Emir held her as she cried. The news was as shocking as it was happy, and it took a moment for it to sink in.
‘The rules might not need to change. I might have a son,’ Amy said.
And he held the bride whom he loved, come what may, and he loved her all over again.
‘Soon we will be able to find out what I’m having.’
‘There is no need to find out,’ Emir said. ‘For whatever we are given we will love. The rules will change.’ Emir’s voice was firm. ‘Clemira is a born leader, that much I know, and Nakia will be a wonderful support for her. It is right she be second in line.’
‘But the predictions!’
‘Are just that,’ Emir said, and he looked to the woman who had healed his black and tortured heart, the woman who had swept into his office and challenged his way of thinking, and he could not believe what he had. His instinct was to kiss her, to hold her and soothe her fears, and then he paused for just a moment as the news truly started to hit him. And he told her why the predictions were surely wrong. ‘They did not factor in that a king might fall in love.’
EPILOGUE
‘HE is beautiful,’ Emir said.
Amy could not stop looking at her newborn son—could scarcely believe that she was holding her own baby in her arms. Just feeling him there, she knew all the hurts of the past were forgotten, the pain of the last twenty-four hours simply deleted as she looked down into his dark eyes.
‘Are you sure he’s mine?’ Amy teased, because he was completely his father’s son. She looked up to Emir and he kissed her gently, and she was bathed in a happiness made richer because he loved her and his daughters, with or without the gift of a son.
He took the baby in his arms and held him for a long moment, and Amy could see the pride and also the pain on his strong, proud features, for he was surely remembering the bittersweet time when he’d last held a tiny infant.
‘I don’t want to miss a moment of his life,’ Emir said. ‘I missed way too much of the twins’ first year.’ He closed his eyes in regret.
‘Emir, there was a reason.’ She understood that now.
‘Every time I saw them, every time I held them, all I wanted was to do what was best for them, and yet I had the responsibility to put the future of my country first.’
‘It must have been agony.’
‘I was made better knowing they were looked after by you. When you left, when it was Fatima, when the ways of old were being adhered to, I knew I could not rule a country that rendered my daughters worthless. It worked in the past, but not now,’ Emir explained. ‘Yet it was a decision that required distance.’
‘It did,’ Amy agreed. ‘I wish you could have spoken with me …’ Her voice trailed off, because Emir was right. It was a decision that could only have been reached alone. ‘It’s all worked out.’ She looked at her sleeping baby. ‘The rules don’t even have to change.’
‘They do,’ Emir said. ‘For I never want my son to have to make a choice like the one I was forced to make. The predictors were wrong: the two countries are better separated. I am glad I have a son for many reasons, but it will prove once and for all that we are doing this because it is right rather than necessary. The people will love him as they now love the girls—as they love you.’
The changes of the past few months had been less tumultuous than Amy had feared. The old Bedouin man had laughed when Rakhal and Emir consulted him, had shrugged and shaken his head when they’d said that the predictions were wrong. But the people in the main had accepted it, reassured that their two Kings were united and strong in their decision. And even before they’d found out that Amy was expecting a baby they had cheered for the twins, and a newspaper had celebrated with a headline about the future Queen Clemira.
‘Your mother should be here any time,’ Emir said, because as soon as Amy had gone into labour Emir had organised a plane for her.
Amy could not wait to see her mother’s face when, after all the anguish, she got to hold her grandson.
‘Shall I bring the girls in to meet their new brother?’ Emir asked, handing his son back to her outstretched arms.
‘Okay,’ Amy said, excited about their reaction.
She smiled as he brought the girls in. She loved them so much—every bit as much as the baby in her arms. She had loved them from the moment they were born. She watched Nakia’s face light up when she saw her new brother. She was completely entranced, smothering him with kisses, but Clemira seemed less than impressed. She looked at him for a moment or two and then wriggled down off the bed and toddled off. Following her sister’s lead, soon so too did Nakia. Emir called for the nanny to take them back to the playroom.
‘Do you think she is jealous?’ Emir asked, taking the now sleeping baby and placing him in his crib, then climbing onto the bed beside her. ‘She barely looked at him.’
‘It’s early days,’ Amy said. There was no nicer place in the world than to be in bed next to Emir with their baby sleeping by their side. ‘I’m surprised, though. She was so taken with Tariq. I guess it will take a bit of getting used …’ She did not finish her sentence because it was taken over by a yawn.
Emir pulled her in. ‘You need to rest.’
‘Stay.’
‘Of course,’ Emir said. ‘But you must sleep while you have the chance. The next weeks will be busy—your family arriving and the naming ceremony … And Natasha has rung and wants to come over before then. She is so looking forward to seeing the baby.’
Amy smiled, half dozing. All was well in her world as she rested safe in his arms. She would look forward to Natasha’s visit—they were firm friends now and met often. Their children delighted in playing together.
‘I’d love to see her, and Clemira will be thrilled to see Tariq …’ Her voice trailed off again, but for a different reason. An impossible thought formed between waking and sleep. ‘Emir?’
‘Rest,’ he told her, his eyes closed, but Amy couldn’t.
‘If Clemira is still as taken with Tariq in … oh, say in twenty years or so …’
She looked up and his eyes opened. The frown that had formed faded as a smile broke onto his face. ‘That would make things incredibly complicated.’
‘Really?’
‘Or incredibly simple.’ He kissed the top of her head. ‘Sleep now,’ he said. ‘It is not something we are going to consider or force. That is not a decision we will ever make for them.’
‘But if it did happen?’ Amy pushed. ‘Then the countries would become one again?’
‘Perhaps,’ Emir said.
She closed her eyes and stopped thinking about the future, relished the present.
Emir was the one who broke the silence, the possibility perhaps still on his mind.
‘Maybe I was wrong?’ Emir said, pulling her in closer, feeling absolute peace in his once troubled heart. ‘Who am I to say that when the predictions were made, they did not factor in love?’
* * * * *
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Carol Marinelli 2013
eISBN: 978-1-4720-0149-8
Table of Contents
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Copyright
Beholden to the Throne Page 14