Page 24 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

“I think I am in a place to make your job much easier and much more interesting than it might be. If I wish, I could show you all of the odd and beautiful corners of this country, and believe me, I know them all. You will never have a better guide or a better opportunity to see the ancient and modern beauty of this place.”

She nodded. There was a hint of suspicion in her eyes still, but he could also see the longing there. He might not have known Bedelia long, but he knew very well that there was a curious streak in her a mile wide. Still, though, she was cautious.

“And what exactly would I have to give you for this amazing experience?”

“Your body,” he said, and he took a certain amount of satisfaction in the way her green eyes widened.

“I...beg your pardon?”

“Don't play innocent,” he said casually. “You may be new to what a man and woman's bodies can do together, but that doesn't mean that you are ignorant of what happened between us last night. And this morning.”

“It was amazing,” she admitted, and he nodded.

“Exactly so. That pleasure is something that few people ever really experience, and it is not one that I am willing to let go of so easily. So. Here is my proposal. You stay with me for as long as you want, giving me...giving both of us what we had last night. As long as you are with me, I will show you Muneazil as very few locals even get to see it. Your client will be pleased, you will have the adventure that you have been craving, and we will both have our fill of this thing between us.”

“This thing between us... It sounds so cold when you say it like that,” she murmured softly, and he shrugged, even if it sounded cold to him as well. This was the way things had to be, and he did not regret it, not if it would put her into his arms one more time.

“You can think about this if you want to,” he offered. “I do not want you to make a decision that you might later regret.”

Even as he said it, however, she was shaking her head and rising from the table. For a moment, he thought he had offended her so badly that now she was going to leave. For some reason, his heart was pounding as she approached him.

“No, I don't need a few moments to think about this,” she said, sounding soft and almost shy as she came to stand in front of him.

He was suddenly aware, in a way he hadn't been before, that she was standing in front of him wearing nothing but a thin white silk robe. Jahin's mouth was suddenly dry, and he couldn't take his eyes away from the deep V of the robe where it stopped between her breasts.

“Then you have your decision?” he asked, and he might have wondered why his voice sounded so hushed when she came close to him.

“I do,” she said. “I accept.”

He started to say that this was very wise of her, but then she bent down, her small hands on his shoulders, her glorious brown hair falling around her face. When she reached down to brush her lips against his, he could feel fireworks go off in his brain, and then, instinctively, he pulled her onto his body so that she was straddling his lap.

“I don't want to make you do anything that you don't want to do,” he said, his voice strained, and the look she gave him was frankly impish.

“You won't,” she said softly. “I don't know you that well, but I know that you wouldn't do something like that. However, I want to make sure that you will give me what I want...”

There was something so sensual, so womanly about her response, that he thought he would die if he could not kiss her right then. When her mouth came down over his, when he slid his tongue into her mouth for her to suckle on it, he felt as if he were flying, or falling, or perhaps with this fairytale girl, there was no difference between the two.

***

AS MUCH AS they might have wished to do so, there was no way that they could simply stay in the townhouse and do as they pleased. The festival was still going on, and would continue going on for the next few days, but Jahin needed to get back to the capital, and of course that meant Bedelia would go with him.

He promised her that he would take her to see the sights in just a few days, and with a regretful kiss, sent her back to her hostel to gather her things.

The man who drove her over to the hostel, carefully maneuvering through the streets full of revelers, was pointedly polite and discreet about it, and of course that gave her far too much time to think about what was happening to her.

Is this it? Bedelia found herself wondering. Is this how I utterly lose my mind?

She knew how insane this all was. Not an hour before she had made the decision that this man, this situation, and perhaps even Muneazil, were dangerous to her. There was already too much of her heart invested here, too much of herself that she had given over. She was still spinning from what they had done on the citadel’s terrace, and if she was going to be any kind of logical human being, she would stop and think about things. She would consider what her feelings were, and then, most likely, she would lock them away, because this was too much.

And yet.

She couldn't stop herself. When Jahin had looked into her eyes and made his offer, it had become astonishingly clear that she was going to go with him. She was going to follow him, and she was absolutely, beyond a doubt, going to give him what they both craved.

Was this what a fairytale really felt like, she wondered. Did girls get dumped into strange and foreign situations, ending up overwhelmed and in over their heads? Were they swept along at what felt like the speed of light, barely able to keep on top of things? If she thought about the fairytales she knew, things weren't really happy and safe until the end, and right now, she did not have any idea at all how this was going to end, not even a little bit.

Back at the hostel, she quickly packed up her meager belongings, aware of the fact that the chauffeur was waiting on her. She knew that a truly cultured and wealthy woman would be aware that he was getting paid the same either way. She was herself, however, and never wanted to make people wait.

Even in her hurry, however, she was stopped by the little wooden figurine with red and white flowers in her hands. The figurine looked up at her with its hopeful, secret smile as if telling her that it was not all so bad, that if she simply took heart, things would be sure to work out. Red and white flowers, that meant that her lover had returned to her.

For a moment, Bedelia looked at the little figurine, and then she closed her hands over it, feeling the smooth surface tight between her palms.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” she murmured, but she didn't even know who she was speaking to.

---