Free Promised to a Sheik by Carla Cassidy Page A

since before her mother’s death and she was vaguely surprised by how much he’d aged. His once dark, lustrous hair was almost completely gray and his hazel eyes held a sadness that broke Haley’s heart.
    Ricky was as handsome as ever, and more than anything, Haley wished she could hug the brother she’d grown up idolizing.
    She turned and faced the wall of bottles behind her, needing to get her emotions under control. Tears burned hot against her eyes and a ball of emotion pressed heavily in her chest. She had never felt so alone in her life.
    She could only remember feeling like this one other time and that had been when she’d posed as a nun to get into the hospital to see her mother after Isadora Mercado had been beaten by thugs. Thugs she suspected had been hired by one particular member of the family.
    That night, after she’d tearfully revealed herself to her dying mother, she’d gone to the Saddlebag. At the popular bar she had made the mistake that set in motion the chain of events that led her here, to the Lone Star Country Club, working in disguise and wearing a wire for the FBI.
    More male voices joined those of her father and brother, and she turned around to see several other “family” members arriving. Included in the groupwas one man who made her blood run cold—Frank Del Brio, the man she believed had hired the thugs that had killed her mother.
    The tall, muscular, short-haired man swaggered into the room as if he were already head of “the family.” Her engagement to Frank had prompted her to fake her own death. That and the fact that she wanted out of the Mafia family. Even in the brief time they had been engaged, she had sensed his ruthless nature, been repelled by his blind ambition and had seen his explosive temper.
    To her relief, it was her brother who approached the bar. He flashed her a quick smile, his gaze shooting to her name tag. “Hi, Daisy. Why don’t you set us up with two Scotch and sodas, a Scotch on the rocks, and a couple of gin and tonics.”
    â€œComing right up,” she said with a thick Texan twang.
    Minutes later, as she served the drinks, she relaxed. None of the men paid her any attention. It would appear that her disguise was successful. Now all she could do was pray that at this meeting the men would discuss enough business that the FBI could make the arrests they wanted. Then Haley could claim back her life.

Five
    â€œA month?” Grace Carson stared at her daughter in disbelief. “You can’t get married in a month! It will take at least that long just for me to get together an appropriate guest list.”
    The two women were seated in the sunroom just off the kitchen, where Cara had found her mother having a late-morning cup of coffee. “We don’t want a big wedding, Mother,” Cara protested.
    Again that morning, as she and Omar had driven to City Hall to get a marriage license, she’d tried to find a way to tell him that she was Elizabeth Cara, not Elizabeth Fiona. But he’d spent most of the time on the telephone, and for the few minutes they’d had to talk, she hadn’t been able to find the right words to confess.
    She told herself that before the wedding she would certainly find the right time and place to tell him the truth. After all, she had a full month. However, each time she thought of confessing, her heart bucked and kicked in protest.
    â€œEven a small wedding takes time and planning,” Grace exclaimed, pulling Cara back to the moment at hand. “We’ll have the ceremony at the Lone StarCountry Club, of course, and a beautiful reception afterward. We’ll get Ramon to do the flowers. He does such nice work. Have you thought about colors, Cara? And how many bridesmaids should you have? Oh, and what about the cake? Whom should we hire to do the cake?”
    â€œMother, please, take a breath,” Cara exclaimed, her own head spinning with all the