Chapter 11—Sheiks IX by CJ

Nik heard laughter in the early morning hours and it roused him from sleep earlier than he had planned.  It was still early morning and he wondered what insanity had brought someone out into the cold foggy morning and created such a giddy mood for them.

He moved to the window and pushed back the white gauzy curtains.  Down below, swimming in the pool, was Jenny and Emir.  Nik gritted his teeth with irritation at the sight.  Oh, they were respectably dressed for swimming, all body parts covered.  But what irritated Nik so was the fact that they looked so damned happy.

He swore under his breath and regretted it the moment the words spilled out for they awoke Tara.

“Nik, what’s wrong?” she asked with concern as she pushed her hair back off her face and slid out of their warm bed.  She moved next to him at the window and when her eyes gazed down upon the couple, she gave a small laugh.  “Are they crazy?  It must be freezing out there.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Nik fibbed.

Tara chastised him with her eyes.  “No, you were thinking of ways to make it down there to drown Emir before you awoke me or anyone else in the house.”

He frowned and walked away from the window.

“So what if I was?” he countered.

“Nik, the Crown Prince of any country should not be harboring such murderous thoughts.  Especially such thoughts about the cousin to the king of Kumar’s neighbors.  Do you want to incite another war?”

Nik chuckled at Tara’s light words.  “I would argue that Razi would not be so rash.  But seeing how he defied everyone in the family to have Anika, I don’t think he would show me any sympathy.  Perhaps when he has his own children he will.  Until then…” he shook his head.

“Until then,” Tara repeated, sitting down next to Nik and taking his hand, “you might try and get used to the idea that Jenny’s in love.  You never feared Christian as much as you fear Emir.  Why?”

Taking a page from Rafee’s book, Nik straightened and declared, “I fear no one, Tara!”

She laughed at him and shook her head.  “I don’t mean that way, I mean you fear what Emir may mean to Jenny.  You fear he may replace you in her eyes.  She’s always looked up to you and now you fear its Emir she’ll look up to.  But remember, Nik, to her, you are her father.  Emir will never be that.  Emir is a totally different man in her eyes.”

“Yes, a man who wants to marry her when she just now is turning eighteen.”

Tara shrugged.  “Maybe they’ll marry, maybe they won’t.  But our Jenny isn’t the girl she was before the war.  She’s a woman now and I’m not even sure college is what she wants right now either.”

“So you think running off to live in the backward land of Johar is a better option than Stanford?” he retorted and the vehemence of his words obviously startled Tara for she dropped his hand and stood.

Her face flushing with anger, Tara defended, “I never said that, Nik!  And the hatred you just spewed out for Johar is not what I would call being very diplomatic.  After all, Razi is now king, not his brother or his father.  Give Johar some credit for possibly being able to change.  I doubt they will no longer be the dangerous dictatorship they once were.”

Sobering, Nik regained his emotions and said calmly, “You’re right, darling, and I’m sorry for my words.  But when it comes to Jenny…”

“I know.  You are very protective of her.  But…why don’t you try and get to know Emir some?  I talked with him last night over dinner and he is a very intelligent and calm young man.  I adore him.”

“You adore him because you think he’s handsome,” Nik teased.  “I haven’t seen you dislike a single handsome man before.”

Tara frowned at him and before he could react, a pillow smacked him across the face.  It nearly knocked him off the bed there was so much force behind it and before he could retaliate, his brother’s voice halted his move toward his own pillow.

“I’d say Tara has the upper hand in this relationship,” Rafee drawled from the doorway.

He was childless, a state Nik rarely saw Rafee in these days, and his black hair was tousled from his sleep.  A day’s worth of stubble covered his chin and without asking, Rafee boldly sauntered into the bedroom and plopped himself down on Nik’s pillow, stretching himself out as if he were settling down for a long nap.

“I don’t remember inviting you in, brother,” Nik remarked with sarcasm and Rafee returned with a smug smile.

“I figured I’d better come in and referee the fight,” he insisted and with his words, Tara aimed her pillow at his stomach and smacked him one before she ran out of the room with a squeal avoiding Rafee’s attempt to snag her.

