An Inconvenient Marriage (Married to a Prince) by Kat Attalla Read Free Book Online

are you talking about?”
    “Admit it! You met a woman who’s not throwing herself at you. It would be a hell of a lot easier to walk away if she wanted your money and your title.”
    “Get real.”
    “She got to you, Sami. I don’t know how but in two short days, she got to you.”
    He would never admit that any woman could get to him but he was intrigued. Lilah put her life on hold for people who were strangers to her two days ago. She agreed to play the part of a resigned if not happy bride. And she wanted nothing for her part in the deception. Why? 
     
    * * * *
     
    Sami glanced at the morning edition of the Nadiarian Post and cursed the laws his father signed after becoming king that allowed for a free press. And it shouldn’t give the media the right to make up facts. He didn’t give a damn what they printed about him. The worse his reputation the more female attention he’d received. But this! Apparently one ambitious reported had followed him all around the city yesterday. The sarcastic headline, THE FUTURE QUEEN? accompanied a collage of unflattering photographs. Normally he wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but Lilah might not laugh it off.
    What kind of idiot believed that a woman’s designer clothing or lack thereof, deserved a front page spread? A glance at the byline confirmed his suspicions. The brother of his ex –fiancé shoveled out a load of payback for a perceived wrong against his sister. The same woman who would have done anything to share his title—except give up her French lover. Her infidelity was splashed across the tabloids, but he had nothing to do with it. 
      He tossed the paper in the garbage. Thankfully Lilah didn’t read Arabic but short of buying up every copy in the country, he couldn’t prevent her from seeing the pictures. He cancelled his afternoon appointments and headed back to the suite.
    Lilah sat at a computer desk in an alcove with an open journal in her lap. She didn’t hear him enter as she continued her phone conversation.
    “I don’t want to hear it Mom…don’t blame me if you need to take a valium.”  Her rigid body language and curt tone led him to believe the call had not gone well thus far.
    She pushed a handful of hair away from her face. “They are not holding me hostage. I agreed to stay for a while to get to know my family. ” While tapping her toe impatiently, she switched the phone from one ear to the other. “For a while my boss said I can work from home…Yes, I know it’s not home, but it is where I am staying for a while.”
    Sami leaned against the wall. She chose to stay but he still felt sorry for her. Although they both had to modify their lives, she had to do it in a foreign country,
    “Stop Mom! You don’t get a say in this. You lied to me, you lied to them. Hell you lied to the royal family, which might be a crime here for all I know.”
    He started to back away and give her privacy.
    “Since you didn’t think he was right for me, what do you care what Bob thinks?”
    He froze.
    “Well since you are so concerned, Bob doesn’t think he could marry a divorced woman, but if I can somehow get it dissolved, I should give him a call…what do you think I did. I deleted his phone number from my contacts.”
    Sami grinned triumphantly. He knew from that first night he’d kissed her. She had not responded like a woman in love with another man. He cleared his throat to get her attention.
    Delilah jumped and turned toward him. “I have to go, Mom.” She disconnected her phone immediately, apparently cutting off a reply. She blushed as if guilty of some unknown crime. But she didn’t appear broken up over the end of her love affair.
    “Was your mother upset that you’re staying a while?”
    “No.”
    He cracked a smile. “You’re lucky it isn’t a crime to lie to the royal family.”
    “You were listening to my conversation?”
    He shrugged without guilt. “Just the end. I’m sorry about your broken engagement plans.”
    “No