Page 28 of The Earl That Got Away (Sirens in Silk #2)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Before

Philadelphia

I ntee mejnoona? ” Auntie Majida scowled. “You must have lost your senses.”

“I love him,” Naila said, even as fear shivered through her. “We want to be married as soon as possible.”

Majida shot her a suspicious look. “Love? Shu hadha? What is that?” She blew a quick raspberry. “There is no such thing.”

If auntie really believed that romantic love didn’t exist, Naila felt sorry for her.

Everyone should have a chance to love someone the way she loved Basil.

She was still floating after lying with him.

Memories of the way he’d touched her, making her body feel things she could never have imagined, made her cheeks burn.

Auntie Majida narrowed her eyes. “How did you have time to fall in love?” She said the “fall in love” part sarcastically.

Naila avoided her aunt’s gaze. “I’ve seen him at various places... assemblies, the bookstore.”

She was a terrible liar and Auntie knew it.

“ Kezzaba. ” Liar. “When do you see him? Wain shuftee? ”

“What difference does it make?” Naila asked, instead of answering her aunt’s question.

“He’s been nothing but a gentleman.” Not technically true, but Basil was a true gentleman in the realest sense of the word.

He treated her like she was the most precious thing in the world. “And now he wants to marry me.”

“ Gentleman? ” her aunt repeated sarcastically, making a clicking noise with her tongue. “A respectable boy doesn’t sneak around with a girl from a good family. You are still a girl?”

Naila flushed. A girl meant “a virgin.” Once a female was no longer innocent, she became a woman. “Of course,” she lied, crossing her fingers in the folds of her skirts.

She told herself that it didn’t make any difference because she would soon be married. What did it matter if she and Inglese had anticipated their vows? She didn’t regret what they’d done. In fact, she couldn’t wait to do it again. Again and again.

“What is that smile?” Auntie Majida growled.

Naila immediately adopted a somber expression. She hadn’t realized she was smiling. She couldn’t help smiling whenever she thought of her future husband. “He’s going to write to Baba and ask to court me.”

Auntie shook her head, disbelief all over her face. “ Intee mejnoona ,” Majida declared. Holding her hand horizontally in front of her mouth, she clamped her teeth along the side of her pointer finger.

Fear flushed through Naila. Side finger biting was saved for the most serious of offenses, for unthinkable misconduct. Which, of course, Naila was guilty of. Although she’d never admit it to anyone, least of all her aunt.

“You’re going to kill your father,” Auntie said.

“He might be surprised at first,” Naila said. “But once he meets Basil, he will love him.”

“ Yee. ” A sound that expressed shock, surprise and dismay. “You’re too jahla . It’s your parents’ fault.”

Naila bit her tongue. She was anything but innocent. Especially after the previous afternoon.

“ Behree. ” Auntie’s tone grew confidential, which caused alarm to streak up Naila’s spine. “You need to know something.”

“ Shoo? ” Naila asked. “What is it?”

“ Ihlifee. Swear that you won’t say anything. I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“ Wallah I won’t say anything. Tell me.”

“Your Baba is sick.”

“How do you mean?” Concern welled inside her. “He was fine when we left New York.”

“He doesn’t want to worry you girls but it’s his heart.”

“What’s wrong with Baba’s heart?”

“He has disease in his heart. Dr. Ahmed said your father must be calm. He must not have any upsets.”

Naila shook her head. “That’s not true, is it?” It couldn’t be.

“Why do you think he’s working less and napping more?”

“He said he wanted to spend more time with Mama.” Baba had suffered a few episodes of chest pain.

And he was taking it easier these days. But Naila assumed Baba was easing back so that Raya and Salem, her brother and sister, could step up and learn to run the family linen business on their own.

Had he really been preparing them all for a future without him?

Tears stung Naila’s eyes. “It can’t be true.”

“It is true,” Majida returned. “So put away this haki fathee , this empty talk of marrying this ajnabee , this foreigner, because that would kill your father.”