The Sheikh's Bartered Bride

Hurt by the apparent rejection of her words, she demanded, "Why?"

"Because I now want to make love to you with painful fervor and it will be at least fifteen minutes before we reach our home."

Catherine called her father's office the next day. They needed to talk. But he had flown to South America on business and wasn't expected back for several days. Catherine made an appointment to see him before he left the country again, this time to the Kadar Province in Jawhar.

The day before her appointment with her father, Catherine was in the living room of her and Hakim's penthouse, curled up on the sofa, a book on ancient astronomy in her lap. She traced a picture of a telescope very similar to the one Hakim had given her after their wedding and remembered their days in Kadar.

Hakim had spent the first ten years of his childhood in that palace. She could imagine him as a small boy, learning to ride a camel, teasing his little sister as boys do, climbing into his mother's lap for a cuddle when he was tired.

Catherine gently touched her stomach and pictured the same things with her own child. Only she was having a really hard time picturing them here in Seattle. The palace in Kadar had felt like a home, a grand one, but a home nonetheless. Their penthouse felt like a yuppie launching pad. It wasn't just the difference between Hakim's penthouse apartment and the palace in Kadar, either.

It was more. It was millennia of tradition, family and political responsibilities, an entirely different way of life to the one her child would know here.

A way of life she thought she could embrace. A way of life she knew her husband missed.

"Hello, little kitten. Did you have a good day at the library?"

She'd been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't heard him come in.

She looked up and smiled: "Hi. It's been a wonderful day. Come and sit by me and I'll tell you all about it."

He shrugged off his suit jacket and loosened his tie before tugging it off. By the time he joined her on the couch, the top two buttons on his dress shirt were undone. Dark hair peeked out of the opening.

She reached out and brushed a fingertip along the open V. "You're a sinfully sexy man, Hakim."

Ebony eyes burned with instant desire. "It pleases me you find it so."

Her own eyes fluttered shut as he lowered his head to kiss her, his customary greeting when they'd been apart for longer than a few minutes. There was something desperate in his lips she didn't understand and she automatically sought to soothe with her response, surrendering completely to his touch.

Ten minutes later, she was lying across his lap, the small pearl buttons on her sweater undone along with the front clasp on her bra. His hand gently cupped her breast, one thumb brushing over an already hardened nipple.

"To come home to such a greeting makes up for a lot." His words whispered against her neck between small, biting kisses.

"And what am I making up for, the lousy traffic in downtown Seattle?" she asked, breathless with rapidly spiraling desire.

He husked a laugh and hugged her tightly to him.

She leaned back a little, wanting to see his eyes. "I've got news."

His brows rose. "Do not hesitate to tell me."

Her lips tilted in a smile. She loved it when he talked all sheikhlike. "As of Monday, I'll be part-time at the library and I've explained that if you need to travel for business I am going with you."

She wasn't sure how black eyes could darken, but his did... with pleasure. "I like this news very much."

"I thought you would.” She also hoped he would feel free to make more trips to Jawhar if he knew she could go with him on short notice.

She snuggled more firmly into his lap, reveling in the feel of his hardened flesh under her bottom. "There's more."

He groaned and the hand on her breast contracted. "Perhaps it can wait."

She wiggled again for good measure, but shook her head. "I want to tell you now."

His hands locked on her hips to stop their movement.

"Then tell me before I ravish you here on the sofa." "There's a reason I wanted to go part-time."

His head had fallen back and his eyes were closed, his nostrils dilated with arousal. "What is that?" "All your effort paid off."

His eyes flew open and he looked at her with reproach. "I did not demand you cut your hours at work."

"I didn't go part-time because you wanted me to," she assured him.

The twist of his lips said her answer had not reassured.

"I altered my work schedule to accommodate an upcoming change in our family." She leaned forward and kissed his lips very softly, then with their mouths only separated by a breath, she said, "I'm going to have your baby."

If she had not known better, she would have thought a spasm of pain crossed his face, but it was gone in a flash to be replaced by unadulterated joy.