Sleeping with the Sheikh: The Sheikh's Bidding / Delaney's Desert Sheikh / Desert Warrior

“Nothing if you’re hauling feed and hay and traveling only a short distance. I believe my mode of transportation provides more comfort and reliability. And if you’ll recall, our son expressed his desire to ride in it. Rashid can drive us.”

Andrea chewed her bottom lip for a moment before raising her eyes to his. “Maybe that is a good idea. Plenty of room in the limo. Lots of room, in fact.” She smiled once again. A smile that could only mean trouble for Sam. “In fact, I just bet you could stretch out if you wanted to.”

“Andrea,” he said in a half-warning tone, a great effort considering the arrival of visions of Andrea beneath him, naked, in the dimly lit limousine.

She stretched her arms above her head, giving him a good view of her breasts unencumbered beneath the satin, then rose and stood above him. “Relax, Sam. I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

Exactly what he feared, for if given the opportunity, Sam knew precisely what he would want to do—make love to her as if tomorrow would not arrive.

In many ways, at least in regard to his time with the mother of his child, that was very close to the truth.

“Got a minute to gab, Andi?” Tess asked the following day.

Andi looked up from gathering a few things for the trip to camp and gave her attention to Tess. “Sure. What’s up?”

Pacing the length of the bedroom, Tess paused to toy with various keepsakes on the bureau. “I have something I need to tell you.”

Andi tossed the picnic blanket aside and took a roost on the edge of the bed, gearing up for a “Sam” lecture. “I’ve agreed to let him go with me, if that’s what’s bugging you.”

Tess finally faced her. “I know. Sam told me. But this doesn’t have a thing to do with him.”

Realizing Tess meant serious business, Andi patted the mattress beside her. “Have a seat and tell me what’s got you in such a mood.”

Tess joined her and wrapped an arm around Andi’s shoulder. “Honey, Riley has asked me to marry him.”

“So what else is new?”

“This time I said yes.”

Andi’s heart took a nosedive over the prospect of losing the one person she had come to count on through thick and thin, a proverbial port in the storm, her touchstone.

Hiding her selfishness with a smile, Andi proclaimed with a goodnatured pat on Tess’s thigh, “Well it’s about damned time.”

Tess gave Andi’s shoulder a motherly squeeze. “Then you’re okay with this?”

“Are you asking my approval?”

“I’m asking how you feel about it.”

Rising from the bed, Andrea took her place at the bureau where Tess had been a few moments before, her back turned to her aunt so she wouldn’t give herself away. “Of course I’m okay with it. I’m thrilled.” She didn’t sound at all thrilled.

Biting back the tears, Andi drew in several cleansing breaths. Tess’s careworn hands coming to rest on her shoulders almost proved to be her undoing.

“I know the timing seems pretty bad with Sam here again,” Tess said, “but Riley bought himself one of those new-fangled homes on wheels and he wants to travel.”

That brought Andi around to face Tess. “You mean you’ll be gone all the time?”

“A lot of the time. We’d like to see the country in our golden years, before we’re too old to enjoy it.”

Andi attempted another smile, but her lips felt as stiff as a metal pipe. “That sounds great, Tess.”

Tess tried to smile, as well, but it, too, seemed forced. “During the summers you and Chance can come along with us, when he’s out of school.”

“Oh, yeah, Tess. I’m sure Riley would love having us along while you’re still on your honeymoon.”

“Next year, silly girl. We’re not going to tie the noose until after Sam leaves.”

Andi shrugged. “Why not now? Sam can be Riley’s best man. Heck, how many people can say they have a prince standing up for them during the nuptials?” Her attempt at humor rang false, and she realized her aunt saw right through her.

Tess brushed Andi’s hair away from her shoulders, a gesture so endearing and familiar it made Andi’s heart ache, and the stubborn tears threatened to appear once again. “Your time will come, Andi girl. You only have to open yourself up. You can do that once Sam’s gone again.”

Did everyone have to keep reminding her about Sam’s impending departure? Was everyone so bent on believing that her world revolved around him?

Andi swallowed past the boulder in her throat, determined not to cry over something she couldn’t control. “Whether Sam’s here or not makes no difference to me, except where Chance is concerned. There’s nothing more between us.” If only Andi had sounded more convincing. If only she really believed that.

“There will always be something between you two, Andi. A child, and two different worlds. He can’t give you what you need, but someday you’ll find a man who can.”

Andrea wanted to stomp her foot and cuss like a ranch hand. She wanted to scream that this supposed “special” man didn’t exist in any world, especially hers. Instead, she said, “I’m satisfied with my life, Tess. My work and Chance are all I need. And I’m thrilled for you and Riley. You’ve been the only mother I’ve ever known, and if you hadn’t been there when Daddy and Paul died, I don’t know what I would’ve done. You deserve some happiness, too.”

Tess tugged her into a solid embrace. “I’ll always be here for you, honey, God willing.” She pulled back and studied Andi’s face through the eyes of a mother concerned for her child. “Just like I was for all the hurts and heartaches, and for Chance’s entry into this crazy world, I’ll be there when your prince leaves again.”

Your prince. Andi had never been one to put much stock in fairy tales, or to believe that some knight would come along and rescue her. Sheikh Samir Yaman had shattered those dreams long ago, and he would shred her life again if she let him.

But she wouldn’t let him destroy her. As always, she would survive. She and Chance together. Andi didn’t need a prince, even one she would probably love forever.

Chapter Five

Sam regarded Andrea over the magazine he’d pretended to read for the better part of the trip to the camp. Thankfully she had retired early the night before without further mention of lovemaking. In fact, she had said very little at all, then and now. At the moment she sat across from him wringing her hands and staring with an unfocused gaze out the tinted window.

Curious over her uncharacteristic silence, Sam tossed the magazine aside and studied her. “Are you afraid that our son has forgotten his mother?”

She turned startled eyes on him. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“You seem very nervous.”

She tightened the rubber band around her hair. “Can you blame me? I mean, I’m about to take you to camp. Even if Chance doesn’t question your resemblance to him, other people are going to automatically assume you’re his father.”

“That is not necessarily so.”

“Oh, come on, Sam. He looks just like you, right down to the blasted dimple.”

Sam couldn’t contain his pride or his smile. “He has your nose.”

Andi placed her fingertips on the tip of her nose as if to verify that fact. “He does at the moment, but he’s still just a baby. I’m sure he’ll have your aristocratic honker by the time he’s a teenager.”

“Honker?”

“That’s what Chance calls noses.”