by Kristi Gold
She wedged between a surprised Madison and Zain. “You will answer as many questions as I ask. First, do you love Maysa?”
He tracked his gaze from one expectant face to the other. “With all due respect, that is a private matter I will not address.”
“Bloody hell, Rafiq,” Adan said. “Just admit it.”
“I assure you the sky will not fall on your head if you say the words,” Zain added. “Otherwise, I would have suffered several concussions.”
“Do you love her?” Elena repeated.
“Yes, I love her.” With all his once-hardened heart. “Are you satisfied now?”
The woman looked extremely satisfied, and somewhat smug. “Do you love her enough to spit in the face of convention and claim her as your partner for all time?”
When he failed to answer, Elena marched forward and stood immediately before the desk. “Rafiq, you have two choices, the first being you can disregard public opinion and ask Maysa to marry you because I know she is strong enough to handle any repercussions. Are you?”
He did not view that as a viable option. “And my second choice?”
“You can end up like me. Alone.”
“You have never seemed to have an issue with being alone before.”
“I was never truly physically alone, Rafiq, but I was lonely. I spent a lifetime loving a man who refused to acknowledge our affair for fear of upsetting the royal applecart.”
His mind was fraught with more confusion. “What man is this, Elena?”
“Our father, you fool,” Adan said. “I have suspected as much for years.”
Elena looked completely baffled. “How could you have known?”
“I arrived late from the academy one night and I saw you enter his suite,” Adan stated matter-of-factly. “I assumed everyone knew and just never mentioned it out of respect for your privacy.”
“Then you were the one sleeping with the king?” Zain asked, his tone heralding the shock Rafiq now experienced.
Elena lifted her chin, her eyes slightly misted with tears. “Yes, I was sleeping with the king. Right up until the day before he died. And no, I was not responsible for his death. I was responsible for giving him many memorable moments during his final hours on earth.”
Adan kissed her cheek. “Good show, old girl. And while we’re confessing…” He turned to address Rafiq. “I wish to apologize for sleeping with your wife.”
The shock returned with the force of a grenade. “You did what?”
Adan held up his hands, palms forward. “Before you come across the desk to slug me, I wish to add I was only seventeen at the time. Rima apparently had a tussle with Shamil and she looked to me for comfort. I did not plan it, and neither did she.”
If he heard one more revelation, he would not be responsible for what he would do to his youngest sibling. “You also knew Rima and Shamil were lovers?”
He shrugged. “I assumed everyone knew—”
“You assume too much, Adan,” Zain said.
Adan presented a wry smile. “Obviously.”
Rafiq turned a glare and a question on Zain. “Do you wish to confess anything?”
Zain held up his hands in surrender. “I solemnly swear I did not bed your former wife.”
“I am so glad to know that, honey,” Madison said.
So was Rafiq, if he could actually believe Zain. He no longer knew what to believe.
“It is now time to put the past to rest.” Elena braced her palms on the desk, leaned forward and directed her gaze at Rafiq. “Cara, you have shown signs of being a great leader, yet most likely not greater than your father. But you can be a better man than your father. You can have the life you were meant to lead with Maysa, or you can enter into another loveless marriage and be miserable until your time on earth is over.”
Or he could spend the rest of his life alone. He had no need to produce an heir, now that Zain had fulfilled that requirement. His father had completed his reign as a widower, and no one had condemned him for the decision. Of course, no one had known about his relationship with Elena. Yet he had dishonored the cherished surrogate mother to Rafiq and his brothers by not standing up to the elders and making a commoner his queen.
“I will consider all that you have said,” he told Elena, the only answer he could presently give.
Elena straightened and smoothed a hand over her graying hair. “That is all anyone can ask. And I know you will make the right decision for all concerned, as I have taught you to do. Never forget what makes a man a true king and a hero. Honor.”
And he had clearly forgotten that honor over the past few weeks. “If it is all the same to you, I wish to be alone now.”
“Let us leave your brother to his thoughts,” Elena said as she started toward the door, gesturing for everyone to follow her.
And everyone did, except for Zain. “I do have to know one more thing, Rafiq.”
He released a weary sigh. “I am in no mood to answer more questions about Maysa.”
“This doesn’t involve Maysa,” he said. “It does involve her brother. Why have you not yet dismissed him from the council?”
If he did, he risked Shamil revealing damning information to the press about his relationship with Maysa. Yet if he decided to make it known to the world that he was in love with the beautiful doctor, and he planned to make her the next queen, that would no longer be a concern. But the possible uproar over taking that course could be very concerning.
Since he had not quite reached that decision, Rafiq provided only a partial truth. “I had thought to ask him to step down first. If he does not, then I will demand his resignation.”
“I personally would opt to humiliate him tomorrow at the meeting by relieving him of his duties,” Zain said. “Perhaps he will then think twice before he tangles with another Mehdi and receives another broken nose.”
After Zain exited the room, Rafiq weighed his brother’s suggestion. He agreed that dismissing Shamil publicly would be effective, and worth considering. First, he had to determine whether he would attempt to reestablish a relationship with Maysa. A permanent, public relationship.
