Khalid Sheikh Series

  The Sheikh’s Tempting Nanny

  The Sheikh’s Contract Wife

  The Sheikh’s Pregnant Teacher

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  RELAY PUBLISHING EDITION, MAY 2021

  Copyright © 2021 Relay Publishing Ltd.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United Kingdom by Relay Publishing. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Leslie North is a pen name created by Relay Publishing for co-authored Romance projects. Relay Publishing works with incredible teams of writers and editors to collaboratively create the very best stories for our readers.

  Cover design by Mayhem Cover Creations.

  www.relaypub.com

  Blurb

  Deception and desire in the desert…

  King Ziad Khalid needs a nanny and a wife. Without the latter, he can’t adopt his late best friend’s children. Being a practical ruler, he’s decided he’ll marry whoever he hires for the position. And beautiful American Laura Stone is just desperate enough to take him up on his offer…

  At first, Ziad has no intention of their marriage being real; he just needs a wife to keep up appearances. But the more time he spends with Laura, the deeper their connection grows. She manages to bring out his softer side, a part of him he never knew existed—and isn’t sure he likes.

  To Laura, her marriage with Ziad is a dream come true. The King’s wealth will save her family, and help pay for her sister’s medical care. But marriage to a grumpy king, and the stress of caring for his adopted children, quickly add up.

  Still, Laura is convinced that behind the Sheikh’s smoldering eyes, there's a kind and generous man she might come to love. The only question is, does he feel the same way about her?

  Mailing List

  Thank you for reading “The Sheikh’s Contract Wife”

  (Khalid Sheikhs Series Book Two)

  Get SIX full-length novellas by USA Today best-selling author Leslie North for FREE! Over 548 pages of best-selling romance with a combined 2748 FIVE STAR REVIEWS!

  Sign-up to her mailing list and get your FREE books:

  www.leslienorthbooks.com/sign-up-for-free-books

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  End of The Sheikh’s Contract Wife

  Thank you!

  Make an Author’s Day

  About Leslie

  Sneak Peek: The Sheikh’s Pregnant Teacher

  Also by Leslie

  1

  Ziad leaned back in the chair, eyeing his opponent over the cards in his hand. He was the picture of indolent grace—no one looking at him would have believed the pressure that was ratcheting tighter and tighter at the back of his skull.

  Time's running out, he found himself thinking, but no. He couldn't think about that now, not when he had to concentrate on his opponent.

  Jamila stared at the cards in her own hand, her brow furrowed in concentration. She sat straight up in her chair, hesitating for a moment, and then looked up over the edge of her cards to meet Ziad's eyes.

  “Do you have any threes?” she asked dubiously. “Is that right?”

  “It is,” he said with an easy grin. “Here, take them.”

  He handed her the pair of threes in his hand, and his seven-year-old, almost-adopted daughter lit up with a grin as bright as the sun.

  “Ah! I have four! I finished the set,” she crowed, and from the enormous bed at the center of the room, Imran looked up.

  “Beaten again, big brother!” he said, hefting Hasan, Ziad's almost-adopted son and Jamila's brother, up in victory. “Hasan, clap for your sister!”

  Hasan, still less than a year old but cheerful and willing, clapped his hands enthusiastically, and Jamila stood to give her adoring audience a graceful bow. She was a small but graceful child, with enormous dark eyes and long black hair, and sometimes when he looked at her, Ziad was overcome with a sense of desperate love and responsibility.

  His daughter was every inch a princess, and by Heaven, he had to see to it that she became one.

  Jamila maintained her dignified demeanor for another moment, and then it broke abruptly, and she ran for the woman reclining in the bed, waving her cards at the woman excitedly.

  “Sarah, Sarah, look, I completed the set!” she cried, and Sarah, Imran's fiancée laughed with delight.

  Ziad found his gaze lingering on Sarah as she listened and laughed with Jamila. She had started out as the children's nanny. The circumstances under which she had become Imran's lover and practically a princess in her own right was still a little dizzying, as was the news that she was pregnant with Imran's child, but the care she had shown Jamila and Hasan had never wavered.

  “Hey, eyes off my fiancée,” Imran murmured, and Ziad jumped and scowled. With Hasan in his arms, Imran had managed to creep up on Ziad, something that never would have happened if things were working as they normally should.

  “Keep your mind out of the gutter,” Ziad retorted. “I was only thinking that we should leave before we tire Sarah out.”

