by Mel Teshco
She followed the burka figure away from the walkway that led to the helipad, and headed to where two big pillars led outside to a circular driveway. Feature lights on the circumference of the roundabout lit up the cascade of water tumbling over shiny black rocks. A bunch of date palms provided the only vegetation.
A limousine waited at the pickup point, a chauffeur holding open the rear door. She managed to slide in wearing the voluminous burka, and though she didn’t have any kind of peripheral vision, she was aware the other robed figure followed her.
“Are you my bodyguard or are you here to ensure I don’t change my mind?”
“Both.” The muffled voiced was male and heavily accented, with not even a hint of compassion.
Tears pricked her eyes as she stared straight ahead. If not for the kidnapping, this could have been any girl's fairytale come to life. And perhaps it would have been hers too if not for Shahzad’s plan to marry other women.
What would Shahzad do when he found her gone? How would he tell his people? Would he hate her forever? Did she care? Was she doing the right thing? Was there any other option?
She itched to take off the horrid burka, but she got the distinct impression her ‘bodyguard’ would force her to wear it anyway.
Silence filled the vehicle until an airport finally came into view and the man beside her finally spoke. “You will leave your burka on until such time you’ve boarded the plane. There will be an assistant there who will help you out of your attire and into an outfit more suited to your…western ideals.”
She could imagine his curled lip, as though he considered her western upbringing an insult of the highest order.
He lifted an idle hand and the burka material fell back, revealing aged skin with a chunky, square cut ring on his index finger. Tiny little diamonds outlined the shape of a hawk atop horizontal bands of red, white and black. It looked very symbolic. She glimpsed the wink of two tiny green gems before he dropped his arm and continued, “Once you land in London someone will be waiting for you, and will escort you and your mother to a new location.”
She frowned and turned to him, the streetlights flashing past making him visible even inside the car. “I was told Shahzad wouldn’t come looking for me.”
Eyes darker than mud and harder than flint stared back at her. “It’s merely a precaution.”
She nodded. “Of course it is.”
She breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped out of the limousine and left behind the mysterious man in his burka to board a much smaller private jet for her journey home. A relief that surged as a tight-lipped assistant drew off Lexi’s burka with practiced hands before she indicated the denim jeans, long-sleeved aqua shirt, fleecy jacket and thigh-high boots.
Except once she’d dressed into the clothes and returned to her seat and the long flight home, all her relief fizzled. Without Shahzad by her side, the future loomed bleak and dull. Despite everything, he fascinated and enchanted her. His dark good looks, manly grace and ease of power lured her like honey to a bee.
He’d been right when he’d said he had saved her from the monotony that’d been her life.
But she had to move forward and put him out of her mind, just like he’d do with her. She had no doubt he’d put his people first and marry someone else. If not his Arab lover, at least a woman far more suited to the role of sheikha.
The pain that stabbed at the back of her eyes was the only sign of heartache she’d allow. She stayed awake and restless the entire flight home, before she reverted to autopilot when she was ushered from the jet and into the back of yet another limousine.
The numbness filling her from the inside out had to be a self-protective mechanism to keep away the pain…or was it to protect her from the taunting voice telling her she was a fool for trusting Kaela’s word?
But it hadn’t just been Kaela who’d warned her off. Her mother had begged her to leave and Lexi knew that out of everyone, her mother always had her best interests at heart.
She looked out the window at the blur of houses and shops rushing past, familiar landmarks that somehow only made the ache within grow bigger instead of smaller.
The limousine slowed, and then parked beside a nondescript cream sedan. A minute later the driver opened her door and gestured toward the other car. She climbed into the passenger seat of the sedan, a rush of emotion for a moment thickening her throat. “Hi, Mom.”
Her mother thrust off her seatbelt and folded Lexi into her arms. “Oh honey, I’ve been so worried!” Drawing back, she asked in a strained voice, “Are you okay?”
Lexi nodded. “I’m fine, Mom.”
But it did little to appease her mother who looked close to tears. Still, when her mother finally redid her seatbelt and started the car, leaving the limousine behind, she still managed to fill the thick silence with an endless prattle Lexi couldn’t even pretend to care about.
Her mother quieted with a sigh, and sent her a worried, sideward glance. “Lexi, I’m sorry I never told you the truth about your father.”
“Mom, honestly it’s okay,” she said dully, “you wanted to protect me. I get that.”
Except nothing had protected her heart. Nothing had prepared her for the soul shattering experience of being hostage to the sheikh.
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” her mother said in a wobbly voice, “but I’m thankful you don’t hate me.”
“I could never hate you.”
That level of intensity had been left behind with Shahzad.
Her mother cleared her throat. “He didn’t…hurt you, did he?”
Lexi sighed. “If you mean did we have sex, then yes, we did. And no, it wasn’t against my will.”
It was the most beautiful experience of her life.
“Oh Lexi, there are other ways a man can hurt you.” She glanced at Lexi, her face growing taut and a little pale. “You look about as fragile as a reed in a stiff wind. I always knew when you gave yourself to someone it would be absolute.”
