Teresa Southwick - The Sheikh's Contract Bride

“That’s the thing,” she said. Her gaze was direct when she met his. “I came all this way to talk you out of it.”

“YOU came halfway around the world to change my mind about an honored Bha’Kharian tradition?”

Beth winced when he put it like that. She’d come because her sister had begged her. Addie needed time to figure out how to break off the engagement without alienating their father. Anything less than blind obedience would result in being cut out of his life as if she’d never existed. Addie was terrified to take that step and close the door on her relationship with the only parent she had.

Beth wasn’t as docile as her sister and said what was on her mind—a flaw that had already damaged her relationship with her father. Raised without a mother, she understood why Addie was desperate to preserve her remaining family connections. If not for her sister, Beth would have grown up in an emotional vacuum. She’d have no blueprint for love. Granted, she’d been burned by the emotion, but better to have loved and lost, as the saying went. She couldn’t stand by and do nothing when the sister who’d taught her to love might be cut off from it.

Talking Malik out of this tradition made perfect sense for everyone. Putting herself in his shoes—knowing that his bride had been chosen and he’d had no say in the matter—maybe she had a better than even chance of making him see reason. For God’s sake, he was going to be King. Shouldn’t he have a choice about the woman who would help him shoulder that responsibility?

She looked up at him. “Sometimes change is good. Shake things up.”

“Sometimes the old ways are better.”

“All right,” she said, tapping her lip. “But you never answered my question about whether or not you’re okay with not choosing your own bride.”

“There are advantages to letting others with nothing clouding their objectivity do the picking.”

“Picking?” She put her hands on her hips as she met his gaze. “You make me sound like a ripe plum.”

“On the contrary, plums are sweeter and more docile. Aside from those two things—” he shrugged “—I am well pleased with the selection my father made.”

Beth didn’t know if she’d just been complimented or insulted. Or both.

“Well, of course you’re pleased. What’s not to like?”

“Please explain.” He folded his arms over his chest and gave her his full attention.

“An arranged marriage works in your favor because you’re a powerful man.”

He shook his head. “I do not understand what that has to do with anything.”

Was he deliberately being obtuse? “Being in a position of power means you get to control everything. You can set the rules. Nothing about this situation works in my favor.”

“Nothing?” He frowned. “Do you find me unattractive?”

“No.” What she wanted to say was Good God, no. “You’re very handsome.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Does my personality displease you?”

“Since we just met, it’s too soon to tell. So far you seem okay.”

He nodded. “Is the palace not to your liking? You object to living here?”

“Oh, please. What I’ve seen of it is gorgeous, and you know it.”

“Then I am at a loss to understand your objections.”

“My objections have to do with the fact that there’s more to marriage than pleasing looks, personality and a palace.” When put like that, it occurred to her that perhaps her standards were a tad high. “There’s something to be said for a normal courtship.”

“Define this for me.”

The fact that he needed a definition for normal should have been a big clue. But she was supposed to be impersonating her sister, and Adina was nothing if not cooperative. “Okay. The average courting ritual goes like this: girl meets boy. Girl is wildly attracted to boy. Girl gets to know boy and falls in love. Bha’Kharian tradition for choosing its Queen is robbing you of this experience.”

“Me?” he asked. “Or you?”

“Both of us.”

“In the spirit of girl getting to know boy, I am told that I am quite a catch.”

She’d heard her father tell Adina the same thing. “It’s just that marriage is a big step, and pretty scary when one doesn’t know one’s intended from a rock.”

He walked over to the French doors and looked out for several moments, then turned. A frown had replaced the good-natured expression on his face. “I do not believe anyone has ever compared me to a rock.”

“That’s just an expression. It means that I don’t know you—”

“I understand the expression. But there is something I do not comprehend. In your training to be the Queen of Bha’Khar, it should have been explained that the period of engagement is the time to become acquainted.”

“It was explained.” Probably. But the step-by-step rules of courtship were still being violated. Father picks boy. Girl is engaged to boy. Girl meets boy and, after too brief a time, girl marries boy. And they live happily ever after? The odds were so against that.

She walked over to him and the breeze from the ocean cooled her face. Looking into his dark eyes, she asked, because she sincerely wanted to know how he felt, “What if it goes badly? What if you don’t like me? What if I don’t like you? What if we—?”

He touched a finger to her lips to silence her. “Do you always borrow trouble?”

“What if I do? Is that a deal-breaker?”

He laughed. “If I did not know better I would think you are deliberately trying to make me dislike you.”

“Is it working?”

“I do not know.”

“Do I need to try harder?”

“That depends on your purpose. I have not yet made up my mind about you. And you should not form an opinion about me, either.”

“I’m not pre-judging—”

“I disagree. You came all this way to talk me out of this marriage, which means you have already closed your mind to the possibility that this arrangement could be a good thing.”

She didn’t see how it could be good, but that only proved his point. “What if I have formed an opinion already?”

He took a step closer. “Let go of your preconceived ideas.” He touched his finger to her chin, nudging it up so their gazes locked. “Give me a chance to prove that I am indeed a good catch.”

Beth didn’t know whether to let out the breath she was holding or breathe deeply and overdose on his spicy, exciting scent, letting it invade and conquer her senses. A gleam stole into his eyes, a look that both excited and unnerved her. It was a purely masculine expression, full of male confidence in his power to get what he wanted.

There was little doubt in her mind that he would pull out all the stops in his mission to prove his worth, and seduction was right at the top of his list. While her romantic parts quivered with enthusiasm, her rational parts struggled to prevail.

“Malik, I have no doubt that you’re a perfectly nice man. It was not my intention to insult you, and I apologize if I have.”

“Your misgivings are understandable.”

She wasn’t sure if his easygoing manner made the situation better or worse. Although he was very attractive and charming, she had no reason to believe he was any different from the man who had discarded her in favor of his already chosen, politically correct wife. If anything, Malik was more powerful, and therefore more dangerous.

If it was up to her, she would tell this sheikh to take a flying leap. But it was Addie’s choice. And, because her sister was choosing a time out, Beth was there to make sure she had it. In that spirit, she needed to dial down her opposition. “Thank you for your patience, Malik.”

“You can repay me with patience of your own. Let us get to know each other. We will give it a chance and see what happens. Then if either of us has doubts we will choose an appropriate course of action.”