Susan Mallery - The Sheik And The Pregnant Bride

“I…You…” She stared at him, too stunned to form sentences.

“It is a great honor,” Qadir said kindly. “You are surprised at my generosity. I am confident we will both be happy in this marriage. While my father may take a while to convince, he will be pleased that you are a known breeder.”

Her brain was blank. Totally blank. Which was probably a good thing because if she had actual use of her functions, she would be forced to hit him over the head with a lamp.

“A known breeder?” she ground out.

He smiled. “That was meant to be humorous,” he told her. “What do you say, Maggie? It is an excellent solution for both of us.”

“Solution? To what problem? You’re the one who has to get married, not me. No one is pressuring me to take a husband.”

She hurt all over. She loved him. She could imagine nothing more amazing than having him say he cared about her and wanted to be with her always. But that was just a fantasy. The reality was Qadir wasn’t interested in being emotionally connected to anyone. He wanted a companion he liked and someone to have great sex with.

“Why are you angry?” he asked. Damn him, he actually looked confused. “I am doing you a great honor. I am Prince Qadir of El Deharia, Maggie. You would be my princess. A member of the royal family. Your children with me would be part of our history.”

“Not bad for a car mechanic from Colorado, right?” she said bitterly, then held up her hands. “Never mind answering. I know you don’t get it. Most of the time you’re almost a regular guy. I started to forget the whole prince thing. But that’s a part of you, too.”

His gaze narrowed. “Are you saying that is something you do not like?”

“It’s not my favorite characteristic.”

Too late she remembered his ex-fiancée, Whitney, who wouldn’t marry him because she didn’t want to deal with the restrictions of being a princess.

“It’s not just that,” she said quickly. “I’m not going to marry you to better my financial situation. That’s not who I am. And I’m not going to marry you because it’s convenient. I wouldn’t marry Jon and he thought he was doing the right thing.”

“Do not compare me to him.”

“Why not? You’re both interested in getting me to marry you for reasons that have nothing to do with me and everything to do with yourselves. That’s not what I want.”

She hurt all over. Her chest ached when she breathed and she just wanted to be alone.

She stood and walked to the door. After pulling it open, she shook her head. “Look. I know you think you’re doing me this big favor, but I don’t see it that way. I want something different. Something you can’t give me. And I’m not going to settle for anything less.” She opened the door a little wider. “You should go now.”

Maggie lay curled up on the bed, crying so hard, her whole body shook. She knew she should stop, that this much emotion couldn’t be good for the baby, but she didn’t know how.

“It’s all right,” Victoria said, stroking her back. “I’ll go online and find someone to beat the crap out of Qadir. That will help.”

“Not much.”

“But a little. Right?”

Maggie reached for another tissue and blew her nose. “I can’t believe he did that. I can’t believe he proposed that way. What was he thinking?”

“He wasn’t. I have no idea. Men can be really, really stupid. Even princes.”

“Especially princes. He told me it would be an honor for me to marry him.”

“What a jerk.”

Maggie nodded and looked at her friend. “I love him.”

Victoria gave her a sad smile. “I figured that out. Unfortunately he didn’t.”

“I don’t want him to know. Then he’d only pity me. It’s better that he doesn’t understand me. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.” More tears filled her eyes. “I just don’t know how to get through this.”

“One second at a time. You keep breathing, keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

“I want to go home. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I want to make sure it’s okay for me to fly with the baby and all, and then I’m gone.”

“I’ll miss you,” Victoria said.

“You’re leaving soon, too, aren’t you? Come to Aspen. It’s beautiful and there are lots of rich, powerful men hanging around the slopes.”

“I’m done with rich, powerful men but I will come visit you. I want to be there when the baby is born.”

“I’d like that.” Otherwise Maggie would be alone. She knew Jon would offer to be with her, but that would be too weird.

At least he could be talked out of it. Qadir would not. He would storm into the delivery room and demand to be a part of things. She started to cry again.

“I wish I didn’t love him,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be like this. I didn’t want to be one of those women crushed by a man.”

“You’re not.”

“Look at me.”

“You’ll get over this and be stronger for it.”

Maggie didn’t believe her. “Why couldn’t he love me?”

“Men like him don’t fall in love,” Victoria told her. “They take what’s offered and move on. They don’t have to give their hearts. It’s never required of them.”

Maggie wanted to disagree and say Qadir wasn’t like that, only he was. After all, he’d been the one to come up with the idea of them pretending to be involved. He was also willing to marry her even though he didn’t love her.

“I want a man who loves me passionately,” she whispered. “I want to matter more than anything.”

“Not me,” Victoria told her. “Love is messy.”

Right now messy looked pretty good.

“Tell me the pain will get better,” she said.

“You know it will. You’re going to heal and move on. One day you’ll look back on all this and be grateful you got away when you did.”

Maggie hoped her friend was right, but she had her doubts.

The doctor’s office was in a modern building next to a hospital. Maggie showed up a few minutes early for her appointment to fill out paperwork.

Victoria had found the female doctor by asking around at the palace and then had even phoned to make the appointment. Maggie was going to miss her when she left.

After checking in for her appointment, she took the clipboard over to one of the comfortable seats and began filling in the information. She hesitated at the line that asked for her home address, then wrote in that of the palace.

In a few days that wouldn’t be true anymore. She already had her ticket home to Aspen. Once there, she would find an apartment to rent until she got her house back, then start looking for a job. She would have to put away as much money as possible before the baby came.

She answered all the health questions. She had no symptoms of anything unusual and so far, no problems with her pregnancy. Still, a part of her hoped to be told she couldn’t fly for a few more weeks. Which was just dumb. What did she think? That more time would make Qadir realize he was madly in love with her? Like that was ever going to happen.

With the paperwork completed and turned in, she flipped through a magazine before she was called in to the exam room.

Dr. Galloway was a friendly woman in her late forties. They discussed her due date, prenatal vitamins and Maggie’s new dietary needs.

“While everyone wants to eat for two,” Dr. Galloway told her, “you’re currently eating for yourself and something the size of a rice grain. It’s better for you and the baby if you can keep your weight down. The more you put on now, the more you’ll have to take off later.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maggie said, knowing lately she was too sad to eat. She would have to force herself to stay healthy for the sake of the baby. “Is it all right for me to fly?”