Read Online The Sheik and the Pregnant Bride by Susan Mallery - Free Book Online

packages and forgot to be tired.
    She wasn’t sure where to start, she thought happily as she dug through her desk for a utility knife to slit open the first box. There were so many choices, so many possibilities.
    “You look happy.”
    She turned and saw Qadir walking toward her. While the tux was gone, he still looked pretty darned good in his tailored suit.
    “I love fast delivery,” she said, pointing to all the boxes. “It’s like a miracle. I don’t know where to start. There are so many possibilities. Headlights, gears, pistons, brackets.”
    He stared at her for a long time. “You’re a very unusual woman.”
    “I know. I’ve heard that before.” She found the utility knife and moved toward the first box. It was small and light. The possibilities were endless!
    She pressed the knife to the seam, then looked at him. “You want to open the first one?”
    “Not especially.”
    “Okay.” She slit the tape, then dug into the box. She pulled out the clear plastic bag within. “O-rings. Aren’t they beautiful?”
    Qadir laughed. “As I said—unusual. I would like to speak to you for a moment, Maggie.”
    “Okay.”
    She put the O-rings back in the box and followed Qadir into her office, where she settled on the corner of her desk and looked at him.
    She told herself it was silly to be nervous. She hadn’t done much on the car yet so it was unlikely he was upset about anything. Not that he looked upset. His expression was as unreadable as ever, although not in a hostile way. He looked very…princelike. And handsome, she thought absently, liking the firm set of his jaw and the way his eyes seemed to see so much more than they should.
    “What do you think of me?” he asked.
    The unexpected question made her blink. “Um, what?”
    “We get along, do we not?”
    Was that a trick question? “Yes.”
    “Good. I agree.”
    With what? What were they talking about?
    “We have much in common,” he continued.
    That nearly made her laugh. What did they have in common? A love of fine Arabian horses? Jetsetting around the world? Hardly.
    “Cars,” he added. “We both like cars.”
    “Okay,” she said slowly. “Sure. Cars.”
    “I mention this because I was thinking about your business back home.”
    The one she’d lost, she thought sadly. “It’s not exactly what it was,” she told him.
    “The loss of your father would have changed things.”
    More than he knew. “It was hard while he was sick. He was in the hospital a lot and I was with him. It was hard to stay on top of things.”
    “Of course. When you return, you’ll have more time.”
    She nodded, thinking she would also have a fair amount of money, although not enough to buy back the business. Still, she could start over with her own small shop. Continue the work.
    “More money would help,” he said.
    “It usually does.” A hopeful thought appeared. “You have a second car?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “Then…”
    “I have a proposition.”
    If she’d looked anything like Victoria, she would have assumed he was coming on to her. However, she stood there in coveralls that had been patched more than once, no makeup and her hair pulled back in an uneven ponytail.
    “Which is?”
    Qadir smiled. “You may have noticed my father’s enthusiastic efforts to interest me in a woman. Any woman. He’s determined to get all his sons married as quickly as possible.”
    “Typical father behavior,” she said, then grinned. “Well, not counting the whole ‘good breeder’ part of the introduction.”
    “Exactly. I am not interested in being pressured. However, the only way to get my father to back off is to give him the impression I’m involved with someone and that it might be serious.”
    She nodded. “That would probably work.”
    “I’m glad you agree. So I propose an arrangement between us. We would date for a period of weeks. Perhaps three or four months, then say we are engaged. Nothing would be formally announced, of course,