“Damn, she’s fast,” Rafee complained as Tara disappeared out of the door.  “How’d you ever catch her?”

Nik rolled his eyes at the insult and asked with some impatience, “What did you interrupt my morning for, Rafee?  Obviously there is something on your mind besides a pillow fight.”

“Actually, there is.  And they are right outside in the pool,” Rafee revealed and Nik gritted his teeth and waited for his brother’s explanation.  Although, he already knew what Rafee was going to do.  Rafee was going to do Emir’s bidding.  After all, they were war buddies and Rafee harbored immense respect for the young soldier who had guarded his back on the battlefields of Johar.

“I want to know what your problem with Emir is,” Rafee demanded and Nik was neither shocked nor surprised by the bluntness of his brother’s words.  They were typical Rafee.

“My problem, as you so eloquently put it, brother, is that he is six, seven years Jenny’s senior and he has plans to marry her just as soon as he can talk her into it,” Nik answered.

Rafee laughed.  “And like you’re not six or seven years Tara’s senior?”

“That’s different.  Tara wasn’t a teen when we met.”

“Nor, do I suspect, was she an innocent virgin,” Rafee said dryly and Nik began reaching for the pillow Tara had use to pummel Rafee for he had plans of his own.  Rafee, however, was always one step ahead of his adversary and he already had his hand on the fabric, clutching it tightly.

“You sometimes lack any filter on your mouth,” Nik snapped and stood from the bed.  “That you have in common with our bastard cousin Samad.”

“And you are sometimes the biggest snob in the world,” Rafee shot back, but there was no venom in his words, just a ring of truth.

Nik sighed.  Yes, there were times when he did think he was somehow above everyone else.  It came with his station in life, but it didn’t excuse it.  Was that one of the reasons why he disliked Emir so?  Did he see Emir as just a lowly Johar soldier, not fit for Jenny?  In a lot of ways, yes.  And in his heart, he knew that was not fair to Emir.  Not fair at all.

When Nik remained quiet, Rafee said, “I understand why you are hesitant.  Hell, if that was Kess out there, turning eighteen, and some upstart soldier-boy wanted to marry her, I’d have already dug his grave and had a murder plot hatched out.  But on the other hand, I would hope I had some faith in her ability to reason, in her ability to pick a mate that was respectable.  And I fought alongside Emir, he is more respectable than most men I’ve ever met.  He lived in the same horrible conditions I did and never once did he complain.  He fought, he plotted and he worked harder than any other man in that rebel camp.  I can’t tell you the respect I gained for him and if he wanted to marry my daughter, I’d gladly welcome it.”

“I don’t doubt he’s a good man,” Nik said quietly as he moved to the window and looked out on the couple again.  Emir was getting out of the pool, his body sinewy with muscle and athletic in the way he moved.  He grabbed a towel and with no regard for his own coldness, moved to the steps to help Jenny out and immediately wrap her in the towel.  He earnestly dried her hair and tucked the towel up under her chin and then fetched her white terry-cloth robe before even thinking of himself.  Yes, he was a good man, but still, Nik would need some time.

“They want to get engaged,” Rafee then announced and upon those words Nik closed his eyes to the scene outside.

“Then why doesn’t Emir come talk to me himself?” Nik asked as he turned away from the window.

Rafee must have seen something in Nik’s face for he studied him closely and silently for a moment before saying, “Because he knows you don’t like him and I think that stings.  Emir is a tough man, he endured a lot in Johar growing up, he’s fought more battles than any man his age should have fought, but this one…Nik he doesn’t want to fight a battle with you.  He wants your blessing, not a war.”

Nik turned back to the window but the couple was gone.  There was silence in the room for a moment until Rafee added with a dark tone in his voice, “The alternative is that Jenny does what she wants and cuts herself off from you.  She does become a legal adult today.  She can do what she wants; she has access to her ten million-dollar trust fund as of today.  Don’t let it come to that, Nikash.”

Nik slowly spun around and glared at his brother.  Rafee was lying on the bed, his hands behind his head and no malicious look what-so-ever upon his face.  He was stating pure fact, but still, Nik was going to resent his words just because his brother was right.

