by Kristi Gold
“Everything’s fine,” she said as she listened to the steady beat of his heart. “I do have a message for you from Elena, though. She wants you to stop by when we’re back in Bajul and meet with her.”
“For what reason?”
“Something about a Moroccan woman with your last name that a friend of hers once knew. She thinks you might have a mutual connection.”
He suddenly stopped caressing her altogether. “I would be surprised if that were the case. There are several Moroccan citizens with my surname.”
“That’s what I told her, but I promised I’d pass the message on to you.”
“I will see her if I can find the time when I return.” His tone sounded strangely irritable, as if he found the request unpalatable. She couldn’t imagine anyone not liking the former governess. Nevertheless, a subject change seemed to be in order. One that would aid in the transition to baby news.
“Have you spoken with Yasmin lately?” she asked.
“Earlier this morning,” he said. “She is very pleased over the puppy I gave her, though he is a mixed breed that one of my staff found wandering the streets.”
“Those are the best kind of dogs.”
“Yasmin seems to believe that to be the case. She called to tell me she has named him after me.”
He had given a child a dog, and that indicated he had good paternal instincts. The fact that the child had given the dog his name spoke to her fondness for her reluctant replacement patriarch. “I’m sure there aren’t too many Tareks running around in the canine world.”
“Not Tarek. She calls him Poppy, which she has called me when she’s attempting to persuade me into allowing her to have a treat or stay up past her bedtime.”
Just a few more indicators that he must be closer to the little girl than he’d previously led on. “Sounds to me like she’s quite smitten with you, too.”
“She is a good-natured child.”
She could be his real child if he’d only give fatherhood a chance. Maybe knowing he would soon have a baby of his own would prompt him to change his mind.
The time had come to make the announcement, and face the inevitable.
In an effort to get down to serious business, something she couldn’t do while naked, Kira sat up and covered herself with the rumpled sheet, bringing about Tarek’s groan of protest. If she only knew how to begin without blurting, “I’m pregnant.” A plan started to form, one that involved guiding him into the information minefield without tossing a verbal grenade.
She grabbed a pillow from behind her and put it in a choke hold. “Have you considered maybe getting a playmate for Yasmin?”
He scowled. “A pet does not qualify?”
“I meant a human playmate. A brother or a sister. I grew up as an only child and know firsthand how lonely that can be, although I did have the good fortune to have the Mehdis as surrogate brothers.”
He frowned. “I also grew up as an only child and I fared well. Since Yasmin is not officially my offspring, giving her a sibling would be impossible. You have also pointed out I do not carve out enough time for her. If I took in another orphan, I would be depriving them both.”
Time to test the paternity waters. “Perhaps you should consider finding someone special to share the child-rearing responsibility.”
“As I have stated before, I have an exceptional au pair.”
Could he be more obtuse? “Special as in a spouse. Since you’re a couple of years away from forty, don’t you think it’s time to consider settling down? If you’re like most men I know, surely you’d like to have a son who can inherit your fortune and carry on your legacy.”
“I have that option with Yasmin.”
“Yet you haven’t made a move to adopt her and give her your name, although I sense you truly care about her. What makes you steer clear of anyone who gets too close to you?”
He pushed off the bed and began to pace. “Love comes with conditions and, many times, lies.”
Kira clutched the covers tighter in her fists as her anxiety increased. “Who lied to you, Tarek? Another woman? Athena? Believe me, I know what it’s like to be betrayed by a lover. But it’s important to move on and not let that experience guide your choices and keep you closed off to all the possibilities.”
He stopped and streaked a hand over his nape. “This has nothing to do with a lover, and it does not matter now. I prefer to leave the past in the past.”
Stubborn, stubborn man. “That sounds good, but I don’t think you’re doing that at all.”
“You do not know all there is to know about me, Kira.”
“And you don’t know all about me either, Tarek. Honestly, I’ve tried to tell you several times since we’ve been here, but you somehow always manage to distract me.” She sighed. “Or maybe I thought if I avoided revealing everything it would somehow all go away. But this is not going to go away.”
After slipping his pants back on, Tarek moved to the end of the bed and braced his palms on the footboard. “Are you wed to someone else?”
She found that almost laughable in the midst of a humorless situation. “Of course not.”
“You have a secret lover?”
“No. Not even close.”
“You have a secret child?”
“You’re definitely getting warmer.” And from the stern look on his face, she was poised to walk right into the fire.
“No more guessing games, Kira. Tell me what you have been keeping from me.”
“I’m pregnant with your baby.” There, she’d said it, and the sky hadn’t fallen. Tarek’s expression did, right before recognition dawned.
“How long have you known this?” he asked, his tone teeming with anger.
She’d dreaded this part most of all. “I confirmed it at the doctor’s appointment on the day you asked me to come to Cyprus with you. That was part of the reason I agreed to make the trip.”
“Yet you did not afford me the courtesy of telling me the news before we left.”
The indictment in his tone made Kira shiver. “I wanted to get to know you better and try to find out how you would react. It’s fairly apparent you are not happy about it.”
He laced his hands behind his head and turned his back on her. “You assured me you were protected against pregnancy. Was that a lie as well?”
