Page 9 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

“Well?” he asked, unable to bear it any longer. Jahin looked up to find Bedelia watching him with those large green eyes, and her expression was surprisingly thoughtful.

“So I take it that wasn't some kind of exaggeration?” she asked. “You truly are a sheikh?”

“That's the kind of exaggeration which could have gotten you executed just a hundred years ago,” he said with a wry smile. “And yes. I am Sheikh Jahin Abdul Kattan, sheikh of Muneazil, its first Lord and Protector.”

He was expecting stuttering awe or some kind of flailing, but Jahin wasn't expecting her eyes to go wide as if she had seen something wonderful and beautiful.

“That's amazing!” she blurted out. “What is it even like being you?”

Jahin blinked. “I'm sorry?”

“I mean, that means that your family's been ruling this country for centuries, doesn't it? And you're related to Addas the Lawmaker, and to Hela, who fended off the hordes of foreigners from her tower...”

Jahin couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud.

“Only you,” he said, shaking his head. “Most people want to ask about the wealth or the power. You want to know about the fairytales.”

“They were real people,” she protested, and she paused when he reached out to take her hand.

“They were real people. Their blood runs in my veins, and I am proud of that every day. But their stories are more real than they are at this point, and I find that I am completely unsurprised that you are gravitating towards their stories.”

She was quiet for a long time, and then to his surprise, when he looked up, Bedelia had a serious look on her face.

“I need to tell you something,” she said. “I'm not sure if you're going to like it or not.”

“And what is that?”

“I'm working for a writer back in the United States. He writes these...ugh, he writes these terrible books about a spy or something, and they're full of the worst action scenes. He's having me research Muneazil for him, and...I am having such a good time with you, but I don't want it to come out later that you thought I was...that I was mining you or something. Really. I'm not.”

Jahin had to shake his head at her earnestness.

“Thank you for telling me that,” he said, amused. “But believe me when I say that I wouldn't have taken it so personally. Hell, the woman who used to do my mother's manicures, her daughter tried to tell stories to tabloids all the time.”

“And your mother wasn't hurt?”

“Oh, she was very hurt. She had watched that girl grow up, after all. But the Abdul Kattan line has a great deal of power, and when we want to quell gossip, that is absolutely something that we can do.”

“I'm not worried about whether you stop me or Mr. Miller or not,” Bedelia said with a shrug. “I just didn't want you to be hurt.”

She was saying something else about the history of his family, but Jahin found that he wasn't listening.

What was this girl, anyway?

***

FOR A LITTLE while, Bedelia had gotten to have at least a small fraction of her fairytale. However, a part of her had always known at the back of her mind that the clock was ticking on it, just as Cinderella must have known. Cinderella had been told from the beginning that her time as a princess would end when the clock struck twelve, and she had simply been grateful that for a night, she had gotten to live out her fondest dreams.

Still, there was a small part of her that protested when Jahin offered to walk her back to the hostel. She wanted to ask him if there was a chance that they could see each other again, a chance that perhaps they could have another day like this one. However, she knew that wealthy men, especially wealthy men who ran whole emirates, didn't waste their time on women who weren't drop-dead gorgeous and apparently obedient to their husbands' wishes.

After such a dreadful beginning, the day had turned out to be one of the most enjoyable ones she had ever had, and she was sorry to see it go. No matter how much she had liked it, however, Bedelia was not going to sour things by making an issue of it.

“Well, this is me,” she said at the gates of her hostel. “Thank you for walking me back; you didn't have to do that.”

“I'd have worried that you were getting into trouble if I hadn't,” Jahin said with a slight smile.

It was still startling how good looking he was, but a part of her had grown used to it. She didn't think she would ever become immune, but she was beginning to see him as just a regular person, albeit a very handsome one.

“I should probably hop inside,” she said with real regret. “They're going to lock the doors in the next hour and...”

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