The Sheikh's Pregnant Wife - Leslie North Page 0,36

nobody else in the entire country of Raihan, in the entire royal family, can handle this one time? Your brothers can’t handle it, or a member of the council?”

“I’m the only one.” Yaseen took her hands. “This is too important.”

More important than now. Than me.

Yaseen brushed his lips across her knuckles, then took her face in his hands and kissed her one more time. “I’ll have another car along in five minutes. You can stay and finish your food or take it back to the hotel. I’ll send you a message when I land.”

“I—”

But Yaseen didn’t listen. The next thing she saw was his back as he speed-walked to the back entrance of the restaurant.

She sat frozen in front of her plate. Was this what her life would always be like if she stayed with Yaseen? Left behind with the baby whenever a portion of Raihan’s profitability was at risk?

The waiter reappeared at her elbow. “The sheikh has let me know that he had to make a sudden departure.” The man smiling down at her with pity in his eyes was too much. “Would you like to finish your meal here? I can also have it boxed up for you.”

Kara’s back ached from sitting in the restaurant chair and being pregnant. She couldn’t sit in this place alone for one more minute—never mind that nobody could see her in this little private dining area. She could see herself in the reflection of the window. That was more than enough.

“Box it up, please, and send it out to the car.” That bone-tired sensation settled beneath her skin. “I’ll be visiting the ladies’ room, and I plan to go directly to the car afterward.”

She huffed her way to the bathroom, which was near the same back entrance they’d come through. Suddenly, the pantsuit she’d worn all day felt like sandpaper on her skin. The fixtures on the bathroom wall hemmed her in. It should’ve been big enough, but Kara felt too large for the room, too unwieldy with her belly to maneuver around everything. A few minutes later she washed her hands in the sink and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Oh, she looks so sad, she thought. And then: That’s you.

Kara rode in silence back to the hotel. It was the most luxurious hotel in all of Geneva, with soaring ceilings and marble floors polished to a high shine. She let herself into the penthouse suite with a key card that didn’t need to be shoved into any slot—she just waved it in front of the door, and the lock sprung open.

The suite was all plush carpeting, and a congratulatory bouquet greeted her on the table in the living area alongside a box of chocolates. Kara bypassed it all and went through to the bedroom. The staff had been in to turn down the sheets and turn on the fireplace. She wriggled out of the pantsuit, leaving only her panties and the pink shell, and slipped under the covers.

She felt like an idiot.

Yaseen had left her in the nicest hotel room in the city, and all she could think about was how utterly abandoned she felt. She’d begun to think that she and Yaseen could take a real stab at a relationship. But could she really live like this? Always wondering if he’d interrupt their special moments to race off and close better business deals?

No. She couldn’t.

A soft knock sounded at the door. Kara pushed herself up on the bed, working herself out slowly. A silk robe hung on a hook in a discreet alcove, and she put it on, wishing she could luxuriate in the sensation of the fabric against her arms a little more. She padded to the door and looked through the peephole.

One of the bellmen waited outside. Kara cracked the door. “What can I—oh.” He held three neat takeout boxes from the restaurant in his hands.

“Your driver sent this up. May I put it inside for you?”

“Sure.”

The bellman breezed in, left them next to the bouquet, and was gone before she could press a tip into his hand.

Kara went to the kitchenette and pulled a fork and plate from the cupboards there. The takeout containers, she discovered, held the rest of her filet mignon, a fresh helping of mashed potatoes, and a slice of chocolate cake.

“Good,” she said to no one, and tipped all of it onto the hotel china. She took it, along with a wide cloth napkin, back to the bed with