The Sheikh's Accidental Bride by Holly Rayner Read Free Book Online Page A

other door where he wouldn’t see or ask her about it.
     
    “You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday?” he asked, looking at her puzzled.
     
    “You know, you’re right. I am. I hadn’t realized.” It was a thin excuse, so she kept him from dwelling on it. “Was that my breakfast?”
     
    He looked down at the food all over the floor. Servants had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to clean it, but it was still everywhere.
     
    “I wanted to bring it to you myself,” he said, sheepishly.
     
    “Well it’s turned out really well,” she said, wiping off a little smear of egg-yolk that had somehow gotten onto his ear in the confusion.
     
    “That may or may not be entirely my fault,” he said. “Anyway, I have a very important question to ask you,” he continued in mock seriousness. “It’s the thought that counts, true or false?”
     
    Nadya made a great show of deliberating. “Mmm. True,” she said at last.
     
    “Ok, good. Then, on the occasion of this breakfast, I have a favor to ask you.” She gave him an encouraging look, and he continued. “I know you probably have a million things to verify and take care of for the wedding today. But could you, just for me, skip all of it and spend the day with me?”
     
    The question was a bit of theater. It was half a joke, half teasing. She was supposed to say “yes”, and quickly. Or she could tease him a little, and pretend to consider.
     
    But for Nadya, it was a serious question. She tried to find a way out of it. Her clean exit strategy would be ruined if she spent any longer around this fascinating man. Who knew where they would go, and how she would get out it? Where would they be when it all came crashing down?
     
    Unless…
     
    Her bag sat where she had left it, perched at an odd angle born of expediency up against the wall. She glanced at it. Was anything in there really that important? If she brought her wallet, and her phone and her keys with her, was there any reason she couldn’t just leave her bag behind? With any luck, she would be able to slip away at some point in the day. Maybe leave a note. Maybe.
     
    “Sure,” she said, putting him out of his misery.
     
    “I thought for sure for a second you were going to say no.” He seemed puzzled. Hurt, even. Like he knew that there was something about the exchange that he was missing, but he didn’t know what.
     
    “Oh, Salman. I was afraid you were going to find this out. I am, and have always been, not even the slightest bit a morning person.”
     
    He smiled, the tension broken as he recognized his words from last night.
     
    “Do you think you can still marry me,” she continued, “knowing that this is the life you’d be in for?”
     
    “Yes,” he said, enthusiastically.
     
    It was a little game they were playing. An inside joke, based on a new memory that they’d made together. Even though it was based in deceit, and she knew that his yes was not really for her, she still got goosebumps when she heard it.
     
    “Good to know,” she said, quietly. Then she cleared her throat. “I’m going to go change. I’m guessing you will, too?”
     
    “I’ll get back to you on that,” he said, already walking backwards. “I may go like this.” Then he turned, and walked away, casting just one glance over his shoulder before he rounded the corner to his side of the suite.
     
    The door slid closed silently. Nadya grabbed her bag and hauled it off to her room. It was time to focus. Could she really do this? Was there nothing in her luggage that wasn’t disposable?
     
    As she sorted through everything, the answer turned out to be no. She’d miss her traveling clothes and her Chuck Taylors, but they’d probably needed to be replaced for a few months already.
     
    She donned the dress she had meant to wear for her sister’s anniversary party. Jasmine had planned a day party, luckily, so the dress would hopefully be appropriate for whatever Salman was going to throw at