In Love with the Wrong Man by Elizabeth Lennox
Engaged to the wrong man!
Maya took one look at Sheik Jalil bin Asdoor and knew that she’d made a mistake. Unfortunately, she was engaged to the sheik’s brother. But before she could rectify that mistake, a terrible tragedy happened. Devastated, Maya retreated to her old life, wondering how her life had gone so wrong. Jalil, the tall, powerful, shockingly handsome brother was everything she wanted in life…and the one man she could never have!
Years later, Jalil tried very hard to remember that Maya was basically his sister-in-law. Jalil’s brother had died and Maya was very much alive, but she’d buried herself in work instead of embracing life and moving on. Somehow, he had to convince Maya to live her life…even if he could never have her for himself. Or could he? When Maya looked at him now, was she thinking about his long-dead brother? Or was Maya thinking about…him?!
Enjoy the first book in the Scandalous Sheiks series!
- File Name:in-love-with-the-wrong-man-by-elizabeth-lennox.epub
- Original Title:In Love with the Wrong Man (Scandalous Sheiks Book 1)
- Creator:Elizabeth Lennox
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B095CKDFFM
- Publisher:Elizabeth Lennox Books, LLC
- Date:2021-10-14T18:30:00+00:00
- File Size:158.579 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Chapter 1
- 2. Chapter 2
- 3. Chapter 3
- 4. Chapter 4
- 5. Chapter 5
- 6. Chapter 6
- 7. Chapter 7
- 8. Chapter 8
- 9. Chapter 9
- 10. Chapter 10
- 11. Chapter 11
- 12. Chapter 12
- 13. Chapter 13
- 14. Chapter 14
- 15. Epilogue
In Love with the Wrong Man, Book 1 of the Scandalous Sheiks series, was about Sheik Jahlil bin Asdoor (the blurb spelled his name without the H, but the book included it), the ruler of Celina, and his late brother Sandoor's fiancee, Maya Tisdale After several proposals, Sandoor finally got Maya to say yes to marrying him. However, she said she would not do so until he finished his degree at Harvard and took his place beside his brother, Sheik Jahlil. Sandoor also talked her into flying to his homeland to meet his brother. What he didn't say was that he was going to leave her there while he went on a climbing trip with another friend. From the moment his brother introduced Jahlil to his fiancee, Maya, he was impressed with her. The more Sandoor talked of Maya, the more he liked her. But there were some things he didn't like, and that was the fact his brother was drinking in excess early in the morning, that he was planning a climbing trip with his best friend (there was something odd about that, Jahlil thought), and the fact he was abandoning his fiancee while he went mountain climbing. However, he agreed to watch over her while Sandoor was away for the weekend. Unable to sleep on her first night in the palace, Maya thought to find a glass of warm milk in the kitchen, only she didn't know the way. As she was searching she ran into Jahlil and had to explain her nocturnal exploration. Once she had, Jahlil escorted her in the right direction. After a curious conversation about the birth rate's effects on recession, Maya was finally able to sleep. However, three days later, Maya was greeted with the unpleasant surprise that her fiance was abandoning her for the weekend to go climbing. Though Sandoor was used to mountain climbing, the fact that he had only been rock climbing once was a glaring issue because he had just told her that's what they were going to do, and that he would be back in three days. Except, the night before he was due back, Jahlil showed up at her door and told her Sandoor had fallen and not survived. They comforted each other (not sexually) and helped the other's grief ease just a bit. But while Maya cried out her grief, Jahlil was having unusual (and unexpected) thoughts of Maya being...his. Except she wasn't. But she cried herself to sleep sitting in his lap, and she was still there when she woke up some time later to find him asleep as well. When she tried to get up, Jahlil stirred, then asked her not to leave, and so it was her turn to comfort him in his grief until they both fell back to sleep. Maya stayed in Celina long enough to attend the funeral a week later. But she didn't feel right walking beside the family because she wasn't part of them. She'd only been a pseudo-fiancee because it hadn't been official. She also had a secret guilt that was overwhelming her. Not long before she'd been told of the accident, Maya had admitted to herself she wasn't romantically in love with Sandoor...and couldn't marry him. However, Jahlil had insisted that she was to walk with the family, so she did. After the funeral, Maya was preparing to return home, although Jahlil had tried to convince her to stay and live at the palace. Before she left, he presented her with a kitten. While Maya knew Jahlil had paid the rent on her apartment in Boston for a full year, she had lost the job that had been waiting for her because she had stayed for the funeral. Jahlil wanted to know what she planned to do, but she refused to tell him because she wanted to prove to herself she could make it on her own without the help/charity of anyone else, even though he had said he could help her get the job back that she had lost. She told him thank you, but please don't. When Maya tried to give her engagement ring to him, Jahlil told her to keep it, but she wouldn't. However, he had arranged for her to travel on his private plane and also had it worked out that she would be able to take the kitten without being bothered by customs. And so, she returned home with the kitten in tow and left Jahlil behind. A year after Maya left, Jahlil admitted to himself he loved Maya. But she wasn't his to love or claim. So he made certain she was protected at all times. He had managed to see her every couple of months for dinner every now and then, but other than that, they had no contact. He believed she still loved his brother and, therefore, could not