“Is that a threat, Rafee?” Nik asked through clenched teeth.

“Its fact, Nikash.  You may as well realize it.”

Nik shook his head.  “If I thought it would hurt you, I’d come over there and knock you out.  But you don’t feel physical pain, do you?”

Pushing to a seated position and suddenly looking defensive, Rafee declared, “Of course I do.  Come here and hit me.  It’ll hurt.”

Nik began laughing.  It wasn’t often he remained angry with his brother for long.  And in his heart he knew Rafee would never threaten him, he was merely laying out all of the facts.

“We’ll save that for later,” Nik drawled.  “I don’t feel like making you cry this early in the morning.”

A pillow flew Nik’s way, this time he was quick enough to dodge it.  With a lithe leap, he was on the bed and had Rafee in a head-lock.

“On second thought, perhaps a good cry is what you need baby brother,” Nik taunted as he felt Rafee try and wriggle free.

He, of course, managed to escape and quickly caught Nik around the waist and the momentum of his aggression forced them both off the bed and onto the hardwood floor with a loud thud.  Nik bore the brunt of their weight and grunted in pain, but Rafee was not deterred and continued with his onslaught.

“You’ve gotten stronger fighting in Johar,” Rafee said with some respect and Nik somehow maneuvered out of Rafee’s grip and forced an arm behind Rafee’s back in a vice grip.

“Perhaps you’re not the only family warrior these days,” Nik teased and it was then that a little child’s wail interrupted their brotherly wrestling match and tiny Kess was racing barefoot at them and took a flying leap at Nik. 

He released Rafee to catch Kess and heard her cry out, “Leave dada alone!”

Both men began laughing, but little Kess was entirely serious and it wasn’t until Rafee grabbed her in a huge bear hug and told her it was all right did she calm down.

“Damn if she isn’t Shawna’s daughter,” Nik commented.

Still amused by Kess’s show of aggression at trying to save her father, Rafee replied, “That she certainly is.”

Suddenly Emir was in the doorway, a white T-shirt covering his previously shirtless look, and his black swimsuit damp but not dripping.  He looked anxious and right behind him came Jenny in her robe holding a crying Alexi.

“What happened?” Jenny asked as she surveyed the scene.

“Is everyone all right?” Emir questioned and Nik realized then that if this man rushed to their aid over a screaming toddler and a friendly wrestling match, that he couldn’t be all bad. 

“Everyone is fine,” Nik assured them as he stood.

Rafee got to his feet as well but Kess refused to let go of her father and held on tightly to his neck.

“We were just goofing around and Kess got a little worried,” Rafee added.

Jenny chastised them both with her glare.  “Some men never grow up.”  With that comment she plopped the baby in Emir’s arms and trudged off.

Emir, surprisingly, didn’t look uncomfortable with the infant and he smiled down at Alexi who halted his crying and began cooing with delight.

“See, even the kid likes him,” Rafee drawled before he set Kess down and moved toward Emir to relieve him of his duty.  “Let’s go get dressed for the day, kids.”  And with that, Rafee, super-dad, was gone.

Emir now looked uncomfortable.  The baby had obviously been less daunting a task than facing Nik was now.  But the young man hid it well as he took in a deep breath and said, “Well, since everyone is fine…”

“Not so fast, Emir,” Nik spoke and the man halted.  “I was wondering…do you ride?”

“Ride what?”

“Horses.”

“Uh…a little.  Everyone in the Johar Army is given instruction, but whether or not I remember any of it…”  He shrugged.

Nik smiled, a bit of that smile was mischievous, a bit was humor over Emir’s self-deprecating attitude.

“Meet me at the stables in an hour.  We’ll ride and we’ll talk.”

Nik left no room for argument or for a reply.  He disappeared into the master bathroom and firmly closed the door behind him.

**

Billy Patrick was just getting ready for work.  It was a weekend, but lately, he hadn’t minded much working weekends.  It wasn’t like he had anything better to do.  Work or family had interfered one too many times with his social life lately and so he had basically given up trying to find hot women to wine and dine on Saturday nights and was committed to becoming solely a working man.

