and when you are available, other people have gone home. It’s not something we can’t work around, but perhaps it’s worth a discussion about making your new schedule official.”

  Official. Raed dwelled on official schedules all through the rest of the morning. He dwelled on it when Jana brought Jake to him at midday, because she had to go for one of her family commitments. But there was another meeting on his schedule. A series of meetings. And Jake was busy clapping his hands, touching the sides of Raed’s face, and running in circles around his office.

  “Come with me, buddy,” Raed told him, taking his hand. “Let’s go see your mother.”

  “Mama,” said Jake. Raed picked him up and the two of them wound through the halls of the palace until they got to the business wing.

  Lise was in the middle of a class. Twin pressures converged on him. One whispered that as a member of the royal family, he should keep his schedule. The other whispered that he shouldn’t interrupt her—she was actively teaching and would be for the next hour or so. But all those meetings waiting for him, the foundation waiting for him. Stephen’s words rang in his head.

  Raed waved to Lise through the window. The movement caught her eye, and her eyebrows flew upward. She signaled to the class—wait—and came to them, a big grin on her face for Jake.

  “What’s going on?” asked Lise in a soft voice. “I’m teaching.”

  “I know. Jana had to take her grandmother to a doctor’s appointment. And I have meetings this afternoon.”

  Tension radiated off Lise’s body. “And your mother—”

  “Is out, Maram with her. She told me about her outing yesterday. I can’t ask her to run back.” Lise pressed her lips together in a thin line, but the expression was only a flicker.

  “All right. Well...” She took Jake’s hand and picked him up, balancing him on her hip. He pressed a palm to her face, and Lise’s shoulders relaxed, but Raed could still see her irritation in the set of her jaw. “I wouldn’t be here doing this if you hadn’t insisted.”

  “Insisted on what?”

  He was acutely aware of the eyes of the students, looking anywhere but where they stood just outside the doorway. “You didn’t want a live-in nanny. There’s nothing I can—”

  “We’ll be fine, won’t we?” Lise bobbed in a quick imitation of a curtsey—what was that?—and turned back to her class, Jake still perched on her hip. He curled in and put his head on her shoulder without a second thought. Raed wanted to take him back, cancel all the meetings, and go play in the garden. But Stephen’s words had lodged themselves in his mind. His goal, all this time, had been to put his foundation first, put the royal family first, and succeed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Now look at him.

  Raed went back to his office and tried to calm his roiling thoughts. Where were the papers he needed for the first meeting? They weren’t—ah. He turned one face-up on the desk to find it covered in red scrawl. Pride burst across his chest like a firework—his boy, coloring already!—but it was tempered with resignation. He couldn’t take scribbled papers to a meeting. He’d have to have it reprinted, and the time approached. Raed called for his secretary, who rushed down the hall to the big printer in the copy room attached to Raed’s office in the business wing.

  Messy. It was messy, having his papers drawn on. Having Lise and Jake in the palace, in his schedule, in his life. It wasn’t compartmentalized or clear cut the way another relationship would be—the one he’d always dreamed of having. The one that supported his goals as a member of the royal family. It wasn’t the setup he needed or that he’d planned for.

  The secretary came back in and put the papers in his hands, still warm from the copier. Raed forced his attention back onto the packet, though the words refused to sink in.

  This wasn’t what he needed. The realization beat hard in his head. It wasn’t what he needed. What any of them needed, really, but especially not Raed.

  * * *

  The cottage felt empty.

  Lise hated to admit it. It had been a source of pride for her that she’d been self-reliant after Jake was born. Sure, there had been friends and daycare and play groups, but it was rare that she’d come home in the evening and feel like she was rattling around the two-bedroom apartment they lived in.

  Jake crouched on the floor in the living room, putting blocks into a big plastic tub and dumping them out again. He paused, clapped his hands, and then seemed to feel the emptiness Lise was feeling.

  “Dada?” he asked.

  “We’ll see him tomorrow,” she assured him.

  But would they?

  Things had been tense at her classroom with Raed, and Lise had spent the entire evening thinking he would show up at any moment. The front door had never opened. He had never come through the house as if he owned it—which he did—and scooped up a running Jake from the floor.

  And now it was past bedtime, and he still hadn’t shown up.

  Lise lingered in the living room with Jake for a few more long minutes, then helped him put away his blocks and tucked him into bed. The silence rang in her ears. There was one less dinner plate to clear away while she stood by the kitchen window, looking out over the garden in front and wishing that Raed would appear so they could at least talk about what had happened.

  He’d been right about one thing—she hadn’t wanted the full-time, live-in nanny. She’d wanted to have Jana watch Jake, Jana, who had family commitments but could pinch hit when Lise was teaching classes. Most of the time, they’d all known going in. But he hadn’t been right to appear in the middle of the class like that. And maybe she hadn’t been right to be so tense.