With that consideration rolling around in his mind, Rafiq would be forced to face another sleepless night—without Maysa. Would he be wise to ask her to make it his last?
You have shown signs of being a great leader, yet most likely not greater than your father…. You can have the life you were meant to lead with Maysa….
Elena’s words of wisdom suddenly struck a chord in Rafiq. He could be a better man. Maysa could assist him with that. In some ways, she already had. She was stronger than most men he had known, at times even him. Determined and intelligent. Worthy of respect. She had much to offer this country. She had much more to offer him. Much more than he probably deserved.
Rafiq could not bear the thought of spending another long day—and night—without Maysa Barad. Now that he had made the supreme decision to alter tradition, as well as his life, he had to formulate a plan. As the kernel of an idea filtered into his brain, a scheme that would cover two pressing issues at once, he smiled for the first time in weeks. He prayed that what he had planned would bring about Maysa’s smile, too.
* * *
She wasn’t particularly thrilled to be summoned to the palace by Rafiq’s assistant, Mr. Deeb. Yet when Maysa had learned she was expected to speak on current health care issues before the royal council, her attitude immediately changed. She could not wait to enlighten each and every one of them.
And now here she was, waiting in the anteroom for her turn to finally have the chance to give the members a good dose of her reality. Unfortunately, the opportunity meant she would have to face Rafiq, as well as her brother, who amazingly still held his position on the governing board. Despite his verbal threats, and his physical assault on the ki
ng, Shamil had somehow come out of the situation smelling like a rose, while she still carried the thorns of Rafiq’s rejection.
Maysa refused to worry over that now. She would walk into the room as the only woman among all men and let them know she was a force to be reckoned with. Her bravado began to diminish when Deeb appeared at the main door. “They are ready for you now, Dr. Barad.”
And she was ready for them—for the most part.
After silently demanding her nerves be still, Maysa entered displaying a confidence she didn’t exactly feel. To make matters worse, Rafiq happened to be the first person to invade her field of vision. And what a vision he was, dressed in his finest black silk suit, the official sash of the king draped around his neck, his face free of facial hair, his dark eyes without obvious emotion. She had no idea what he was feeling, only what she was feeling for him—undeniable longing.
“Gentlemen,” he began in Arabic. “You all know Dr. Barad.”
Maysa took inventory of their reactions and wasn’t pleased with the results. No one spoke a greeting aside from Zain and Adan, although a few nodded in acknowledgment.
Rafiq pulled out the chair next to his and gestured her forward. After she settled in, she realized she was now face-to-frown with her brother. Lovely.
She turned her attention to the king as he outlined future plans for hospital expansion and patiently waited for her turn to present her thoughts on rural health care.
But before that turn arrived, Rafiq centered a bitter gaze on Shamil. “Sheikh Barad, as presiding Minister of Health, it is my opinion you have failed in successfully overseeing Bajul’s faltering health care system.”
Shamil’s face turned so red, Maysa feared his head might explode. “I take exception to your criticism, Your Excellency. I have served our people well.”
“I disagree,” Rafiq said, switching to English. “And I take exception to you sleeping with the queen, you traitorous son of a bitch.”
Maysa had no way of knowing how many members understood the English curse, but she understood it very well. However, she had never heard Rafiq speak the words before, and she found it somewhat amusing, and appropriate for the situation.
Her brother stood so abruptly, he knocked his chair back in the process. “You are out of line, Rafiq.”
Rafiq remained surprisingly calm. “And you are hereby facing charges of high treason if you do not vacate your position, and the premises, immediately.”
Shamil sent a pointed look at Maysa before returning his ugly sneer to the king. “You are willing to make my sister your sacrificial lamb?”
A slightly mocking smile curled the corners of Rafiq’s mouth. “No, but I am willing to appoint her as the new health minister, if she agrees.”
Maysa looked around at all the confused men lining the table. But she didn’t know if their confusion resulted from Rafiq offering a woman a position on the council for the first time in Bajul’s history, or because Rafiq still spoke in English. “I would be honored, Your Majesty.” Honored and thrilled and amazed.
“This is a travesty!” Shamil shouted. “A monumental mistake for this nation!”
“And men like you are a scourge on our nation,” Rafiq said as he signaled a nearby guard, then returned to speaking in their native tongue. “Escort the sheikh to the airport and inform them that by my order, he is permanently barred from crossing Bajul’s borders.”
Shamil shook off the guard’s grasp and pointed a shaky finger at Maysa. “You will regret this decision, and you will suffer the wrath of the people once they learn you are the king’s secret whore. They will shun you.”
“Not if she is the queen.”
Shamil looked stunned, while Maysa turned wide eyes on Rafiq. “What did you say?”
“I am unofficially asking you to be my wife.” And he did so where everyone could understand his proposal. “I will do the official honors after the meeting. You may give me your answer at that time.”