He frowned at the face that reflected back at him in the mirror above his dresser.  It was a face that was becoming hard and edgy—much like Joseph’s face had looked for years before a Middle Eastern princess had finally swept him away from it all.

“Damn,” he muttered to himself in the mirror, “I’m becoming my brother.”

His phone rang at that moment and he yanked it off his belt and glanced at the caller ID.  Shawna’s number appeared and he smiled as he flipped it open.  It had been more than a month since he’d seen his sister.  He’d been planning on seeing her tonight at Jenny’s birthday party.  He hadn’t wanted to rush over to Villa Serena the moment she returned from the war for she had just been reunited with Rafee and he knew what a sticky situation that had turned out to be. 

What a triangle—Shawna, Marcus, Rafee.  And caught in the middle had been the kids.  But from what he had heard, Marcus had graciously backed out, not wanting Shawna or the kids to get hurt—and more than likely himself as well—and now everyone reported that Shawna and Rafee were back to their good ole’ selves and remodeling a house on the Villa Serena property.  He was glad for his sister.  In the end, things had worked out for everyone.  Everyone, that is, except Agent Marcus Snow.

Billy flipped open the phone and was greeted with a very anxious sounding Shawna.  When he inquired what was the matter, Shawna answered, “Billy, I’ve lost Kadeem.”

“Kadeem?  Who’s Kadeem?”

“The boy Rafee adopted from the war.  He’s missing.”

Billy had heard Rafee had returned from the war with a little extra baggage.  A widow and an orphan to be exact.  And now Shawna had lost the orphan?  Billy frowned and inquired, “What do you mean Kadeem is missing?”

“I mean, he simply walked out of the furniture design studio we’re at here in the city and is gone.  I’ve looked everywhere.  I’ve done a half mile-wide grid search on my own already and I can’t find a sign of him.  Please, get down here and help me.”

Billy assured her he’d be there as soon as possible and called into his Sergeant to tell him he wouldn’t make the stake-out.  Then he phoned Dispatch to report the missing child and he was greeted by the sexy and friendly sounding voice of Claire.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite detective,” she said with a smile in her voice.  “What have you been up to Detective Patrick?”

Billy laughed.  Claire’s easy-going voice could always make him laugh.

“Just up to work, as usual,” he replied.

“And I think you work too hard,” she remarked.  “Now, what can I do for you?”

“You can send me someone from Missing Person’s to meet me at the Walton Design Studio.”

“The one near the wharf?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did you lose someone?”

“Nope, but my sister did.”

“Your family again?” she asked, a bit astounded sounding.  “I think they get into way too much trouble.  But hey, at least the war is over now, right?”

“Yep.  And all are back safe and sound.”

“Safe and sound except for the missing person?”

“Teens,” was all Billy said in reply and Claire assured him she would dispatch a Missing Person’s detective and a marked unit to the design studio to meet him.

“Hey, thanks a million,” Billy said.

“No thanks necessary.  Although…you never did bring me my coffee like you promised,” Claire told him.

Billy chuckled.  “I did forget, didn’t I?  Well, heck.  How about I really make it up to you and invite you along to a party at a smashing mansion in the wine country?”

There was silence and Billy wanted to curse.  What was wrong with him?  Had he just asked out a dispatcher over the phone and worse yet, one he had never even set eyes on?  He had!  He was certifiable.

No, he corrected, he was just tired, over-worked and hadn’t had a date since the night the CIA had dragged him away from hot, ready-and-willing, Cindy.

When the silence continued, he quickly added, “It’s just a family thing.  Nothing fancy or anything.  I just figured…never mind.”

He was about to hang up when Claire quickly said, “No, wait…I’ll…uh…go.”

“You will?”

“Sure…you did, after all, promise me coffee.  You owe me.  And I’ve never been in a mansion before.”

Billy smiled.  Suddenly, he felt rather nervous.  He didn’t know why because women had never made him feel nervous before.  Perhaps it was just because he had never seen this woman.  What if he didn’t find her attractive?  What if she was attached or had three screaming kids?  What if…ah heck, it didn’t matter; she was nice and that was all he needed to know for this casual date.