  The thoughts went around in a carousel while she settled onto the couch in the living room, the crickets outside the only sound other than her own breathing. Lise flipped through a pile of magazines Nenet had passed on to her.

  One of them caught her eye.

  It had a picture of Katharine, who Raed had mentioned more than once. A big, glossy profile of her. Lise didn’t need to read it, shouldn’t read it, but she couldn’t help herself. It positioned Katharine as an international rising star who was destined for great things, things so great they’d print magazines about her all around the world. Lise snapped it shut and surveyed the whole of her own kingdom, which amounted to a guest house on royal property that wasn’t really hers.

  Katharine would dominate the world. And it made Lise feel small. Domestic. Like her world would never really extend past these walls, even when she traded these walls for their apartment.

  She abandoned the magazines on the coffee table and went upstairs, where she wouldn’t watch for Raed anymore.

  15

  Raed showed up for his ride with Jake the next morning, a polite smile on his face that reminded Lise of the cover of a magazine—devastatingly handsome and only skin deep. She pasted her own smile on. At least he showed up for Jake. That was what mattered, right? All that mattered. And
not the flutter in her chest when she thought of Raed or the way her mind slipped into daydreams sometimes, little flickers of a future that really couldn’t happen. He showed up the next day, and the next. Until a conference took him out of the country. The days he was gone felt extra empty, and she tried to tell herself it was just bad luck that the Global Economic Leaders Group forum fell right across Jake’s half birthday.

  It was tradition in Lise’s family to celebrate half birthdays, and her mother had insisted on following that tradition, even though they were out of the country. Probably especially since they were out of the country. Never mind the fact that her mom rarely tore herself away from her work for even this long.

  Lise carried Jake out into the garden on her hip, one hand wrapped around her phone, narrating in the chirpy voice she reserved for special occasions like this one. “This is the garden, Mom, and you can see that everyone’s set up some wonderful decorations for us.”

  Her mom cooed over the decorations, talking in an endless stream to Jake about the bunches of balloons and blue-printed tablecloths. The emptiness still dogged Lise. The forum in Tel Kewah had been planned for months. It was the best place to see what was upcoming in global, regional, and industry agendas. The meeting would touch on political topics, business topics, cultural ones—all of it. Raed should definitely be there.

  But as she made her way through the small group of his family and the trusted staff who had also received invitations, she wanted him to be here. The pressure of doing everything right descended on her with a heavy hand. Taking her career to the next level was what Lise had come to Qasha to do, and right now it felt almost unfairly difficult. It had all become wrapped up in these palace events. Her son’s half-birthday. Her mother on the phone, video chatting. And all these people. She’d planned a small tea party, and it was small, but Lise wouldn’t have minded if it was even smaller. Just the three of them.

  “We should have planned something for the three of us,” said a voice in her ear.

  Joy shot through her before the disbelief could chase it away. Before any lingering tension could sap the moment of her surprise. Lise turned to look at Raed, to confirm that it was him, and yes.

  There he was.

  Grinning at her. His hair pulled back and his crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the throat, his slacks perfectly pressed.

  He’d come in on a wave of palace employees, mostly families with children, who would join the party for another hour of fun and presents for everyone.

  “I was just thinking that,” she said finally, remembering herself. “It might have been less intense.”

  “It would, yes.” He nodded and waved to someone out of her line of sight.

  ”You weren’t supposed to fly back until tomorrow morning.” Jake struggled to get down from Lise’s arms. He’d been up and down all afternoon. “Mom,” she said, remembering the video call, “this is Raed.” Her arm ached from holding up the phone.

  “Hello, Raed.”

  “A pleasure to meet you,” Raed said smoothly, nodding at the screen.

  “I’ll have to call you back. I love you. Talk very soon.” Her mother’s face blinked out.

  Lise hung up the call, face heating. “It’s a nice surprise, having you here early.”

  “A coincidence, mostly. One of the presenters at the meeting canceled, and we touched down a few minutes go.” That’s not a coincidence. The thought melted on her tongue. “I only wish I could stay. I have a pitch later, one I should have given in person, so I have to go prepare for it.” He put his hand down, and she followed the movement to find Jake leaning against his leg. “I’ll see you soon, all right?”

  Jake looked up at him and nodded solemnly. “Cake,” he told Raed.

  “Cake,” Raed answered. She could see the struggle in his face, then the twitch of a smile. “I could stay for cake.”

  “Thank you,” said Lise, a strange mix of gratitude and sadness tightening her throat. If he wished he could stay longer than cake, why didn’t he? But then again: royal duties. They would always come first for Raed. “For coming.”

  “Should we sing, Jake?” Raed smiled down at his son.

  A tug on her leg made Lise bend down and pick up Jake, who had somehow become covered in frosting despite not having had the dessert reveal yet. Hadn’t he been at her side for this whole conversation?

