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)
But she was wrong.
As soon as she had stepped out of Lincoln Airport, she realized right away that the whole world was apparently that stupid, hence the shitstorm that had become Harper’s life for the past six days.
The press hounded her everywhere, reported her every move, threw questions and insinuations at her every chance they got. Thank God the sheikh had been a stubborn bully, ignoring her protests about having her own security, and when he had introduced them to her, she had recognized the trio of guards right away.
The custody goons, Harper had gasped.
The three men’s expressions turned stonier while the sheikh coughed.
They have been with the Ramilian army since their teens and are among the best of my own security. The sheikh gestured to the men, saying, Please introduce yourself.
I am Amir, anisdi. He appeared to be the eldest and the leader of the group.
I am Farid, anisdi. He was the largest of them, with the most ferocious scowl.
I am Kamil, anisdi. The last seemed to be the least communicative, his tone colder than the two.
But Harper by then had been thinking of something else.
Amir. Farid. Kamil.
AFK, she had blurted out.
The sheikh had frowned. Is that not an acronym for – away from keyboard?
Yeah, it is, but-—And Harper had pointed to the three bodyguards. That’s what I’m calling them – whoa!
Her so-called AFK was scowling at Harper like they wanted to work for the enemy so they could have an excuse to kill her instead.
I don’t think they like me, she had said uneasily.
The sheikh had done his best not to smile, telling her soothingly, They will warm up to you in no time.
Remembering this made Harper’s lips twitch. Yes, well, that hadn’t exactly happened, but since the AFK had been extremely good at handling the press and getting rid of anyone they considered a threat to their future queen, she wasn’t going to complain.
If not for those guys, Harper was sure one of the paparazzi would have manhandled her already, desperate as the whole pack seemed to be in their quest to be the first to dish out a scoop on Sheikh Khalil Al-Atassi’s “secret love.”
As always, Harper’s nose wrinkled at the term, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. How could the whole world be so blind? The sheikh had lovers left and right in the past several years, and they could still believe that he had been in love with her all these years?
It made her realize that people would believe what they wanted to believe – and this terrified her. Because the truth was, she wanted to believe the same thing, too. She wanted to believe that the sheikh had been in love with her all these years, albeit unconsciously. She wanted to believe this so badly, and wasn’t that the most horrible thing?
The sheikh had tried calling her numerous times on the first day, and in the end she had sent him a short message to put an end to his attempts. I need time and space to think. The sheikh had not tried to contact her after that, and until now she didn’t know what to feel about it. On one hand, it showed that he cared enough to respect her wishes. On the other, it could also mean that she meant so little to him that he could so easily put her out of his mind.
So what now, she wondered. Time was running out, and she knew if she didn’t make a decision soon – the sheikh might marry someone else.
And if he did, Harper forced herself to think, so what?
Would it hurt her to see him belong to another woman? Yes.
Would it always hurt? Yes.
Harper’s fingers dug into her palms as she forced herself to confront the last and most important question of all.
Would it hurt enough to make her wish she’d married him instead?
IT WAS ONLY EIGHT IN the evening when the sheikh returned to the privacy of his suite. Although festivities continued elsewhere in the palace, Khalil had made his excuses early, having realized that his tension was putting a damper on everyone’s mood. It was not their fault he had chosen the world’s most stubborn woman to be his bride, and he was now paying the consequences for it.
A day had already passed since the so-called deadline of his offer of marriage, and he still hadn’t heard from her. He knew that was already an answer in itself, but a part of him refused to accept it. Harper Griffiths was the ideal woman to be his wife and queen. Every cell of his blood told him this was so—-
But should that even matter if she didn’t want to marry him?
And could he blame her if it was so?
Thanks to the daily reports that her guards had submitted to him, the sheikh had been able to monitor her even from the palace. Being linked to him so publicly hadn’t just turned her life upside-down. Her life was now a living hell, and it would continue so even if they did not end up marrying.