Sheikh’s Fiancée (13 page)

When she finally arrived, he took both her hands in his, smiling so wide he thought his face might burst.

Alice’s eyes twinkled with laughter as she looked at him. “I fear that if I keep looking into your face, you might blind me with that smile,” she teased.

“Well then, perhaps we should turn to look at the
Imams
,” he murmured, but he was reluctant to let her go.

Imam Fariq cleared his throat after a moment. “Shall we proceed with the ceremony, then?”

“Are you ready?” Karim asked Alice, his voice soft. He stared deep into her eyes for the answer. Of course he knew she wouldn’t say no – they would forever be bound together by their child no matter which path they chose to walk in life. But she could have chosen to say no, she could have chosen to walk away, and he would never take it for granted that she’d chosen to stay and fight for their marriage instead.

“I’m ready for anything, as long as I’m with you,” Alice said softly. She slipped her hand in his, and they turned toward the
Imams
, with love and hope in their hearts and a bright future ahead of them. No matter what happened, they would always have each other, and as much as Karim had thought otherwise in the beginning, that was really all he had ever wanted.

The End!

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Sheikh’s Unlikely Desire by Sophia Lynn

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The Royal’s Replacement Love

By: Sophia Lynn

All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2015-2016 Sophia Lynn

Chapter One

Tahiti

A soft, mild breeze came off the ocean, ruffling the long dark hair of the young woman with the camera. Tiana stalked the wedding like a ghost in her severe black dress, walking with purpose around the edges of the party. She was pleased that she was working this event alone. In her experience, far too many celebrities tried to double book the event, which would have been fine if they paid both photographers. However, more than once, she had been set against another professional, challenged to be better or more daring or more considerate. That never ended well, even if she came out on top.

The wedding was a lovely one, and despite her professional distance, Tiana found herself smiling whenever she glanced at the bride and groom. The bride was a rising star with platinum hair and blue, blue eyes. The groom was a rock star with a cynic's grin that never failed to turned surprisingly soft when he looked at his bride. Even if all of the gossip magazines called it a fairytale wedding, that didn't really make it less true.

Tiana saw an opportunity and snapped a picture from afar.

Got it,
she thought with satisfaction.

The bride and groom were framed under the natural arch of the side of the building and the curve of a palm tree. It looked a bit like a storybook illustration, and she knew that they would go wild over it.

Tiana couldn't resist taking another few shots of the building itself, an elegant home scoured to the color of silver wood by the brine breeze. She had made her name with wedding photography, but her training was actually in architectural work.

Even now, surrounded by the bustle of the rich and the famous, she couldn't quite take her eyes off of the tropical house, as patient and as eternal as the sea itself. She itched to spend more time examining it, capturing all of its angles and its mysteries.

She shook her head, getting back to the task at hand. She had a job to do, and she wanted to make sure that she did it right.

Tiana turned her attention to the guests. They were lovely people, used to being in the limelight. It didn't surprise her at all that they all knew how to pose, how to look good no matter what they were doing. She caught a surprisingly sweet picture of the groom's mother and father, a content-looking couple sitting hand-in-hand.

Tiana had been taking pictures for years, but seeing the couple there grabbed her heart in a way that the younger couple had not. She had lost her parents when she was a teenager. Ever since then, she had been rootless, wandering the world with a camera in her hands. She had seen so many beautiful things, but she had never kept them.

Well, that's going to change
.

She had decided it. At twenty-five, she was ready to settle down. Perhaps she would hang some of the pictures she had taken, and maybe she would stay some place for more than six months.

It would be hard to say which side of her work had gotten more attention. Most of her money came from weddings, and seeing that the people she was working for were wealthy and famous, she had to guess that she was doing a good job. It was her architectural work that she wanted to pursue next, however. Whenever she saw a particularly gorgeous building, she felt a tug deep inside herself, a need to capture the form and function of a place designed to serve those inside it.

She wondered briefly, snapping another picture, if it was a nesting instinct, come upon her at last. Tiana had been on the move for so many years that she wondered if she was tired of it.

Tiana put the thought out of her mind, instead stopping to snap a picture of a bridesmaid wading into the ocean with the tiny flower girl's hand in hers. She had a job to do, after all.

After Greece, we'll see.

***

Athens, Greece

 The concert had been amazing, and afterward, King Constantinus and his wife Anastasias were holding a small party at their townhouse to celebrate and discuss it. Alexandros was amused to see that his parents' idea of a small party numbered more than a hundred. Everyone who had received an invitation was dazzled by the palatial home and delicious food being served. Most of them wanted to make some time with the crown prince, and at the moment, Alexandros didn't mind it.

He was a tall, lean young man with his mother's brilliant green eyes. He handled the public with a practiced hand that came of being in the limelight since he was in his early teens, and he was always ready to fend off an irritating question with a sly joke or an elegant turn of phrase.

For the moment, however, he escaped to one of the curtained alcoves behind a pillar, looking to catch his breath. To his surprise and irritation, however, his father followed him into the small space.

It was easy to see the two men were related. Though Constantinus cultivated a silver beard and Alexandros was clean shaven, the stamp of the Greek royal family was clear on both their features.

