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  She told him about life in Missouri, about winter snows and rolling fields of green, and visiting the Gateway Arch as a child. The afternoon slipped away slowly, and so did the bottle of wine, and before Joanna knew it, they were watching the sun go down.

  “This has been a really fantastic day,” she said, realizing that for the past several hours, she had completely forgotten about her health.

  “It has, hasn’t it?” he said. “I’m so glad I got the chance to meet you, Joanna. I’m glad you decided to sneak onto my beach.”

  “I’m only sorry I have to get on a flight in the morning,” she said. “Al-Yara is a really beautiful place.”

  “Is there any way you could delay your flight?” he asked. “Switch shifts with someone? Maybe stay here a few more days?”

  It was something Joanna had considered before, when she’d had a layover somewhere really beautiful. But she had always resisted.

  But I deserve a little fun, all things considered.

  “Sure,” she said. “I bet I could do that.”

  Chapter 6

  Ahmad

  The next few days were a whirlwind.

  Joanna gave Ahmad the name of her hotel before they parted on the beach that evening, and he pledged to be there first thing in the morning to pick her up. He was surprised at himself. He had met tourists before, after all, and he had never devoted himself to showing them the sights.

  He had been telling the truth when he’d told her that he didn’t have too many royal responsibilities on his plate right now. Certainly, no one from his family was going to miss him if he spent a few days with this American woman. But what good was it doing him? None that he could see.

  There was the fact that she was very pretty. She was gorgeous, actually. He had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. Her skin was so smooth that he found it difficult to stop staring, and her features were perfectly proportioned. She could have stepped right off the cover of a magazine.

  But there was more to it than that. She was funny, clever, creative, interesting… He loved hearing stories about her life.

  Am I using her to research what my airline should be like? he wondered.

  But he didn’t think that was the case. She hadn’t told him anything he didn’t generally already know about the life of a flight attendant.

  On their first day together, he had one of his drivers take them out of the city and into the dunes, and he told her tales about his childhood visiting the area. He and his brothers had loved sliding down the dunes on their bottoms, the sand collecting in their pants as they went.

  Ahmad had been only six years old when his parents had decided that the activity was too undignified for a member of the royal family and had put an end to it.

  If I have a child, he thought, my child will be able to enjoy everything this country has to offer. I won’t keep them cooped up in the palace all the time. We’ll live the life I never got to experience together.

  On the second day, Ahmad took Joanna into the city.

  “You really don’t need to spend so much time with me,” she said as the driver dropped them off. “I took two extra days because that was when the next flight out was. I didn’t mean to monopolize your time like this.”

  “You’re not,” he assured her. “I like spending time with you.”

  “There must be something more important that you should be doing,” she protested.

  He shook his head. If he was honest with himself, his time with Joanna had come to feel very important indeed.

  She has no connections in Al-Yara. Nobody knows who she is. Nobody knows that she knows me. She’s young, she’s beautiful, she seems fit and healthy…

  He tried to suppress the thoughts as they came to him, but they wouldn’t be denied.

  Joanna would make a perfect candidate for the mother of his child.

  But he had only known her for two days. How on earth could he propose such an arrangement to her? No doubt, she would run away screaming the moment he made the suggestion.

  Still… nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

  That day was her last in Al-Yara, and Ahmad was determined to make it special. He would sweep her off her feet, he decided. She would be so taken aback by the splendor of what he would show her that his proposal wouldn’t seem so odd to her.

  Hopefully.

  So, he took her to the rooftop bar that was his favorite. By this time, she was used to the doors that his name unlocked, and no surprise at all registered on her face as she was led to the VIP lounge. She took a seat on a sofa by the wall and rested her arm on the brick, looking out over Sepha.

  “This is really beautiful,” she said quietly.

  “It is, isn’t it?”

  “I’m so glad I had this little bit of extra time to see Al-Yara,” she said. “And I’m so fortunate to have had you as my guide, Ahmad. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

  “What time is your flight out?”

  “Nine o’clock.”

  “So late.”

  “Well, we’re flying west,” she said. “We’ll gain some of the time back on the way to London.”

  “Will you have to board another flight right away?”

  “No, I’ll be able to stay there tonight.”

  “Why not just put off leaving a little longer,” he suggested. “Stay here for one more day.”

  Joanna laughed. “I can’t,” she said. “You know I can’t. We’re not all royalty. Some of us have to work for a living.”

  And there it was—the opening he had been looking for. Yes, right now Joanna had to work for a living. But what if she didn’t? What if he could provide for her?

  Would it be enough?

  She liked being a flight attendant. He knew that. But if she were the birth mother of a member of Al-Yara’s royal family, she wouldn’t need to hold that job in order to be able to travel. He would be able to send her anywhere she wanted to go. And she wouldn’t need to work to keep food on the table—he could pay for that, too. He would be able to leave her free to pursue her passions.

