The Sheikh's Unexpected Wife (Zahkim Sheikhs 3)

Ginni threw her phone onto the bedspread. "Ain't that a kick in the pants, an' just like Jasmine to put herself first. Well, maybe I really am married, so tomorrow I'd better start looking up how a girl gets a divorce around here." She bit down on her lower lip. Or maybe she'd just wait a day or two and see what it was like being married to a sheikh.

Nasim sat at the conference table, trying hard to focus on the meeting and not let his attention slip to thoughts of Ginni. He was working hard to take to heart Arif's advice about going slow, but he had started to think he ought to throw that into the bin along with these bloody awful numbers.

Arif sat next to him, and two other state ministers opposite. Tarek ought to have been here, but he had been delayed on a trip with his wife, Tess Angel, to America. An unofficial visit, for it involved Tess visiting a specialist about her pregnancy. Tarek was taking no chances with either Tess or his baby. Nasim couldn't blame him. Tarek wanted a son to inherit the throne, and that was a bloody good thing. Neither he nor Arif sought the headaches that kept Tarek occupied in terms of trying to bring Zahkim into the modern world without the staid traditionalists staging a revolt.

Idly, Nasim listened to the reports, already bored with them and wishing he had had time to take breakfast to his new wife. Or even to see her. The other ministers seemed to delight in good news/bad news, but all of it boiled down to a higher well production meaning massive expenses to try to ship oil from the new refineries to shipping docks.

"That is if Dijobuli will even allow us access. We may have to use the highway to the north, which adds five hundred miles," Arif said. He shot Nasim another sideways glance that as good as said this was all Nasim's fault.

Closing the report he'd been glancing at, Nasim loosened his tie and leaned his elbows on the table. "We may have to make a deal with Leeland Enterprises to cover the increased oil production."

"What?" The word burst out of Arif. The other two ministers started up protests as well. They said nothing Nasim didn't already know. Leeland Enterprises started off being invited into a country with a small deal, expanded with investment and loans, and ended taking most of the profits as they leveraged that into ownership of the oil wells. That story had been repeated in small countries around the world.

Nasim let everyone run out of steam, and then tapped on the folder in front of him. "We must face facts. The pipeline across Dijobuli is lost to us. Ahmad doesn't have another daughter I could court—"

"As if he would allow that now," Arif muttered.

Ignoring him, Nasim tapped on the folder again. "And he has no son who might inherit the throne and be more reasonable in his dealings. We are left with a dozen cousins in Dijobuli and no clear successor and therefore no immediate solution."

"And an angry father." Shaking his head, Arif leaned back in his chair. "How do we ensure a deal with Leeland does not end up with him stripping Zahkim of what oil we have?"

Smiling, Nasim stood and smoothed his tie. "I think I can negotiate better terms. I may not have ended up with the right wife, but I will see that my new one does well by Zahkim. Now, please excuse me for a few days."

He left the ministers and Arif staring after him.

Heading up the stairs, Nasim stopped to give orders that clothing from the top designer in Zahkim should be brought to the palace for his wife. Wife. That word sat oddly on his tongue, but he rather liked the taste of it. He'd called the family lawyers last night for advice. While the marriage contract with Sheikh Ahmad had been invalidated due to Jasmine's elopement with someone else, the lawyers believed the ceremony with Virginia Leeland to be binding. She had agreed to the marriage, as had Nasim. He told them to look into the details and make certain. He hated surprises, and this marriage had started to spin out of control yesterday when Ginni had swept into his life. He grinned—she was rather like a desert wind, irresistible and unsettling. But certainly not boring.

Heading up the stairs, he made his way to Virginia Leeland's room. He had left orders for a tray with coffee and tea to be taken up to her. He found it outside her room on a side table. More bloody surprises. Putting a hand on the silver coffee pot, he found it still warm. It hadn't been sitting here all that long. He picked up the tray and balanced it on one hand.

Knocking softly on her door, he waited for her to answer.

Nothing happened.

Had the girl bolted? But how? The palace guards would have informed him if she'd sought to leave. Trying the door handle, he found it unlocked. He opened the door and stepped inside. The drapes had been drawn across the French windows, leaving the room in cool shadows. Already the day

was warming. Striding across the carpet, he peeked into the bedroom.

Ginni sprawled on the bed, one bare foot sticking out from the covers, the duvet tangled around her waist, her back a smooth stretch of tempting, dark skin. She muttered something in her sleep and let out a long breath.

He held still, but she did not wake.

Setting the tray down on one corner of the bed, he came around the side. She looked utterly beautiful, her hair tumbled, her face bare of any makeup or veils. Something tightened in his chest, but he didn't care to study the emotion—he preferred to leave the woo-woo stuff to Arif. He'd rather simply act.

So he did.

Reaching out, he touched one finger to the spot just under the curling, dark hair on her head, ran his finger down her spine to the small of her back to a spot where two dimples appeared above the covered swell of her ass. The wide hips he had felt but not seen last night remained covered, as did her breasts, but he could see the curve of her waist. And that length of bare back left his mouth watering.

Leaning down, he feathered a kiss between her shoulder blades. She let out a small breath and smiled in her sleep. Straightening again, he eased his trousers to allow more room for the erection now trying to tent the bespoke fit. Staring down at all that smooth, brown skin, he realized he had not presented his wife with so much as a ring. The emerald ring had been for Jasmine and now seemed abandoned on a side table. Ginni needed something else.

Pulling out his phone, he sent off a couple of texts to the palace staff, and then he sat down in an overstuffed armchair and put his mobile onto a blaring ringer.

Ginni gave a groan and rolled over in bed, fumbling with one hand for an alarm clock. He got a flash of breast, and she dragged open her eyes. She sat up, clutching the duvet to her breasts. Nasim gave up trying to behave—he'd never been good at it.

He stood and crossed to the bed, leaning in for a good morning kiss on those pouting lips. He brushed a finger down one bare arm and gestured to the tray.

"Your coffee is getting cold. Do you want me to ring down to the staff for a fresh pot?"

Chapter Five