12. Kareem
CHAPTER 12
KAREEM
“ Y ou look beautiful,” Kareem told Keira as they rode the elevator up to the event center at the top of the stadium.
She fidgeted. “I can’t believe you had a dress sent in for me to wear.”
“Do you not like it?”
“I love it. It’s beautiful. Of course I like it. It’s just… so fancy. This is nicer than anything I own, Kareem.” She bit her lip. “Which I guess is why you had it sent — because nothing I own would have been nice enough.”
“I didn’t mean it in an unkind way,” Kareem assured her. “I’m sure your clothes are lovely.”
“No, don’t worry,” she said. “I didn’t take it personally. You’re right. Everything I own comes from department stores. I don’t own any of the kind of thing anyone would expect to see a member of the royal family wearing.”
“And that would be perfectly fine with me,” Kareem said. “I don’t want you to feel as if anything you did wouldn’t have been good enough for me. I just wanted you to have this option so that you would feel as if you fit in at the party. You would have been fine to come to this party in jeans and a T-shirt, if that was what pleased you.”
Keira chuckled. “I don’t know what I was expecting to find in Monaco, but this certainly wasn’t it. Maybe we should just stay here.”
“If only we could!” Kareem said. “I’ve often thought that it would be easier just to move to a country where motorsports are already a part of the culture and do my best to become a part of the racing scene there. It would certainly be easier than trying to build a whole racing culture in my father’s country against his wishes. But I can’t leave Qalmar. Even though I’m not in line to rule, I am passionate about my home country, and I could simply never bring myself to leave it behind.”
Keira beamed up at him. “That’s a beautiful sentiment, Kareem,” she said. “I really admire how passionate you are about Qalmar, in spite of the fact that you aren’t going to rule it. I think there are a lot of people who would have been perfectly willing to leave it behind in your shoes.”
Kareem felt his cheeks flush and was grateful that it was dark in the elevator. No one had ever said such a thing to him before. His father loved to talk about what a disappointment he was to the people of Qalmar and how fortunate it was that he had elder brothers to take on the responsibility of ruling, since Kareem himself would be so unfit for such a thing. But Keira made it sound as if she didn’t see things that way. She seemed to think that Qalmar ought to be proud of him — grateful to have him as a part of its royal family.
He would have loved to believe that something like that was true. Even knowing that she thought it was enough to make him feel warm inside.
The elevator stopped, and Kareem pulled himself together. It wouldn’t do to be caught up in his emotions at this party. There was work to be done.
“Are you ready?” he asked Keira.
“I think so,” she said. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Remember, all we’re trying to do is make some friends. You’re good at that. Just talk to people. Find out about them, and if you can, bring up our event and let them know we’re looking for participants. Don’t make any offers. We’ll gauge who’s interested tonight, and if we want to make formal offers, we’ll call around in the next few days and do that. Tonight is just about information.”
“Right,” Keira said.
The elevator doors opened.
The event space was bustling — the party was already in full swing. Kareem took Keira by the arm, mindful of the fact that they were supposed to be husband and wife. It was true that the act mattered less here in Monaco, but even so, if things went well tonight, these were people who would eventually be joining the two of them in Qalmar. It made sense to ensure that they believed in the marriage.
Besides, Kareem found that he wanted to be physically close to Keira. It made sense, of course. She was a beautiful woman. The dress he had ordered for her — black and floor-length with pearl embroidery — hugged her curves, and the fact that it was strapless made her look taller than she normally did — or perhaps she was wearing heels. Kareem had always favored short women, and the fact that she stood a bit taller than she normally did had him entertaining a fantasy of taking those heels off her.
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He couldn’t afford to think about things like this. Not only was Keira not really his wife, she was his business partner, and the two of them had to keep things utterly professional if their endeavor was going to have a chance of success. There was no room for fantasy or romance.
But at least he could walk her around the room and show her off. For tonight, at least, he could pretend that he had some sort of claim to her, and no one would know any differently.
They stopped at the bar. Kareem picked up a glass of champagne for each of them and handed one to Keira, and she accepted it with a nod.
“How are we going to do this?” she asked him. “Divide and conquer?”
“No, we’re here as newlyweds,” he reminded her. “No one will believe it if we separate from one another. And besides, we work much better as a team. Your experience putting racing events together will be invaluable here. I know what my dream looks like, but if I try to explain it to these people, I’ll risk sounding like a little boy who’s just excited about race cars.”
Keira laughed. “I don’t think that’s how you sound when you talk about motorsports.”
“You don’t?”
“No, I think that’s your father talking, not you. You’re passionate about this. I feel the same way. And I think it’s a very reasonable thing to be passionate about! My whole family is like this, remember — I don’t think of it as a strange or childish interest. In my life, it’s always been very normal to care about racing.”
