Rashid gave her the look that made the palace staff tremble. “I wasn’t giving you a choice, Miss Sloane.”
She sucked in a breath, and he knew he had her.
But then her face reddened and her eyes flashed purple fire and Rashid stood there in shock.
“You think you have the right to make decisions for me? This is America and I don’t have to go anywhere with you. Not only that, but I won’t go. If I’m pregnant, we’ll figure it out. But as of this moment, we do not know that. I can’t just leave because you wish it. Nor do I intend to.”
His entire body vibrated with fury. He was not accustomed to being told no. Not by his employees at Hassan Oil—a company he’d built on his own and still owned to this day, even if he’d had to turn over the day-to-day operations to a CEO—not by his staff in the palace, not by anyone anywhere in the past several years. He was an al-Hassan, with money and influence, and people did not tell him no.
And now he was a king, and they really did not tell him no.
But Sheridan Sloane had. She sat there on her couch, looking pale and delicate and too small to safely carry a baby for nine months, and spoke to him like he was her gardener. It infuriated him. And stunned him, too, if he was willing to admit it.
No matter how much he admired her fighting spirit, he would not be merciful. He’d left mercy behind a long time ago.
“Miss Sloane,” he said, very coolly and clearly. “It would be unwise to anger me. This business you run?” He snapped his fingers. “I could destroy it in a moment. I could destroy you in a moment. Continue to defy me, and I shall.”
* * *
Sheridan’s pulse skipped and slid like it was tumbling down a hill and couldn’t find purchase. He’d just threatened her. Threatened Dixie Doin’s. At first she wanted to laugh him off. But then she looked at him standing there, at his tall, dark form and the dark glitter of his eyes, and knew he was not only perfectly serious, but that he was also probably capable of accomplishing it.
He was a king. A king!
Of an incredibly rich, oil-producing nation in the Arabian Desert. She knew where Kyr was. Hadn’t they just had a crisis that was plastered all over the news? The king had been very ill and no one had known who his successor was going to be.
She’d found it fascinating that a monarch could choose his successor from among his sons, and puzzling that he had not done so by that point. They were grown after all, and he must surely know which of them was best suited to the job.
The fact he had not done so surely spoke volumes about him—or about his children. She wasn’t sure which.
But the crisis had passed and Kyr had a king. This man. Rashid bin Zaid al-Hassan. Oh, yes, his name was imprinted on her memory now. She would never forget it again as long as she lived.
Still, she had not been raised to blindly follow orders and she would not start now. Even though he terrified her on some level. He was so cold and angry, and he was a king. But he was not her king. Hadn’t her ancestors fought to divest themselves of kings?
Sheridan cleared her throat. “It’s only seven more days until the test. You could stay in Savannah. Or maybe you could come back when the results are due. It seems far simpler than what you’re proposing.”
He did not look in the least bit appeased. “Does it, now? Because your business, which has another owner and employees to help, needs your presence far more than a nation needs her king, yes? How extraordinary, Miss Sloane.”
Sheridan pushed the stray lock of hair behind her ear again. How did he manage to make her feel petty when all she wanted was to continue to live her life as normally as possible until the moment when she found out if everything was going to change or not? She didn’t even want to contemplate what it would mean if she were carrying this man’s child.
A royal baby. Madness.
She twisted the cloth that she’d earlier pressed to her forehead. “I didn’t mean to suggest any such thing. But yes, my business is important to me, and I can’t leave Kelly to do everything by herself. I have menus to plan, and supplies to buy—”
“And I have a peace agreement to broker and a nation to run.” He’d already dismissed her, she realized. He slipped a phone from his pocket and put it to his ear. And then he was speaking in mellifluous Arabic to someone on the other end. When he finished, cool dark eyes raked over her again. “You will come, Miss Sloane, and you will do it now. My lawyer has instructions to purchase your loan from the bank. I assure you he will accomplish this, as I am willing to offer far more than this business is worth.”
Sheridan’s jaw dropped even as a fine sheen of sweat broke out between her breasts. He was quite easily the most obnoxious man she’d ever met. And the most attractive.
No. The most evil man. Yes, definitely that. Evil.
Because she knew he was not bluffing. A man who had the power to obtain her information from the fertility clinic—information protected by law—as if it was freely available to anyone who asked, was not a man to make bluffs.
He had the power to buy Dixie Doin’s and do whatever he wanted with it. Close the doors. Put people out of work. Ruin hers and Kelly’s dream. She didn’t care so much for herself right now, but Kelly? Kelly had been so kind when Sheridan told her she wanted to have a baby for Chris and Annie, even though it would impact the business for her to be pregnant.
Not to mention the impact while Sheridan went through the insemination process. You just didn’t show up at the clinic one day and ask for sperm after all, and Kelly had stoically accepted it all without even a hint of disapproval or fear.
So how could she allow this overbearing, rude tyrant of a man to ruin Kelly’s dream just because Sheridan wanted so very desperately to defy him?
She couldn’t.
She rose on shaky feet and faced him. He was so very tall, so overwhelming, but she faced him head on with her chin up and her back straight. She pulled in a breath that shook with anger.
“Am I to be allowed to collect any clothing? Surely I need my passport.”
She thought he would look satisfied or triumphant at her capitulation, but he in fact looked bored. As if he’d never doubted she would agree. She hated him in that moment, and Sheridan had never hated anyone in her life.
“You do not need a passport if you are traveling with me. But we will make a brief stop at your home. You will get what you need for the next week.”
Fear skirted the edges of her anger. Was she truly proposing to board a plane to a far-off nation where she didn’t speak the language and didn’t understand the customs? But how could she refuse? If she did, he would ruin Dixie Doin’s and put them out of business. All the money she and Kelly had invested would be gone.
But what happened in a week? Would he force her to stay in Kyr forever if she were carrying his child?
Sheridan put a hand to her mouth to press back the sudden cry welling up in her throat. In reality, she was being kidnapped by a desert king, forced into a harem for all she knew, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Not if she wanted to protect her friend and her employees. Not to mention Annie and Chris. What would this man do to them if she didn’t comply? Could he get Chris fired? He could certainly buy the loan on their house—they’d mortgaged it to the hilt to pay for one failed fertility treatment after another—and then what?
Ice formed in her veins. He would throw them out of their home with no sympathy or shame. She could see it in his eyes, in the hard set to his jaw. This man was ruthless and incapable of empathy.
“How do I know I’ll be safe?” Sheridan asked, her voice smaller than she would have liked.
His brows drew down swiftly as his