  “She is clever enough to tell us herself when she is tired,” Imran said, but Ziad could see the shadow of worry that crossed his brother's face. The doctors had been reassuring but firm; Sarah was a healthy young woman, but her condition, something called cervical insufficiency, demanded that she spend large parts of her day at rest. He didn't begrudge her the time to heal, but it left the children without a caretaker, and when it became clear that this situation would not resolve any time soon, he had decided to take action.

  “I know, you are only thinking of finding the right woman,” Imran said. “You've certainly had your share of wrong ones lately. The one who wanted to put the 'naughty hat' onto Jamila when she misbehaved scared the wits out of me, and ooof, that strange one who thought her lesson plans came from the angels...”

  “Enough,” Ziad bit out. “I am really not in the mood to go over our failures.”

  “They're not failures at all, Ziad,” Sarah said from the bed. “It's only that it takes time to find the one.”

  Ziad winced a little at her phrasing.

  “Please, Sarah. When I find her, she will be a professional and caring woman. This is an employment opportunity, not a romance—”

  “For all that you are going to be marrying her,” Imran said, and Ziad's jaw tightened.

  “I am trying to secure care for my children as well as legitimizing them in the eyes of Yeni law,” he said. “I am the king, and I have a responsibility—”

  “No one doubts your sense of responsibility or devotion, Ziad,” said Sarah. “Your brother is only worried about your happiness. Most people do not marry to secure care for their children.”

  “What she said,” Imran said with a nod.

  “It is what must be done,” Ziad said with a shrug. “The people have long said that I need a wife, the marriage will legitimize Hasan and Jamila, and I will be sure that they are receiving the best care possible from someone who is invested in their future.”

  He could feel that heaviness settle over him again, that weight that some days felt as if it would crush him. Before it could get too heavy, Sarah spoke again.

  “Well, chin up. My old friend Laura is your next interview, and I have a good feeling about this.”

  Ziad wished he did.

  Okay, I think I could pay my rent for a year just by selling this armchair, Laura thought, and though the chair she was sitting in was incredibly comfortable, she couldn't help feeling as if she were dirtying it up just by sitting in it.

  Restlessly, she rose, tracing her fingers over the back of the leather chair nervously as she waited for the sheikh to make his appearance and…

  And what?

  It all sounded like some kind of fairy tale, though Sarah had promised her that it was as real as the nose on her face.

  He needs someone to look after the kids, and he needs someone who's willing to marry him to make sure that Jamila and Hasan are legally his. He's doing this all for them, and…and Laura, just come out. Trust me.

  She did. Sarah was one of her oldest friends, one of the very few who had stuck around when she was working and trying to support her family. Sarah had never blinked when Laura turned down invitations to go out, choosing to spend her time studying or eating peanut butter sandwiches rather than going out to clubs or to restaurants.

  If she didn't trust Sarah as much as she did, she would never have gotten on that all-expenses-paid flight halfway around the world to Yeni. While there was a tiny part of her t
hat was enthralled to fly, to get out of the country for the first time, to just have the experience of visiting an actual palace, she was still half-convinced that this was some kind of elaborate joke.

  She took a deep breath, because no matter how strange the terms, this was just another interview. She could handle it.

  To calm her nerves, she wandered around the room, taking in the silk-swathed walls, the plush carpeting, the sense of wealth and calm here. It was a stark difference from everything she had ever known, and it took her breath away how lovely it all was.

  There was a curious little box on a small table, gilt and blue enamel, and without thinking, she picked it up. When Laura opened it, a startlingly complex tune came out, and the lid displayed a small collection of moving parts, showing the passage of night into day as a small gold sun rose and a small silver moon set. For a moment, all she could do was listen, entranced by the loveliness of the trinket.

  She was totally unprepared for the door to open behind her, and when she jumped, she stared with dismay as the music box tumbled to the floor. To her horror, it struck the carpet at an angle, and she saw the silver moon snap off, bouncing to rest beside the box in silent accusation.

  Oh no, they're going to be furious! What if I have to pay for it. How much could it cost? Oh God…

  She was on her knees, trying to gather the box up, babbling apologies and almost on the verge of tears, but then the man who had entered—dark, handsome in a severe kind of way, and wearing a dark Western-style suit—knelt beside her.

  “No, it's all right,” he said, his voice deep and soothing. “That piece is meant to come out for cleaning, you see? All you need to do is to snap it back in.”

  He showed her the trick of it and let the music box play a few more notes before he closed it. She blushed, starting to rise to her feet, but he rose first, offering her his hand. She took it without thinking, and then she blinked at the warmth of his touch, a shivery feeling running up her spine and making her look up—and up—at the man who had entered.

