The Sheikh's Bidding Read online

  “I’d expect that being a prince might make you a little happier.”

  His gaze snapped to hers. “On what do you base this assumption, that I’m not happy with what I am?”

  She shrugged. “You don’t look happy, not like before. I’ve rarely seen you smile, much less laugh. In fact, most of the time you look way too serious. That’s not the Sam I remember.”

  Sheikh Samir Yaman had replaced the Sam she remembered. The Sam she had known had yet to be tainted by the responsibility placed on his shoulders as the eldest son of a king. “That carefree college student you knew no longer exists.”

  “Oh, I think he’s still in there just dying to get out.”

  “Unfortunately, that is not the case.”

  She set her glass on the coffee table before them and hugged her knees to her chest. “I’d hate to think that’s true, Sam. I’d also hate to think that Chance would ever be subjected to the kind of pressure that would make him lose his spirit and his love of life.”

  If the truth were known, so would Sam. “I doubt that he will ever lose those attributes considering his mother.”

  Andrea’s smile curled the corners of her beautiful mouth. “I suppose that’s a compliment.”

  “Yes, very much so. I greatly appreciated your free spirit, your passion for living.”

  “And I appreciated your passion, too.”

  Sam was inclined to believe that she meant the passion they had experienced in each other’s arms. He refused to travel that road of regret tonight, not with her so near, looking like temptation incarnate. He wasn’t that strong.

  He cleared his throat and leaned back against the sofa, hoping to seem relaxed when in fact he was anything but. “I have learned to deal with the demands of my station. It is who I am.”

  “It’s a title, Sam, not who you are. My father never tried to make me something I’m not. Neither did Paul. They just let me be myself.”

  “If my memory serves me, Paul once said that it would take a front-end hauler, a steel cable and an ancient oak to tie you down.”

  Andrea tossed back her head and laughed, filling Sam with joy over the sound. “That’s a front-end loader, and yes, he did say that, and I’ve heard you say worse. You guys were always teasing me. You lived to drive me nuts.”

  “You were an easy target.”

  She smiled. “A moving target most of the time, you mean. Especially when you both came at me and threatened to tickle me senseless.”

  Sam grinned at the memories. “I believe you have very sensitive knees.”

  Andrea hugged her legs tighter against her chest. “Don’t you even think about it, mister.”

  He inched a little closer despite the voice that told him to keep his distance. “It might be amusing to see if that continues to hold true.”

  “Still the bully, just like before.”

  “Before it was the only way to make you do my bidding.”

  Her smile faded and her expression softened, taking on the appearance of a woman more than willing to submit to his demands. “That wasn’t the only way.”

  Sam was suddenly catapulted back to that night at the pond. Never had any woman given him as much with such sweet abandon. And considering she’d been barely more than a child all those years ago, he could only wonder what she would be like now as a woman.

  Inching closer until she was flush against his side, she brushed his hair away from his forehead. “Do you ever think about that night, Sam? Not about Paul, but about what happened between us?”

  Even after seven years, those memories still haunted his dreams in sleep and his thoughts upon waking. “I remember.”

  “Do you ever wish that it hadn’t happened?”

  How could he explain so she would understand? He caught her hand and brushed a kiss across her palm. “I suppose that if I could change anything about that time, it would only be two things.”

  With fine fingertips she traced a path along his jaw. “What would they be?”

  “That I could have saved Paul from his fate. And that I could have stayed.”

  Her face lit up as if he had offered her the stars that held her dreams. Leaning forward, she whisked a kiss across his cheek. “Thank you.”

  He did not deserve her gratitude, then or now. “Nothing has changed, Andrea. We cannot go back. I will still leave you again.”

  She framed his jaw in her slender fingers. “We could make up for lost time. There are a lot of hours in fourteen days.”

  Not nearly enough, Sam decided. Not nearly enough distance between them, either. Normally he was a man with a firm resolve, but Andrea unearthed his weakness, could mold him as easily as if he were made of clay. As he stared at her lips, he became caught in the grip of longing.

  Sam claimed her mouth for a kiss fueled by a power he didn’t know he possessed. In the far reaches of his mind, he realized he should be experiencing some guilt, since he was promised to another. But that woman was as unfamiliar to him as the concept of turning his back on his country and his legacy. He could only consider the sweet heat of Andrea’s mouth, the gentle foray of her tongue against his, the feel of her lithe body curled against him as he deepened the kiss and tightened his hold on her.

