Seduced By The Sheikh Surgeon

And people simply didn’t understand.

Lorna had been so vibrant and outgoing. A single mum, she had juggled work and her daughter, along with an active social life. She’d had a large group of friends and at first they, along with relatives, had filled the ICU waiting rooms and then later they had come by to visit when Lorna had been on the ward.

Over the years those visits had all but petered out.

Now the occasional card or letter came and Adele would read it out then add it to the string on her mother’s wall. Lorna’s sister, Adele’s aunt, came and visited maybe once or twice a year. Another friend dropped in on occasion but apart from that it was just Adele.

And so she brought her mother, who lay with her eyes closed, up to date on what was happening in her life.

‘I finally my got my lift from him,’ Adele told her mum. ‘It was very underwhelming.’ It really had been, she thought. ‘Anyway, I’m over Zahir. I really do mean it this time. I’m going out with Paul tomorrow night. He’s one of the paramedics,’ Adele explained to the silence. ‘He’s asked me out a few times and I decided maybe I should give him a chance after all. I guess I’m not going to like everyone in the same way I do Zahir.’

It really was time to get a life.

But then she told her mother the real reason she had stopped by after work.

It wasn’t just that she might not be in tomorrow, there were bigger reasons than that for her being here tonight.

If her mother would just squeeze her hand or blink or do one thing to acknowledge that she knew Adele was here, it would help.

This was agony, it truly was, sitting here day in, day out, and yet she was all her mother had.

But Adele made herself say it out loud.

‘Mum, I’ve got some annual leave that I need to take and I’m thinking of going on holiday.’

It was a huge thing for her to say.

Yet she knew she couldn’t live this life for ever.

To pay for the nursing home and the legal fees when the other family involved in the accident had sued, the family home had been sold and Adele now shared a small flat with Helga and James.

Adele had deferred her studies for two years, but they had been spent dealing with the aftermath of the accident. She hadn’t had a holiday in years. Any weekends or leave had always been taken up with other things, such as university, work, visiting her mother, getting the house ready for the market or dealing with lawyers, doctors and real estate agents.

Finally, when her mum had been placed in this home and things had started to settle, Adele had started her role in Accident and Emergency.

Now she felt as if she was coming up for air and she simply wanted to get away and maybe just grieve for her mother.

Of course she would still visit, Adele thought as she walked the small distance home to her flat.

But she had to work out some sort of balance.

Helga was in the kitchen, making an enormous fry-up for herself and James, and she had her music up loud.

Adele was so tired but she lay on her bed, trying not to think of what she had just told her mother and trying to consider where to go on holiday.

Greece perhaps?

She woke to that thought.

Adele took out her laptop and looked at several destinations and then saw a wonderful package deal for the South of France.

Oh!

It was more expensive than she had planned for.

Then again, she hadn’t really planned to be going away.

Walking towards the bus stop, she saw that a one-bedroom flat nearby had just come up for rent.

Perhaps the money would be better spent moving out than on two weeks overseas.

Arriving at work, she smiled at Janet, who was waiting for the rest of the early-shift staff to arrive before they had handover, which wouldn’t take long, given that the place appeared dead.

Zahir was sitting on hold on the phone and not looking in the sunniest of moods.

‘How’s the holiday planning going?’ Janet asked as Adele came over.

‘I’ve seen something nice for the South of France.’

‘Ooh, la la,’ Helene said as she joined the group. ‘Will you go topless?’

‘I might.’ Adele said. ‘And I might find myself a nice French man...’

‘What about Paul?’ Janet checked.

‘Oh, yes.’ Adele said, her voice a touch deflated.

‘You’ve got your hot date tonight!’ Janet reminded her, and Adele rolled her eyes. ‘Where’s he taking you?’

‘No idea.’ Adele shrugged.

Zahir tried to ignore the conversation. Adele was going out on a date, well, of course she was.

She was beautiful, seriously so, and it had nothing to do with him what she did in her free time.

But this wasn’t her free time.

‘Is it appropriate,’ Zahir said tartly as he hung up the phone, ‘to be discussing topless bathing and dating in a corridor.’

‘Er, Zahir.’ Janet, who knew a thing or three, and had been enjoying winding him up, answered with her own version of tartness. ‘There are absolutely no patients around. I can handle my nursing staff, thank you.’

She smiled as Zahir stalked off.

Oh, yes.

She knew full well that he liked Adele.

CHAPTER FOUR

IT WAS A busy morning and lunchtime soon came around. Adele made good on her promise to visit Leila.

‘You are looking so much better.’ Adele was delighted to see the other woman sitting up and that she had some colour in her cheeks. Her hair was up and, despite wearing a hospital gown, she looked amazing.

