The Sheik's Pregnant Lover (Love By Accident) (9 page)

Rashid looked down at the woman he’d been trying to find for the past two weeks.  He’d been called back to his country to resolve a potentially armed dispute in one of the northern territories and by the time he’d rounded up the illegal renegades and ensured their prosecution, he’d gone back to find Sidra, only to find that she was
nowhere
to be found.  Even the
friend she’d been visiting was out of the country.  It had taken his security team all this time to track her down in Washington, D.C. and now that he’d found her, he was livid to see her flirting with some other man and in a hotel no less! 

“Ironic coming from a woman who
didn’t bother to leave a forwarding address, or any sort of information on how I could reach you.  I thought it was because your friend was out of the country on an assignment, but perhaps you’d given her instructions to keep that information away from me?”

She was shaking with her anger.  “
D
on’t you dare!  Laura had very specific instructions to give you my contact information but now I’m glad she wasn’t able to!  You’re a two timing jerk.  Did you already have her on the side before you went on your ‘emergency’?” she asked snidely, referring to the woman standing behind Rashid, calmly pretending that this altercation wasn’t happening in the middle of one of the best hotels in
Washington
, D.C. 

Rashid glanced behind him and saw both his personal assistant, Yvette who was glancing through his blackberry for his next meeting and then the man who had been watching the whole scene
, the one who had been sitting next to the woman who hadn’t left his mind for the past three weeks
.  It made his blood boil to think of such an ass touching what he considered to be his.  She might be ready to move on, but she’d given herself to him and he damn well wasn’t finished.  Not by a long shot!

“Let’s get out of the lobby,” he commanded and pulled her along towards the elevators.

She couldn’t believe his gall!  How could he think she would just blindly follow him wherever he demanded she go? 
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Sidra whispered under her breath and pulled back, flinching when his grip hurt her arm just above the elbow. 

Rashid turned back and glared down at her.  “We are not having this discussion in public, Sidra.  Come with me where we can discuss this in private.”

She was so angry at his accusations and his betrayal that she saw red. 
“There’s nothing to discuss!  We had a nice fling,” she said through clenched teeth, hating the words and wishing he would
stop her from saying them, that he would
tell her that it had been more than a fling to him.  She wanted him to contradict her, to tell her that she meant something more than just a morning shag beside the stream.  But his eyes were furious and she could tell by his expression that he had no intention of contradicting her. 

She took a deep breath, burying the hurt so she could at least get out of here and hide away, recover from these new wounds he’d just
inflicted upon
her. 
“Let’s just move on.  Let go of my arm or I’ll make a scene right here.  I don’t know if your boss is
nearby
but I have no qualms about embarrassing everyone around if you don’t let go of me immediately.”

Sidra was lying completely.  She’d hate it if she was noticed by anyone from her firm and there was the very real possibility that one of her clients might be in the area since this hotel was very upscale and the theatres were close by.  Anyone could be stopping by before or after a performance and she didn’t want to be noticed
by someone
and her behavior brought to her firm’s attention. 

The
blond
woman walked up to him and said something low and in a foreign language.  Rashid glared at her and she
quickly
backed up, but he sighed and released her arm.  “This is not over, Sidra.  Bank on it!”

With that, he turned around and walked
swiftly
through the
large
lobby away from her towards the elevators. 

Sidra watched him go with a pained look. 
She tried hard to follow him, to see him for as long as possible, but there was a large group of men in dark suits who were also heading in that direction and she lost him in that crowd. 
She wondered why there were so many people heading in the same direction all of a sudden, but it was none of her business. 
When he disappeared
behind a sea of black suits
, she took a deep breath and turned to leave the hotel herself. 
She had to get out of here
as quickly as possible
. 

To
m walked up to her right then and put a hand on her shoulder.  “Are you okay?” he asked
gently
.

Sidra jumped, initially thinking that Rashid had somehow come back but when she looked at the hand, it wasn’t tanned and strong, but pale, with much less strength in the fingers and forearm.  She looked up and realized that it was her date for the night and
instantly relaxed.  She pasted a smile on her face, trying to reassure Tom who had been nothing but a gentleman for the night. 
“I’m fine.  I apologize for that scene.  It was
unconscionable
.”

“No problem. 
Do you know who that was?” he asked, looking towards the elevators with awe. 

Sidra glanced in the same direction just in time to see Rashid step into the elevators and glare back at her.  “I know exactly who he is.  He’s an absolute jerk who should be shot!”

Tim’s eyes snapped back to hers.  He was about to say something, but Sidra forced a smile on her face and shook her head. “I’m sorry about that.  I can’t believe I ran into him here of all places.”

Tom chuckled, shaking his head. 
“You’re telling me!”

Sidra sighed and pulled her purse closer. 
Although Tom was a very nice man, she knew that he wasn’t the one that was going to take her mind off of Rashid.  Especially since he was in this very hotel now.  Besides, Tom was handsome, but not nearly as strong or rugged as Rashid.  She thought he was kind, but there was no excitement when he touched her, which told her that he wasn’t the guy for her. 
“I really need to get home.  Thank you very much for the drink.”

She could see that T
o
m wanted to say something more, but she discouraged that by just turning and walking through the rotating doors.  When she was back out on the street, she took a deep breath, then headed to the subway station.  She walked quickly, unaware that tears were streaming down her cheeks. 