  The passion that was so much a part of Andrea came out in the kiss. Her hands roved over his back in steady strokes as if she were memorizing this moment. He caught a handful of her hair as if to moor himself against the onslaught of heat, of desperate desire. When she draped one leg over his thigh, he curved his palm over her waist. They parted for a moment, but only a moment, to draw air before their mouths united again. How easy it would be to touch her, Sam thought. How easy to show her pleasure. He slipped his hand between her thighs and Andrea wriggled her encouragement.

  Reality soon caught hold and Sam became aware that if he continued, he would not be able to stop. He would toss away all his reasons for avoiding this very thing and carry her to bed, make love to her all through the night, destroying his determination not to hurt her more than he already had.

  Breaking the kiss, he tipped his forehead against hers as he tried to regain his respiration. “You are still too hard to resist.”

  “Then why even bother?”

  He pulled back and searched her blue eyes. “You know the reasons why. Because I—”

  “Have to go back to the magic kingdom,” she said, then scooted away from him to the other end of the sofa. “You don’t have to remind me again.”

  “I’m glad you are finally beginning to understand.”

  She picked up a throw pillow and held it against her breasts. “Now that we’ve established you’ll be leaving, for about the hundredth time, I’ve come to a decision.”

  “About?”

  “Chance. I’ve decided you can go with me to the camp.”

  Sincerely pleased, Sam smiled. “Good. We can travel in the limo instead of that wreck you call a truck.”

  He snared the pillow she tossed at him in one hand before it hit his face. “What’s wrong with my truck?”

  “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.

  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.”

  “You do not care for my nose?”

  “Your nose is fine. Very sophisticated.”

  “I am relieved it meets with your approval.”

  Her grin came out of hiding. “Everything about you meets with my approval. All those parts seen and unseen, or as best I can remember, because it’s been a while since I’ve seen all your parts.”

  Sam shifted in his seat and resisted the urge to offer an inspection. At least they had survived the duration of this trip without utilizing the privacy of the limo. But on the ride home…

  “Looks like we’re here.” The limo had barely come to a stop before Andrea slid out the door. Sam hurried out behind her, afraid she would abandon him and leave him to his own devices. He knew nothing about how he should act at this camp. He had no idea how to answer any questions that might arise about his relationship with Andrea and Chance. He would simply have to allow Andrea to handle the situation in the way she saw fit. He suspected he would not care for her explanations.

  Sam caught up with Andrea immediately outside a large cedar cabin surrounded by several adults. A young woman approached them and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Trish, Ms. Hamilton.”

  “Nice to meet you, Trish,” Andrea replied politely.

  “You don’t remember me? We met when you came to check out the camp.”

  Andrea continued her hand kneading. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long drive.”

  Trish seemed unfazed by Andrea�
�s lack of memory and continued on at a vibrant pace. “We’re glad you could come today. Chance is so excited. He’s a fantastic little boy. Quite the happy camper.”

  Andrea’s gaze roamed the immediate area. “Where is he?”

  “In the dining hall finishing up breakfast. He’ll be right out.” Trish turned her smile on Sam. “And you must be Mr. Hamilton.”

  “His name is Mr. Yaman,” Andrea added quickly. “A family friend.”

  The woman looked flustered. “Well, I’m sorry. It’s just that Chance looks so much like you.”

  Andrea produced a nervous smile. “I know. Isn’t that weird?”

  Sam hated the denial, hated that Andrea didn’t see a need for the truth. “Chance’s father and I are from the same country,” Sam offered along with his hand.

  “Cool,” Trish said after a brief handshake.

  A spattering of laughter and shouts broke the awkward moment as myriad children came rushing out the doors of the largest cabin to the left.

  “Mama! You came!”

  Chance rushed Andrea and engaged her in a voracious hug. She picked him up and held him tightly against her breasts. “I’ve missed you, sweetie. Are you having fun?”

  He squirmed in her grasp. “Yeah. Lots of fun. Put me down, Mom, before the other guys see.”

  Looking heartsick, Andrea complied but kept her hand on his shoulder. “Guess that wouldn’t be cool,” she said in a voice that sounded much like the camp counselor.

  Chance stared up at Sam with surprise as if he’d only now realized his presence. “How come you didn’t tell me you were bringing the prince?”

  Andrea sent a quick glance at Sam, then said, “We only decided a few days ago.”

  Sam held out his hand. “I hope that is all right with you, Chance.”

  Chance displayed his approval with a jerk of his head and a hearty handshake. “Sure. Did you bring the car?”

  Sam hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “In the parking lot.”

  His son’s eyes grew large with wonder, reminding Sam of Andrea. “Can I take the guys for a ride?”

  “Not now, sweetie,” Andrea said. “Maybe before we head back. Right now we have to play some games.”