The Sheikh's Pregnant Wife - Leslie North Page 0,4
long as she could. The ground rose up to meet them, and the pilot set them down gently on a helipad. Two black SUVs, twins of the ones they’d left behind in the capital city, waited on the access road. “You could just admit it, you know.” Her heartbeat fluttered fast at the thought of joking with him—needling him, even. “It’s going to be great.”
Yaseen gave a cool shrug. “I want to look at the numbers before I make any judgments.”
She sniffed, frustration ramping up to a low boil. For all their politeness, it still irritated her that Yaseen couldn’t just be positive. About this one thing.
No point in trying to get water from a dry well or an enthusiastic endorsement of the project from Yaseen now. He’d change his mind once he saw how magnificent it would be for the community. They climbed into the back of one of the cars, their staff into the second.
“I didn’t look on the trip itinerary,” she said into the cool rush of the air conditioning. “Where are we staying?”
A smile that struck her as genuine flashed across Yaseen’s usually stoic face. “There is one hotel here, and a hostel, but we’ll be staying in a villa owned by the crown.” His gaze went far away, then snapped back to hers. “It was a favorite of my great-aunt Zein. She loved Mennah, even though it’s not much of a tourist destination.” He chuckled, the sound rich and deep. “She probably loved it because it’s seldom visited. The villa has been kept in excellent condition in honor of her. The entire family...” Yaseen cleared his throat. “It’s important to all of us to maintain it.” He hesitated, and Kara watched the questions flit through his eyes. “Is there anything like that from your family?”
He knew about her parents by now. In the rush after she’d found out she was pregnant, he had wanted to know if they should be flown in from the States. But her father had passed away so long ago she couldn’t remember him. She’d lost her mother in college. There was no one else.
“A small property in northern Michigan,” she answered. “A cottage on a little lake. Nothing like a royal village.”
“You still have the cottage?”
“Yes, I suppose I do,” she said. It was the only property willed to her by her mother. Kara paid the neighbors a small fee to look after it, but she hadn’t visited since her mom died. It had been in the family, and then Kara’s family had been gone. It didn’t make sense to keep visiting. “But I haven’t been there in a long time. Maybe this is the year I’ll sell it.”
“I’m sorry,” Yaseen said abruptly. “For not asking about that beforehand.”
She fixed a smile on her face. “For not prying about my inheritance?” She laughed and felt a knot loosen in her chest. “A tiny cottage like that one doesn’t make a difference to what we’ve got going.”
The instant the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Maybe the cottage would make a difference. She and Yaseen were contracted to divorce a year after the baby’s birth. She might end up back at that same cottage by some twist of fate. Who knew? It would surely be the opposite of whatever path Yaseen’s life took. The two of them were so different. He was the business-minded, serious prince of the family. She had dedicated her life to lifting up those on the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum. He could return to the palace any time he wanted. She had only a cottage in Michigan to her name. No matter how it played out, the next year and three months could be pretty lonely.
Kara wanted to bridge the divide. Should she reach for his hand? At the very least, it would shift the heavy silence between them. But despite being pregnant with his baby, she just wasn’t sure how Yaseen would react. They really didn’t know each other very well at all. She kept her hands in her lap.
3
The villa sat gracefully at the end of a long drive, the traditional structure seeming perfectly frozen in time. The arabesque designs on the front facade were the same as they ever were, preserved so well the villa looked new. Kara blinked up at the building in the golden light of the late afternoon, the sunbeams catching in her hair.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’m sure the grounds are just as lovely. In