Page 2 of The Sheikh's Matchmaker Bride

"I know you only had their best interests in mind," Nadyah admitted.

Aliyah turned away from Nadyah, determined to hide the look on her face. Right now, that look was a mixture of Shahid had surprise and carefully controlled pleasure. Every time she thought about helping her brothers get married she felt an involuntary rush of satisfaction.

It was true. Of course, she'd done everything she could to make sure that her three brothers hadn't thrown away the opportunities to wed the amazing women who had come into their lives. She thought about Zayed, Raz, and Tariq. Her brothers were all so unbelievably happy now. And Aliyah now had three wonderful sisters-in-law in the shape of Chloe, Ella, and Zoe. The Al Kharif family had grown so incredibly quickly and now there were even babies.

Aliyah felt a gratifying warm glow just thinking about how happy her whole family was now. Aliyah tried to contain the flicker of a smile she felt at the corner of her mouth. She had to admit it had been a pure pleasure helping all of the marriages along.

In her own modest way, and rather sneaky way, of course.

That meant she'd kept her contribution to her brothers' courtships as invisible and as low key as possible. A little chat here; a little bit of quiet persuasion there. The whole thing had come so naturally to Aliyah, and none of the brides had objected to Aliyah's gentle interference. They'd all told her so, even if it had been long after the weddings.

And she had discovered something even more interesting during the whole process. Aliyah was pretty good at making sure people in love tied the knot.

Other people.

It was just a pity she couldn't do the same for herself, wasn't it?

That one thought made an emotion curl in her middle. A very familiar emotion. She tried to push away the fleeting thoughts that drifted into her mind.

Thoughts of one particular person.

Images of him seized control of her mind just as they always did. Why did she always think of him when this subject came up these days?

When Nadyah's voice interrupted her thoughts, she was grateful for the chance to shift her attention back to other matters.

"Well? I'm still waiting for an answer, Aliyah?" Nadyah asked playfully.

Aliyah tried to pretend she didn't know what Nadyah was talking about. But she could see her friend wasn't about to let her off that lightly.

Aliyah sighed and shook her head. "The answer's the same as always, Nadyah. There's no-one on the horizon. I'm not seeing anyone at the moment."

"That's not what I've heard through the grapevine," Nadyah replied.

Aliyah gazed wide-eyed at Nadyah. "What are you talking about?" she gasped.

Nadyah squinted at Aliyah, skepticism covering her features. Nadyah said nothing, her gaze locked emphatically upon Aliyah's face.

There was a very long pause, and Aliyah knew she wasn't going to get out of this one as easily as before. She and Nadyah shared one thing; once they decided they were going to get an answer out of someone, nothing was going to stand in their way.

Aliyah looked away from Nadyah and puffed out a long exasperated breath. "It's about him, isn't it?" she asked gazing out across the garden.

When she glanced back at Nadyah, she saw her friend nodding slowly. Of course, Nadyah was talking about him, Aliyah told herself. Who else would she be talking about, if not Shahid Al Mahrez, the brother to Azim and Zarif.

Shahid.

The youngest and the wildest brother who would soon be the only remaining unmarried male in the Al Mahrez family. Of course, he was Nadyah's older brother, so Aliyah knew that Nadyah had a natural interest in trying to bring Shahid and Aliyah together.

"Well?" Nadyah asked quietly.

"What do expect me to say, Nadyah?" Aliyah said.

Nadyah leaned closer. "Tell me what's been going on between you two," she prompted.

Aliyah squinted at Nadyah. "Nothing has been going on, Nadyah."

Once again, Nadyah gave Aliyah that same disbelieving look. "Tongues have been wagging since Zarif and Rachel's wedding," Nadyah said.

"That was ages ago," Aliyah retorted.

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