SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance (127 page)

The old man’s hand trembled as he turned it to grasp his son’s fingers almost desperately. Amir had to bend to hear his father’s whispered words.

“When were you going to tell me of your plans, my son?” He turned watery eyes to Amir’s face before closing them. “Why did I have to hear from a stranger that you plan to bring a whore into the family? Do you wish to send me to an early grave?”

Amir raised a puzzled brow. “I am not marrying a whore, Father. Where did you get such a story?”

There was no answer for a moment, just the trembling fingers around his own. And then his father whispered, tears streaming from his eyes,

“Do you know about that woman you have hired to watch over me? I cannot have her attend me in her fallen state!”

He was getting agitated again, and Amir hastened to soothe him. “I promise you I will not do anything you don’t wish me to do, Father.”

The trembling eventually calmed, and his father fell asleep again. Neither he nor his father had noticed Alexandra’s arrival in the room, not her abrupt departure. When he left the room, she was not there, but he did not remark it because he had told her to go back to the palace and return later. However, when she hadn’t returned four hours later, he called Malik and asked after her.

“She has become very erratic, and I am concerned.”

Malik did not answer, and something in his silence warned Amir that what he was about to hear would displease him.

“What has happened?” He squared his shoulders, preparing for bad news.

“My lord,” Malik said hesitantly, “Ms. Downing has left.”

Cold dread washed over Amir, followed by even colder fury. She had deserted her post? And him? And without a word? He suppressed the urge to roar in rage, and asked in a tight voice,

“What do you mean she has left?”

“Ms. Downing returned from the hospital almost as soon as she had gone back, and packed her things and those of her child. She called for a taxi and was taken to the airport. Even now, I imagine she is in the air, my Lord.”

“How would she have gotten a flight so quickly?” he demanded.

“I don’t think she took a direct flight, my lord,” Malik informed him. He paused, and then added, “She left you a note.”

“Bring it to me.”

Malik appeared half an hour later and handed Amir a pink envelope. He sniffed it, hoping to get a whiff of her, but there was no scent. Stepping out of his father’s room, he opened it impatiently, ripping the envelope as he did so, and withdrew the single sheet of paper. Alexandra’s strong handwriting appeared.

Your Highness,
(Amir ground his teeth at the formal address)

As you are already angry with me for not having told you about the true nature of my relationship with Simone’s father, Simon Parker, and you are now laboring under the impression that I am, in fact, a whore, come to contaminate your sacred palace, I will remove myself from your home, and from your employ. Your father has no need to fear for his family’s reputation any longer. I relinquish the rest of my salary, and of course will not expect a reference from you.

Be happy with the woman you chose. You and Princess Amina deserve each other.

Alexandra Downing

He knew he had to find her. Alexandra was hurting, and it appeared that not only had she overheard part of his conversation with his father, but that Amina had something to do with it. He could not leave his father’s side until he was out of danger, and in any event, by the time he managed to find out where she had gone, she would have left already. His only recourse was to have her tracked, and when he was able, to go and find her and bring her home. In the meantime, he needed to find out what was Amina’s involvement in this debacle. He had not chosen her, no matter what Alexandra thought, or what she had been told.

As if he had conjured her by thinking about her, Princess Amina appeared, escorted by one of the staff. She approached Amir cautiously, no doubt sensing the fury he was holding in check.

“How is the king?” she asked when she stood before him.

“He is resting,” he said. “What did you say to Ms. Downing?”

It was clear that she had not been prepared for that question, and Amir watched as she floundered, struggling to find an acceptable answer.

“I told her that you were a kind man and that she ought not to take your kindness for interest beyond what it was.”

“Who are you to speak for me?” he demanded angrily. She flinched, and he continued, ignoring her discomfort at having the conversation in front of his security detail. “Why was she not at my father’s side when you spoke with him?”

“She said she needed to visit the ladies room, so I told her I would stay until she returned.”

