Page 33 of Sheikh's Accidental Pregnancy

Tariq was sitting at his desk staring at a little box. He had been sure of every decision he had ever made in his life. He never second-guessed himself. And he was always right. But this decision was different. It made him nervous. The last nine months had turned his life upside down, and Sara was responsible for all of it. He sighed, rubbing his face as Sara burst into his study and walked over to him. She was breathless.

“What’s the matter?” he asked and immediately got up. Before Sara could say anything, she noticed the box.

“What’s that?”

“Sara, are you all right?” Tariq asked, ignoring her question.

Sara picked up the box and opened it. The ring had diamonds all around the platinum band and a huge emerald of the deepest green in the center. She looked up at Tariq.

“Tariq?” She looked hopeful, eyes wide and longing. He was surprised. He’d thought there was a more than decent chance she would say no.

Tariq nodded. He had no idea what he was meant to do. He had never been in such a situation. In fact, he’d never thought he would ever be in such a situation.

“For you,” he said. “If you’ll have me.”

“Youwant to marryme?”

He was vaguely offended at the disbelief in her voice. Butof courseshe would argue, even about this. “Yes,” he said. “I want to marry you. I want you to marry me.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re mine. Both of you are mine.”

Sara looked up from the ring to him. “So you are being possessive right now?”

“Yes, I am. I deflowered you. I gave you your first child. You’re giving me my first child.” Tariq groaned with frustration. He was not very good at being romantic. He was not even sure how he felt about her. He didn’t know how to describe it. “I don’t want another man touching you.”

“Tariq, you’re not making sense. You want to marry me because you don’t want another man touching me?” She gave him a sad smile.

“Yes.” He knew he should say something more, but he couldn’t find the right words.

She handed the ring back to him. “Then no, I won’t marry you.”

“What?”

But she didn’t explain. Instead, her eyes widened, and she wrapped her arms across her belly. With a gasp, she bent over and whimpered. “I think we’d better go to the hospital,” she said.

22

Tariq paced the waiting room. Fiddah tried to calm him, but it was pointless. He’d stayed with Sara in the delivery room as long as he felt was appropriate. It was normal for the father to wait outside, letting the mother labor in private. It was the proper way to do things. That’s what the doctor and nurses had told him. Sara had looked stunned at the news, but she’d let him go.

Was it supposed to take so damn long?

He was on his four thousandth lap when the door to her room opened, and the doctor came out.

“She’s having a very difficult labor,” the doctor said. “It’s gone on long enough that both baby and mother are at risk, so we’re prepping her for a C-section.”

“How long will it take?”

“Once she’s numbed up and everyone is scrubbed in, not long at all. Half an hour or so.”

“Are they all right?”

“For the moment. But I need to get back, Sheikh Tariq, and make sure everything goes smoothly. Someone will come out as soon as your baby is born.”

Tariq’s pacing sped up. “I don’t want to lose her,” he said to Fiddah.

“You won’t,” Fiddah replied calmly.

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