Her Older Sheikh (Sheikh Breaks My Heart #9)

Chapter Four

E mber Hallman might be the girlfriend of Sheikh Ilyas Al-Masri in secret, but she was also officially employed by the royal family of Huzna, and it was the latter persona that was about to have a heart attack.

Today was supposed to be a dry run for next month's launch of The Huznan Way, a program that was months in the making and involved carefully selected individuals who would then share their specialized knowledge of Huznan culture, arts, and technology.

THW was all about showcasing everything the kingdom had to offer and proving to the world once and for all that it was not a nation of barbarians. And it truly wasn't, but how could she expect their guests to believe this when His Highness, Sheikh Rashad Al-Masri, had just sent away another woman in tears?

And that was already the sixth... in the past hour alone!

She would've expected such actions from her boss-slash-secret-boyfriend Ilyas, who had always been the hotheaded and impatient sort. Maybe even Khadem , too, whose rare but violent displays of temper often resulted in his enemies being rushed to E.R. - if they were lucky enough to be alive, that was.

But Rashad?

The way he had been acting for the past hour was not like him at all. Rashad might not be as silver-tongued as the Crown Prince , but he had never done anything that could classify as a PR nightmare for the royal family...until now.

Ember fixed a smile on her lips while resisting the urge to run as she made her way to Adam Al-Masri. The renowned surgeon was half-French, half-Huznan, and he was also the first in his field to incorporate traditional Huznan medicine in post-op care.

While Adam was attending today's luncheon as one of the representatives of THW, he also happened to be a cousin of the Huznan princes, and it was for this reason Ember urgently required the acclaimed surgeon's help.

Adam raised a brow when he saw Ember coming up to him with a dazzling smile. Not good, he thought right away, and his guess proved correct as the redhead murmured something about needing his opinion on this and that.

Ember then showed him her clipboard, and written on the first page of her notepad in big, bold letters were seven words.

GET SHEIKH RASHAD OUT OF HERE. PLEASE!

Adam nearly choked but managed to cough discreetly instead. While members of royalty generally inspired awe, his cousins mostly inspired fear because of their violent pasts. Ember, however, was a notable exception, and it was what had intrigued Adam the first time he had gotten to know her.

Ember beamed up at her boyfriend's cousin even as she grew more nervous upon seeing yet another woman approach Rashad. "What do you think, Dr. Al-Masri?"

"If I do as you ask," Adam drawled, "what do I get in return?"

"My undying gratitude?"

"I'd rather have you die another way."

Adam's smile was devilish, but while the sight would've had most women sigh, it only had the redhead looking at him in exasperation.

"Will you please just help me, Dr. Al-Masri? Please?"

"I will...on one condition."

If there weren't so many guests around them, Ember would have loved to step on Adam Al-Masri's foot as hard as she could. Couldn't he see that now was not the time to tease her like this, and all so he could piss Ilyas off?

"Fine, whatever," Ember grumbled. "What it is do you want—-"

"Beg me again."

Ember nearly rolled her eyes. These Al-Masri men were all the same. Why did they always like having their women beg? Oh, whatever. She said without hesitation, "Please Dr. Al-Masri, I'm begging you. Please—-"

Too late, she saw that Adam was recording the entire thing, and Ember could only groan. "You know Ilyas is going to hate watching that."

"Exactly, Ms. Hallman. Exactly."

Ember mentally threw her hands up. Men and their silly games. Ilyas was sure to kill her for falling for Adam's trick, but she would just have to worry about that later.

For now, however—-

"It's your turn," she said with a glower. "Can you please deal with Sheikh Rashad?"

Adam forwarded the video to his cousin with a push of a button before smiling at Ember. "As you wish."

Five minutes later, and Adam had successfully made up an excuse to get Rashad out of the luncheon. They were now in one of the many other in-house dining establishments of Paradijs, and Adam knew right away something was wrong when Rashad asked him about his feelings for Ember.

Although all four princes of Huzna were men of mystery as far as the whole world was concerned, those with close ties to the royal family were well aware that such a description was more fitting for Rashad than anyone else.

Rashad as a man of mystery would be no manufactured image. During the bloodiest years of Huznan history, Rashad's job had been of a classified nature, and one so deeply mired in the gray areas of political warfare that only those with Al-Masri blood were privy to what he was doing.

It had been a heroic but thankless job that turned Rashad into an intensely private person, and one whose sophisticated charm concealed the way he would assess every decision he made and ruthlessly dispose whatever or whomever he deemed unnecessary or potentially damaging to his kingdom.

Rashad's previous role in Huzna's civil war made any kind of emotion a weakness, but something seemed to have happened in recent days, and whatever that something was had led to this.

"I'm not serious about Ember at all," Adam said with a shrug.

"Were you serious about her at any point?"

"I think it's a pity that Ilyas knew her first," Adam bluntly acknowledged, "but only because I know Ember would have been different from all the other women I've taken to bed."

"Different..."

Adam's gaze narrowed at the other man's brooding tone. "Is this about the girl you promised to marry?"

"The betrothal might not push through," Rashad said tautly. "I met someone else."

Adam stared at his cousin in disbelief.

"And she's...different."

Adam nearly winced. Well, damn. When he had described Ember as someone 'different', he had only meant that he found her intriguing, in the sense that she had not thrown herself at him like all the other women did.

On the other hand, Adam was certain Rashad meant something else when saying that the girl his cousin met was 'different', but with the kingdom's safety possibly at stake...

"Have you told the others about it?" Adam asked finally.

Rashad's lips twisted in a humorless smile. "All of my brothers are engaged to the women they love. How do you think they'd react to this?"

Adam grimaced. "Point taken."

"You think I'm about to make the wrong choice, didn't you?"

Adam looked at his cousin evenly. "I'd choose the girl whose dowry will give Huzna's defense system a strategic advantage, and I'd do so because it's my duty."

"Even if the other girl is...different?"

"She can't be that different, since I don't believe in love."

The other man's lips tightened. "I never said I did."

"You don't have to," Adam said flatly. "That the other girl is even part of the equation says enough."