As security escorted a cursing Shamil out of the room, Maysa sat in shocked silence. Yet several members of the council broke theirs by issuing protests over both Rafiq’s decisions.
He commanded their attention by rapping the table with his palm. “Silence! I ask who among you has the right to judge Dr. Barad when she has done nothing but divorce a tormentor and care for the poorest of our people. Who among you has given more than your wealth to do the same?”
“She is a harlot who has taken the king as her lover,” one man said. “She is a divorced woman who has no respect for the sanctity of marriage.”
Rafiq glared at him. “And you do, Sheikh Saab? Do you not dishonor your wife nightly by bedding the innkeeper’s wife?” He then turned to another protester. “And you, Sheikh Najem. Did you not divorce your first wife to marry a woman much younger than yourself?”
Najem looked as if he would like to disappear beneath the conference table. “It is different. I am a man.”
“And that is where we differ,” Rafiq said. “Both my brothers and myself believe we are overdue implementing changes in attitude when it comes to the backbone of this country, women such as Dr. Barad.”
Zain and Adan verbally added their support before Rafiq spoke again. “Now that the business at hand is settled, including going forward with the water project, this meeting is officially adjourned.”
Before Maysa could mentally digest the chaotic events, Rafiq took her by the hand, led her through the lengthy first-floor corridor, and up the stairs at a fast clip. He slowed a bit as they climbed to the third floor, but not enough for Maysa to catch her breath or gather her thoughts.
She suddenly realized they had arrived at the royal living quarters when she peered through the open bedroom door to her right. “What just happened in that meeting?”
“You agreed to become Bajul’s newly appointed health minister to replace your brother, whom I have permanently exiled.”
“And?”
He hinted at a smile. “I unofficially asked you to be my wife, and now I wish to make it official.” Like a storybook hero, the king of Bajul went to one knee and clasped both her hands in his. “Maysa Barad, will you do me the honor of being my wife and my queen?”
She’d imagined this moment many times in her youth, and “youth” was the key. Now she was an adult, with adult concerns.
“Well?” Rafiq asked with a touch of impatience in his tone.
She wanted to say yes, but she wasn’t quite ready to do that. “I’m still thinking.”
He stood, his expression showing his disappointment. “I have asked too much of you, and I have waited until it is too late.”
“I didn’t say no, Rafiq. But before I say yes, I have to know what changed your mind.”
“Not what, but whom,” he said. “Elena forced me to see the error of my ways, immediately after she revealed she carried on a long-time affair with my father, who refused to make her his wife due to outdated mores.”
Maysa was quickly reaching revelation overload. “How did they pull that off without anyone finding out?”
“Adan claims he knew, but Zain and I only heard rumors that our father had a mistress. We never suspected it would be the woman who raised us.”
She, too, had heard the rumors, yet never in a million years would she have guessed Elena as the mystery woman. “It’s sad to know that she was never able to show her love for your father out in the open.”
“And that is what I am trying to avoid with us. I understand that I am asking you to endure continued bias, and I would not blame you if you refused me—”
“Let me stop you right there. As I’ve said before, I have survived much worse than a few insults. I survived the members’ caustic remarks in the meeting only a few minutes ago. But if I agree to marry you, I will continue to be who I am, not who everyone feels I should be. I will still
be a doctor, and I will insist on treating the patients who need me.”
Rafiq streak a hand over his jaw. “You realize that will require a security contingency at the clinic at all times.”
That was something Maysa had yet to consider. “I accept that necessity, as long as the men do not frighten away my patients.”
“They will also be required to accompany us when we travel to the outlying areas.”
“We?”
His smile arrived, fully formed and completely gorgeous. “Yes, we. I believe I still have much to learn about our country’s medical needs. Who better to guide me than you? However, I will make certain we have better accommodations, or at the very least, a comfortable cot for the tent where I will make love to you the next time.”
“I will definitely agree to that, Your Majesty.”
His features turned suddenly serious. “Then you will agree to marry me?”
She saw no harm in keeping him in suspense for a while longer. “I am leaning in that direction.”
He slipped his arms around her waist and tugged her closer. “Maysa, if you refuse me, and I pray you do not, you must know I will never marry another. I refuse to settle for less than what we have together, an abiding love that has spanned years of separation. I will never feel for another woman the depth of what I feel for you. I simply cannot.”
That alone convinced Maysa to deliver a resounding “Yes, I will marry you.”
They sealed this unlikely betrothal, not with a contract, but with a kiss, as it should be. That kiss ended when a household staff member cleared her throat before she rushed by.
“Let us retire to my bedroom now,” Rafiq said as soon as the woman disappeared around the corner.
Maysa glanced at the open door, specifically the bed, and questioned the wisdom in his plan. “I’m not sure I would be comfortable doing that, Rafiq.”
“She never slept in my bed, Maysa,” he said, as if he had channeled her concern. “I suppose I have been saving the bed for you, though it took me a while to realize I have been waiting for you all my life.”
“And I am honored you reserved the permanent space beside you.” As well as deeply touched.