The Sheik's Furious Bride (Love By Accident) (15 page)

He pulled on his clothes, watching her fiddle with the towel while she contemplated what to wear.  He smothered a laugh when he finally realized that she was too embarrassed to dress in front of him.  “You know, you’re going to have to get over this embarrassment at some point,” he told her as he walked into her closet where she’d been pretending to contemplate her dress choices
for the day
. 

She sighed and looked down at the floor, biting her lower lip in indecision. 
“I suppose a husband and wife should be more casual around each other.”

He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed gently. 
“
A
nd you should feel free to parade around me naked
whenever
the mood strikes you.” 

With
that
, he left her in the closet.  “I have a breakfast meeting and will be out inspecting roads during lunch.  I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”  He had the door to her quarters open before he turned to look at her with a lascivious grin on his handsome features.  “Feel free to disobey my orders again tonight and stay in here for dinner.”

She glared at him, wishing she actually were furious with him but he just threw back his head and laughed, walking out the door and closing it softly behind him as he went wherever he was going for the day.

Isla stalked over to the dresser and opened drawers, finally finding her underwear and bras.  She’d have to send a note to her sister thanking her for being so considerate. 
She was fairly sure that her personal maid had packed her under things, but Zarah had most likely chosen the initial outfits to send over. 
Her sister had chosen several of Isla’s favorites and she pulled out a pretty yellow dress with a cinched in waist and high collar that made her feel
attractive
and special. 

She dressed quickly and headed out of the room, finding the dining room easily since she recognized the destruction in certain places. 
Hussan
had already eaten so she grabbed a bland biscuit and some fruit, sipping her coffee as she contemplated what she might do today.  Her body guards were behind her and she turned to smile in their direction. 

“Please, feel free to grab some breakfast if you haven’t already,” she encouraged.

Both men quickly shook their heads and continued to stand at attention. 

She considered her options.  “I’d like to go back to that school again today and do the story time with that same teacher.  Do you think they would mind?”
She made her decision quickly, not wanting to hang out in the palace just in case Hussan might also be here.  She needed space from him, a chance to get her perspective back in order.  That man and the way he touched her, the things he did to her, definitely didn’t help her think logically. 

The older
guard
shook his head and
immediately
took the radio out from his back belt loop, explaining where they were going. 

“I’d also like to see more of the country, if it can be arranged.  I won’t spring it on you like I did yesterday but could you let me know some areas that might benefit from me passing by? 
Perhaps the marketplace where I could pick up a few trinkets or the hospital
for a visit with some of the kids
?”
  She worked through some ideas in her mind.  “Have there been any reports about something good happening in the area where I could go and thank the individuals?  It doesn’t have to be anything big. 
Even a student getting good grades or a mother making something different in the market, a group of kids who have done something to help the community.”
  This idea would also help her understand her future husband’s plan.  She wanted so desperately to believe in him, but she’d seen too much on her border visits over the past several months. 

It was astonishing that, after only twenty-four hours in the man’s company, she was starting to doubt things she’d firmly believed about the man’s character and leadership style.  Was she simply fabricating another reality because she didn’t want to be married to a monster?

The two
guards
nodded their heads, obviously getting into the spirit of the situation.  Both of them were talking in
to
their radios now and Isla felt better about the upcoming day.  She wouldn’t be a burden to the palace, sitting in her gilded cage while everyone else
survived
in barely livable conditions, and she wouldn’t be waiting around for Hussan to come to her, worrying about her reaction to him.  She had an escape, at least for a few hours. 

Once the ideas were in her head, she was eager to start.  She went to
Hussan
’s office, knowing that he was in meetings but
spoke to one of his aides to request
a map of the city and newspapers for the last three weeks.  She
brought everything back to one of the small sitting rooms near the main dining room so that she
and her body guards
could
sifted through the articles and
discover
areas on the map that would be safe to visit.  By lunch time, they had a plan and Isla was eager to start.
 
Especially since she jumped anytime someone walked by the sitting room door, worried that it would be Hussan.
  She just didn’t want to see him right now, needing time to pull herself together and figure out why she’d fallen into bed so easily with the man. 

They spent a great deal of their time driving, but she didn’t mind. 
It gave her time to think, to work through her actions of the night before.  She came to the conclusion that Hussan was simply a
wonderful lover.  Since she had zero experience in that area, it was no wonder she’d fallen for his technique.  She had no safeguards in place to help her avoid situations like that.  Besides, it had been an emotionally crazy day starting with her brother’s announce
ment of her engagement followed
by being carted out of her home.  What woman wouldn’t be reeling from that kind of a shift in one’s world? 

She hated the idea that
Hussan
had
gained so much experience by having sex with other women but pushe
d the image of her fiancé in bed
with those other women out of her mind.  It hurt too much and she was tired of being so angry. 

