Page 37 of The Sheikh's Fake Bride Scheme

"All right. Tell me what it was like.”

There was nothing Kareem could say. The truth was that his father did have the measure of the situation, and although it hadn’t been as mean-spirited as what he was describing, Kareem couldn’t dispute the facts. He’d wanted his marriage to stop his family from looking too closely into his actions. That was the reason he had chosen to marry Keira.

There was more between them now. His feelings for her had changed, and it no longer felt as clear as it had before they had come to Qalmar.

“Father,” he said. “It might have begun that way, but things are different between the two of us now.” Surely his father would understand this. Hadn’t he talked all Kareem’s life about how his affection for Kareem’s mother had grown slowly? This wasn’t the same situation, but surely he would be able to acknowledge the value in a friendship that had grown where Kareem had not expected to find one.

But he shook his head. “What matters is that you lied,” he said. “You lied to me. You lied to your mother. You let us believe that this woman was joining our family, but it was all a ruse to help you get what you wanted. This is why I’ve always felt that you were too immature to be trusted with anything important, Kareem. I don’t think you’re even able to see why this is such a problem. Truly, I am very disappointed.”

He sighed. “You can have your race,” he said. “Since it was so important to you, and since you’ve already invested so much money in it — I won’t interfere. Do what you want. But the woman must leave Qalmar at once. I won’t take the risk of any more public attention being drawn to this sham of a marriage. And I expect you to finalize your divorce, quickly and quietly, as soon as you possibly can.”

Kareem felt as if a lead weight was sinking into the pit of his stomach.

“You're dismissed,” his father told him, not bothering to look up.

CHAPTER 17

KEIRA

“Thank you again,” Keira said as the final food vendor packed up his sample plates. “We’re so excited to be working with you. It’s going to be a wonderful event.”

The vendor thanked her profusely. Keira flushed with happiness. She knew that the opportunity to be a part of Qalmar’s first major international racing event was important for all the vendors she had chosen to work with, but she hoped they knew that she hadn’t signed on with any of them out of charity. She felt that all the selections she had made were the right ones, and she knew that the food at the race was going to be perfect — exactly what she wanted to have available for the racing fans who would attend. She had settled on a good mix of traditional Qalmese food and international cuisine, hoping to appeal to both locals who chose to attend what might be their very first race and guests from abroad.

She gathered her things and made her way back to the car, beaming the entire way. As she drove back to Kareem’s estate, thoughts played in her mind about what she would say to him.She couldn’t wait to let him know how well today had gone — she was sure he was going to be thrilled.

There was a worry at the back of her mind, knowing that he had spent the day with his father. But perhaps it would be for the best if the king did know about the race. If he did, they would at least be able to stop sneaking around. They would be able to simply plan their event in public. That was an appealing idea.

She parked the car and got out, noticing as she did that Kareem’s car was already in the garage. He had returned before she had. Was that good or bad? She frowned, trying to sort through it. Maybe it meant that his father hadn’t been that upset to learn about the race. Maybe it was a good thing.

She went inside and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Kareem sat at the dining room table. He didn’t look up when she entered. Keira’s heart sank. She could tell by the slump in his shoulders that he hadn’t gotten good news from his father.

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

Kareem took a deep breath. “He knows. He knows everything.”

“Well, we always knew that was going to happen eventually, right?” Keira walked over to the table and sat down opposite him. She reached out hesitantly and covered his hand with hers.

Kareem pulled away from her, and Keira’s heart sank further. She had wanted to help him, but she had also wanted contact. Closeness. Ever since the kiss that had taken her by surprise, she had found herself longing for more intimacy. It was difficult to go through the day and not reach out to him, to rest a hand on his shoulder or his waist when they were in close proximity.Now, seeing how upset he was, she ached to wrap her arms around him and comfort him.

She couldn’t do that. As of right now, the two of them were still nothing more than business partners. But more and more, Keira had found herself wondering if it was possible that they could become something more. Her feelings for him were significant, and she was beginning to realize that she couldn’t simply dismiss them. They would end their marriage soon, but they had both spoken of wanting to continue their friendship. Maybe that friendship would grow into something more significant.

But he was pushing her away right now, and that felt like a knife to the gut.

Still, Keira did her best to understand. He’d had a difficult day. He had been forced to confront the thing he had been worrying about all this time. Of course he wasn’t himself. She should give him the space to get his bearings.

“What can I do?” she asked. “Would you like to hear about the vendor meetings?”

Now he did look up at her. “Is that really all you have to say?” he asked. “I tell you that my father has found out about everything we’ve been doing, and you want to talk about food vendors?”

“I’m trying to be helpful,” she said, stung. “I thought it might take your mind off of things.”

“You think this can be solved by distracting me?”

“Kareem, why are you upset with me? We’ve talked about this. We always said that as long as we were deep enough into the planning when your father found out about the event, everything would be all right — he wouldn’t be able to stop it from movingforward. Do you not feel that way anymore? Do you think he’s going to try to put a stop to it after all?”

“No,” Kareem said heavily. “He isn’t. He’s going to let us move forward.”

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