“Okay, what time do you get off duty?” Billy inquired.

“In an hour.  I’ve been on all night.”

“Oh, in that case…”  He was about to tell her not to worry about his insane idea for a meeting since she had been working all night, when she assured him with, “Don’t worry.  I’m good.  I’ll just catch a few hours sleep, then be all ready.  Tell me…how non-formal is this family thing?”

“It’s certainly no black tie event.  Just…nice casual.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

“So, just give me your address and…”

“Actually,” she interrupted him to say, “I have band practice this afternoon.  Can you pick me up there?”

He said he would and when he heard the name of the bar she was practicing in, he frowned slightly.  It was a punk bar and he prayed she didn’t have blue hair, a million tattoos and piercings all over her body.

But for now, he would have to put the thought of the date behind him for he had a sister to go assist and a missing teen to find.

**

Rafee was sitting in the kitchen feeding the children a morning snack when Omar walked in.  The man looked like he had something on his mind, but he merely moved past Rafee and the kitchen table and pulled down a glass for water.  It took Omar a long while to fill his glass and take a sip.  All the while, Rafee sensed the tension in the man.

“Something the matter, Omar?” Rafee inquired as he removed the bottle from Alexi’s mouth as the baby drifted off to sleep on the bouncy seat sitting squarely on the table.

“No, Rafee, why would you ask?”

“Because I know these things.  What is it?”

“Did you know Nikash took Emir off into the hills for a ride?  I am worried.  I do not think Emir rides horses often.  And Nikash did not choose him a very safe mount.”

Rafee chuckled.  It was just like his brother to do something so sneaky as that!

“I think Emir will survive.  He adapts well,” Rafee assured the big man.

“He does,” Omar agreed, then hesitated again.

“There is more?” Rafee asked, knowing of course there was.

Finally, Omar set his glass down and declared, “Yes, there is.  Has Abra spoken with you this morning?”

“No, I haven’t seen her yet.  Is she feeling unwell?”

“I think she is feeling fine.  But…she will need money.”

Rafee laughed and looked at Omar.  “Money?  For what?  She has informed neither myself nor Shawna of any needs.”

“She wants to go to school.”

“School?  Where?”

“Just the local junior college.  I told her they have English classes and nursing classes.  She seemed to like the idea.  I told her you would pay for it.”

Rafee chuckled again and would have fallen off his chair at the humor of it all if Omar didn’t look so darn serious.

“I’m glad you can make such decisions for my bank account.  I should hire you to manage my money, Omar,” Rafee drawled sarcastically.

“This would be little money to you.  Classes are very inexpensive.”

Rafee lifted an indifferent shoulder.  “Of course I do not mind the expense no matter how big or small.  But tell me…why do you seem to care so much?”

Omar straightened his large body defensively, drawing up to a height an inch or two higher than Rafee’s.  “I do not care,” he protested vehemently.  “I am just trying to assist with the family.  Is Abra not a family member now?”

“She is.”

“Then I am doing my job.  Nothing more.”

The man was out the door before Rafee could ask anything else or laugh again.  Something very odd was going on with that man and Rafee had a mischievous feeling he knew exactly what it was.  Women!  Or rather, one in particular.

**

Nik glanced back over his shoulder as Raja’s hooves pounded on the dirt path in a full gallop.  Emir wasn’t far behind and it seemed that over the past half-hour he had somehow learned to ride rather well.  When the young man had first glimpsed the high-spirited bay gelding Nik had carefully selected for him to ride, he had appeared unsure.

“Is this horse safe and well-trained?” Emir had asked, eyeing the animal that danced with more energy than Raja.  Though the male was not a stallion, he certainly acted the part as he raised his dark brown head high in the air and snorted and bared teeth in Emir’s direction.

“He has been trained by the finest horse trainer in all of Calistoga; Tara,” Nik had answered and when Emir still looked untrustingly at the horse, Nik had taunted, “Perhaps Kess’s little pony is more your speed?”