  “Sing,” insisted Jake.

  “You’re so persistent,” she told him, wiping off his cheeks. They might as well bring the rest of the cupcakes out.

  There was singing and too much sugar, Raed holding out a cupcake for Jake. He stood close by as his son blew out the candle and watched Jake cover himself in more sugar. It felt right, having him there. But then the moment dissolved like so much sugar. Raed had to go, and people started to drift away, leaving a stack of gifts on a table for Jake to take with him. She felt a pang about that—he was too young to know about all the things he supposedly owned, and what was she going to do, ship them back to the UK with her? Some of them would have to stay here. Maybe he could play with them when he visited Raed.

  That was more than a pang. When he visited Raed? What was she thinking? She wasn’t going to send her very small son to visit his father. They’d have to work something else out. All these thoughts—maybe she was dehydrated. Lise took a bottle of water from one of the catering tables and drank it down.

  “That was a lovely party,” Jana said, coming back over from where she’d been tidying up the favors they’d given out in pastel bags tied with ribbon. She held her hands out for Jake, and he leaned toward her. “I think you might need a rest.” In answer Jake put his head down on Jana’s shoulder.

  “I’ll see you soon.” Lise leaned in and kissed his cheek, and the two of them went off toward the cottage.

  And Lise, without thinking, went toward the palace. She didn’t have any classes scheduled on account of the party, but something Raed had said—a presentation—drew her to him even though things were still off-balance. Maybe they would always be off-balance.

  She knocked on his office door a moment later, and he looked up from his computer screen, dark eyes wary. The wariness disappeared in a blink, before Lise could be sure it had been there at all, and he smiled at her.

  “Nothing better to do?”

  “The party’s over.” She took his greeting as an invitation and came into the office, dropping down in a chair across from his desk. “I thought you might like a second set of eyes for your presentation.”

  He hesitated, and for a moment Lise was sure that Raed would tell her to go away, to find something else to do. But a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

  “You know, I would like that.”

  He turned the monitor to face her, and Lise looked at the documents covering the screen—a speech on one side, and a PowerPoint on the other. It focused on Qasha’s contributions to the global economy and used Raed’s foundation as an example of their plans.

  “I like it,” she told him. “There are just a few things I’d tweak. Some of your English idioms are a little off. And there’s so much about the world, and not so much about Qasha, don’t you think?”

  The curve of his smile heated her from the inside out, and he beckoned her around behind his desk. Sitting so close to him felt thrilling, almost forbidden, and Raed didn’t pull away when she leaned in to point something out on the screen.

  No. He leaned closer, shifting his body so there was even less space between them.

  Her suggestions led into a bigger conversation about the presentation and reworking some of the sections, and with a start Lise realized it was Jake’s bedtime. She stood up in a hurry. “I’ll put Jake to bed and be right back.”

  Raed didn’t look up from the screen. “Fast as you can.”

  It made her heart beat faster to think he wanted her back here, as silly as it was.

  She and Jana worked together to get Jake down for the night, and she asked Jana for a little more of her time. The other woman smiled
broadly. “No plans tonight, thank goodness. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  And then Lise was rushing back to Raed’s office. He was still sitting at his computer, frowning at the screen. “We’re on in fifteen. Will you stay?”

  “Of course.” She slid into her seat. “I won’t be on camera, will I?”

  “No. Just hand me the papers when I need to refer to them. You can keep an eye on the PowerPoint, too.”

  Lise wanted to stay more than she’d wanted most things in life. It felt right, being near Raed, as much as their interaction at the door of her classroom had felt fraught. She settled into her spot beside him as he ran through his checks for the presentation. His audio worked. His camera was pointed in the right direction.

  The skin on her face warmed. Maybe it was from blushing, or maybe it was from being out in the sun at the garden party. That warmth settled over her, and Lise relaxed into it. She fit into this office, into this moment. Raed’s attention on the monitor gave her the cover to want to fit into his life, too. No more awkward moments in doorways. No more heavy silences when they couldn’t figure out what to say to each other.

  It was another few minutes before the conference was slated to start, and then it was delayed half an hour, and fatigue crept into her bones. The chair by Raed’s desk was surprisingly comfortable. Lise sat up as straight as she could and refused to give in.

  She blinked, and he connected the call. Raed was different when he was working on palace business. Some of his warmth gave way to sharpness. He was never rude, no—he wouldn’t be. Not when he was representing the royal family. But he was direct. A focused energy came off him in waves, and Lise was a support person, pushing papers across the desk to his hands.

  The meeting belonged to him, however many people were on the other side of the screen. And his voice—well, his voice belonged to her. Lise melted into it, listening, listening, and she couldn’t say exactly when, but at some point he started to seem far away. As if she were sitting in the next room, hearing the rumble of his voice through the walls and knowing he was close.