He supposed it was plausible. “And what did you say to my father, Amina? He became ill almost as soon as you left his side.”

The accusation in Amir’s voice turned it into a growl, and she flinched again. When she did not respond immediately, he barked, “What did you say to upset him?”

“I was just complimenting him on his caregiver, and on how she had overcome her situation to become a nurse.”

Amir became deadly still. “What situation?”

She looked at him with patently false innocence and said, “Well, she was not a married woman when she had her daughter, was she? It must have taken a great deal of courage for her to dig herself out of that hole, don’t you think?”

Amir was almost speechless with rage. “Leave me!” he commanded her, and turned his back on her to say to his detail, “See to it that she is not allowed back on this floor!”

He stalked into his father’s room and shut the door. Now his father’s words made sense to him, and the fullness of Amina’s perfidy became evident. Because of her spiteful, jealous spirit, his father lay closer to death, and the woman he loved thought the worst of him and had left him in anger. He clenched his fists as he paced, wishing there was more he could do to fix both situations, and feeling impotent because he knew he couldn’t. He took deep calming breaths, reining in his anger and frustration. Then he sat in the armchair and considered what he would do. Whatever it took, he would bring his Alexandra back to him.

Simone dangled her feet in the pool at the back of the guest house where she and her mother were staying. Her little swim suit clung to her wet body, and she giggled as her mother splashed her from the pool. Alex had run from Mubaira, taking the first plane out to anywhere that wasn’t there, and then getting a connecting flight to Paris and New York. From there she had taken the bus and ended up in this little coastal town, population really small, and she would hide here until she felt safe to start job hunting again. Her salary for the last two months had been more than twice what she would have made at the nursing home, and she had also been paid a travel bonus, which is what she had used to buy the tickets. At least Amir had kept his word and made sure she and Simone had passports, or she didn’t know how she would have been able to escape.

And she had had to escape. Overhearing that conversation between the prince and his father, in which he had made it clear that not only did he believe she was a whore, but that he had no intention of marrying her, had cut into her like a knife. She hauled herself up onto the side of the pool next to her daughter, remembering the security detail’s shocked reaction when she had wheeled around and sped off. On the way back to the palace in a cab, which she had managed to get without alerting the driver who had been assigned to her, she had called the three airlines before she found one that had a flight that day. She had taken it out, stopping in Dubai only long enough to get another flight out to Paris, and from there to New York.

She needed this time away, not only to hide from Amir and his assistant, but also to decide what she wanted to do next. She had to find a place to live, and a job to support her child and herself. And it needed to be as remote and unexpected as possible, so that neither Amir nor his very efficient assistant would be able to find her. She couldn’t handle them right now…maybe never. She just wanted to curl up and die, but here, in this modest guest house in this small town, no one knew her, so she could disappear.

After an hour, when the sun began to climb higher in the sky, she took Simone in, rinsed them both off, and gave her her morning lesson. Then they dozed for a while, her baby’s head on her belly. The insistent chiming of her cell phone woke her, and she reached for it. Someone had answered her application. She opened the message and saw she had an interview in three days in a city a hundred miles away. The job was not exactly the same as the nursing home one, but the pay was a little better. They needed someone ASAP, and if she passed the interview, she would begin to work immediately. Excitement gripped her, as well as a kind of dread. She would have to get there, find a place to stay, find a daycare for Simone and be prepared to start work immediately.

She looked over at the still sleeping child and wished she could do things differently. The little girl had had her life completely uprooted twice in the last three months, and was about to have it upended again. It couldn’t be good for her, Alex realized, but she had no choice. Sliding off the bed, she began to pack, and when that was done, she checked the bus routes to her new home town. One would be leaving in four hours. That gave her time to settle her bill, have dinner, and get to the station on time. She couldn’t afford to miss the bus. The next one would not be until the next afternoon, and time was of the essence. Still leaving Simone to sleep, she searched for a place to stay, even temporarily, and found a motel that didn’t look seedy. She called and made a booking for two weeks starting the next day. Hopefully, she could find more permanent lodging by the end of the second week.

