Free The Sheikh's American Baby (The Sheikh's Every Wish Book 5) by Holly Rayner

envoy pulled up to the camp, she dismissed her fears out of hand—but it wasn’t the Sheikh who got out. Instead, it was a servant—a nameless official that Lucie didn’t recognize—informing her and Zach that the Sheikh had hoped to host them again that night, but had had other plans come up most unexpectedly. The official explained that he had brought their bags so that they could stay out at the camp as originally planned.
     
    Then he unloaded their bags, and was gone again, lost to the desert.
     
    And with that, any defense Lucie had against the sea of emotion that was beginning to creep over her was gone. She was awash in anger and grief.
     
    And, worst of all, Zach saw it. The earlier Zen-like attitude she’d had towards him, unable to be annoyed at anything he said or did, evaporated with her hopes of seeing the Sheikh again. It took all the self-control she had not to snap as he tried to make conversation on their walk from the site to the camp that would be their home for the remainder of the trip.
     
    He was prying, trying to find out exactly what had happened between her and the Sheikh. Well, Lucie thought, that was a good question. So, now, did she.

 
    TEN

The rest of the week passed without major incident. There were no more sandstorms; nothing to break up the monotony of digging out the sand deposited by the storm and trying to uncover the work the team had already done beneath it.
     
    As for Lucie, she didn’t mind the monotony. Even though there was little chance of anything new being uncovered, she knew of cases in the past when extreme weather had knocked loose discoveries that otherwise never would have been uncovered. It wasn’t much, but it kept her from being too frustrated at the lack of progress she was making with her dissertation research.
     
    Over the days that followed, her admiration for the people she was working with—Zach excepted—only grew. And she was reassured by the fact that some of them—many of them the best and brightest in their field—had come from circumstances not unlike her own.
     
    But even in this there was some sadness, as the realization that all the archeologists at the dig were of such high personal and professional caliber only served to remind Lucie of the man who had personally selected them. Even this little home she had found was tainted by the memory of him, and the great chasm between what she had thought he felt for her, and what he actually had.
     
    The Sheikh still reigned supreme in her mind, and she hated the power he had over her. One stray thought of him, and suddenly an hour was spent wondering where he was; remembering, touch by touch, the night they had spent together.
     
    It just made no sense to her. She had always trusted her instincts with people, and had seldom been led astray. She’d always prided herself on that, growing up, and it had saved her from a lot of trouble.
     
    How had she been so wrong about this man? If the Sheikh was really so dispassionate that he didn’t even want to come and see her one more time, how had he seemed so tender and intimate with her that night? Why had it felt that they had made a real connection?
     
    This question, above and beyond the feelings of betrayal and rejection that she felt, was what occupied her the most. It was this question that made her feel hesitant to leave the country without seeing him one more time.
     
    She knew she had to do something about it. She knew she must find a way to get to him. But every day, she failed. She knew that in order to go to the palace, she would have to borrow the jeep, and she was loathe to ask Professor Hasseb, lest he suspect why she needed to go there. So every day, she would just hope that someone from the royal entourage would again show up at the dig site unannounced, and she could convince them to bring her back with them. But of course they never did.
     
    As the sun began to set on their final day at the dig site, Lucie saw her window of