A Bride For The Sheikh by Katheryn Lane Read Free Book Online

alone.”
    “Thank you, Father. May you always be blessed with sons as generous as I,” Rashid said in mock sincerity.
    “And may you be blessed with sons who don’t cause you as much trouble as mine do,” the sultan joked back.
    Having made some kind of reconciliation with his father, Rashid left the palace with his head full of images of the many children that he and Angelina would one day have together.
    Less than an hour later, the sheikh was at the gate to the compound where James Smith lived. He stopped his Mercedes at the security booth. “Do you know whether Mr Smith or his daughter have left the compound?” he asked the young security guard. Even though he’d promised to leave security alone, this was different. This was just a routine question that anyone would ask before entering a private compound.
    “Mr Smith left early this morning, around seven o’clock, for work as he usually does.”
    “But not his daughter? So she’s still at home?”
    “I don’t think she’s in the villa. I saw her walking towards the swimming pool, Your Highness.” The guard pointed in the direction of the compound pool, hidden by a large group of palm trees.
    Rashid wondered how the guard knew who he was and then he remembered that his car had royal number plates. He handed the man a hundred dollars as a thank-you and drove through the gate.
    When he reached the entrance to the pool, he took out the box of gold jewellery that he had just bought, smoothed down his long cotton robe and adjusted the white scarf covering his short, black hair. Then, at the last minute, he changed his mind. A swimming pool wasn’t really the place to present a bride with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewellery. He would give it to her later, in the presence of her father. He opened the car, placed the box on the back seat and prepared himself to see his bride.
    When he did see her, she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her chestnut hair was loosely tied up on top of her head and several locks had escaped to caress her flawless face and neck. However, what took away Rashid’s breath the most was the sight of Angelina’s body, which was barely covered by her pink bikini. Rashid had to take several deep breaths to control his feelings and stop himself from immediately throwing his body on top of her perfect curves and placing himself between her soft, toned thighs. He had to remind himself that once they were married, there would be plenty of time for him to touch every single part of her.
    Angelina must have heard him come up behind her. She took off her sunglasses and sat up. “Hi. It’s Rashid, isn’t it? Didn’t we meet the other night? Do you live around here?”
    “Angelina! At last I’ve found you.”
    “You’ve been looking for me? Why?”
    Rashid had to remember that although he knew that she was his future bride, she didn’t. “We never got a chance to say goodbye at the party.”
    “I’m so sorry. My father wasn’t feeling well. All that rich food. Those royals really do go way over the top with all their spending. It’s a bit obscene, when you think about it. I met a couple of girls the other day and they were telling me all about how spoilt the royals are, especially the sultan’s sons. You should have heard some of her stories.”
    “Really? What kind of stories?” Rashid had never thought of himself as spoilt.
    “Apparently they think they can have anything they want. All they have to do is offer someone a load of cash or gold and they get it. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
    “Is it?” Rashid thought about the large box of gold that lay in the back of his car and was thankful that he had left it there.
    “We talked about it the other night, didn’t we? We agreed that the important things in life, like friendship and love, have nothing to do with money.”
    “You’re right, they don’t.” Rashid looked at Angelina’s body and realised that getting her into his wedding bed wasn’t going