Page 132 of Bred By the Sheikh

“So am I.”

Her palm settled over my chest.

Below us, Al-Hadid Grand Dubai continued operating without our attention. Guests arrived. Cars came and went. Staff moved through restaurants, corridors, suites, and ballrooms.

Tomorrow there would be work.

There would be contracts, calls, meetings, and whatever arrangements followed an engagement involving my family.

None of it needed to happen tonight.

Chrissy shifted against me.

Her ring pressed lightly into my skin.

Her unused flight was already gone.

Her place in my company was hers.

And the woman in my arms had chosen to stay.

I kissed her hair and pulled her closer.

Tomorrow could have the rest.

Tonight, Chrissy was home.

Epilogue

A firework went off somewhere over Dubai while I was trying to decide whether my belly had shifted the entire front of my dress to the left.

I froze, still touching my hip.

The mirror gave me no useful answer.

The deep emerald gown had been fitted three days ago, but the silk sat differently tonight, curving over my stomach before falling cleanly toward the floor. There was no disguising the pregnancy now, and I had no interest in trying.

A firm movement pressed beneath my palm.

I waited until it passed, then reached for the earrings beside the mirror.

Another distant pop sounded beyond the glass, followed by a brief wash of color against the windows.

Someone in Dubai had clearly decided midnight was more of a suggestion.

My wedding and engagement rings flashed under the lights as I fastened the first earring. Five months ago, that diamond had seemed almost absurd on my finger.

Now the sight of both rings together still made me smile.

I tucked one strawberry-blonde wave behind my ear and reached for the second earring.

The bedroom door opened behind me.

I met Tariq’s eyes in the mirror.

He wore formal black eveningwear, immaculate from collar to shoes, his dark hair controlled, his beard precise. He’d wrapped up whatever final combination of business and royal obligations had occupied him for the last half hour.

He looked me over slowly, from my hair to the emerald silk stretched over my belly.