The Sheik's Unsuitable Bride

morning…

‘Um…Good plan…’ she said, backing away in the direction of the house. ‘You two g-go and make a start, while I…’ she made a vague gesture to indicate her lack of covering, instantly regretting drawing further attention to the fact ‘…cover up.’

Then she turned and ran.

By the time she’d showered and gone through her entire wardrobe looking for something that would counteract the swimsuit look without looking as if she were hiding-cropped trousers, a long shirt with the sleeves rolled up- breakfast was well under way.

Zahir looked up, smiled, then continued talking to her father. Her mother passed her a cup of coffee without saying a word. Freddy looked up and said, ‘Z’hir’s taking Grandpa and me out on a boat. Do you want to come?’

She looked up, met Zahir’s eyes and they were both remembering another day, another boat…

‘My father keeps a small dhow here. For fishing. It’s pretty basic.’

‘Then I’ll pass, thanks.’

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

Diana and her mother were sitting on a rock above the beach, looking out over the water, watching the dhow set off down the creek.

‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ she said, tossing a pebble into the water.

‘I haven’t seen you this…’ she sought for the word. ‘…this lost since you were expecting Freddy.’

‘That was different,’ she said quickly. Then, when her mother just raised a brow, she shook her head. ‘I can’t explain it, but it’s different, okay?’

‘How different?’

But maybe not that different.

‘It’s easy to see how your sheikh might dazzle you,’ her mother said. ‘Sweep you off your feet. He’s a very good-looking man. And charming too-’

‘No.’ Then, ‘Well, yes. Obviously.’

The difference was that Pete O’Hanlon had dazzled her with his danger. Had tempted her for no other reason than because he could. Because it amused him to take something untouched and mark it as his own. He did not build things, cherish things or people. He destroyed them…

Zahir was nothing like that.

Her mother looked anxious.

‘He didn’t dazzle me.’ At least not intentionally.

All it had taken was one look and she’d lost it. All that painfully learned control, forgotten in an instant, gone in a look.

Okay. That was the same.

But she wasn’t an eighteen-year-old with her hormones on fire. She’d kept it together for Freddy. Just…

She turned to her mother. ‘How can one look change everything?’ she asked, needing someone older, wiser to tell her. ‘How can I feel this way about someone I met a couple of days ago?’

He’d looked at her as if she were the first woman and she hadn’t wanted to run and hide. She’d wanted to touch him. Had wanted him to touch her.

That was different.

She’d made him laugh.

He’d made her want to dance. Made her feel brand-new…

‘I don’t know,’ her mother replied. ‘How do you feel?’

‘As if…’As if he had been made just for her. ‘As if he’s a perfect fit,’ she said. ‘As if it’s… right.’

And that was different too.

She’d known from the moment he’d taken what he wanted that everything about Pete O’Hanlon was wrong. That she’d been an idiot. That the next day he wouldn’t even remember her name…

‘It’s a mystery. They say it’s just chemical attraction. Sexual attraction is nature’s way of keeping the species going. Marriage is society’s way of dealing with the consequences.’ She smiled. ‘Or it was.’ She shook her head, sighed. ‘It doesn’t explain how I knew your father was the one the minute he looked at me, though.’ Then, smiling, ‘Or maybe it does. Maybe it was no more than lust and I just got lucky.’

‘It’s more than that. You love each other.’

‘It takes a lot of love to hold a marriage together for twenty-five years. Not that falling-in-love kind of love, though. It’s the love you work at, that evolves, changes to match everything that life throws at the pair of you. But luck helps.’

When Diana didn’t respond, she said, ‘Maybe this is your time to get lucky. Does Zahir feel the same way about you?’

‘It doesn’t matter what he feels.’ Her voice was more emphatic than her feelings.

That he was feeling something she never doubted. That he desired her. That if she’d been a different kind of woman, one who didn’t have to live well one hundred per cent of the time just to make up for the one time she hadn’t, they might have had a brief, exciting fling.

But that was all it could ever be.

‘In this world, Zahir’s world, marriages are arranged. He will marry someone his family, his peers, deem a perfect match.’

Her mother frowned. ‘He told you that?’

‘We were discussing fairy tales. It came up…’

‘There’s no room for romance?’

‘Respect lasts longer,’ she said, managing a smile for her mother. Wanting to reassure her that this time she wasn’t going to fall apart. ‘We both agreed that fairy tales are for children.’

‘And meanwhile he can dance in the street with any girl who catches his eye?’

‘Nothing happened. Truly. If it hadn’t been for that photograph…’

If it hadn’t been for that photograph they’d be back in their own little worlds. She’d be back on the school minibus. He’d be doing whatever billionaire sheikhs did. ‘A couple of kisses, that idiotic dance…’

‘Sometimes that’s all it takes,’ her mother said, laying a hand gently over hers. ‘A look, a kiss, for the magic to change everything. How many men have you kissed? I mean kissed wanting more?’

‘Only one.’

‘Freddy’s father?’

Diana looked out across the water. Could see Zahir and her father laughing at something Freddy had said or done. It was the perfect image. A little boy with two strong men to keep him safe. Except that Zahir would be gone in an hour or two and, once they’d left this beautiful place, their worlds would not touch again.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Not Freddy’s father.’

‘Diana…’

She turned her hand to clasp her mother’s fingers. She’d never told. She’d protected Freddy. Had protected her family. Had protected everyone except herself.

It was a secret that had stood between her and her parents for nearly six years. When she’d put up that wall of silence, had refused to confide in them, had refused to cave into the threats of the Child Support Agency, telling them what to do with their money, something had been lost…

‘Don’t ask, Mum. If you knew, you’d look at him differently. You wouldn’t be able to help yourself.’

Instead of pressing her, her mother just squeezed her hand. ‘I’m proud of you, Diana. You’re a strong woman and Freddy’s a lucky boy…’

When the men returned, bearing their trophy fish, her mother took Freddy away to clean him up, her father went to take a nap, leaving her alone in the garden with Zahir.

‘We have had no time to talk,’ he said, ‘and now I have to go.’

‘Thank you for giving Freddy such a treat.’

‘It was a pleasure. He’s a lovely boy. But then he has a lovely mother. Walk with me to my car?’

She followed him up steps at the side of the house to a courtyard. It had been dark when they’d arrived, but