“Yeah, well I guess you were right,” she said, every inch of her feeling deflated and flat.
Her mother’s hands clasped the steering wheel. “You’ll get through this Lexi, just give it some time. We’ll get through this.”
Lexi nodded even as a headache flared to life behind her temple. She could only be thankful the remainder of the journey was done in silence.
Only once her mother had steered the sedan into a narrow driveway, did she say with forced gaiety, “We’re here.”
Lexi feigned interest in the little stone cottage with bright green meadows enclosed by stone walls, even as yearning suddenly filled her for desert sands, cloudless azure skies and leafy date palms.
She gritted her teeth. For the sake of her sanity she had to focus on the present and not think about the past or the future.
Cutting the engine, her mother turned to her with overly bright eyes. “C’mon Lexi, I’m sure we’ll both love it here. Our own little haven for the next couple of days.” Her head dropped to the side as she assessed her daughter. “When I said I didn’t want you to go through what I did, I wasn’t lying. I’m doing what I can to ensure your safety.”
Her mother didn’t have to tell her that they’d be moving around quite a bit the next few months, maybe even years. Evidently Lexi alone had thought the sheikh would give up on her so easily, despite the fact she’d dishonored him.
She released a weary breath, wishing once again she could sleep away the whole nightmare her life had become. She didn’t want to know if Kaela had financed their little holiday or if her mother had simply taken advantage of the funds Shahzad had put into her bank account.
She just wanted to stay numb.
Chapter Ten
Lexi stared out to the tumultuous sea and the stormy sky above from the rocky outcrop she’d found, some thirty minutes’ walk from home.
Home?
She squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the savage beauty of Mother Nature. Could this beachside place in East Su
ssex really be called that? In the seven weeks since she’d fled Omana and returned to England, this was home number twelve.
She’d stayed in motels longer than she had in any of the houses she’d recently lived in with her mother.
She placed an outspread hand over her belly even as she wondered, for possibly the thousandth time, what Shahzad was doing. She wasn’t sure if she was a wimp or fearless, but it took a high level of self-control not to scour the daily newspapers and listen to the broadcasts for the latest word on Omana. Or more particularly, its sheikh.
If a computer had been at hand she might well have given into temptation and Google-searched his name.
She lifted her head and opened her eyes as a stiff breeze began to blow off the water, bringing with it the tang of sea spray and salt. The dark clouds would soon bring rain, but she was reluctant to return ‘home.’ She was reluctant to do much of anything.
At least being out here meant she was away from her mother’s worried gaze. Not that she blamed her for being concerned. Lexi only had to look into the mirror to see the dark, puffy shadows under her red-rimmed eyes, the weight loss and paleness.
Leaving Shahzad hadn’t done her any favors. She looked and felt a wreck. But she’d stayed strong and done the right thing. As much as she loved the sheikh, she wasn’t going to sentence herself to a life of jealousy and feeling second-best; wasn’t going to endure sharing him like her mother had with her father, Sheikh Hassan Nazari.
Her hand moved up and down her still-flat belly, as though in reassurance. At least she’d managed to force food down her throat, anything to keep a little weight on her frame. It wasn’t just herself she needed to think about anymore.
“Lexi.”
She bit into her bottom lip as the wind soughed past her. For a second she’d believed her beloved sheikh had called out her name. The more she succumbed to temptation and gave into musings about Shahzad, the more desperate she became and the more her imagination played tricks on her.
“Habibi.”
She jerked her head around at the too-real voice that had filled her mind and her dreams. “Shahzad,” she whispered.
Her pulse stuttered as she drank him in. He was dressed in western attire, dark pants, a blue cotton shirt and fleece-lined jacket, and enclosed black shoes. His hair whipped around his shoulders, his stubble a little darker and more pronounced. But it was his eyes that tore her up inside. They were filled with yearning, with despair and betrayal.
“Why?” he asked hoarsely.
Her hand moved up between her breasts. “You really need to ask?”
He took a couple of steps closer, until he was looming over her. Around six foot three of corded muscle vibrated with barely restrained tension. “I get that kidnapping you was wrong on every level,” he gritted out, “but I never once mistreated you.”
She scrambled to her feet, pain leaking through the barriers that had kept her a nice sedated numb. “You don’t think omitting the truth counts as mistreatment?”
His voice cracked. “I never once lied to you. I was honest right from the start.”
The wind picked up even further and she was glad to yell above it, glad to vent some of her rage. “And what did your wife say about leaving her behind to find me?”
Or was it wives, plural?
He shook his head, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “Wife? The woman who I was supposed to marry vanished faster than the dunes in a sandstorm!”
Her hands curled into fists. Even now, he was still playing with her and stringing her along. Even if he hadn’t married Kaela, he would have done his country proud and married a woman to provide heirs. He was no better than Lexi’s father. “Damn you to hell, you bastard—“
He bent his head and his mouth covered hers, cutting off her words and emphasizing every reason why she hated him; why she loved him. She sobbed against his lips. Oh god, despite herself, she’d missed this intimacy, this connection with him that was like two merging of souls coming together.
