Christmas Bride For The Sheikh

‘What does that mean for you?’

‘I’m not sure. I know that there’s unrest amongst the people and that there has been a lot of unhappiness at the Palace. Ilyas wants change. He’s gone to speak with his brother to see if he has his backing.’

Flo held her breath. She doubted she’d be at the forefront of Hazin’s thoughts when he found out his brother was challenging the King, yet there was a tiny dart of hope that Hazin would maybe understand that she hadn’t been at Dion’s last night to seduce him.

Maggie had more news as well. ‘After Ilyas has spoken with Hazin he’s heading back to Zayrinia. Now that I’ve accepted his proposal I’m not allowed to see him until we marry.’

‘At all?’ Flo checked, and Maggie nodded. ‘So when will you marry?’

‘Two weeks’ time!’

‘Oh, my!’ Flo looked at her friend and asked, perhaps, a stupid question, but it was all too much to take in. ‘You’ll live in Zayrinia?’

Maggie nodded. ‘I’ll still see you, though.’

Yes, Flo thought, but it won’t be the same. She looked around Maggie’s room within a flat, which she had helped her move into not long ago. She was thrilled for her friend but at the same time Flo was daunted by the distance. Maggie felt more like a sister than a friend. Flo stopped by the café where Maggie worked most days for a catch-up. She had a drawer full of clothes and necessities that she’d been buying for the baby.

And now both Maggie and the baby were moving away—in two weeks’ time!

‘I’m going to miss you,’ Flo admitted.

‘I won’t give you a chance to. But, Flo, I’m so scared it will all go wrong. What if his father doesn’t accept his choice of bride? This challenge to the King is so new and it was made before he knew about the baby. Ilyas knows that nothing happened between Hazin and me on the yacht but what if his parents don’t believe us?’

‘Maggie...’ Flo attempted to calm her friend but Maggie was a touch frantic.

‘I just don’t want anything to go wrong.’

‘It won’t,’ Flo said assuredly, deciding that now possibly wasn’t the best time to tell Maggie she had just come from Hazin’s bed! Maybe once the wedding was over and done with she would tell her friend what had happened last night.

But maybe not!

‘You will come to the wedding?’ Maggie checked.

‘Of course I’ll be there,’ Flo said as she mentally stared down the eye of the off-duty roster. She had fought hard to have three weeks off at Christmas. It would be her first Christmas off since she had started nursing, but she would forfeit it if meant she could be there for her friend. ‘I’ll call work now.’ Flo said. ‘I’ll see if I can swap some annual leave.’

Yet she didn’t have to!

She and Maggie would arrive two days before the wedding and, Flo was delighted to find out, they would be flying in on Ilyas’s plane.

And, given Maggie and Ilyas would be off to the desert straight afterwards, she didn’t need much time off work.

It just meant a jiggle of the roster and Flo got to keep her Christmas leave.

Of course, while organising her leave there was a coil of hope rising that she would get to see Hazin!

* * *

It was the busiest run-up to a wedding and was beyond exciting.

Maggie sorted out her life and planned her big move, and Flo worked right up to the last minute.

‘I am so tired,’ she admitted, as she and Maggie, along with a couple of other good friends—Paul the café manager and his wife Kelly—all collapsed on the sumptuous leather seats on Ilyas’s private jet. ‘But not too tired for champagne!’

It was brilliant.

A whirlwind.

The take-off was abrupt and then they were served a sumptuous lunch of dips and then a delectable kuku sabzi—a Persian herb frittata with walnuts, decorated with crushed rose petals and berberis leaves, all washed down with a sweet hibiscus tea.

Paul and Kelly went for a rest in one of the guest cabins but Flo refused hers; instead, she and Maggie went into the Royal suite.

‘Oh, my gosh!’ Flo said. ‘You and Ilyas get to have sex here!’

There was a huge bed draped in furs, and the lighting was demure. It was just a sexy man cave miles in the sky. ‘Is this just for Ilyas?’ Flo asked, fishing a little.

‘It is.’ Maggie nodded.

‘What about his parents?’

‘They have their own plane.’

‘And the brother?’ Flo, oh, so casually asked.

‘Hazin has his own, I believe,’ Maggie said. ‘They do their own thing.’

They lay on the bed together and marvelled at the journey ahead, as well as the one that had brought them here.

It was so nice to take some time out, for they simply had not had a chance to just relax and talk.

‘What will happen about your antenatal care?’ Flo asked.

‘I’ll have the Palace doctor apparently.’

‘What about scans and things?’

‘Anything I need shall be brought to the Palace but if there’s a problem in labour and I need to go to the hospital there’ll be a helicopter on standby.’ She must have seen the dart of concern in Flo’s eyes for Maggie spoke on. ‘It’s a ten-minute flight away. I don’t think they’ll be taking any chances with the future King.’

‘Of course not.’ Flo agreed, and then sighed. ‘I’d have loved to deliver you.’