The Sheikh's Green Card Bride by Holly Rayner, Lara Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

shrugged. “Well, I’m not the general public, am I? I was born into privilege and with that comes a certain level of treatment. That is not my fault, and I think that in turn I am kind to those around me, wouldn’t you agree?”
     
    Nicole thought about that for a moment. It was true that while Bahir was generally treated better because of his good looks and status, he had never really taken advantage of the fact. He hadn’t let it get to his head so much that he treated others poorly, knowing that they had to be nice to him either way. In spite of being born into wealth and building an empire, Bahir wasn’t a snob.
     
    “How did you manage it?” she asked, unable to resist prying a little.
     
    “What, being kind? Not everyone who comes from money is a jerk, Nicole. Now who’s the snob?”
     
    “Just speaking from my own experience,” she said, tearing off another mouthful of bread.
     
    It was nice getting to know Bahir—the real Bahir, behind the businessman—and she found herself greedy to know more. Before she could ask another question, however, Farah and Akilah were back with plates full of hot, fragrant food.
     
    “You will love this, I assure you,” Akilah said with a big smile. She patted her daughter on the shoulder before they left Bahir and Nicole to eat again, and Nicole tried her best to be as delicate as possible as she scarfed down the best meal she’d had in months.
     
    “You think I should ask Farah out?” Bahir asked, wiggling his eyebrows, and Nicole laughed.
     
    “I think that would be cruel of you. Leave the poor girl alone—you have no intention of giving her the love she deserves.”
     
    “You don’t know that,” Bahir said with a furrowed brow.
     
    “Don’t I? You said earlier that no one can take the place of work in your heart.”
     
    “You’re putting words in my mouth, Nicole. I said that I wish I could meet a woman who could accept my lifestyle.”
     
    “Yes, but your lifestyle includes all of your free time. At first a woman might be able to accept that—seeing you sparingly, living her own life of luxury while you spend your days and nights at the office. But that would fade in time. A woman wants to be loved. She wants the one thing a man can give that doesn’t cost a thing: his time. She wants to know that she is worth more than the fame, the glory and the empire.”
     
    “Really? Because in my experience a woman wants money, and that’s the end of it.”
     
    “You can’t mean that. What about your mother?” Nicole asked.
     
    Bahir’s laugh was brittle. “My mother cared more about our estate than she did about my father. As she stood over his cold body, all she could think about was maintaining her lifestyle.”
     
    “Not all women are like that, Bahir,” Nicole said flatly.
     
    “How do you know?” he shot back.
     
    “Because I’m not from your world. I know what it’s like to value things beyond the material, and to take advantage of them when they are there. I’ve seen what toll it takes on someone to have their world stripped away.”
     
    Bahir stared at her for a moment. “What happened?”
     
    Nicole stared at the table, not wanting to answer. Still, her little outburst deserved an explanation, and Bahir’s eyes were open and free of judgement.
     
    “When I was seven, my parents’ house burned down. It was a kitchen fire that I started. We lost everything because of me. My brother was blind. We had to drag him out of the house because he couldn’t find his own way. In one day everything was taken from me—my possessions, my parents’ trust, a life free of guilt. One stupid mistake and it was all gone.”
     
    “You can’t possibly blame yourself for that, Nicole. You were a child.”
     
    “And you wouldn’t blame yourself, if you’d burned down your father’s estate. You wouldn’t live the rest of your life seeing the resentful stares? I had to learn to place value in other things, Bahir, because in the