ask her out on an official date. Five years after Sandoor's death, Jahlil was told about a neighboring country wanting to discuss a peace treaty with his country as well as others. They were making arrangements on where to meet when Jahlil recalled a specific island that would work...and he wanted Maya there with him. But he promised himself it would be the last contact he had with her because he needed to find a wife, and leave Maya in the past. What Jahlil didn't know was that Maya returned his feelings, and it was getting harder for her to push him out of her mind after he would visit her. Maya was thinking the same thing as Jahlil. She needed to move on. She didn't want to a week at the summit with him on a Caribbean island. It would be too painful. She sent him an email accepting the arrangements but told him they needed to talk. It was time to move on. When she arrived on the island, Jahlil was there to pick her up and drove her to the resort. Once there, he asked what she wanted to talk about. She told him she needed him to stop. Stop intimidating the men she dated, stop taking her car to do maintenance on it while she slept, and stop supplying her with groceries. Basically, she was telling him to butt out of her life so she could move on. That's when Maya learned that he had assigned her a bodyguard because he knew way too many specific details about her life. She told him she didn't want to be another of his responsibilities. When he asked if she wanted to be free of him, she said yes, it was time. So he made her a deal. He asked her to stay on the island with him for a week and at the end of that time, they would talk further. Having made that agreement, Jahlil had to go back for more meetings. Since Maya had not brought enough clothing to last a week, she had to go shopping. However, when she returned, her suite was overrun by Jahlil's bodyguards. She went to the head bodyguard demanding to know what was going on...and everyone froze. That's when Jahlil showed up. She was relieved to see he was alright, but he looked pissed. While some of the guards looked pissed. Even Jahlil was upset, so she was forced to tell Jahlil about going shopping. However, he demanded that she not go anywhere alone again. They shared dinner that night, but things didn't go as smoothly as he'd hoped. On top of that, Maya had been aware he was lying to her about everything being alright. She hadn't been told about the summit meeting because she wasn't allowed to know. If she had been his wife, that would have been a different matter, but...she wasn't. Once again, Maya got up for a glass of milk, and again he startled her as he had at their first meeting, but this time she broke a glass. Because she was barefoot, Jahlil picked her up and moved her away from any shards that might have remained after he'd swept up the mess. Then he kissed her...finally. Then he took her to his bed. As things progressed he learned that his brother had never touched her. When it was over, Jahlil was worried she'd be upset, but that's not what he saw on her face...and then she asked him not to leave. The morning after feelings hit Maya almost as soon as she woke up. Jahlil noticed the wariness as soon as he saw her and things got awkward from that moment on. Jahlil became "stiff and formal", and Maya was on the defensive and worried, especially when he said they needed to talk. That's when he hit her with the "I didn't use protection" schpiel. Followed immediately with the "we need to get married at once...quickly and quietly" conversation...and an apology from Jahlil. He said if she ended up not being pregnant, then they could quietly divorce...and her heart shattered. There was so much misunderstanding between them...all because they didn't share their feelings, and each one had misconceptions about the other. But then they did talk...a little...and kissed some more before he was pulled away by another meeting. Before leaving, Jahlil secured a promise from her that she would stay at the resort where she would be safe. It was later in the day when Jahlil's assistant told her he had several wedding gowns for her to choose from. When May asked when the wedding was to take place, he said Jahlil had "a break between meetings at five thirty...", and Maya felt the hurt hit hard that he was going to "fit their wedding into a handy moment between his meetings". To him it was nothing important...just another box to check. So she found the least formal gown on the rack. Once she'd chosen a dress, the assistant led her to the beach where Jahlil was waiting for her, along with a very romantic scenery set up for their wedding. As the ceremony began, Maya was getting mixed signals from Jahlil but she pushed those feelings aside and "went with the flow". After another night of passion, Maya woke up, showered, then wrote Jahlil a note explaining not only her relationship with his brother but also her feelings for her new husband and that, because he didn't return her feelings, she was returning to Boston. However, long after she had left, Jahlil woke up and, thinking she'd just gone for a run, continued with his day of meetings. But as time went on and he had no word from her, he started to worry. He messaged his assistant to check on her...and when he saw him hurrying around the pool, Ormond showed him Maya's note telling him she was gone. Jahlil was scared that she was in danger, more than she was aware of. When they finally located Maya's plane, Jahlil sighed in relief. She was safe for the moment, but he was still too far from her. But now came the question of how fast he could get to her and keep her safe. When Maya reached Boston, she did a bit of investigating. There were things she needed to resolve about her previous relationship with Jahlil's late brother. Once she had her answers, she went home, with a weight lifted off her shoulders...and straight into the arms of Jahlil who was demanding to know where she had been.