The Sheikh's Pregnant Wife - Leslie North Page 0,24

tonight.” Yaseen dropped his voice. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to do.”

Kara squeezed her thighs together under her desk. “Like what?”

“It involves a bed, my hands, and you, utterly naked.” Yaseen kept going, and Kara sank into the sound of his voice, wearing the biggest grin of her life.

11

Yaseen watched Kara across the dining table, her face glowing in the candlelight. She could hardly look at him without her cheeks going pink, and Yaseen loved it. He wanted more of that with a desperation that knocked him off guard. Did every husband look at his wife across the table and want to sweep the dishes to the floor with one hand, lift her up onto that polished wood, and have his way with her? Maybe not, but Yaseen certainly did.

So he didn’t relish having to break the news to her instead of following his heart. Oh, not his heart—the lust at the core of him. That’s what he wanted to follow now, but it was all bound up in other feelings for her. So many feelings that he couldn’t quite sort them out.

An easy one to pinpoint was that he did not want to disappoint her. She’d been so happy the other night about the fact that he was going to be there for her speech in Geneva. Yaseen wasn’t about to break that promise, but something else had come up.

“I’ve had a change in my schedule,” he said, jumping in with both feet.

Kara put down her fork, eyes going wide. “Is it about the conference? Because if you can’t make it, I know that’s not totally under your control, and I don’t—”

“It’s not the conference.” He put on a smile that he hoped reflected more confidence than he felt. “One of the royal family’s business partners is having an urgent situation in Germany. I’m needed on the ground.”

She folded her hands over her belly. “Do you have to leave tonight? Is it that kind of urgent?”

“Tomorrow morning, after the OB appointment.” Her face fell a little, and Yaseen wanted badly to say that the Germans could figure things out for themselves. But Kara rearranged her expression in a heartbeat.

“I understand. How long will you be gone?”

“A few days.” A few days was far longer than he wanted to spend away from her, but being married didn’t exempt him from carrying out his duties as a prince of Raihan. “When I’m back, we can return to business as usual.”

Business as usual had been very good lately. Yaseen could feel himself getting a bit carried away with it all—thinking of her when he was supposed to have his full concentration on meetings, daydreaming of all the filthy things he wanted to do once the door was locked firmly behind them at night.

It wasn’t permanent, he thought with a pang. Relatively soon, they’d be separated, and he could direct all his attention back to his work and raising their child. He swallowed his regret, which had turned to a hard lump in his throat.

Kara worried at a piece of food with her fork, letting the silence expand between them until it filled every inch of the air. He became acutely aware of the sound of her breath. Then she looked back up at him.

“Have you made a decision on the sports complex?” She kept her tone light, but he saw the seriousness in her eyes. “We sent some more documents to your office. Those should clarify the scope of the project and enumerate the benefits to the city in a way that’s clearer.” Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. “I’d love to know when we could expect a decision, even a preliminary one.” She gave a quiet laugh. “Even the direction your thoughts are taking.”

Yaseen’s heart sank to between his feet, along with a lightning strike of irritation. She wasn’t going to give up on the center—that much was clear. And Yaseen didn’t necessarily want her to. But he couldn’t spend palace resources on something that wasn’t going to benefit them, too. His family had to come first. She’s your family now, too, a voice whispered in the back of his mind. Yes—Kara was his wife. But the two of them had to fit into the broader royal family. That was just how it went.

He put down his silverware, his appetite gone. Better to tell her now than wait another moment and have to fend off questions that would only turn his mood dark.

“I have to be frank with