Sheikh Without a Heart

“Please,” she said as she helped her to her feet, “Rachel, don’t cry! Those things that woman said—”

“What she said about Ethan is the truth,” Rachel sobbed. “She gave birth to him … But I’m the one who loves him.”

“But the rest was lies. Anybody who knows you would know that.” The girl’s tone was bitter. “Prince Karim should have known it, too. How could he have believed those things she said?”

> It was the question that was breaking Rachel’s heart.

Karim had said he loved her, but he’d accepted all Suki’s horrible lies. How could he?

The answer was simple.

He’d accepted Suki’s story because the core of it was true.

She, Rachel, had lied to him from the minute he’d entered her life. She’d lied about Ethan, about Rami, and now those lies had cost her everything.

The child she loved as if he were her own.

The man she adored.

She’d lost them both, forever.

Oh, she could blame Suki for it. For abandoning Ethan, for telling a twisted story to Karim and his father. She could blame Karim for turning back into the heartless man he had always been.

But the terrible truth was that she had only herself to blame. Not just for lying. For giving in to emotions she had always known were dangerous.

Love was the greatest lie of all.

Lust was what drew men and women together. If only she’d remembered that instead of trying to dress it up …

And after a lifetime of knowing.

“Miss?”

Rachel looked up. It was the servant who’d escorted them to this room, but he was speaking to Roberta, not to her.

“The child …” The man cast a furtive glance at Rachel. “The child’s mother needs your help.”

“Let her get it from someone else,” Roberta said angrily.

Rachel touched her arm.

“Please,” she said, “go with him. Help her.”

“Help your sister? Are you crazy? She’s a—”

“I know what she is,” Rachel said bitterly. “But you won’t be doing it for her. It’s for—for my baby.” Her voice broke. “He must be terrified. He’s in a strange place with a person he doesn’t—he doesn’t—” Tears flooded her eyes. She put her hand out and Roberta clasped it in hers. “Please, Roberta,” Rachel whispered. “My little boy needs you.”

Roberta began to weep.