The Sheikh’s American Assistant: Qadir Sheikhs Book Two by North Leslie

Author:North, Leslie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Makayla’s heart was going to burst out of her chest. It pressed against the walls of her rib cage, expanding to fill all the available space, including what she needed to breathe. The royal family. She was meeting the royal family. The rest of the royal family. The family they’d been avoiding for days and days.

Baqir ushered her through the private back entrance of a restaurant near the palace. It surprised her that they weren’t going to eat in one of the many dining rooms that had to be within the palace walls, but who was she to question it if the royal family wanted to go out to eat? Who was she to do anything?

She forced another gulp of air into her lungs and tightened her grip on Baqir’s elbow.

“It’ll be all right,” he said. “They’re kind people.”

“They’re the royal family,” she murmured under her breath.

“I'm in the royal family,” he reminded her with a laugh.

They turned the corner into the room.

“Baqir,” called a lanky man at the end of the table, rising from his seat. “You made it. Finally. We’ve been waiting.”

Baqir waved him off. “Enough of that, Zaman. Everyone, this is Makayla.”

His family gathered around her then, and Makayla focused on taking one breath after another. There was the king, Hasim, who did have kind eyes. She hadn’t expected that. There was Malik, Baqir’s oldest brother, and Holly, his wife. They had a set of twins with them, so adorable they took Makayla’s breath away all over again. And teasing Zaman and Amina, the youngest sibling, who had eyes like Baqir’s, always dancing.

Faces and names swirled in the air around them, and then Makayla found herself sitting at the table. Waiters stepped forward immediately, as if they’d been waiting on some signal, and delivered heaping baskets of flatbread and small silver bowls of rice.

“Makayla,” Hasim said as they passed around the dishes, taking bread and rice. “How did you come to meet my son?”

She shot a quick look at Baqir, who nodded. “We discovered that we’ve been working on…similar projects.”

Hasim considered Baqir for a moment. “And what is your project?”

Her throat tightened, but she swallowed away her nerves. If the king put a stop to all of it now, well…she’d done what she could do. Makayla would go back to the United States and try again. “I’ve been investigating the theft of the Qadiri Diamond.”

Hasim nodded slowly, something flickering into his eyes and disappearing before she could name the emotion. “And you’ve been helping Baqir with his own investigation.” The king’s tone was light, like a breeze coming in off the garden, and Makayla relaxed a little bit. If he was going to put his foot down and cut them off—or throw her out of the palace—surely he wouldn’t do it at lunch. Not like this.

“Yes,” Baqir said. “She’s been assisting me. We’ve been working together to find out if the two events are connected.”

“And what are your qualifications?” Hasim folded his hands above his

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