Page 20 of The Sheikh's Fake Bride Scheme

“Who was this client? You haven’t said what you do for a living, Ms. Harding. What kind of clients do you have, that you find yourself needing to serve them Lebanese cuisine as a function of your job?”

She glanced at Kareem. “I’m in events planning.” It was the story they had agreed to tell, and now that they were here, Keira was glad they had. It was obvious that King Hassan wouldn’t respond well to hearing that she had ever had anything to do with motorsports. Kareem had made it clear how little his father cared for that sort of thing, so to talk about her family’s involvement with it would make entirely the wrong impression.

She took a bite of the Kibbeh nayyeh, maintaining her smile. Itwasbetter than what she’d had of this dish before, though still a bit of a shock — she didn’t think she would ever become someone who ate raw meat regularly.

“Well,” King Hassan said to his son, “your new bride is, at least, more cultured than I feared she would be. You can be grateful for that. Perhaps she won’t have such a terrible time fitting in here in Qalmar as I might have thought.”

And then he smiled at Keira. “You know,” he said, “no one else in this family appreciates good Kibbeh nayyeh. My son would never eat it if I didn’t serve it to him. Perhaps that’s something you and I might have in common.”

The sentiment nearly made Keira drop her fork, so little had she expected it from him.

It wasn’t a big smile on the king’s face, to be sure, nor was it the charming smile that she had come to expect from Kareem. He wasn’t making any attempts to win her over. But his eyes had softened, and Keira no longer felt as if he despised her or resented her for having come into his life in the way she had.

Maybe Kareem was right. Maybe this experience wasn’t going to be as bad as they had feared. Maybe they would even have some fun with it.

CHAPTER 9

KAREEM

After dinner was over and the plates had been cleared, Kareem’s father rose quickly to his feet.

Kareem was glad of it. It would have been inappropriate for anyone to rise from the table before the king had done so, and it was only just now occurring to him that Keira might not know that. She hadn’t dined with royalty before, so she couldn’t be expected to know the protocols. The dinner had gone very well — the fact that she had eaten the kibbeh had been especially beneficial to their cause — but the whole thing might be ruined if she inadvertently caused offense on such a large scale.

Suddenly, he was eager to separate his father from his new wife. “I think Keira and I will head home for the evening, Father,” he said, standing up himself. “We’ve had a long journey, and I know she’s probably eager to rest.”

In fact, he wasn’t sure she was. He would have expected her to be terribly jet-lagged. It was seven o’clock in the evening here in Qalmar, but it was nine in the morning back in Las Vegas, and Keira hadn’t slept on the plane.

But she continued to surprise him. She was sitting upright, not slumped the way he might have been if he was overtired. Her eyes were wide and alert as she looked around, taking everything in.

“You can’t go yet,” his mother said, speaking for the first time. Kareem was momentarily startled. Her voice was so rarely heard when someone was visiting the palace.

But then, that didn’t apply to his brothers’ wives. Maybe things would be different with Keira. Maybe…

He shook his head. No, that didn’t make sense, because Keira wasn’t really his wife. Whatever he was experiencing now, it wasn’t going to last. This was all temporary, and he had to remember that.

His father turned to face his mother. “Rajiyah, I think Kareem is right,” he said, his voice low and quiet. “We should allow them to go home. Theyhavetraveled a long way.”

“Nonsense, Hassan. This young lady is my new daughter-in-law, and I’m eager to get to know her better,” Kareem’s mother said. She turned to Keira. “Allow me to take you for a tour of the palace gardens, my dear.”

Kareem swallowed hard. His mother had done this with both his brothers’ wives, but in their cases, it had happened before the marriages were official. The dinner had been his father’s way of determining whether his choice of a wife was a worthy one. A tour through the garden was his mother’s way of doing the same thing — and this time, it would happen without Kareem there to intervene.

But eventually Keira would have to stand on her own two feet, and he knew she was more than capable. He forced himself to remain where he was as his mother led Keira away.

She didn’t even look over her shoulder as they left, and Kareem’s heart swelled with pride. The more time he spent with her, the more he was pleased with his choice. It was hard to imagine bringing anyone better home to meet his parents. The fact that she had been able to hold her own against his father at dinner was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

His father was also watching the women walk away. “I must admit, there’s more to her than I’d imagined,” he said.

“You do approve, then?” Kareem asked, turning to face him.

“I didn’t say that.” King Hassan folded his arms across his chest. “You still made a rash decision, Kareem. Marrying someone without having her vetted by the palace — truly, I can’t imagine what you could have been thinking. You saw what we went through when each of your brothers chose to marry.”

“And can you understand why I would want to avoid all that when it came to my own marriage?”

His father sighed. “None of uswantto do the things we have to do sometimes as members of this family,” he said. “To be royal is a great privilege, Kareem, but it’s not without its duties, and you’ve never understood that. You’ve never taken the responsibility of your position in life seriously. I don’t know how to make you see that some things are more important than what you want. I don’t know how to get you to take your duties to heart.”

“At least I’m married now. I thought that would make you happy, Father. After all, you’ve expressed your wishes manytimes that I settle down. And Amir and Saif are even worse — they’ve tormented me about it for years.”

“Everyone just wants to see you happy, Kareem. That’s all we want.”

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