The Sheikh's Virgin Bride(12)
“What will you do if I say no?” Lacie asked.
I scoffed. “Don’t speak of things that aren’t going to happen.”
But her gaze on me was steady, intense. “What will you do?”
I set my now empty cup down and met her gaze.
“I won’t be king. I don’t know…I’d go back and try to make the council change its mind, to make my family understand my choice. Then, I’d come back, maybe bother you some more, ask you on a date or something—try things out the normal way.”
Her face crinkled with skeptical amusement.
“So, you’d basically go home, give up the crown and position you’ve been hounding me to marry you for, and then come back to try to have some kind of normal relationship with me?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose you could put it that way.”
“Why?” Her bright blue eyes met mine, and it felt like she was looking into my soul.
“I like you, Lacie. Not because you’re a virgin, not even because you might be crazy enough to marry me with less than two weeks’ notice, but because you’re you. Because you’re funny and sassy and charming. And maybe I don’t really know you, maybe when I really get to know you, we wouldn’t work together, but I don’t think that would happen. No, if the real you is anything like the girl I’ve known for the past two days, then I know we’ll get along just fine. We’d be perfect for each other.”
I took her hand, then released it. “Though the money’s off the table if you won’t marry me ASAP.”
There was a glint of mirth in her eyes as they scanned me. “Are you trying to bribe me?”
I assumed an innocent expression.
“Maybe.” I shrugged at her frown. “I’m going to need at least half that money to get a lawyer or police force good enough to get my family and me out of the country. You don’t know Zayed-Kharan. Current rulers aren’t always so gentle with the former ones.”
Behind the counter, the two girls working in the shop were putting everything away, and one of them flipped the ‘Open’ sign on the door to ‘Closed’. That was our cue to go.
Even as we left the little shop, I was unable to let go of Lacie’s hand, and I launched into a half-talk, half-rant about nothing at all, only so she’d stay close, so she wouldn’t have to go.
“Rashid,” she finally said gently, squeezing my hand. “I have to go.” Seeing my disappointed face, she continued, “I may have a long day tomorrow.”
I nodded, released her hand, and hugged her.
“Good night, Lacie. I…”
I couldn’t find the words and yet, she understood. Nodding, she gave me something between a smile and a grimace.
“I know, I know.”
And then she was gone, and I was flooded with the words. The ones I was going to say, should have said. The ones that would’ve made her stay all night and leave with me in the morning. The words that would’ve made everything all right.
Chapter Ten
Lacie
When I first opened my eyes, I closed them immediately. I didn’t want to be awake, to have to choose. I was as uncertain as when I had gone to bed. My head was cloudy with tiredness and all that had happened last night. I glanced at the clock. It was 6 a.m. I had time to visit Mom and Dad and make it to work—or to Rashid’s jet.
As I scrambled into some clothes and out the door, I didn’t think about it. Not even on the subway with its faceless passengers, all of whom looked happier than I felt. No, I only thought of it when I walked up to the depressing gray building—just why I had decided to come here first thing in the morning, of all times. I needed to see them. I needed to know what to do.
One look at the formerly white walls, now beige from years of grime and no cleaning, should have told me all I needed to know. Even once I’d plunged inside and spoken to the usual gruff receptionist, Marla, who seemed to wear a permanent glare, and the uncaring nurse, Glenda, I didn’t let myself feel it. Yes, as I passed one dead-eyed resident after another, I felt nothing. I couldn’t afford to.
No, it was only once I saw them that I could let myself feel. Tucked away in a room too small for a single person, let alone two, once I saw their eager faces at the sight of me, the tears came.
“Oh, stop that now.” Mom’s voice was a wheeze, while the effort sent her into a fit of coughing, which only a whole minute of my dad’s brave-faced patting extinguished.
“How nice, you coming first thing in the morning like this.” Dad tried at a smile himself, though his face didn’t quite seem to remember how.
“Breakfast in five!”
All of us jumped at the angry shout just behind my head. Already, though, the stomping nurse was gone, along with her announcement.
As I stood there awkwardly, Mom waved me over, the effort making her hand flop down by her side.
“You look troubled, sweetie. Is something the matter?”
I was about to respond when it happened. The kind blue eyes I loved so much widened, her patchy-haired head fell back, and her frail body collapsed onto the floor.
Footsteps, then an older nurse was beside me. She grabbed Mom and held her still, muttering in irritation to herself. She caught my angry look and mumbled a begrudging “Sorry.”