but then Emily was the only other person she knew who shared the novel experience of marrying a Kyrian royal.
“I’m not sure he knows how,” Sheridan said, and Emily laughed.
“Truthfully, when I first met him, Rashid scared me half to death. He’s so quiet. So intense.” She frowned then. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but you are marrying him now and so I feel you should be armed with as much information as possible. Rashid and Kadir didn’t have a good relationship with their father. He was very harsh.”
“Rashid mentioned it.”
Emily’s eyes widened a bit. “Did he? How interesting. Did he also mention that their father refused to choose an heir? It should have always been Rashid, but King Zaid wanted to punish him. So he left the succession undecided.”
“But he decided in the end.”
Emily sipped her tea. “No. Kadir did. Rashid did not come when their father died, and so Kadir had to take the throne. But Rashid finally showed up before the formal declaration. And Kadir abdicated.”
Sheridan blinked. “Why would he do that?”
Emily’s cheeks reddened a bit then. “It’s a long story, but he did it for me. I was too scandalous for Kyr, you see. And Kadir never wanted to be a king. He only married me to get out of it.”
“But you’re still married.”
Emily laughed. “Oh, yes. Marrying Kadir for all the wrong reasons is still the best thing I ever did. Because it turns out the reasons were right in the end.”
Sheridan’s throat ached. It was clear that Emily al-Hassan loved her husband very much. And he must love her equally as much to have given up a throne. It was incredibly romantic. And it made her sad when she thought of her and Rashid and their impending marriage.
She shook her head as hot feelings welled up inside her. “I don’t want to marry Rashid. I don’t love him, and he doesn’t love me. But there’s the baby to consider. A baby born to an unmarried mother can’t inherit a throne, apparently, even when the king of Kyr is most definitely the father. And forget shared custody.” She waved a hand. “Not happening here.”
“No, that is definitely Kyr for you.” Emily leaned forward and squeezed her hand. Sheridan liked how sympathetic and friendly the other woman was. “Kyr has its charms, and the al-Hassan brothers have even more. I promise you they are worth it in the end. Even grouchy Rashid.”
Sheridan laughed. She’d been on the edge of tears, but laughing helped to banish them. At least temporarily. God, she’d needed this. Someone who didn’t think the sun rose and set on Rashid, who knew he was flawed and who didn’t mind saying it.
“He is grouchy,” she said. “And bossy.”
Emily laughed. “Bossiness is an al-Hassan trait. But you have to admit they are devilishly handsome.”
“I haven’t seen your husband yet, but if he looks anything like Rashid, I’d say you’re a very lucky woman.”
Emily’s eyebrows waggled. “I am a very lucky woman. And you will be, too, once you tame Rashid.”
Sheridan sighed. The other woman was so certain everything would work out in the end. Sheridan didn’t feel that way at all. She thought of Rashid pushing her away after sex and her heart wanted to break. “I don’t know that he’s tamable. Or that I want to. In truth, I wish I could just go home.”
But that wasn’t as true as she claimed, and she felt a blush stain her cheeks. Emily very politely didn’t comment.
“Would you like more tea?” Emily asked instead, reaching for the pot.
“Please.”
After they settled down with fresh cups, Emily looked at her very thoughtfully. “Kadir tells me that Rashid has always been intense, but he has not always been the sort of emotionally closed-off man he is now. Kadir does not know what happened, but he thinks something did. There were a few years when they only had the barest of contact. Kadir was building his business and Rashid was in Russia.” Emily sipped her tea. “I’ve only known grouchy Rashid, so I can’t say for certain. But Kadir loves his brother very much, and he would not do that if Rashid was not good.”
Sheridan’s heart thumped. She wouldn’t have guessed that Kadir didn’t know about his brother’s marriage and his wife’s subsequent death, but clearly he did not. It wasn’t her place to say anything, so she sipped her tea and kept silent. But she hurt for Rashid as she thought of him losing the woman he loved and having no one to turn to.
They sat there for another hour, chatting about many different things. Emily explained the Kyrian wedding procedure to Sheridan, who found it comfortingly sterile. Oh, she’d always wanted the big emotional wedding, but signing her name on a document and then watching Rashid do the same would be quite enough for her. It was like signing loan papers at the bank. She could handle that.
But when the time came to do just that later the same day, Sheridan found herself more emotional than she’d thought she would be. The signing took place in Rashid’s office with Kadir and Emily for witnesses, along with the lawyers who presided over the entire thing. It lasted all of a few minutes as they sat on one side of a conference table with the lawyers on the other and Kadir and Emily at either end.
There was a translator who read the documents to Sheridan, and then she was directed to sign her name on a line. She could feel Rashid beside her, his gaze intent on her as if he expected her to refuse. She almost did. She almost stood and ran from the room, but in the end she knew it would merely be a stalling tactic.
She signed and put the pen down, then stared at her fingers clenched in her lap. Rashid scratched his signature across the document in a hasty scrawl, and then shoved the whole thing across the table.
He was angry, she realized, but she didn’t know why. She glanced over at Emily, who gave her a smile of encouragement and a firm nod, as if to say, “You can do this.”
Another few moments and the men on the other side of the table were filing the documents into briefcases and rising. They left the room, and then Emily went to Kadir, who took her hand in his and gave her a look that could only be called hot. He was very handsome, of course. The al-Hassan brothers had been designed by God to make female hearts beat a little harder when they walked into a room.
“Congratulations, Rashid,” Kadir said, shaking his brother’s hand. “And Sheridan, welcome to the family.”
He kissed her on both cheeks. Emily did the same while Kadir took his brother aside for a quick conversation at the other end of the room. Sheridan’s heart was beating hard and her stomach fluttered.
“It’ll be fine,” Emily said. “He’s a good man. He’s just a little lost, I think. Kadir was, too, but we found our way.” She squeezed Sheridan’s shoulders. “You will, too. I’m certain of it.”
Sheridan wished she shared Emily’s confidence, but all she could do was smile wanly and thank the other woman for being there.
Kadir joined his wife then, his arm going around her shoulders. He couldn’t seem to be near her without touching her. It made Sheridan wistful. Rashid touched her, but only to initiate sex. After he’d found his release, he was finished with the touching.