When they reached their first destination,
Isla stepped out of the vehicle
feeling better about her life and her future.  She felt like she’d worked through the issues and had come up with an explanation for her action and reactions
and was going to try very hard to work with Hussan to make this marriage work. 
Somehow.
 

As she exited the vehicle and moved into the gathering crowd, her presence surprised the community when
she asked for the people who had been mentioned in the articles.  There were
several
different groups she’d found in the newspapers
that she wanted to greet.  S
he introduced herself
as
Hussan’s
fiancée
to each of the people who had
participated
,
letting the news out of their engagement and uncaring if Hussan had wanted to release that information in another way
. 

There was a group of teenagers who had organized an afterschool program for little children in the neighborhood, a mother who had lugged all of the communities’ garbage off the street, making several trips
while the other neighborhood members either looked on or, in some cases,
they
ridiculed her.  Isla stunned the neighbors when she stopped and shared a cup of coffee with the mother, discussing her children and why she’d done
the garbage runs despite the ridicule of her neighbors
. 

She touched the woman’s hand, thanking her for being so considerate of the community, knowing that several of the neighbors were peering into the broken windows, seeing it all and trying to hide their surprise and jealousy that the woman
at
which
they’d scoffed was now receiving adulation from their future queen. 

Next was the children’s ward at the local hospital where she spoke to each of the children, hiding her sadness at some of the pain the child
ren and parents were enduring.  The next stop was a
school house where one of the students had scored extremely high on the yearly exams and she was able to shake the hand of both the boy and girl who had done so well, hopefully encouraging the rest of the school to work as hard as those two in order to achieve the same recognition. 

By the middle of the afternoon, she was all set to settle into her reading time with the first level students
back at the school in the capital city so her guards drove back towards the palace
.
  Isla was irritated that her heart beat increased as the convoy drove closer to the man who confused her more than any other human being had ever done before. 
 

As the SUV drove past the palace towards the school area, Isla leaned her head against the window, trying to stop these crazy reactions her body had.  Why did she react so intensely even when she wasn’t
in the same building with the man?  She wouldn’t even see him for several more hours, but every part of her was tingling with excitement, just because she was in closer proximity to the man!

Hussan
’s staff had given the administrator warning this time, but Isla knew that the woman would still be surprised by what she had in mind.
And she had to get a grip on her
emotions,
otherwise, she would look foolish in front of the staff and students. 

She spoke softly with the teacher as she entered the classroom.  As they conspired, the teacher smiled and nodded her head, eager to help and both of them had their heads down, concentrating and cutting for several moments. 

When they were finished, Isla sat down with the first group of students while the teacher took the second half for their craft project.  Isla had chosen the story perfectly and sat down on the stool, getting as low as possible. 

She heard the noise outside the room, but thought it was only the other teachers taking a break and trying to get a look inside the classroom.  She opened the story book, looked at the eager faces of the children and started reading.

There were roars of laughter as the children saw her place the colored, rough mustache on her top lip, holding it in place with her finger while she read, using a deep voice for the character in the book.  The female character was next and she held a pink bow to her
forehead
, making the children roll with laughter.  Over and over again, as the
different
characters came up in the
book, she held silly pieces of paper to her face, encouraging the children to laugh, read one or two words, and laughing with them when she put the wrong item to the right voice. 

Once the story was finished, she closed the book and clasped her hands in front of her, ensuring that she had the attention of all the children in the group. 
“Okay, so now that I’ve made you laugh, I’d like all of you to think of some way to help your teacher this week.  And the absolute best way?” she said, waiting for the children to answer her.  Hands flew up in the air and all of them were eager to give their ideas.  She selected several, smiling and nodding at their suggestions. 

“Very good!” she said, clapping her hands to conclude the story time.  “All of these are excellent ideas.  So I’ll be checking in with your teacher and maybe come visit again soon so I can hear how each of you are making progress, okay?”

The second group was just as enthusiastic and she laughed with them, eager to give them the encouragement she’d given the first group.  She was disappointed when the end of day school bell rang and all the children rushed to their desks, grabbing their books, eager to tell their parents what had happened in school.

Isla stood up and turned, ready to head back to the palace and make plans for the next day.  She’d had so much success
today,
she wanted to do it again and again. 

But she stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening with surprise as she took in the tall, muscular man standing there watching her with his arms crossed over his chest
and looking magnificent in a dark colored suit with a yellow silk tie
. 

Immediately her body reacted to his presence and she felt a bit weak in the knees. 
“
Hussan
?
  What are you doing here?”
She hated
the way her voice sounded so breathless, but pretended it was simply because she was surprised by his presence and not because she was excited to see him. 

He moved forward, his eyes glaring back at her.  “I could ask you the same thing.  I thought you would be back at the palace doing whatever it is that you do during the day.”

Isla wasn’t sure she understood his mood, but it
irritated
her that he wanted her to stay indoors.  “I didn’t know you wanted a secret harem type of marriage.”