Immediately Emir’s gaze had narrowed and with determination he’d taken up the animal’s reins, swung onto his back and after just a few moments of looking awkward, gained balance in his seat and used a hard hand to rein in the feisty animal.  Now, after running for a half hour, he looked like a pro.

Nik frowned.  He had wanted to intimidate the young man a bit—put him in his place.  Yet Emir seemed to easily adapt to any situation, verbally, emotionally or physically, that Nik placed him in.

Suddenly Emir called out to him and before Nik’s brain registered the words, a hard smack caught him on the side of the head and he was tumbling off Raja and eating dirt.  His head spun, the world around him blackened for a moment, and then he heard Emir’s voice and felt the man’s hands on his face, slapping gently and calling his name.

“Sheik Nikash,” Emir kept saying.  “Sheik Nikash.”

Finally, Nik’s world grew clear around him and his eyes focused on the face of the man hovering over him.  A pounding grew behind his eyes and he realized that as long as he felt pain, everything was fine.

“Sheik Nikash…are you all right?” Emir asked and with Emir’s assistance, Nik gained his seat on the ground.

“I’m…uh, yes…I’m fine,” he finally muttered.

“Your head,” Emir insisted and yanked off his long-sleeved thermal knit shirt and the T-shirt underneath and used the T-shirt to press against Nik’s head. 

Nik pushed Emir’s hand and the shirt away and felt the warm trickle of blood.  Immediately he reached for Emir’s shirt and replaced it on his head while the young man yanked his long-sleeve back on and assessed Nik for further damage.

“I certainly haven’t done that in a long while,” Nik complained lightly and he heard Emir chuckle slightly. 

“And I never would have thought that a man as suave and sophisticated as yourself would ever crash to the ground so unceremoniously.”

“Thanks, Emir, you just made me feel so much better,” Nik drawled and he heard Emir chuckle again.

Raja then came trotting back down the path and halted near Nik, lowering his nose to sniff his master as if to say he was sorry.

“You should be sorry,” Nik chastised his horse gently.  “You ran me right into a branch.”

Raja snickered and tossed his head.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nik replied and then reached out for Emir to pull him to his feet.

He was unsteady at first, and Emir was loyally at his side, keeping him from falling.  It took a moment to regain his equilibrium, but when he was finally able, he insisted upon being hefted back up into the saddle.

“Perhaps you should stay here and I can go fetch help,” Emir suggested.

Nik would hear nothing of the sort and instead declared, “I will be fine.”

Of course, by the time they reached the barn, he was anything but fine.  His stomach was rolling with nausea, his head was still trickling blood and his jaw felt impossible to move.

Old Edgar Reynolds was there to fetch the horses and as Nik walked off with Emir at his side, holding his arm to keep him on his feet, the elder man called out, “Have Rafee give Dr. Chen a call, she’ll fix you up like she did him in no time, Nikash.”

When Rafee saw him that was exactly what he insisted as well.  But Nik refused to go to the hospital, for doing so would only land him in a bed for overnight observation and a long battery of tests for his head.

“Yes, but a battery of tests on your head could be very useful,” Rafee had taunted and when Nik glared at him, his brother had simply shrugged and picked up his cell phone muttering that Nik possessed no sense of humor.  He would call Dr. Chen to make a house call.

Rafee snapped the phone shut after just a few moments and declared, “Dr. Chen is on her way over.  But she didn’t sound overjoyed.”

“Perhaps it was the way you ordered her to appear like she was our palace physician,” Nik surmised.

His brother seemed unfazed until his phone rang and he changed from indifferent to anxious.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Shawna,” Rafee insisted and then he was gone.

**

Dr. Stacy Chen fumed as she snapped her phone shut.  That hard-headed, blasted man was certainly the most stubborn she’d ever met.  It was, after all, her day off.  Her only day off all week!

But she was beginning to realize that what Prince Rafee Armanjani wanted, Prince Rafee Armanjani got.

She grumbled and gathered her things, but refused to change out of the ratty jeans and sweatshirt she was wearing.  If she was going in on her off time, she’d do things her way and not worry about a darn thing the Armanjanis thought of her.