  She could spend as much time as she wanted exploring beaches. Not just the beaches of Al-Yara, but beaches all around the world. She could find her favorite and buy her own beach house there. She could hire a chef to make her lobster rolls and pour her wine.

  He had gotten to know her well enough over the past few days to know that she would enjoy that.

  She’ll say yes, he thought, feeling a sudden clarity of purpose. Of course she will. It’s meant to be. But I have to ask her now, while she’s looking out over the city, captivated, dreading returning to her everyday life. I have to grab this moment and make her see that she doesn’t have to go back.

  “What if you didn’t have to go back to work?” he said.

  She laughed, clearly taking it as a joke. “What if, indeed?”

  “What would you do?” he pressed.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Why don’t I have to go back to work, in this scenario?”

  “Say you’ve come into some money and you don’t need to work anymore,” he suggested.

  “If I had money, I’d buy a house,” she said.

  “More than that.”

  “Then I’d buy my mother a house.” She grinned. “You really don’t understand what it’s like not to have money, do you?”

  He held up his hands in resignation.

  “All right,” he said. “Point taken. But it would still be a good thing, wouldn’t it? To come into a fortune?”

  “Of course,” she said, clearly bemused. “Why do you ask?”

  “I have a proposal for you,” he said. “A sort of… business proposition.”

  “You want to go into business with me?” She looked at him skeptically. “I don’t know what I could possibly bring to the table for someone like yourself. I haven’t got any startup capital. Not that you need it.”

  He shook his head. “Actually, in this instance, you’ve got exactly what I need to get thing
s started.”

  “What do you mean?”

  There was nothing to do but to spit it out.

  “I’m looking to have a baby,” he said.

  Joanna burst out laughing.

  Well, it could have been worse. She could have thrown her drink in my face and stormed out.

  “Oh, come on,” she said, shaking with mirth. “You’re not seriously asking me to have your baby. We’ve only known each other for two days!”

  “I know,” he agreed. “I know it’s unconventional.”

  “Unconventional? It’s bizarre!”

  “It is,” he said. “I know it is. And that’s why I’m proposing it as a business arrangement instead of a relationship. I’ll pay you a sum of five hundred thousand dollars, in addition to covering all expenses incurred by pregnancy and childbirth, including travel to and from Al-Yara. In exchange, you’ll carry and give birth to my child.”

  Her laughter faded away.

  “You’re serious,” she said.

  “I am.”

  “You’re really asking me to do this? To have your baby?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you…” She shook her head as though trying to clear it. “Do you ask a lot of women to do things like this? Do you have girls pregnant for you all over the world? What kind of situation am I stepping into here?”

  “You’re the first,” he said. “You’re the only.”

  “You are really a sheikh, aren’t you?” she asked, suddenly suspicious.

  “Why, do you doubt me?”

  “This whole thing is beyond weird,” she pointed out. “I don’t know what to think. Maybe you’re just a rich guy looking to con me?”

  “Expensive con, if I am. Half a million dollars.”

  She folded her arms across her chest and said nothing.

  “I’m not conning you,” he said. “We would get a lawyer and draw up documents, so you’d be fully protected. Whatever you’d need to make you feel comfortable with the situation.”

  “Why do you want to do this?” she asked. “You’re a young man. And you’re a sheikh, besides. It can’t be that hard for someone like you to find a wife. Just get married and have your kids the old-fashioned way.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that,” he admitted.

  “What’s so complicated? It’s just having a child. People do it every day.”

  But he couldn’t help noticing that there was a strange expression on her face as she said that.

  “My situation is a little different,” he said. “My uncle Hakim—”

  “Would that be the father of your cousin, the king?” she interrupted.

  “No, this is a different uncle,” he said. “My uncle on my mother’s side.”

  “I see. Go on.”

  “Well, Uncle Hakim died a few months ago.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said sincerely.

  “Thank you,” he said. “His will was just released to my family, and it turns out that instead of my brothers and I inheriting equally, as we had assumed, my uncle’s estate will be left to whoever is the first to have a child.”

  “You’re trying to play the system,” she said, eyes going wide. “You’re trying to make it so that you inherit and your brothers miss out.”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” he said.

  “It sounds pretty shady.”

  “I know. But really, it isn’t. You’d have to know my brothers. My little brother Rafi won’t benefit at all if he inherits the money. He’ll blow it on alcohol and women within a year. It’ll be as if it never existed.”

  “He doesn’t sound like the sort who’s likely to have a child anytime soon, anyway,” Joanna pointed out.

  “No, I’m sure he won’t,” Ahmad agreed. “But there’s my older brother to consider. Umar. He’s newly married.”

  “Ah,” Joanna said knowingly.

  “Yes. But the money wouldn’t be put to good use in his hands, either,” Ahmad said earnestly; she had to understand. “He’s a wealthy man already, but he never spends anything. He keeps it all in accounts all over the world where it grows slowly and does no one any good. He has no plans for his money and no need of it. He simply wants to watch it grow.”