Chapter
6

Sidra had never been more grateful to have Monday morning roll around.  She’d spent the weekend cleaning her apartment, strolling through as many showrooms as she could endure, making notes on various pieces that she thought were interesting.  She wanted so desperately to forget Rashid, to push him out of her mind but no matter what she did,
memories of the time they’d spent together kept rushing through her barriers
.  She wasn’t eating, she was barely sleeping and when she finally slept, she dreamt about him,
about
being in his arms and experiencing the same bliss she’d found that weekend in England. 

She printed out several of the pictures she’d taken of light fixtures over the weekend and pressed them to the boards for a few of her clients’ designs.  As soon as she did that, she knew she’d gotten a hit on the ideas and worked around those lights. 
She was grateful that she’d found something that would put the spark back in her work life.  A part of her wondered if the spark was actually knowing that Rashid was in town, even if she wouldn’t be able to see him again. 

“You’re wanted in the conference room,” Andrea, the assistant Sidra shared with several of the other junior associates.

Sidra glanced at the doorway where Andrea’s head had popped in and popped out, then swung around to her desk, pressing a few keys to get her schedule.  Picking up the phone, she dialed Andrea’s extension.  “Andrea?  I don’t have a meeting scheduled.  Are you sure you need me in the conference room?”

“Definitely.  The request came directly from Debra so you’d better hurry,” Andrea whispered through the phone.

Sidra froze when Andrea mentioned the name of the head partner of the design firm. 
“Debra?  You mean Debra Morovia?  Our boss?”

“One and the same!  She’s waiting impatiently and just looked out of the conference room door,” Andrea whispered frantically.  “Hurry and get down there.  I’ll try and find out what I can about the meeting
while you gather your stuff
.”

Sidra put the phone
back in the cradle
and tried to calm herself by taking a few deep breaths while gathering up her notebook and a pen.  She dropped the pen twice on the way out of her office which only slowed her down
even
more.  Debra was rarely in meetings.  In fact, the woman was rarely in the office.  She was the founder of the firm and she never attended meetings with the lower level associates.  Debra Morovia’s designs were featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair and her name drew in the big clients, but she never deigned to mingle with the
lesser mortals of the firm.

Something was very, very wrong, Sidra thought as she walked past Andrea’s desk.  Andrea shook her head, indicating that she hadn’t heard anything so Sidra just walked past, heading down the long hallway towards the executive conference room. 

As soon as Sidra stepped tentatively into the room, she saw Debra, in all her sophisticated glory, standing up and smiling at her.  “Here she is!” Debra said and walked towards Sidra as if they were old friends.  The older woman put her arm around Sidra’s shoulders and turned to face the others that were in the conference room. 

And that’s when she saw him!  Rashid was sitting at the end of the elegant conference table, leaning off to the side slightly as his ice blue eyes watched the scene unfold.  He looked at her with the most incredible expression, as if he’d somehow won the war!

Sidra stiffened
with that look but quickly
noticed Debra’s warning look.  She allowed the head of the firm to lead her into the room and took the offered seat.  Rashid was a
t
the head of the table and Debra sat to the right of him
, an interesting change of power positions,
Sidra thought
.  She pushed the chair back slightly and crossed her legs as she smiled at Rashid
, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong with this intimate little gathering.  She suspected that she was about to be fired, but couldn’t for the life of her figure out how Rashid had accomplished such a feat
.

Nothing was making any sense, Sidra thought as she sat stiffly beside Debra.  Why was the head of the firm, the woman who only took the most powerful, most wealthy and well known clients, sitting down and gushing to a man who trained horses? 

And who were all these other people?  The blond woman Sidra had seen the other night at the Willard Hotel was sitting to Rashid’s left, prepared to take notes and looking exceptionally beautiful and efficient.  There was a bulky man behind Rashid and several more in each corner of the conference room while one man actually stepped out and closed the conference room doors. 

“Well, now that we’re all here, we’d be delighted to hear how we can help you.”

Rashid didn’t even glance at Debra, a fact that was really irritating her boss who was doing her best to entice the man.  “As I said, I have a large project that needs your firm’s attention.  I’ve seen Ms. Y
ork
’s work before and she’s exactly the woman I want
to work on the project
.” 

Sidra flinched as she heard the double entendres in his statement.  He didn’t say that he wanted a designer with her special talents or perspective.  He simply said that he wanted her
on his project
. 
What game was he playing at?  She furiously thought through possibilities and tried to contain her anger at his rude staring. 

Sidra glanced at the blond woman
whose
pen remained poised to take notes, but the page was blank.

Debra leaned forward and gushed more.  “We’re extremely pleased that you’ve chosen our firm to help you.  Can you describe this project?”

“My home in Tasain needs re-decorating.  I’d like to hire Ms. Y
ork
to come and give me ideas, oversee the project and follow up to make sure that everything works out the way I want it to.”

Sidra’s eyes popped open.  Could he afford something like this?  Sidra had no idea what a horse trainer makes in a year but perhaps the top trainers were wealthy.  Rashid obviously commanded a great deal of respect if Debra was taking an interest. 

She cleared her throat and placed a hand gently on Sidra’s arm.  “We can definitely provide Ms. Y
ork’s expertise.  She’s
actually a junior associate so we’ll
send over someone more experienced, just to guide Ms. Y
ork
through some of the more difficult issues of such a large project.”