Enjoy these short introduction stories about the main characters in The Sheik’s Baby Surprise! The book will be out Friday the 18th!
Malik’s Story…
“Yes, I think it would be a good option to discuss that with our neighbors,” Malik’s father said.
Malik glanced up at his father. This was his first embassy party and, at fourteen years old, he felt very important. His father had explained that it was never too early to start to learn how to interact with politicians. And so he was here tonight, well past his normal bed time, so that he could observe the way his father worked.
He smothered a yawn as he listened to the others drone on about oil prices, parties, contracts and fashion. There were many innuendos about women that he didn’t understand and more than a few pats on his head, as if he were some sort of cute puppy dog as he followed his father around.
“You look very dignified, Your Highness,” a girl of about fifteen said as she stepped closer to him.
Malik glared down at the girl. Even at fourteen, he was exceptionally tall, almost taller than his own father. “Good evening,” he replied as he lifted the girl’s hand gently. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” he lied, just as he’d been taught.
“You’re awfully stuffy for a fourteen year old,” the girl said.
Malik turned a blank look at the girl, exactly as his father had taught him to do when he was confused about something, or if he didn’t want someone to know what he was thinking. Both of those applied in this situation. “I beg your pardon?” he replied simply.
The girl’s giggle echoed through the room. “My point has been made. Do you ever smile?” she asked, moving closer.
Malik wanted to roll his eyes, or tell her that he smiled when something was funny. But he knew better than to do either of those things. “How can I be of assistance to you?” he asked as if the woman were someone important.
His father stepped in at that moment, interrupting the conversation that Malik was fairly certain would lead to nowhere. “Son, you are excused for the evening,” he said. Turning to the girl, he said, “I apologize, but my son leaves to head back to boarding school tomorrow. He has much to do before that happens.”
Malik heard the disapproval in his father’s voice but he had absolutely no idea what he’d done incorrectly.
With barely controlled fury, he walked out of the formal ballroom to his quarters. A maid had already packed his clothes and he thought about dumping everything out of the suitcases and forcing the servants to redo it all.
But then he remembered he would be heading back to school. His fists clenched and unclenched at the thought of those four other boys. Yes, he’d hold it all in, prepared for their overtures, sure that they would pick a fight. Throwing punches was much more satisfying than childishly tossing out freshly packed clothes. And it might infuriate his father more.
Always a good thing, he thought as he stripped off his clothes and tossed them into a corner.
Jina’s story…
“Bonjour!” she repeated, her mind going numb with the pace of the French class. The teacher was trying to get the entire class to use correct pronunciation for the greeting, but Jina had already learned the entire vocabulary for the first three chapters. She had listened to the words online and repeated them, recording her voice. She was pretty good, she thought to herself.
French in first period, Spanish classes second period, and then on to algebra. The language courses she took for fun and for an easy grade. However, she needed the language classes to counter the less than stellar grades she earned in math, so she tried to do extra credit, wanting the As.
“Jina! Comment t’allez vous?” the teacher asked, testing her students randomly to see if they’d done the homework and to listen for pronunciation.
Jina turned her head and sat up straighter in her chair. “Je suis très bien ce matin,” Jina responded. “Mais, je souhaite que je ne dois classe de mathématiques prochaine.”
The teacher stood at the front of the classroom, her mouth hanging open even as the other students swung around in their chairs, also gaping.
Jina simply smiled self-consciously. She might not understand math, but foreign languages were a piece of cake. She only wished there was a way to practice them more often. Unfortunately, there weren’t many French speakers in her area besides the language teachers.
The teacher blinked several times, almost dropping her book as she nodded. “Très bien, Jina,” and she moved on to the next student.
Jina sank a bit lower in her chair, feeling self-conscious. So she could speak French better than the others in her class? No reason to stare and be rude, she thought resentfully.
Two hours later, Jina was staring up at the board, her mind a jumbled mess. Word problems? Seriously?
If a train were heading west at fifty-five miles per hour and another train were heading east at sixty-five miles per hour, one should switch to a different track so she wouldn’t have to calculate the point at which the two trains would collide.
While the math teacher explained the x’s and y’s, her mind was picturing chaos, crumpled train cars, and cargo littering the countryside. The engineers would never be able to stop the trains from colliding because she had absolutely no idea how to calculate when they would meet. Crash! Horrible burning smell…
“Jina?” the teacher said.
Jina stared up at the teacher, cringing once more as the other students swung around to stare at her. She sat up straighter in her chair, glancing down at her paper. The answer wasn’t there. Only a bunch of scribbles, a few “descriptive” words in French about how she felt about math, and her pencil laying limply in her hand because she couldn’t even guess at how to start the equation.
“Um…twenty-five,” she finally said. It was a random number and she was willing to say anything just to get the other students to stop looking at her and the teacher to stop looking at her with that expectant, hopeful expression.
“Not quite,” the teacher said, trying to be compassionate. Jina didn’t care. He moved on to the next student and she sighed with relief. Math was painful! Brutal!