  “If it’s his money, then he has that right,” Joanna said.

  “But the inheritance shouldn’t go to him,” Ahmad said, frustrated. “My uncle knew of my dreams. We talked about them all the time. He was the only person in the world who fully supported me. He always told me that he would help me.”

  “What dreams?” Joanna asked.

  “I want to start my own airline,” Ahmad said. “A luxury line, for those who want to travel in comfort and style. For those who don’t want to be bothered by the inconveniences of the current commercial airlines.”

  “I would never be able to afford to fly on a plane like that,” Joanna said.

  “You would if you did this for me,” Ahmad pointed out. “With the money I’d pay you, you could afford a trip to anywhere in the world on one of my planes. But you wouldn’t have to pay, anyway. You’d be the mother of my child. You’d always fly for free.”

  Joanna examined her hands for a long time.

  “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “This is all a very strange thing to ask. I can’t just agree to it out of hand.”

  “But you’re considering it?” He hardly dared to breathe.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I’m considering it. I must be crazy, but I am.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. It had been such a big thing to ask, such a long shot. But she was really going to think about it. He couldn’t believe his good fortune.

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” she warned. “I said I was thinking about it. I’ll still probably decide against it. It’s a crazy idea. I’m sure I’ll come to my senses as soon as I come down off this roof.”

  “Just so you’ll think about it,” he said.

  “I will,” she said. “I can promise you that much.”

  He nodded, pulled a pen from his pocket, and wrote his email address on a cocktail napkin, which he handed to her.

  “Get in touch with me when you’ve made your decision,” he said. “Let me know either way, okay?”

  “How soon do you need to know, would you say?” Joanna asked.

  “As soon as possible,” Ahmad said. “Umar and Daima could be getting started on conceiving any day. And whoever gives birth to a child first is the one who will inherit.”

  “All right,” Joanna said. She got to her feet and pocketed the napkin. “You’ll hear from me soon, then.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “I have to, if I want to make my flight.”

  She hesitated.

  “Thank you, Ahmad,” she said. “Whatever I decide, I want you to know that these past few days have been… exactly what I needed, in more ways than you know. I needed to step away from my life for a little while, and this was the perfect distraction.”

  “Well, I’m glad I could provide,” Ahmad said, smiling. “And I very much hope that we’ll see each other again.”

  “So do I,” Joanna said. “Whatever the circumstances may be.”

  She extended her hand, and he shook it.

  And then, she was gone.

  Was it fate? Ahmad wondered. The perfect woman for his needs stepping into his life at the most opportune time. Maybe the universe was trying to tell him something. Maybe his plan to claim the inheritance was meant to succeed.

  There was no way to know for sure. He supposed he would just have to wait until she contacted him with her decision.

  Chapter 7

  Joanna

  He wants me to have his baby.

  It was all Joanna could think about as she took her seat in the rear of the plane and prepared for takeoff.

  She wasn’t with her ordinary crew. She didn’t have Jill’s effervescent personality to take her mind off her thoughts. To these men and women, s
he was an outsider, a stranger in their midst. She couldn’t talk to them.

  She could hardly even understand them.

  They were all British, so there was no language barrier. But they did things completely differently than she was used to. After the safety briefing, Joanna had tried to check the overhead compartments, but Chris, the man who was assigned to the rear section of the plane with her, had stopped her with a scowl.

  “What are you doing?” he’d demanded.

  “Checking the compartments?” Surely he could see what she was doing for himself.

  “The compartments are in order,” Chris had said. “You’re to take your seat and fasten your seat belt for takeoff. The captain isn’t going to say it again.”

  The captain never even said it once!

  But this wasn’t her crew. This captain wasn’t her captain. Chris knew the protocols on this flight, and Joanna did not. She had taken her seat and strapped in.

  The plane turned onto the runway, and Joanna closed her eyes and tipped her head back as they accelerated and lifted off. She slipped her feet out of her heels and stretched them carefully. Once the plane had reached altitude, she would be expected to get up and walk around, checking on the passengers and making sure that everybody had everything they needed. There was no telling when her next opportunity to sit down might come.

  “Put your shoes on,” Chris hissed.

  Easy for him to say, Joanna thought. Male flight attendants wore lace-up flats. He could probably stand all day in those things and not feel a pinch of pain.

  She missed Jill desperately. She had never realized just how much she counted on her friend for company during these long-haul flights.

  At least this flight was fairly short, compared to some others she had taken. Five hours. That wasn’t so bad. And she would get some of it back thanks to the mere fact that they were traveling west. She would just have to do her best to tune Chris out and take advantage of this time to relax.

  If only I wasn’t at work right now. If only I was a passenger on this plane instead of a flight attendant. Then, I could just close my eyes, ignore everyone, and think about everything that’s happened over the past few days.