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

opportunity closing. After bidding the rest of their team farewell, she and Zach were climbing aboard the private plane that would take them to the capital. Only this time it was taking Lucie away from opportunity, not towards it.
     
    Once again, they were dropped at the hotel, to sleep for a few hours and prepare themselves for the journey ahead. But after Zach headed up to his room, Lucie stayed behind to speak to the driver.
     
    “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” she asked, her Gulf States Arabic having improved somewhat during her time on the dig site.
     
    The driver paused for a moment before replying.
     
    “Yes,” he said, also in Arabic. “I’m one of the Sheikh’s drivers. He wanted to make sure you and your friend were taken care of, so that you report well of the program.”
     
    “Can you take me to him?”
     
    The question was impertinent, and she knew it. But she was out of time, and she was desperate. She needed to see the Sheikh, if only to get some closure. If only so she wouldn’t have the question mark hanging over her head.
     
    The man paused. He looked like he badly wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Lucie wished she could find some way to pull it out of him. She wished she had the key to convincing him to say whatever it was that was on the tip of his tongue.
     
    “No,” he said finally. “I cannot.”
     
    And then he drove away.
     
    Lucie stood there, watching the car until it rounded a corner and was lost from sight. She refused to go in, even though she knew the car was gone, silently hoping the driver would change his mind and take her to the man who had scorned her.
     
    But nothing happened, and eventually she had to face the fact, and go inside the hotel.
     
    A few hours later, the car that came to take her and Zach to the airport had a different driver, who would not speak to her. The trip was over, and Lucie realized with a dull pang that any association with the Sheikh she may have had was lost to the sands of the desert and time.

 
     
    ELEVEN

Lucie was caught between a rock and a hard place. For the last few weeks, since returning from her ill-fated trip to Al-Brehoni, she had wanted desperately to forget what had happened there, but in working on her dissertation, had been forced to constantly relive it.
     
    She had a deadline, if she was to finish this year, but she was running out of time. Already, the undergrads were getting into crunch time on their classes and heading for exams, and the other postgrads were worrying about editing and final dissertation organization. The air was a mix of the excitement of spring and the desperation of approaching deadlines.
     
    Lucie wanted to finish her essay. She needed to. Not just because of her own inner need to achieve, but also because, having tasted the life of exploration that would hopefully come after it, she felt like another year spent arguing with herself over the proper placement of paragraphs would kill her.
     
    Then there was the fact that, as soon as she finished her dissertation and went through her dissertation defense, she would be done with Al-Brehoni for good. If she wanted to, she could just step away from having anything more to do with the country. If she did so, she thought, maybe she would stand a chance of forgetting about what had happened that magical and ill-fated night.
     
    In her quest to be free of Al-Brehoni and its king, Lucie had to sift through a constant barrage of reminders of the man she was trying desperately to forget. Every time she wrote the words “Al-Brehoni”, she found it got a little harder to accept what had happened there.
     
    And, quite besides that, Lucie also knew that her dissertation was in trouble.
     
    Now that Al-Brehoni was open to new work, and even had an active dig site in the very place she was asserting was once a central hub of pottery creation, well, she had no excuse. She had to have a thorough investigation of the quarters of the ancient town