The Sheikh's Pregnant Wife - Leslie North Page 0,31

her belly like this—even through her dress. There was life under his hand. A brand-new life, kicking out to let them both know they were here. Kara grinned at him, the smile on her face lighting a flame at the center of his heart. “It’s just that I’ve had years of training and expectation to get up early and get on with the business of the country.”

Her palm against the back of his hand was a revelation. They’d held hands so many times, but this—this was different, with the baby kicking and both of them together in that sensation. He laughed again. “The baby will be scoring goals in no time with a kick like that.”

The mood shifted like a cold front sweeping in before a thunderstorm, plunging them both into a chill. Really? He’d had to say that? He wanted to kick himself. A hundred times over. A thousand. Kara straightened up and leaned slightly away. Yaseen let his hand fall away from her belly.

“Yeah,” she said, with a pinched smile. She angled her body away from him and looked out the window. “Raihanabad at night is something else,” she murmured.

“It is,” he agreed. The lights in shop windows and on the street corners reminded him, in a small way, of Mennah, multiplied by a hundred. Funny, to keep thinking of Mennah as the place to compare other places to. He wasn’t so oblivious as to mention that.

What had he been thinking, reminding her of the rift between them? He’d taken their greatest moment and crushed it under his heel. He’d felt his baby kick. He had no idea—no idea—how happy one little movement could make him. He felt filled to bursting with pride and joy and an excitement so powerful he wanted to get out of the SUV and jump up and down on the sidewalk. He wanted to shout to all of Raihan that his wife was pregnant and the baby was strong and healthy. He wanted to put on a parade. Declare a national holiday. Declare a world holiday. Plant a flag on the moon.

But what did that say for the years ahead of them? His excitement for experiencing all of it with Kara—the birth, and the first moments of parenthood, and the first months of his child’s life—dissolved in the face of their divorce agreement. On their baby’s first birthday, they’d end their marriage.

He didn’t want that.

Yaseen reached out and gripped the arm rest, trying to keep his breathing under control. He did not want that. All this time, he’d been convincing himself that the marriage was only a formality—that parenthood was something they could handle without much emotional investment. He’d been so wrong. So terribly wrong.

Images poured into his mind. A home with Kara, either somewhere on palace grounds or in one of the city neighborhoods. His child toddling through the backyard on unsteady legs. Kara urging the baby forward as it began to walk. Taking them both into his arms for a big hug. Knowing that his family was safe under his roof. This, for days and weeks and months and years. He couldn’t let it end on the baby’s first birthday, when it had only just begun.

He just didn’t know how he would make it happen.

15

The head councilman grinned across the conference table at Yaseen. “Your swift action in resolving that business problem was exemplary. It saved us millions.” Yaseen had been sitting in the Finance and Commerce Council meeting for an hour, and the head councilman had been waiting the whole time to get to this item on the agenda. “Let’s hear it for Sheikh Yaseen.”

The rest of the council burst into hearty applause and slaps on the table. Yaseen waited for the flush of pride he was certain would follow.

The applause echoed off the high ceilings of the council room and returned to him, multiplied threefold. But that rush of pleasure and pride didn’t come. His heart stayed steady, as if he’d just been given a casual compliment from one of his brothers. No big deal.

He furrowed his brow. All his life, he’d worked for moments like these—when people would notice what he’d done and praise him for it. But this time, no thrill accompanied the applause. Feeling the baby kick had been a thousand times better than this.

“Now,” said the head councilman. “We have a few other items to address before we end the meeting.” He shuffled his papers in front of him and turned to another sheet.

Yaseen took