It had all started, of course, when she’d pursued Rafee and turned him into her lab rat for the day.  He was such an interesting medical study.  His healing abilities were off the chart and the fact that his bones showed no previous breaks…well, she just wanted to dig deeper and see just why that was.  Yet she knew Rafee was hesitant to allow her to do that.  He might be a strong and capable man, but Stacy had the feeling he’d feel a bit too vulnerable should she discover he was some sort of super-natural mutation.

Not that Stacy wholly believed that.  There had to be a medical explanation for it all.  She was a doctor, a scientist, and she believed only in what was true and could be tested.  She didn’t believe in what could not be proven.  Therefore, if she was allowed to study him closely enough, she was positive she would discover some strange gene that lurked in Rafee’s DNA that explained everything about him.

When she arrived at the mansion, however, there was no Rafee to try and talk into more testing.  He was gone.  Shawna was gone.  But there were three other tall, dark and mysterious men to occupy her thoughts.

One, she had met before at the front gate.  He was the intimidating-looking security man.  The second was a younger-looking version of Rafee who introduced himself as Emir Sabet.  And the third, her patient, was the absolutely stunning Prince Nikash Armanjani.  Even battered and bleeding, the Crown Prince of Kumar that Stacy had heard of in the local news, was sophisticated and charming.  His wife, beautiful, yet so utterly American-girl-next-door, that Stacy was shocked.

“I’m sorry to have disrupted your day, Dr. Chen,” Nik said politely after everyone had left them alone for her to examine him.  “But I didn’t want to get bogged down in the American hospital system over a silly cut on the head.”

“You sound an awful lot like your brother,” Stacy remarked as she cleaned the wound on his head and assessed that it would need stitches.

“My brother is much less reasonable than myself, doctor,” Nik argued lightly.  Then she saw him wince as she touched his bruised jaw.

“Perhaps, but when he came to see me, he was less banged-up than this and I was positive he had a concussion.  You need to come with me to the hospital,” she said firmly.

The handsome smile that had been gracing the Crown Prince’s face evaporated with her words and he shook his head like a stubborn little boy.  “I will not.  I have an engagement tonight I cannot miss.”

“Would you rather risk a brain hemorrhage or perhaps a broken jaw?  I’m positive that will make your engagement that much more exciting should you pass out in front of all your guests.”

He frowned then and glanced away.

“Prince Nikash,” Stacy began in her best understanding doctor voice only to be corrected with, “It’s Nik, please.”

“Nik, at least let me run you through the tests.  I’ll get you in and out as soon as possible.  If there is nothing majorly wrong, I’ll bring you home.  If not…well, you understand what must be done.”

He sighed.  He was indeed much more reasonable than his brother.

“Very well, doctor.”

And that was all it took to get that particular prince to the hospital.

**

It was almost like seeing an apparition when Rafee walked briskly into the design studio.  Billy had purposely stayed away from the Villa Serena estate to give his sister and her family time to heal, time to bond.  But seeing Rafee now…well, it was incredibly surreal.

The man was anxious looking as he rushed past a uniformed officer and their Missing Person’s Detective without a second glance and patted Billy on the shoulder.

“Good to see you, Rafee,” Billy said in greeting, giving his brother-in-law a smile.

Rafee nodded, but refused to smile.  “Any word?” he asked immediately.

Billy shook his head solemnly.

Rafee cursed then asked, “Where’s Shawna?”

“She’s over there, sitting down.”  Rafee started to hustle away when Billy caught his arm.  “Rafee, she’s upset.  Really upset.”

Indeed, Billy had been disheartened seeing his sister looking so…distraught.  He wondered why the intensity of her emotions, then figured it had to be related to the fact that she’d had a baby not too long ago.  No doubt the mothering instinct was strong in her right now.

Yet when Rafee found her and she literally collapsed into his arms, Billy had to reconsider that.  No, Shawna wasn’t distraught because of baby hormones.  She was distraught because she was reliving all that pain she’d gone through during the Johar war.  She was obviously reliving Rafee’s death.

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The Sheiks of Kumar IX: Family Reunion – Chapter 12