Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
He would? The words caught her off-guard, and Harper cringed before she could stop herself.
Behind her, the other sheikhs burst into laughter.
Khalil pulled his wife close, murmuring smoothly, “See that you do. My queen will appreciate it.” He looked down at Harper. “Won’t you?”
She bared her teeth at him. “Oh, I will.” Not! Never! Ever!
The sheikh’s dark eyes laughed at her, telling Harper that he knew perfectly what she truly meant to say.
When the vlogger left, she muttered, “I should go,” but the sheikh only pulled her closer, and Harper stiffened. “People are loo—-” Her voice trailed off. A quick look around them told her that this wasn’t the case for the other sheikhs, along with the AFK this time, had once again formed a circle around them, preventing anyone from seeing them.
“Still angry with me?” the sheikh asked softly. When she didn’t answer, he asked, “Is that a yes then?”
Slowly, she shook her head.
The sheikh tipped her chin up. “But you’re hurt.”
Harper didn’t say a word.
There was a moment of silence, and then the sheikh said roughly, “Everyone thinks I’m being hard on you.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t think—-”
“It’s true.” His voice was flat.
Oh.
“But I’m doing it because I know you can do more—-”
Harper didn’t know whether to be hurt or pleased by the sheikh’s words, and she cut him off, saying stiffly, “I’m already doing what I can—-”
“But not for the right reasons.”
Here we go again, Harper thought. Frustration seethed inside of her, and she burst out in a low voice, “Why can’t you just tell it to me straight? And what do you mean I’m not doing it for the right reasons? I want to make you proud and—-mmph.”
The sheikh had covered her mouth with his, and she stiffened even more when she felt his tongue slip between her lips.
They were in public!
Her hands automatically moved up his chest to push him away, but the sheikh retaliated by kissing her harder.
Oh. My. God.
Her fingers unclenched against his chest.
The sheikh started sucking on her tongue.
And she ended up clutching his thobe.
The moment she started kissing him back, the sheikh pulled away, and Harper whimpered in protest. Unfair!
The sheikh stared down at her for one moment, his gorgeous face inscrutable. The circle his vassals formed around them broke away, revealing the couple once again to their audience, and the noise in the reception hall increased tenfold.
Harper crashed back to reality, and she turned red in an instant. Ah, damn. God knew what their guests must be thinking, Harper thought with a cringe. She managed to tug her hand out of the sheikh’s hold but just as she turned away, the sheikh wrapped his arm around her waist from behind.
What the—-
He bit her ear, and a whimper escaped her.
“Don’t do it for me.”
The whispered words landed so softly on her ear that she could almost believe she had imagined them. She whirled around to demand what the hell he meant by that, but the sheikh and his vassals had already walked away—-
The world’s most arrogant warrior squad, Harper couldn’t help thinking. Ever.
A moment later, she heard a sudden rush of fingers tapping on their keyboards, and Harper realized in a flash that those damn sheikhs had left her to deal singlehandedly with the aftermath.
She turned around to face the crowd of guests and their faces said it all –
Despite them being members of royal families, the most powerful politicians, and the most influential celebrities – none of them were immune to the temptation of sharing a photo that had the potential to go viral.
And it should go viral, Harper realized in horror, since—-
Sheikh. Bites. Ear. Queen. Whimpers.
“Don’t tweet!”
The words were out before she could stop herself, and the crowd laughed.
“I didn’t,” Farica de Konigh said with a grin. “I used Instagram Stories instead.”
“Traitor!”
And the guests laughed again.
From the other side of the hall, the sheikh smiled at the way the crowd reacted to his queen. Their early morning talk had made Harper unconsciously aloof with his guests, and when people had started to talk, he knew he had to do something to make her loosen up.
Rayyan shook his head at the look on Khalil’s face. “Stop congratulating yourself.”
Khalil shrugged. So he enjoyed the fact that the world would see his queen the way he had always seen Harper: a woman who was too adorable not to tease. That was not a crime, surely?
“What happened to the man who says he wanted a queen who could slay her own dragons?” Tarif asked slyly.
“It is still what I want,” Khalil answered calmly. And his queen would become that tonight, for the sheikh had already set things in motion.
Chapter Fifteen
Dinner took place in the ballroom, a multi-course extravaganza that had the palace’s guests oohing and aahing on every dish that was served. This time, the king and queen were seated on opposite ends of the table, with about fifty guests on each side separating them.