Alexandros watched as his father smiled for the people in the crowd and then frowned when he saw his own son.

“A fine celebration,” Alexandros said mildly, sipping his champagne. “You and Mother have outdone yourself.”

“This is nothing,” said Constantinus. “The real party begins next week at Maria's festivities.”

Alexandros braced himself because he knew what was coming. Maria was his youngest sister, barely twenty and getting ready for her wedding in just a week or so. Therese, the sister between them, had married just a year before, shortly before her twenty-fourth birthday. That left Alexandros himself at thirty, unwed and pleased to remain so for as long as he could.

“Greece wants an heir,” Constantinus started, and Alexandros cut him off with a short motion of his hand.

“Greece has me,” Alexandros replied shortly. “Don't be so quick to shuffle off the mortal coil, Father. Nothing needs to change.”

Constantinus’ dark eyebrows furrowed ferociously.

“Is that so? Is that what you truly think, or is that simply what you wish?”

“As you keep telling me, I am the crown prince. One would think that my wishes would count for something.”

He could feel his father's temper mounting. That was fine. He had one of his own as well, and he was tired of hearing about this issue.

“Being Crown Prince of Greece does not mean that you may do exactly as you please. You are a man with the responsibility for a nation on your shoulders.”

“And those responsibilities have existed since I was a child,” Alexandros snapped. “I do my duty, and after that, neither you nor the nation have any reason to call me into question.”

He started to stalk past his father, but Constantinus grabbed him by the shoulder, turning him around to look him in the eye.

For the first time, Alexandros was startled by how old his father was. The old king must be nearing seventy-five, more than fifteen years older than his wife.

“I will not die leaving my country in the hands of a boy who cannot run it. You dislike being called into account; well, I dislike having a fool for a son.”

Alexandros bared his teeth at his father, yanking his shoulder away. “We are neither of us fit for this argument,” he growled. “Not now, and not here. Why don't you make an appointment with my secretary, and then I can make sure that I give you an hour to browbeat me about things I already know, yes?”

His father was still sputtering when Alexandros stalked out of the room. He smoothed his features out so that he no longer looked like a thundercloud, but the smile he put on for the people at the party was patently false.

Alexandros knew how to the play the game, but the truth was that he was tired. He knew that he would be spending the night in Athens, but suddenly all he wanted to do was to take the jet back to the small nameless island off the archipelago where his true love lay.

He had started construction on his palace some two years ago, and somehow, it had taken over his mind. His father didn't quite understand it, but his mother had called it his romantic side coming out.

“You are a builder, Alexandros, just as our ancestors were. You want grace and beauty, and you want them around you at all times. Of course your house will be a masterpiece.”

He had laughed at the time, but now he knew that his mother spoke a deeper truth than she knew. His heart was somewhere in the archipelago, not in Athens, not now.

He was thinking about sneaking out to get on the jet when a small hand tucked into the crook of his arm. Alexandros looked down with a frown that lightened immediately as soon as he realized that it was his sister Marie.

Marie was short with her curling dark hair put up in an elegantly careless bun. Her mouth smiled, but her green eyes were worried.

“Are you quite well, Marie?”

“A moment of your time, perhaps?”

She tugged him into one of the small spare rooms and heaved a deep sigh.

“Is everything all right?” Alexandros asked, beginning to be alarmed. “Is it Peter? What has he done?”

Marie waved her hand dismissively, a slight smile on her face. “Calm yourself, big brother. Peter's fine, he hasn't insulted my honor or made me cry. He's just very English, and trying to get used to all of this. No, it's the photographer.”

“The photographer for your wedding?”

“Yes. He canceled on me!”

Alexandros blinked. “Really?”

“Yes, said something about a family emergency, and he broke the contract, but now I have no one. Anyone I would trust to do the job has waiting lists miles long, and I just don't know...”

Alexandros draped his arm over his sister's slumping shoulders, a slight smile on his lips. She had always been the baby of the family, looking to her older sister or brother to fix things. It was a job that he excelled at, and the current situation was no different.

“Actually, I think I can fix that for you. Hang on for just a moment.”

He pulled out his smartphone. In a heartbeat, he had pulled up the profile of one Tiana Bernado. He glanced over her qualifications, nodding as he did so. From the small picture at the bottom of the page, he could see she was a severe young woman with long dark hair and piercing gray eyes. Not his type, but he could understand where others might find her attractive.

“Ah, all right, I can fix this. Why don't you take my photographer?”

“Your photographer?”

“Hm, yes. Ever since I finished work on my new home, I've had requests for photographs from the leading lifestyle magazines. I have no intention of letting crude magazine personnel into my home—”

“Or indeed much of anyone,” Marie offered.

“Well, you've been busy with your wedding, shush. And because I want to keep it to myself, I thought I would have photos taken and distributed.”

Marie looked dubious.

 “Are you sure that your architectural photographer will be able to shoot a wedding?”

“It says on her portfolio that she's done it before. Here, here are some of her samples.”

Marie took the phone from him with reluctance, but that changed quickly as she scanned the photos. By the end, she was nodding enthusiastically, and when she returned the phone to him, she had a huge smile on her face. “And you won't mind that she is working with me first?”