The Sheik's Arranged Marriage. Susan Mallery

      The Sheik’s Arranged Marriage

      Susan Mallery

      To my editor Karen Taylor Richman.

       With thanks for the support, the encouragement and the willingness to let me write books like these. You are the best!

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteeen

      Chapter One

      S he was back, and she was never going to leave!

      After four years of college and two years of finishing school—in Switzerland of all places—Heidi McKinley had finally been allowed to return to the one place on earth where she felt at home. El Bahar. Land of mystery and beauty, where past and present blended in perfect harmony. She wanted to dance down the main street of the souk and buy pomegranates and dates and clothes and all the wonders available at the marketplace. She wanted to put her feet in the sea and feel the heat of the sand. She wanted to breathe in the scents of the beautiful gardens within the palace grounds.

      With a burst of laughter, Heidi raced to the window and pushed open the French doors. Her three-room suite in the guest wing of the palace opened onto a wide balcony. Instantly, the heat of the afternoon sucked the air from her lungs. It was June, the hottest time of the year. It would take her a few weeks to acclimate to the temperature, but even the sensation of freeze-drying like a mummy couldn’t dull her bright spirits. She was back. She was really and truly back.

      “I had hoped you would become sensible as you grew up, but I can see my wish was a futile one.”

      Heidi turned at the sound of the familiar voice, then smiled broadly as Givon Khan, King of El Bahar, stepped onto the balcony.

      The old king, as much a grandfather as her father’s father had been, held open his arms. “Come. Let me welcome you.”

      Heidi flung herself in his arms. She pressed against the suit jacket he wore and inhaled the familiar scents of her childhood. Sandalwood, oranges and something indefinable…something that belonged only to El Bahar.

      “I’m back,” she murmured happily. “I have my degree, and I even completed two years at that silly finishing school, just as I promised. Now may I work here?”

      King Givon drew her into her suite, then closed the French doors. “I refuse to discuss anything of importance out in that heat. We have air-conditioning for a reason.”

      “I know, but I love the heat.”

      Givon was nearly six feet tall, with the weathered features of a man who has spent much of his life in the sun. His wise brown eyes seemed to see all the way down to her soul, much as her grandfather’s gaze had done. She’d spent her whole life trying to please both men. Now, with her grandfather gone, there was only Givon, and she would have moved the world for him.

      He was still a ruler known for both his wisdom and his patience. She’d heard stories that also reminded her that he could be cruel when it was necessary, but she’d never seen that side of the king.

      “Why do you speak of work?” he asked, cupping her face in his right hand. “You’ve only just arrived.”

      “Oh, but I want to work. That’s been my dream since I was little. You promised,” she reminded him.

      “So I did.” He drew his eyebrows together. “Whatever was I thinking?”

      Heidi sighed but didn’t try to cajole the king. She knew better. Besides, female tricks of the trade weren’t her specialty. She could translate ancient El Baharian text with a degree of accuracy that impressed scholars, but flirting…not her, not ever. She didn’t get either the process or the point. Except for the king and her grandfather, males of the species were little more than an annoyance.

      “You are a lovely young woman,” the king told her. “Too lovely to be locked up in dark rooms all your life. Are you sure about this?”

      She closed her eyes briefly. “Please don’t start the ‘wouldn’t you rather be married’ speech, Your Highness. I don’t want to be married. You told me that if I worked hard in school and learned all I needed, including attending that hideous finishing school, then I could have a job inside the palace, translating the old texts. You can’t go back on your word now.”

      King Givon seemed to grow even taller. He stared down at her with a ferocity that made her instantly regret her words, even if she didn’t actually retract them. Bushy eyebrows drew together. She thought he might start yelling at her, and while the prospect wasn’t thrilling, she wasn’t going to cower from him, either. Her grandfather had raised her to be a McKinley and that meant being proud.

      “Minx,” the king said at last with a sigh. Then he touched her cheek. “All right. You may work on your precious texts.”

      “You won’t be sorry,” she said quickly. “There are so many to translate. We have to capture the information quickly before the papers are all destroyed. Time and the elements have weakened many of the fibers. I want to get everything photographed, then stored in a computer data bank. If we—”

      He held up a hand to stop her. “Spare me the technical details. It is an ambitious project. One I’m sure you’ll do well. In the meantime, I have something else I wish to discuss with you.”

      He moved to a sofa opposite the French doors and sat down. When he patted a cushion next to him, she did as he suggested and settled next to him.

      He took her hand in his. “How old are you now?” he asked, staring into her face.

      What an odd question. Still, it didn’t occur to her not to answer. He was the king after all. “Twenty-five.”

      “That old.” He nodded. “You’ve never married.”

      Heidi laughed, then shook her head. “Not me, Your Highness. I’m not the type. I’m far too independent to be happy as someone’s wife. I have no interest in cooking or cleaning. Worse, I refuse to let decisions be made for me by someone simply because he’s male. It’s ridiculous.”

      She paused, carefully withdrew her hand from his, then cleared her throat. Oops. The king was a man and he would not approve of her thoughts on his gender. King Givon might have successfully steered his country into the new millennium, but he was in many ways the essence of El Bahar, which meant some of his world was still anchored in the past.

      “I mean no disrespect,” she added hastily. “Your Highness isn’t like other men, and he would—”

      The king held up a hand to stop her again. “I understand. You were raised in the West, which means you have different ideas about many things. Your grandfather allowed you to make your own decisions much of the time. Your thoughts about marriage are not unexpected.” He glanced at her, then looked out the French doors.

      Heidi followed his gaze and found herself caught up in the magical view. She could see clear to the horizon. The deep blue of the Arabian Sea stretched out before her. It was the most beautiful vista imaginable, she thought dreamily. So perfect, so heavenly, so—

      “What