The Sheikh's Virgin Bride(20)

Lacie took my hand. “We won’t disappoint them.”

My nervous eyes found hers. “Are you sure?”

Her answer came bluntly. “No.”

I was so pleased with her quiet honesty that I wanted to kiss her again. Instead, I leaned onto my back. As I patted the blanket beside me, she lay down next to me. There, I put my arm around her, and we watched the stars and enjoyed a comfortable silence. It was perfect.

And yet, as she drifted off beside me, I couldn’t do the same myself. No, all of today—our chats, our kiss, our heart-to-heart—had only solidified the impression growing in my head.

This was perfectly right—and perfectly wrong.

Lacie was an even better woman than I could’ve hoped for—not only was she beautiful and accepting, but she was smart, soulful, caring, and funny. And yet, this didn’t reassure me that rushing into a wedding with her was the right thing, no. All it did was make me wish that we had more time.

We only had five more days together. Five more days to decide if we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with each other.





Chapter Fourteen





Lacie




I woke up surrounded by black. A black that wouldn’t disappear when I reached out my hand, that only laughed when I cried out. A black that was cloth, fabric. A black of voices and camels’ brays. I was being carried.

“Help—help!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Shut up,” one of the voices grunted.

“Please, whoever you are—this has to be some kind of mistake!”

“It’s not, so shut up!” the voice growled back.

So, I did. Feverishly, I tried to go over last night, what had happened and what could possibly be happening now. Rashid and I had been so close, it had all been so perfect…and now, this.

Rashid couldn’t be involved; I knew that for certain. But what could have happened to him—and what was happening to me now? Some random kidnappers, eager for a ransom from my family or Rashid? Well, if it was my family they were hoping to get money from, they were going to be sorely disappointed.



*

I woke up to light. More voices. I was in some beautiful temple, laying before a group of people on a platform, all of them lounging on orange pillows.

“Nawfal, Sidqi, you fools. What did I say about taking her nicely?”

“But you—”

“Be gone with you, idiots!”

I turned to see two burly, bald men hustling away.

“Are you hurt, poor girl?”

I turned to the speaker. He was a tall man with a long, braided beard and glinting black eyes. When he crouched down beside me, I flinched. He tut-tutted and sat beside me.

“I truly am sorry. Nawfal and Sidqi have never been good at following orders, or doing things gently. That must have been horrible, being tied up in the cloth bag like that, traveling strapped to the camel for hours.”

I turned to see a dark cloth bag flung off to the side.

“You poor thing, are you all right?”

There actually looked to be something like pity on his swarthy face.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaking.

He smiled, showcasing wolf-like, yellow teeth. “I am Idris, son of Mubarak. Surely Rashid has told you about me.”

When I shook my head, his smile grew.

“Oh, no?” Another tut-tut, and he shook his head. “Ah, I guess it’s not so surprising. I mean, my family and I are the main reason he’s so desperate for a bride, after all.”

At my surprise, he chuckled. “Really, he told you nothing? Our families have been enemies for decades, ever since his father wrongly wrested power from mine. If Rashid doesn’t get the throne, it goes to me.”

The longer his black, beady eyes darted over my face, the happier they looked about what they saw.

“You poor woman—were you actually starting to think that he really cared about you? I suppose he did, in a way. No woman in his own country would have him, after all. His family’s exploits were known all too well, despite their futile attempts at propaganda. So, I guess, in a way, he was grateful for that—for you making things…easier on him.”

He smiled menacingly at me, grinning like the cat who’d eaten the canary.

“Because, you are a virgin, are you not?”

I turned my head away from his probing eyes, but I couldn’t hide the giveaway blush I could feel burning on my face.

“Ah, so it’s really true, then?”

As laughter from all sides rang throughout the room and my cheeks burned with the humiliation of it, I dared to sweep my gaze over my surroundings. Those on the platform were clad in the same gauzy material that the man sitting beside me was wearing, and had the same high cheekbones, proud noses, and cruel mouths.

I flinched when he patted my head.

“No need to be ashamed. Back in your country, that must be an accomplishment. At any rate, we aren’t here to laugh at you. Everyone shut up.”

And, just like that, the room went deadly quiet. Still, he continued his rhythmic, patronizing head pats, while I wanted to shrink away more with each one.

“Yes, I wanted to warn you about what you were getting into. Before it was too late.”

“Prevent me from marrying Rashid so that you can get the crown for yourself, is what you really mean.”