Pity it was also akin to exposing a raw wound, making the pain all the harder to endure.
She pounded his shoulders, but she might as well have banged her fists against a brick wall. Only when her lips parted with a gasp of despair, and his tongue moved inside her mouth like it belonged there, did she treat him to a sharp bite.
He reared back and glowered, clasping her upper arms in a fierce grip. But it was a pain she tolerated, needed even, when the agony within was far more brutal.
“You don’t get to play nasty after everything you’ve put me through,” he growled, “you don’t get to play anything at all except being my wife and the Sheikha of Omana.”
Even with her mind scrambling for some semblance of logic, her breath heaving in and out and the wind whipping her hair in her eyes, she couldn’t help but notice the pained savagery imprinted on his face. Did his people and his country mean so much to him and she so little? Did her feelings count for nothing?
Her fists clenched tighter still and her whole body shook before seven weeks of anguish burst free. “Fuck you!” she shouted. “Fuck you and your country!”
Her outburst made his eyes widen and caused his grip to slacken, and she ripped free of his hold before she spun around. Except her feet in their canvas shoes slipped right out from under her and she cried out even as Shahzad lunged for her.
Too late.
“Lexi!”
She hit the sand with a muffled thud and all breath jarring from her lungs. She lay unmoving and in shock, her whole body hurting. But it was the thick warmth trickling between her thighs that made her want to cry at her stupidity, sob out forgiveness to a higher power. Except she’d yet to even drag in a breath.
Shahzad’s face swam into view above her, his face sheet-white. “Don’t move. I’ll get help.”
Breath squeezed back into her lungs. “Shahzad.” A tear trickled from the corner of one eye. “Please…save our baby.”
*
She woke to the distinct scent of antiseptic and the muted sound of voices. Her eyes sprung wide open and she gasped the sheikh’s name. Shahzad was already in the room, and was at her side in an instant. He took her hand in his. “Shh. I’m here,” he murmured.
She swallowed, her mouth and lips incredibly dry. She lifted her head. “The baby?”
His thumb brushed across her knuckles. “Is stubborn and a fighter, just like us.”
A rush of relief made her light-headed and she fell back against the pillows of the hospital bed. “Thank god.”
His gaze that roamed over her face looked uncertain, even a little troubled. “Do you need anything? Water? Food? A magazine?”
“I don’t want anything.”
Except you.
She clamped her lips shut so that the words in her mind wouldn’t be voiced. She was such a fool, pining for the one man who’d never be hers alone.
“I’ve sent for the doctor. Once you’ve been given the all clear, we’ll be flying back to Omana where you’ll have the best round-the-clock care.”
She jerked her hand free. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
A frown darkened his otherwise pale face. “You’re not leaving me again, Habibi. We belong together. And I’ll do whatever it takes to convince you of that.”
“Did you ever consider asking me, and not hauling me over your shoulder like some Neanderthal?”
“Would you come back to Omana with me if I asked?” At her tightlipped silenced he added, “Habibi, I’d beg you to come home with me if that’s what it took.”
His stare moved to her hands that fluttered by her sides before interlinking across her belly. She sighed, aware neither one of them could go on like this anymore. One way or the other she had to know if they had a chance…or none at all.
“There’s only one thing you need to do to show you’re truly serious about a future with me.” Her chin angled. “I want to be your only wife; your only lover.”
He looked…thunderstruck. “Do you seriously bel
ieve I would have had it any other way?”
She blinked. “Your people want heirs.”
He nodded, and laid a tender hand over her middle. “And they’ll have them.” He sighed. “You must realize you’re the only woman I want, the only woman I’ll ever want.”
Hope rose through the ashes of her anguish, but she didn’t give it free rein, not until she knew for sure. “Kaela said you were going to marry her too.”
“She lied.” His jaw tightened, before he rasped, “Was she the reason you left?”
God, he looked so ferocious. Anyone else would be shaking in their boots. But she knew he’d protect her before he’d ever harm her. “I didn’t want to share you,” she said softly. “It’s all or nothing with me.”
He stooped to her level and she breathed in the foreign spice and sandalwood that clung to him. Somehow his scent alone reassured her. His eyes searched hers. “You’re Habibi. My beloved. I love you. And I want all of you. I don’t want to lose you. Ever. Again.”
He loved her? Her heart skipped a beat and her vision blurred. But still she had to push, had to be certain he wasn’t about to stomp on her heart until it was damaged beyond repair. “You’re not just saying that because you’re going to be a father?”
His hands clutched hers, his stare intent. “I’m saying that because you’re the love of my life.” He drew in a slow breath. “The night I left you alone in the palace almost killed me. I wanted to be with you, to comfort you. But I also knew I had to give you space after…forcibly kidnapping you.”
She arched a brow. “Yes. There was that. Though it almost killed me too when you left me alone.”
“As much as it makes me an evil person in the eyes of the western world, I’d do it all again. You’re mine, Habibi.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a velvet box.
She blinked rapidly, her vision blurring. “You don’t have to do this.”
“But I do. When I left you that night I went to visit my royal vault to select you a belated birthday present.”