The Sheikh's Pregnant Wife - Leslie North Page 0,29

as quickly as possible. But then, once he got there, things might still be tense with Kara. Either way, he’d get there when he got there.

He kept his phone in his pocket and watched out the window as they drove through the outskirts of Raihanabad. Ten minutes into the drive, an open field came into view. A line of trees marked one end. A group of boys ran back and forth from one end to the other. Yaseen caught a flash of white and black—a football. The way their bodies moved was intensity personified. All in, feet kicking, jaws set.

“Pull over,” he heard himself say. “I want to stop here for a minute.”

The driver pulled over, and Yaseen climbed out to stand at the edge of the field. A small crowd gathered at one end—families. The boys wore jerseys, some red and some blue. His eyes settled on one of the boys in red.

Smaller than the rest, he was easily three time faster. His dark eyes were alive with focus every time the ball was in motion, and even when it wasn’t. He hung back, the rest of the team trying to get something together, and as the blue team bore down, his teammates passed him the ball.

He ran at top speed, cutting through the other boys like they weren’t even there. The ball winked in and out of sight between his feet. Yaseen’s mouth dropped open. He’d played enough football to know when he was in the presence of greatness, and this child? If he kept it up, he’d be the greatest player in the country. No doubt about that. He swerved through the defenders, every motion an exercise in precision, and kicked the ball directly into the unguarded corner of the goal.

The parents and friends at the sidelines cheered. The rest of the team surrounded him and thumped him on his back. The other team took the ball out and tossed it back in, and there he went, off at the speed of light. Sweat beaded on his brow, his red jersey soaked with it, but he never stopped moving until the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game.

Yaseen came back to himself as the boys ran to their families. Number nine—the one with the incredible talent—jogged to the sidelines and took a water bottle from a cooler. Nobody seemed to be greeting him. Yaseen waved for his driver, who came to stand next to him.

“Find out who these boys are,” he said. “I want to make a donation to them. Especially because of that number nine. Did you see him?”

The guard gave him a crisp nod. “I did. He’ll be going places with that kind of talent.”

Yaseen got back into the SUV and let the air conditioning cool him down. His heart wouldn’t slow down. So much excitement. So much passion. And he’d seen it all because the driver had taken a different route.

The driver hopped in a moment later. He scanned the street to be sure of a gap in traffic. When they were safely on the road again, he glanced at Yaseen in the rearview mirror.

“That was the under-15 team from Mennah,” he reported. “They traveled here for the match and will be going back tonight.”

“Thank you.” Yaseen’s thoughts flashed back to Mennah—that day he’d played with the children on that pitted, dry field. No doubt the boys he’d seen today had played on that very same field.

He leaned back against the seat, pressed his lips together, and let his thoughts run free. There was a merit to the sports complex—he’d always been able to see it. The numbers just hadn’t worked for his directives. Mennah could have a complex. It just couldn’t be his complex.

With all that had happened—Kara’s pregnancy, the weddings, and the mutterings about his irresponsibility—he needed to do something spectacular. Something that would prove worthiness to his family and the members of the Finance and Commerce Council he sat on. Kara’s project was worthy, but it wouldn’t impress anyone except the residents of Mennah. And they weren’t the ones judging him.

14

Kara put her second earring in her ear in the dressing room of her suite and surveyed herself in the mirror. The makeup artist sent over from the palace had done a fabulous job. She didn’t look rosy-cheeked from exertion, just dewy and glowing. Sheer magic. She turned to one side. Her heart sped up at the sight of her bump. What was it? Excitement? Nerves? Probably