After she and Simone had changed into fresh clothes, she went down to settle her bill, thanked the motherly proprietor for her kindness, promised she would call as soon as she arrived, and went out to get a shuttle to the bus station. There was a diner across the street from it, and after she had bought her tickets, she took Simone in for a light meal, and ordered extra sandwiches to go. Eventually, it was time to board the bus, and the long ride began. Simone dozed, but Alex stayed awake, watching the scenes go by, enjoying the sense of freedom. In another life, she would love to be able to do train treks across the country, and road trips. But those were just dreams, never to be fulfilled. Instead, she was here, on a bus, watching the world go by and watching out for her daughter.

The next few days flew by, and by the time of the interview, she was tired but cautiously optimistic. Simone was being watched by a motherly older lady who took in children as their parents needed her, and she was happy to have the regular income that watching Simone would provide. Alex would figure out school in the meantime, although she had noticed that Mrs. Wilcox had a number of areas set up in her very large dining room, like stations in a pre-K class. Maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about Simone at all.

With the reference that she had been given to her from the other nursing home in hand, she approached the door of the office to which she had been directed, and knocked.

“Enter!”

Alex walked in, head high despite the butterflies winging around inside her. She sat where indicated and passed over her credentials and reference. The woman behind the desk was tall, bony, and a perfect match for a Fraggle. She said good morning, shook Alex’s hand and introduced herself as Miss Creighton. She perused the documents quickly, then captured Alex’s gaze with her piercing gray eyes.

“You were out of work for a while, I see. What happened?”

Alex had decided that she would be better off not mentioning Mubaira nor her time there, especially as she had no references from them. She simply said,

“I needed to spend some time with my daughter.”

As explanations went, it was pretty thin, but it was all she had, and not completely a lie. She had spent more time with Simone while she was in Mubaira, and that was something she knew she would never get back.

“And how old is your daughter?”

“She’s four.”

Ms. Creighton studied her for a moment, and then seemed to come to a decision. “Are you ready to begin, Ms. Downing?” she asked, and when Alex said she was, they both stood and her new boss gave her the small tour of the facility. It was a daycare facility for the elderly, and she would be required to do very few health-related things. Feeding, medicating, which meant making sure they took their medications, and helping them with self-administered shots and so on, exercise, and mental stimulation seemed to be the main things she would do for the patients assigned to her.

And so the new job began. Her hours were nine to five, with a half hour for lunch and two fifteen minute breaks, morning and afternoon. The patients she had were quiet, and she had to be creative to find ways to engage them. She found pleasure in making one lady in particular, an eight-seven-year-old, smile when she figured out the puzzle Alex found for her to solve. She had been away from Mubaira for a month, and had found permanent lodging in Mrs. Wilcox’s home, in a back bedroom with access to the kitchen and second bathroom, used by the children whom the older lady took in sometimes. Now Alex didn’t have to worry about getting Simone to her on time, and her morning routines came easier. In exchange for the old lady’s kindness, she took over the cooking, and helped with cleaning the ‘public’ spaces in the house on weekends.

Her room had been Mrs. Wilcox’s daughter’s room before she had married and moved across the country. It was large and airy, and perfectly suited Alex’s needs for the moment. She would work in this new job for a year or so, and once she had saved enough, she would find her own place to live, furnished the way she wanted. Her new job kept her too busy to brood in the day-light hours, but once she had done the evening things, and Simone was asleep, she struggled to fall asleep as thoughts of Amir assaulted her, memories of his kisses, the way he had made her come…she cried herself to sleep most nights, missing him so much the pain was almost unbearable. In the beginning, Simone had woken up at night crying and asking for Baba and Mr. Fice, which tore Alex up inside, but thankfully she seemed to have gotten over that phase and was sleeping through the night again.