The Sheikh's Purchased Bride by Holly Rayner Read Free Book Online

the 1940s than to see a movie made in the 1940s, by people who actually lived in that time period? The stories were full of substance, because they had to be. They had little else to fall back on.”
     
    “Okay,” she conceded with a groan. “But can you relate to them?”
     
    “Sure! These were films being made back when there weren’t a thousand other films like them with the exact same storylines. They were original, and they dealt with stories that are still the forerunning themes for movies today: love, pain, the human spirit. They’re timeless.”
     
    “And not a werewolf or vampire in sight,” Amie said, raising her brows sardonically. “All right,” she shrugged and continued picking at her plate. “So why do you like them, really? It can’t just be for the history lesson.”
     
    “I’m something of an insomniac by nature…” He took a long breath in and watched the actors on the screen; their steps perfectly in-time as they danced together through a field of sunflowers. He smiled as they did so and, almost out of nowhere, Amie felt a flash of attraction for her new boss. “They… make me feel something indescribable. There’s a spirit in these films that you can’t find today.”
     
    She snapped her fingers slowly and joked, “But they sure don’t help you sleep.”
     
    “Unfortunately not,” he said with a smile. “So what about you, Amie? What brings you down here, besides your apparently insatiable appetite?”
     
    Amie watched Malik, illuminated in the half-light of the television, and couldn’t help but think how handsome he looked. His eyes were tired, yet bright. His skin was perfectly tan, and he was well-built in frame, much taller than her, with the most enviable thick brown hair that she wouldn’t dare admit she was jealous of. What drew her in most was his smile; straight teeth, white as a cloud.
     
    Snap out of it!
     
    She shook her head suddenly before dropping her carrot stick and leaning back on the couch. “I just couldn’t sleep,” she said lamely. “I guess I’m still full of questions.”
     
    “You don’t say.”
     
    “Do you mind?”
     
    He made a sweeping gesture with his arm and nodded. “Not at all.”
     
    “Okay, how about we start with… why you’re doing all this? I mean, we’re taking the whole parental acceptance thing a bit far, aren’t we?” The words came out somewhat harsher than she intended and she winced slightly.
     
    “I guess you could say that,” he laughed and gave a half-hearted roll of his eyes. “You want the truth?”
     
    “Always,” she said softly.
     
    “I moved to Chicago about nine years ago,” he explained, leaning back in his chair. “My father sent me there to make a name for myself.”
     
    “And did you?”
     
    “Oh, yes.” He gave a disappointed laugh. “Maybe a bit too much of one. I quickly discovered my passion for real estate; the market’s constantly changing, and you have to move fast to stay ahead of the competition. I was grabbing opportunities wherever I saw them, and within a couple of years I was at the top of a multi-million-dollar company. I used my savings to buy the owners out, and two years later, the business was turning a multi-billion-dollar profit.”
     
    “Real estate, real estate, rah-rah-rah,” Amie said with mock enthusiasm, not allowing the genuine admiration she felt deep down to show. “What’s so bad about that? It sounds to me like you’re killin’ it!”
     
    “Well, that’s not the reputation my parents were concerned about.”
     
    “Ah…”
     
    “Ah,” he repeated in the same tone. “You see, I’ve developed a reputation as something of a…”
     
    She blinked and watched him fumble over his words. “Skank?” she said frankly.
     
    “ Playboy ,” he corrected.
     
    She wrinkled her nose. “Um, yeah, that’s just a fancier word for it.”
     
    He shrugged with a chuckle. “What can I say? I love American women. I love wining and dining