The Sultan's Choice by Abby Green Read Free Book Online Page B

mouth and he too stepped back, letting Samia breathe a little easier. He shook his head. ‘No, not right now. I’ll have my assistant set up a schedule and send it over to you tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy three weeks before we return to Al-Omar for our wedding.’
    ‘Three weeks?’
Samia squeaked, all pretence of insouciance gone at the terrifying thought. For some reason she’d imagined the wedding happening at some far-off distant time.
    He nodded, all businesslike as he escorted her to the door. ‘Three weeks, Samia. That should give you plenty of time to hand over your job and prepare for the wedding. I’ll be intouch. There will be a press release issued next week. You might want to let your brother know the happy news before that happens.’
    The following morning at work Samia finally found five minutes to steal away somewhere private and look at the tabloid she’d furtively bought on her way to the library. She held her breath as she took in the full glory of the lurid photo. She looked like a rabbit startled in the headlights, her eyes huge and her hair wild. And that suit! She could hear her stepmother’s derisive voice in her head right now, exclaiming over Samia’s general incompetence. She could have wept. Sadiq loomed behind her with a stern look on his gorgeous face, like an avenging dark angel, big hands on her waist making it look tiny. She looked more like an ill-dressed PA to the Sultan rather than his fiancée.
    Fiancée.
Her stomach churned as she crumpled up the offending paper. She’d left the engagement ring at home that morning and her skin prickled, as if somehow he would know and pop out from behind a corner to chastise her. She still couldn’t really believe it, but a long conversation with her brother the previous night, and his palpable relief that they would have Al-Omar’s cooperation, had helped reality sink in. It only eased her discomfort slightly.
    The disturbing sense of equanimity that had washed over her when she’d said yes to Sadiq’s proposal had long disappeared. It would be the wedding of the decade, and she would be annihilated when people realised she was nothing like his long line of mistresses. Not to mention the other aspects of their marriage—like the physical one. Samia felt a dart of despair. She was so far out of Sadiq’s league in that respect that she fully expected he would have to take a mistress to stay satisfied.
    The really galling thing was that she was as innocent andpure as the virgin brides rulers like Sadiq would have expected for millenia. She’d had a bad experience in college when a boy who had been pursuing her had become very pushy after a couple of dates. Samia had turned his advances down and he’d stormed off, saying,
‘I was only trying to get you into bed for a dare anyway, because of who you are, but I’m glad I didn’t! Life is too short! ‘
    She’d repressed any hint of sexuality since then, not wanting to invite any cruel criticism or attention. Diverting her mind from the painful memory, she thought back to the phone call she’d received from Sadiq early that morning, just before she’d left for work.
    ‘I’ve set up an appointment with a personal shopper this weekend. You’ll need a trousseau. And wedding outfits. The festivities alone will last three days.’
    Samia had sat down on the chair beside the phone, the future yawning open before her and looking scarier and scarier. ‘Does it have to be three days? Why can’t we just get married here in a civil ceremony with a couple of witnesses?’
    He’d chuckled darkly and it had made Samia want to hit him. ‘Because I’m a sultan and you’re a princess about to become a queen, that’s why. Also,’ he’d continued briskly, ‘you need to be protected. As of this morning you’ll have two bodyguards, and you will be transported to and from work in one of my cars. The news may not be public yet, but enough people know, or suspect something.’
    Samia’s