The Sheik's Pregnant Lover Page 0,20

her clients might want in the rooms they’d commissioned her to redesign, or where she might find that one, perfect accessory for a coffee table that would make the whole room come together. That was all gone.

Work was the same each day and she found very little to be inspired about with her ongoing client list. She started to realize that all of her clients were asking for the same thing, slightly different but the rooms she designed all had the same feel to them. There weren’t any surprises or interesting details. She had to snap out of this because her boss was starting to look at her funny, as if she’d missed something very important.

Sidra hated this, prayed every morning that she could snap out of this depression but when night time rolled around, she knew she’d be up until the early morning hours thinking about Rashid, wondering what he was doing now, where he was. And why she hadn’t interested him enough to bother calling, if only to check on her and explain why he’d left so abruptly that last day.

The first week back from her vacation, she’d been walking on cloud nine, eagerly answering the phone and hoping to hear Rashid’s deep voice and laugh with him about whatever had taken him away from their last secret meeting. By the end of the second week, she’d been sad and confused. Why hadn’t he called? Had it been something she’d said or done? Or had the emergency he’d been called away to deal with actually been something that had hurt him? Was he in trouble and she was just sitting here, not doing anything to save him? To help him?

By the third week, her confusion had changed to anger and depression. She’d given herself to a man she hadn’t really known and this was the result. He’d moved on, damn him! And now she needed to do the same. She could maintain her righteous anger all the way until she fell into bed at night. Then she cried herself to sleep, wondering if he was hurt or if he was actually seeing another woman. She’d convinced herself that she had been a weekend fling, and that made her angry that she’d spent an additional two weeks waiting for him and worrying about his health and well being.

She’d been a fool to trust him! She’d given herself to a man who didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye. Rashid had been a coward who had avoided their last morning together simply because he thought she might put demands on him that he didn’t want. Or perhaps he was just one of those guys who prowled for women and played on their stupidity. She had no idea and wished she could just eliminate him from her mind.

Damn him! She’d gone into the relationship with her eyes wide open. There had been no need for him to try and convince her that there would be more after their four days. She’d expected to say goodbye that morning and never see him so he’d played with her emotions by sending the note and giving her hope that he might want more than just a weekend fling.

Okay, she thought as she sat outside her office building for lunch one day, so maybe there had been a hope that there could be more. She had to be perfectly honest with herself because she’d been wondering how to handle a long distance relationship, how often she could fly over to England to see him. Had he somehow seen that in her looks? Had she revealed too much too soon?

She dumped her uneaten yogurt into a trash can and stomped back to her office. She didn’t need this kind of self doubt and recriminations. She was a grown woman, she’d had sex with a gorgeous man, get over it! Women did that all the time and didn’t have any issues moving on in their lives. She had to put that weekend into perspective and give up her anger.

She’d trusted him and now she was paying the price! Damn him! She’d been a fool over a man who didn’t deserve her attention much less her hopes.

That one letter had been so cryptic. What kind of emergency had taken him away that last day? Had a horse gone down or was it more serious? Had something happened to him? And why should she even care? She’d been dumped, she reminded herself.

She had no idea what had happened