‘I am feeling it,’ Leila agreed. ‘Thank you for all your help yesterday. Honestly, I shudder to think what might have happened. We could have been at afternoon tea!’

‘Don’t think like that.’ Adele smiled.

‘It’s hard not to,’ Leila sighed. ‘There’s not much else to do here. It is so nice to have you come and see me. I am used to being very busy. To just lie in bed is so frustrating. Zahir and Dakan have been in, of course, and the nurses here are very kind, but I am so bored.’

‘Will your husband come and visit you now that he knows you’re having surgery?’

‘No.’ Leila shook her head. ‘He does not like hospitals.’

It must be lonely for her, Adele thought.

‘He was going to send one of my handmaids but I have told him not to. I have asked Dakan to bring my embroidery from the hotel. That will take my mind off things.’

Leila was so easy to talk to. She was the complete opposite of Zahir, who, Adele guessed from the little she had gleaned, took after his father. Leila was more open and outgoing, rather like Dakan.

‘So you have days off this weekend?’ Leila asked.

‘I do.’ Adele nodded. ‘Then I’m on night duty for a fortnight.’

‘They must be tiring,’ Leila said, and then looked at Adele and saw the smudges under her eyes and her pale features. ‘Though you look tired now, even before you have started your night duty.’

‘I am tired,’ Adele admitted, and not just to Leila but to herself. It had been an exhausting few years and Janet was right to insist that she take her leave. ‘I’ve got a holiday coming up.’

‘That’s exciting. Are you going anywhere nice?’

‘I haven’t decided yet. I’ll have a think about it this weekend.’

As they chatted Adele revealed that she was going on a date that evening.

‘A first date.’ Leila beamed.

‘I’m actually not looking forward to it,’ Adele admitted. ‘I’m thinking of cancelling but I can’t come up with a good enough excuse.’

‘What do your parents think of him?’ Leila asked.

‘They...’ Adele paused. ‘I think your idea of a first date and mine are a little bit different, we’re just going out for dinner.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Leila nodded. ‘I sometimes forget. By the time I had my first date with Fatiq he was already my husband.’ She laughed.

‘Had you met him before you married?’

‘Yes, there was a selection ceremony two months before the wedding. I knew though that I would be chosen. Or rather I hoped. From when I was a little girl I always knew who I would marry. I told him that I came with conditions, though,’ Leila said, and tapped the ruby at her throat.

Adele guessed Leila meant she had told Fatiq that she must be kept in splendour.

‘Well, I can’t see myself ever marrying Paul,’ Adele admitted. ‘I can’t even picture getting through dinner.’

‘Your parents haven’t met him, then?’

‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘My parents divorced when I was very young and my father has never had anything to do with me.’

‘And your mother?’

‘She was in an accident,’ Adele said. ‘She’s very unwell and is in a nursing home. I see her every day.’

‘And you’re visiting me too!’

‘No, I like visiting you,’ she said, and then closed her eyes on the sudden threat of tears.

Adele never cried but she was suddenly close to it now as she had practically admitted the truth—she didn’t like visiting her mum.

Leila’s hand went over hers.

It was unexpected and also terribly kind, given what she had just said.

‘She can’t talk or react,’ Adele told Leila. ‘She’s just a shell of herself. I don’t even think she knows that I’m there.’

‘You know that you’re there for her, though,’ Leila said. ‘That’s the important thing.’

Finally, someone who understood, Adele thought.

Her family, friends and colleagues all encouraged her to step back. Even the nursing staff at the home gently implied that Adele didn’t need to visit quite so much.

Adele knew that she had to sort out her life—she didn’t need to be told that but it was so nice to have someone understand.

‘I’m worried about going on holiday,’ she admitted.

‘Can I tell you something?’ Leila offered. ‘I want to have a holiday. I love my country and my people but because of certain ways...’ She hesitated and then explained. ‘Always there must be a royal in residence. Fatiq was already a king when we married so I never even had a honeymoon. Now one of my sons steps in if we have to go away for formal occasions. Usually it is Zahir, but both of them have busy lives, so they only return when they must. I know that a holiday would be rejuvenating. I dream of having some time away with my husband to replenish myself, although I can’t see it ever happening. Take some time for yourself, Adele, and you will return refreshed and better able to take care of your mother.’

It helped to hear that.

The wise, gentle words made Adele feel better about taking a short break.

‘I must get back to work.’ It had been nice talking and before she went Adele wished Leila well for her operation on Monday.

‘I doubt you’ll be up to visitors on Monday night but I’ll come in after my shift on Tuesday morning.’

‘I shall look forward to it,’ Leila said. ‘Enjoy dinner tonight.’

Adele did.

Her date went well, in fact. Paul was nice, and perfectly fine, except she didn’t fancy him.

Not a bit.

And it neither started nor ended with a kiss.

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