Page 43 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

Chapter Fifteen

Bedelia spent the remainder of the day resting. She did some of the light exercises that the doctor had passed on literature about to her, she ate the green and mostly palatable food in the fridge, she slept when she was tired, and she got up the next morning bright and early. She washed in the small private bathroom, and for a moment, she felt a slight twinge of wistfulness.

The townhouse was beautiful, and if things were anything other than what they were, she would have liked nothing better than to stay there to enjoy it. It was a place that called to her soul, and she had never been in a house she liked better.

She shook her head. She loved the townhouse, and perhaps in the future she would be returning to it, but right now, she had a mission.

She went to get her suitcase, and she dumped out the clothes she had packed what felt like a lifetime ago. A part of her was startled that she had ever gotten Jahin's attention wearing such dowdy things, but she decided quickly that it was to Jahin's credit. He was a man who saw beyond the surface of things.

But if yesterday was to be believed, he was also a man who liked...some surface things.

She tidied her old clothes away, and then she turned to her new closet. Her criteria for the clothes that she was going to be wearing was simple, and it took only a half hour before she zipped her suitcase shut and dragged it to the front of the house.

The two men in dark suits who had been stationed to guard her looked at her warily. With some slight amusement, she wondered if they thought she was going to make a break for it. She could have told them that it was quite the opposite. She was through running, and now Jahin was going to have to deal with her.

She smiled at them politely.

"I take it that the sheikh has given you some standing orders?" she asked warmly.

The men glanced at each other, clearly expecting some kind of trick, but then one of them nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "We're to escort you wherever you want to go, but we're not to let you wander about on your own."

Her smile grew a little sweeter. "And I believe he also said that I could stay wherever I liked. Whatever property of his I cared to be at, if this one did not suit me."

The other man nodded. "Yes, ma'am, he did tell us that."

"Well, good. I am glad we are all on the same page. Will you take my suitcase, please?"

The one who had spoken first took the suitcase from her, while the other directed her towards their car.

"Where are you interested in going, ma'am?" he asked, and she smiled at him.

"Well, wherever the sheikh is currently in residence will do for a start, I am sure," she said brightly.

***

JAHIN HADN’T HAD a day as bad as this one in quite some time. He had tossed and turned all night after leaving the townhouse, and when he had finally slept, his dreams had all been about Bedelia...Bedelia lost, Bedelia hurt, Bedelia crying somewhere that he couldn't reach her.

After that terrible night, he had spent all day on conference calls with investors from Argentina who seemed very interested in developing Muneazil with resorts in mind and yet somehow completely unwilling to commit to the idea of having actual citizens working at those resorts. The discussion had gone around and around until he was certain that his brain had turned to mush, and then they’d had the gall to threaten him with a complete abandonment of the issue.

Finally telling them that abandonment was just fine by him felt good, but it was only a momentary relief. When he had walked out of the office where he conducted business, he felt as if a hundred bricks had suddenly settled on his shoulders.

I want Bedelia, his mind whispered, and he’d had to remind himself that it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't something he could allow himself, even if he knew exactly where she was, exactly how she would smile and speak....

When he got off the elevator to enter the short hallway that led to the penthouse, he saw the two guards there, and he scowled.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped, too tired to be diplomatic. "Is there something wrong at the townhouse? I swear, if you left her unguarded..."

"I promise you, Sheikh Jahin, we have done nothing of the sort," one of the guards said stiffly. "But the lady requested a change of properties, and she indicated that this was the property she wanted to be at."

Jahin stared at the man for a moment, and though the man quailed, he stood firm.

Jahin couldn't blame him for this. He could only blame himself, and setting his shoulders straight, he walked into the penthouse, resisting the urge to knock because after all, it was his goddamn penthouse.

"Bedelia?" he growled. "Where in the hell are you?"

He had it worked out in his head. He would talk to her seriously, tell her that the rules were in place for her own good, and that flouting the rules to irritate him was simply not going to work out for her. Surely she would see reason after that...

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