Kareem nodded. “You see? This is why I need you by my side, Keira. You make me feel as if I’m normal, and I’ve never had that feeling before.”
“I didn’t say you were normal,” Keira chuckled. “I still think you’re a very strange person. I just don’t think racing has anything to do with that.”
Kareem had to laugh too. “All right,” he agreed. “Fair enough. Come this way. I’d like to introduce you to someone.”
“Who?”
“Hugo Devereux. He’s a French driver.”
“Oh my God. You know Hugo Devereux?”
“I should have assumed you would know who he is,” Kareem realized, feeling foolish.
“I can’t believe you know him!”
“Oh, no, I don’t know him.”
“What? How are you going to introduce us, then?”
“It’s easy. I know who he is. I know who you are.”
“Kareem—”
But Kareem had already caught the driver’s eye. He towed Keira over. “Good evening, Mr. Devereux. I hope you’re enjoying the festivities.”
“Oh, very much,” Devereux said, his French accent so thick that it occurred to Kareem that Keira might have trouble understanding him. He himself interacted with French people regularly, so he was used to the accent, but Keira certainly would have encountered it less frequently.
“Are you one of the hosts tonight?” Devereux asked.
“Oh, no,” Kareem said. “Not tonight. Although I do hope to take on that role in the future — and that’s why I came over to speak with you. My name is Sheikh Kareem Nusaybah, of Qalmar. This is my wife, Sheikha Keira.”
“How lovely to meet you both.” Devereux’s eyebrows raised slightly, but other than that, he gave no indication that he was particularly impressed at the fact that he was meeting with royalty. Kareem had to give him credit for that. He always appreciated it when people were able to keep their cool around him. It was one of the things he had liked about Keira — she had been shocked to learn who he was, but it hadn’t changed the way she had acted toward him.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Devereux,” Keira said, stepping forward slightly. Then she said something else — something Kareem didn’t understand.
Devereux’s eyes widened again. Kareem thought he looked a bit more surprised than he had when he’d learned he was talking to royalty, which was certainly interesting. “You speak French!”
He sounded positively delighted. Kareem had to admit that he was surprised to learn this new fact about Keira, but he couldn’t allow his surprise to show. She was his wife. Things like her linguistic abilities shouldn’t come as a surprise to him. He schooled his expression carefully so that his reaction wouldn’t be visible to Devereux.
Keira smiled. “I don’t speak much,” she said. “Just enough to get by. I’ve worked with plenty of F1 drivers in my time, and as you know, some of the best in the world come from France.”
“Well, that’s very true,’ Devereux said, beaming. “Your Highness, your wife is a very clever and well-spoken lady.”
“I agree,” Kareem said, feeling rather bemused. No matter how well, he thought he had gotten the measure of Keira, she seemed to keep surprising him.
“Can I speak to you about our project, Mr. Devereux?” Keira asked. “Kareem and I are hoping to bring motorsports to Qalmar, and we’re very excited about the potential.”
“I’m not familiar with your country,” Devereux admitted.
“Few people are. That’s one of the things we hope will change as we implement the new race we’re trying to create.”
“It will be an annual event,” Kareem chimed in. “We’re hoping to put on the inaugural race in a few weeks’ time, and if we’re able to pull that off, it will be a wonderful opportunity for someone to become the first ever winner of this event. It would allow whoever walks away with the trophy to stamp their name on the history of motorsports.”
Briefly, a faraway look came over Devereux.
Kareem glanced at Keira and saw that she was looking back at him and smiling. He felt a swelling of satisfaction at how well this was going.
Devereux returned from his reverie. “You want to have this race soon?”
“Very soon, yes. We’re hoping to find some top-notch racers who are able to come and compete, and of course we thought of you right away.”
“When we heard you would be in Monaco for this event, we knew that we had to come and speak to you,” Keira added.
Kareem thought it was a nice touch. Of course they hadn’t come here specifically for Devereux, but he didn’t need to know that.
Maybe he did know it, though, because he smiled at them. “You two make quite a pair,” he said. “I can see why you chose to marry. It’s always refreshing to see a couple whose love is so powerful that it enhances the rest of their lives. I can see that the two of you work well together because you care so deeply for one another.”
The words felt like darts to Kareem’s heart.
It was a misconception, of course. He didn’t work well with Keira because he was in love with her. That wasn’t the nature of their relationship.
And yet…
And yet he found that he wanted it to be true.
On some level that he couldn’t quite comprehend, he wanted to know what it would be like to love a person that deeply, the way Devereux had described.
He didn’t imagine that was something he would ever get a chance to feel.