Taming the Sheik by Carol Grace

Author:Carol Grace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

When Rafik picked up Anne to go to her school reception, the first question he asked was about the tea with his mother.

“I had a very nice time,” she said, once again enjoying the luxury of the heated seats and the smell of leather in the interior of his sleek foreign sports car.

“So did Mother,” Rafik said. “Now she’s talking of nothing but the wedding. Did you have to be so agreeable?”

Her mouth fell open in surprise as she turned to look at him. Was he seriously upset? “What did you expect, that I’d be rude and unpleasant?”

“No, of course not,” he assured her. “It’s not in your nature to be the least bit unpleasant. I don’t know what you could have done. I just know that instead of less, there’s more pressure than ever on me to get married.”

She studied his profile. His forehead was lined with worry, his jaw was clenched. Fortunately he didn’t say anything about a ring. Maybe his mother had forgotten all about it. She could only hope so. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” she suggested.

“I certainly couldn’t have imagined it backfiring,” he said dourly.

“If you’d prefer to call it off now, we can turn around and skip this reception.”

“Wouldn’t that make you look bad?” he asked with a glance in her direction.

“Yes, I suppose it would, but…”

“Then we’re going. For all intents and purposes, as far as the rest of the world knows, I’m your fiancé. As for my family, I’ll handle them. Now, at your school, is there anything special I’m supposed to tell them?”

“Just act like a responsible and serious man, not like someone who’d carry a female across a hotel lobby on the way to seduce her in his room.”

He smothered a smile. “In other words I’m to dispel all notions that I’m some kind of playboy.”

“Exactly.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Why, because you’re such a good actor?” she asked.

“No, because I’m not a playboy anymore.” He raised his eyebrows. “Haven’t you noticed?”

“Well…”

“I don’t hang out in bars anymore, except to meet you. I don’t ogle women or attempt to pick them up. I don’t even stay up late, not when I have to be in the office by nine. I’m a different person, whether you’ve noticed or not.” He sounded slightly offended that she hadn’t noticed, so she tried to reassure him.

“I’m sure you are. But since I didn’t really know you before your transformation, you can’t blame me for not noticing.” She reached over to touch his shoulder as a reassuring gesture and he smiled at her. She smiled back and their eyes met. Her pulse raced. He might not be a playboy anymore, but he hadn’t lost his ability to turn women on, especially women like her who hadn’t had time to build up a set of defenses against men like him. She withdrew her hand and turned to look out the window to escape the aura around him.

She told herself it was all an act. She warned herself not to get caught up in the act.

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