  Gosh, how tall is he?

  Laura herself was fairly tall, but this man towered over her, with inky black hair and features that were saved from severity only by the kindness in his eyes. He was arrestingly handsome, and she wondered what he made of her, with her black hair pulled back in a bun and her brown eyes likely wide and panicked.

  “Thank you,” she said shyly. “I'm sorry, I don't—that is, I don't make a habit of poking through other people's things.”

  To her surprise, the man laughed.

  “No one can really resist that music box. It's lovely, isn't it?”

  They shared an awkward laugh, and when he shook his head, looking suddenly more serious and a little older, Laura found herself disappointed. She wondered, before squashing down the thought viciously, whether he had felt that warmth when they touched.

  “You are Laura Stone,” he said, less a question than a pronouncement. “I am Sheikh Ziad Khalid, and I am searching for a woman who will take care of my children. Come, have a seat.”

  Now they were back on thankfully more familiar ground, and Laura's confidence swelled as she dug into the interview. She could hear her own voice growing more assured and brighter as she outlined what she would do if she found herself in charge of royalty. A tiny piece of her wondered at how boldly she was speaking to a man who was the head of his country, but she was in her element. She knew how to care for kids, and in their essences, princes and princesses were still little boys and girls.

  Ziad listened to her with an intent look on his face, and then he started firing questions of his own. How would she handle a toddler meltdown in public? How could she handle the differences in rank between the children and their peers?

  “Well, toddler meltdowns are usually a case of frustration, so if I can't figure out why the child is frustrated, it's time to change the location or to distract them. Similarly, matters of class and rank should be dealt with head on, the truth given at all points and with more information given as the child grows.”

  She thought they were pretty common-sense answers, but Ziad was a hard man to read, and she realized she had no idea what he thought of her answers at all.

  He might actually be wondering how Sarah got to be friends with someone so unsuitable. But then Ziad smiled.

  If he was handsome while quizzing her to within an inch of her life, he was utterly entrancing when he smiled. His white teeth shone against his dark skin, and her heart skipped a beat as he nodded.

  “Very good, Laura,” he said, and there was a tiny little thrill at the back of her mind as he said her name.

  “I like what I'm hearing, so first, we'll do a trial for three days to see how the children take to you. After that, we can decide if we are going forward.”

  He paused for a moment, looking at her searchingly.

  “You do know what going forward means?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me.”

  She swallowed, both at the reality of what she was confronting as well as at the tone of command in his voice. She should never let herself think that this man was only her employer or a concerned father. He was a sheikh, the leader of his nation, and he expected obedience and respect.

  “To take this position, I need to marry you and be your wife. Yeni law requires two parents for an adoption, so you need a wife in order to legalize your adoption of Hasan and Jamila and legitimize their place as your heirs.”

  She hesitated.

  You need to ask him. You need to know for sure. You know better than to take anything for granted.

  Laura hated talking about money, and right now, she hated it more than ever. It would make Ziad think she was only there for the cash, that she was trying to get money out of him already—

  “And of course there is the matter of your payment,” Ziad said blandly, as if he could read her mind. “While of course you will have a salary, you can hardly look after my children if you are worried about your own family.”

  “I mean—”

  “I know about Andrea.”

  Laura flinched as if she had been struck, and to his credit, Ziad was startled. When he spoke next, his tone was soothing.

  “I know about her diagnosis, and if we sign the contracts, I will be setting up a medical trust for her. That money will be for her, no matter what happens, and it should cover the costs of her treatment. If it does not, I will.”

  Laura stared at Ziad wide-eyed, hardly able to believe what he was saying. When her younger sister had gotten her diagnosis, the leukemia had loomed large, insurmountable in the face of the Stone family's finances. This was like a miracle, but Ziad wasn’t done talking.

  “In addition to that, I will provide a stipend for your family's expenses, taking care of your other siblings. I know that you had made inquiries into a special aide for Jake, and of course that would be covered.”

  Laura shook her head, dazed.

  “This is so much.”

  “I want you to think about accepting it—”

  Laura couldn't stop herself from laughing.

  “My little sister was diagnosed with leukemia two months ago. My little brother has special needs, and we may need at-home help. I will take all the help you want to give.”

  “This isn't help,” Ziad said. “This is the arrangement. I will take care of your family. In return, you take care of mine.”

  He was offering to pull her family out of debt. He was offering to make sure that Andrea got the best care and treatment, that Jake would as well. She couldn't believe it.

  “Will you stay for the trial period?” he asked, his voice intent, and before she could even think about it, she nodded.