The Sheik's Pregnant Lover Page 0,37
feeling in her stomach. Even the smallest movement made her want to wretch again but she concentrated on relaxing every muscle in her body so that she could control the nausea. She didn’t open her eyes so she didn’t see the magnificent structure they were approaching, lit up by the bright sunshine and located in the center of the city. The Tasain Palace was one of those amazing structures that were built so long ago with additions built up around each side and on top over the centuries. Rashid was proud of his city and equally proud of his country. He would have liked to show Sidra the sights both during the day as well as at night, to let her see how incredible the city could be and give her some of the history. But right now, all he wanted was to get her into his palace and have his physician explain how to make her better. It was probably just a stomach bug, he told himself, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
The guard nodded his head, indicating that the physician was on his way to Rashid’s private quarters. Rashid followed along, hurrying down the long hallways. A guard had the door open and he walked inside, laying Sidra down carefully on the sofa by the fireplace. She barely even acknowledged the change, barely moving and Rashid’s concern increased.
“Where the hell is the doctor?” he demanded to his guard.
The door to his quarters was opened by another guard and Doctor Hamid walked in, still buttoning his shirt and straightening his glasses on his face. “I apologize for the delay, Your Highness. What’s the problem?” he asked.
Rashid waved the elderly man over to the sofa and stepped back. “She woke up from a deep sleep about twenty minutes ago. She looked fine one moment, then lost what little she’d eaten during the day in the toilet.”
The man nodded his head, seeing the concern on his leader’s face and understood that this woman was important to him. “Let me see what’s going on,” he replied gently.
He bent down and took out his stethoscope, listening to Sidra’s heart, her lungs and starting to touch various points on her body. But when he tried to move her, she protested, shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes.
Dr. Hamid turned to Rashid with caring eyes. “Would you mind if I spoke to the lady alone?”
Rashid instantly shook his head. “Not on your life. I want to know what’s wrong with her.”
Sidra tried to protest, but any movement, even raising her hand to challenge Rashid’s assertion that he would stay in the room made her too miserable.
Dr. Hamid understood, and wasn’t going to challenge his leader. The man had absolute power here and if he wanted to stay during the exam, he stayed.
Turning back to Sidra, he took her wrist and noted the rapid pulse. “Can you tell me the date of your last period, dear?” he asked gently.
Sidra swallowed slowly and counted backwards. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had her period. “I can’t remember.”
The doctor clasped his hands together. “Could it have been in the past month?”
Sidra’s hand covered her face and she shook her head, then stopped when that caused her stomach to quiver. “The last three weeks have been….difficult...” she finally said.
“Are you normally regular?”
Sidra couldn’t believe she was discussing things like this with Rashid in the room but he wouldn’t leave. She couldn’t see him, but she was sure he was probably just as embarrassed as she was. “Yes. Very regular.”
Dr. Hamid pulled a syringe out of his case and some cotton balls. “What’s that for?” Sidra asked, terrified of what he was going to do. “I’m fine,” she started to say, wanting to avoid the needle as much as possible. “Please, no needles.”
The doctor chuckled and patted her shoulder soothingly. “I’m very good at this. You’ll barely feel anything.”
Sidra wasn’t convinced. She looked up at Rashid, wanting him to make the man stop, but his face looked painfully pale underneath his tanned skin and she wasn’t sure she’d get much help from him. Obviously he didn’t like needles any more than she did. “Please. I just picked up a stomach flu somewhere. I’ll be fine with a bit of rest.”
The doctor soothed her and shook his head. “Let me just get a blood sample and we can make sure that it’s just a stomach flu. I can then give you something to help with the