Tears were sliding down her cheeks, and he gently wiped them away. She realized that she had been a fool all along, but not because of Asad. No, she was a fool because she hadn’t the courage to follow her own heart when it was telling her to run into his arms and never let go.
Answering him with a kiss, she sealed their fate. “We’re not going to the airport, are we?”
“We are,” he said with a wicked grin. “But you are not going to the States. I’ve booked us a two-week trip on a cruise, and my dear, I am going to love you around the world.”
Laughing at him, she straddled him and kissed him again in earnest. Now, she’d finally found her home, and it was in the arms of her sheikh.
Epilogue
“That rat-bastard was cheating on me for months! How could I have been so stupid!”
Liyah sat in her chair with her hands comfortably splayed around her swelling belly. She’d been on her feet for hours at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for her new library, a sweet taste of vengeance toward the library that had never even had the decency to call her back when she was so desperate for a job.
Now she’d erected three of her own.
The reception hall was beautifully decorated in a book theme, and Asad had convinced all of his rich and powerful friends to donate their own private collections of books to be displayed on the library’s first opening days. There was little that her husband wouldn’t do for her, these days, even when she woke him up in the middle of the night with another strange craving.
It was the least he could do for getting her into this condition in the first place.
The press had interviewed her, and while their questions were more about her new life as a sheikha and the babe growing in her belly, she always gently steered it back to her beloved books. Asad might be in the limelight, but that didn’t mean she had to be the same.
Asad had come clean about their fairytale engagement, and it seemed that Bashar had already figured it out. He’d known that they were a love match even before they did and had orchestrated everything to force them to realize it. The investors had signed the contract for the condos, and the press alone was already making them a smashing success.
Rashid was going to have a lot of work ahead of him if he wanted to top all of that.
“Mother,” Liyah reminded her mom for the third time. “You are on vacation. You are not supposed to obsess about your slimeball of an ex-husband.”
“I know, darling.” Her mother reached over and hugged her. The baby kicked, and her mother gasped. “I didn’t do right by you, but I can hardly be sorry for it. You have found a man who truly loves you, and your family is now expanding across the globe. Your life is just beginning.”
“Don’t give up hope, Mom. You’re not exactly a doddering old woman. You still have a chance to find someone to love you.”
“Maybe.” —but her mother didn’t look so sure. Kissing her daughter on the cheek, she left Liyah’s side to chat with Sahaar and Liyah’s exchange-sister. Her mother and her exchange-mother had grown close over the last week, swapping embarrassing stories about Liyah and mothering. Although Liyah had ripped up Asad’s check, he’d still taken care of Sahaar’s medical bills and had helped the older woman get back on her feet again.
“Your family is my family now,” he’d reminded her when she’d thanked him over and over again.
Looking back, that was probably the night this little fella had been conceived.
Amira bragged to everyone that she was responsible for bringing Asad and Liyah together, and Liyah didn’t have the heart to tell her that she’d nearly driven them apart.
Still.
She was happy and delirious, and she wanted her other friends to be happy, as well. Her eyes settled on Mila as her friend danced and laughed.
Arms slipped around her, and Asad kissed her from behind. “What are you thinking about?” he whispered in her ear.
“Happily ever-afters. What are you thinking about?”
“That piece of lingerie that I bought you, the first night I made love to you,” he admitted.
She choked with laughter. “I won’t be able to fit into that for quite awhile!”
“Naked is good, too,” he said.
She lifted her head, and he leaned down and kissed her. The whole room went up in cheers (everyone in general) and groans (from his brothers
).
Yes, she thought happily. Everybody should have their own happy endings.
End of The Sheikh’s Pretend Fiancée