The Sheikh's Pregnant Bride (The Jawhara Sheikhs 1)

He had promised to contact her soon and kissed her tenderly before leaving her. Erin smiled to herself and hurried from the bed. Kam had promised to call her and she had no reason to doubt his word.

Exiting her room more than an hour later, she found Shira sitting at the kitchen table working on her laptop. “Good morning,” she called, helping herself to a cup of the coffee already made.

“Hey! So….how did last night go?” Shira asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Erin managed not to blush, wanting to keep Kam a secret just a while longer. “I think you should be answering that question. How was dancing with Kale?”

“It was so awesome! Kale’s an amazing dancer. Who would have guessed?”

“I don’t remember hearing you come in so you must have done more than dancing.”

Shira blushed and nodded, “Yeah! He invited me back to his hotel room. Erin, these guys must be loaded. They had the entire floor to themselves. And everywhere he goes, there are at least two bodyguards that go with him. It’s kinda of creepy, but cool at the same time.”

Erin nodded, “Yeah. I noticed that Kam had his own entourage of guards with him last night as well. They seem to know to stay out of sight though. I only saw them once or twice.”

“So, did you and Kam have a good time? What did you guys do after I left?”

Erin turned, on the pretense of refilling her coffee cup, “Well, we talked for the longest time. I’m not sure what he does in Jawhara, but….”

“Wait! He didn’t tell you!” Shira exclaimed.

“Tell me what?” Erin asked, turning to face her cousin.

Shira had the good sense to gesture towards an open chair, “Come sit with me.”

Erin watched her cousin for a moment before walking over and sitting down. “What don’t I know?”

“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you,” Shira murmured, almost as if she was talking to herself. Sensing Erin’s attention focused on her, she looked up and replied, “Kam is short for Kamal.”

Erin scrunched her eyebrows together, “That’s it? The big secret is his name?”

Shira shook her head, “His name is Kamal Mehalel El-Jawhara.”

Erin let the words sink into her foggy brain, but they still didn’t register. Shaking her head, she informed her cousin, “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”

Shira grimaced, “Erin – Kam is the Sheik of Jawhara. He runs the entire country.”

Erin opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Kam was in charge of a country? She had slept with a world leader? Why hadn’t he said anything?

Shira watched Erin, wondering when the explosion was going to arrive. Erin was normally even-tempered, but she took exception to being deceived – even if it was unintentional. Trying to give her some excuse to give Kam the benefit of the doubt, “Maybe he wasn’t aware that you didn’t know who he was?”

“Maybe. But, we talked about so many things.” Erin looked at her cousin before asking, “Did you know who he was?”

Shira shook her head, “Not until we were already back at their hotel. Something occurred and Kale got a phone call. Shortly after that he said he had to return to Jawhara immediately, but was looking forward to seeing me in a few weeks.”

“A few weeks? Are they coming back then?” Erin asked, feeling hopeful that maybe Kam would return with him like he promised.

Shira shook her head, bouncing in her chair with excitement, “No! I’m going to Jawhara. Rick and Damon are taking a group of us over there to see everything firsthand. Kam thinks it will help our firm with the advertising campaign.”

Erin tried to hide her disappointment. Did that mean that Kam wasn’t coming back to the states anytime soon? But he had said he would see her soon. “When do you leave?”

“Two weeks. I’m so excited. Kale promised to teach me to ride a camel.”

Erin smiled, “A camel, huh? Have you ever been on a horse?”

Shira laughed, “Well, no. But, Kale said that he would make sure I didn’t fall off.”

“I just bet he did. So, I guess you really like Kale?”