The "Wicked" List

The “Wicked” List By Elizabeth Lennox Register for free stories at http://www.elizabethlennox.com/subscribe Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Author.Elizabeth.LennoxOr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ElizabethLenno1 Copyright 2023 ISBN13: 9781950451722 All rights reserved This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Epilogue Excerpt from “The Sheik’s Temptation” Chapter 1 “Yes!” she triumphantly whispered, then glanced around, embarrassed that she’d spoken out loud and praying that no one sitting in the crowded room had heard her. Unfortunately, her eyes glanced to the hated man across the room and, of course, he was staring at her! In fact, the irritating ogre even lifted a dark eyebrow quizzically, almost as if wondering what had just occurred to her. Ignoring him, Sada defiantly wrote down the next item on her “Wicked List”. Skinny-dipping. Then as an afterthought, she added, “in the moonlight”. Because what’s the point in skinny-dipping during the daylight hours? Wait a moment…Sada considered that thought. Only skinny dipping in the moonlight? What if she did both? Would it be more interesting to swim naked at night? Or during the day? She shivered, wondering what would happen if someone saw her skinny dipping during the daytime. Didn’t matter, so she added “in the daylight” down as a separate item. Why limit oneself? When dreaming, one should be daring! She’d read a quote saying, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.” That was her new mantra! She even added an exclamation point to those two items. Flipping the pages back to her “official” notes, Sada calmly folded her hands and lifted her eyes, pretending to listen to the speaker. She really should be paying attention, Sada admonished herself with a heavy sigh. Unfortunately, she’d completely lost the thread of the speaker’s point. Sada knew that this meeting was important. All the regional leaders were in attendance at this conference. Sada was representing her country, Fahre, in her brother’s absence. Her oldest brother, Tazir, Sheik of Fahre, had refused the invitation, wanting to be with his wife, Lila, as they anticipated the birth of their first child. Rayed, the second oldest in their family, might have come, but Sada had convinced Tazir to reinforce his stance on women’s rights by sending her instead of Rayed. Rayed hadn’t fought for the “privilege” to attend, preferring to be with his new wife, Emma. So, here she was, Princess Sada el Mitra of Fahre, triumphantly sitting in on the most tediously boring meeting in the history of meetings. The current speaker was droning on about…bridges? No, building materials. No…wait…Sada silently groaned. She had no idea what the man was lecturing about. Her eyes moved over the other attendees and…darn it! He was still looking at her! Sheik Micah al-Marri, Ruler of Batam. Fahre and Batam weren’t enemies, however, the two countries weren’t exactly friendly either. The competition between Batam and Fahre was intense, both countries vying for prime business investors while their universities competed at research challenges. Their countries considered the competitions to be friendly and Sada knew that her brothers and Sheik al-Marri were on good terms. The men enjoyed getting together, either in Fahre or Batam, under the guise of promoting good will. However, Sada knew that the three men simply played poker and had a great time. They called it “on-going diplomacy”. It was merely an excuse to beat each other at yet another competition and drink expensive alcohol. Of course, all of the regional countries competed with each other. It was simply the nature of the world. Every country wanted to be the best at computing power, energy resources, technological advances, or whatever. But there always seemed to be a sharper edge to Batam’s competitiveness. And Batam’s ruler! He was tall, she thought. Probably as tall as her older brothers, but since she’d always vacated the premises during their so-called diplomacy weekends, she’d never seen Sheik al-Marri standing next to either Tazir or Rayed. And while her brothers were handsome in a rugged, don’t-mess-with-me sort of way, there wasn’t anything handsome about Sheik al-Marri. He was made up of lean, hard angles. Even his gaze was sharp and…! Sada gasped, suddenly realizing that she’d been staring at him and quickly pulled her eyes away. Darn it! She didn’t know the man, but instinctively, she didn’t like him. Another mischievous thought occurred to her and she flipped the pages in her notebook. Quickly, she scribbled, “Have a man at my mercy.” Smoothing the papers down again, she turned her head, forcing her gaze back to the speaker. Dear heaven, this particular speaker’s voice had no inflection to it. Glancing around, she noticed that the others were all a bit dazed, unable to pay attention when the speaker’s voice was the perfect pitch for putting everyone to sleep. Squirming in her chair, she tried to remain attentive. Reminding herself that she was the sedate, responsible, always polite sister, Sada lifted her eyes and forced her mind to pay attention. Unfortunately, or perhaps because Sada was sick of being the “sedate, responsible, polite sister,” her thoughts kept drifting off to non-sedate, completely irresponsible, and outrageously impolite images. She wasn’t just polite and responsible. Sada was also…completely inexperienced, she thought with a frustrated sigh. Sexually and in so many other ways. She hated that fact. All of her friends from boarding school and university were getting married and having babies. Or not having babies, not marrying, but living their fabulously exciting lives in the most outrageous and adventurous ways.