Her own anger reached the boiling point. “If you think for a minute I trapped you by intentionally getting pregnant, think again. When I heard the news, at first I was devastated, then confused. But once I became accustomed to the idea, I decided I am going to have this baby and love it and care for it whether you come along for the ride or not.”
Without responding, Tarek began to put on the rest of his clothes. Kira wrapped up in the sheet and climbed out of the bed, intent on forcing him to express his feelings. “Don’t you have anything else you want to say to me, Tarek?”
“I need to think,” he said as he headed out the bedroom door.
On the verge of tears, Kira resigned herself to the fact that her biggest fear had been realized—Tarek Azzmar had no intention of being a father.
* * *
He had intended to return to the resort, yet several hours later, he found himself driving a newly purchased Porsche along the coastline with no definitive destination. Kira’s declaration continued to occupy his thoughts as he turned back in the direction of the villa.
I’m pregnant with your baby...
Not once had a woman ever uttered those words to him, even as an empty threat. Not once had he believed he would hear them spoken as the truth.
In spite of his ongoing shock, he needed to talk with her soon, even if he could not say what she needed to hear. Granted, he did have feelings for her more powerful than any he had ever experienced with any woman. Perhaps with any living soul, aside from Yasmin. Y
et Kira deserved better than a bitter, broken man bent on revenge, and so did his unborn child as well as Yasmin. If he could not devote all his time to his charges, or be the kind of father Mika’il Azzmar had been to him, he would be doing his offspring a disservice.
As soon as he returned to the villa, Tarek handed over the car to a confused Alexios and entered the house to look for Kira. After a brief search, he found her seated at the bistro table on the terrace outside the master bedroom, the favored place where they had shared several intimate conversations and sexual interludes. Unfortunately, those late-night discussions had not included information he should have been privy to weeks ago. Logically, he could not fault her for the concealment since he, too, had been withholding his own secrets, yet he could not deny his continued anger over yet another betrayal.
The lies would soon come to an end.
Tarek strode through the open doors and claimed the chair opposite Kira, who seemed taken aback by his appearance. They sat in silence for a time, avoiding each other’s gazes until Kira cleared her throat.
“Are you calm enough to talk reasonably now?” she asked.
Externally calm, yes, but not internally. “I am as calm as humanly possible under the circumstances.”
She sipped water from a glass clutched in her delicate hand. “Look, neither of us expected this, but how we feel no longer involves only us. We have to decide how we’re going to proceed for the baby’s sake.”
He would need more time to adjust to the reality of a child. “Rest assured, I will make certain you and the child will be more than adequately compensated. Aside from that, I have little to say at this point in time in light of your lack of warning.” And one more betrayal in a long line of many.
She looked as distressed as he felt. “I wish I would have told you sooner, Tarek, but I didn’t know how. Regardless, this is our child, Tarek, and I don’t want your money. In fact, I don’t need it. I’d rather be struggling and loved than rich and lonely.”
He would endeavor to set her straight. “Wealth does not equal loneliness, Kira.”
“Sure, if you don’t mind buying friends.”
She had touched a nerve with her veiled accusation, causing his anger to return with the force of a hurricane. “You have no right to judge my character after what you have withheld from me..”
She leaned forward and centered her gaze on his. “But isn’t that exactly what you’ve done with the Mehdis, isn’t it?”
“I consider them business associates as well as acquaintances.”
“You’ve said several things that have led me to believe you hold them in disdain and that definitely includes their father. Of course, that didn’t stop you from investing in their conservation project just so you could ingratiate yourself in the family. You even built your mansion in the shadow of the palace. I’m beginning to wonder if this is some sort of contest to see if you can outdo the royals who apparently have something you want.”
If she only knew his real reasons for those actions and exactly what he did want from them—acknowledgment that he existed. “You may think what you will, but the project was a sound investment. The estate was an afterthought.”
“A nice addition to your collection of estates, I’m sure,” she said, her tone heavy with sarcasm. “And it’s so ironic that the place is so large, yet you have no one to fill all those empty rooms. Why is that, Tarek?”
At one time he believed the size of one’s home determined societal status. Now he was not as certain as he had been in the past. “I spent my formative years in a two-room bungalow where I slept on a cot in the living area. Perhaps that explains my obsession.” At one time, he’d believed the size of one’s home determined societal status. Now he was not as certain.
“Perhaps, deep down in a place you won’t acknowledge, you hope to fill those rooms with family. Then again, that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.”
He had no desire to debate that theory, yet he needed to force her to understand their dire straits. “You have no idea what the implications of this pregnancy will be.”
She took another drink of water, then pushed the glass aside. “If you’re worried about losing your standing in the good old boys’ rich club, don’t. The Mehdis don’t have to know you’re my baby’s father. I, on the other hand, have to worry about possibly losing my position and telling my parents their unwed daughter is expecting their first grandchild. But I know in my heart the royal family and my family will forgive me, whatever the future holds.”
To think she would suffer the consequences of their actions troubled him, despite his anger. So did their child’s true legacy.
“Again, I will make certain you will want for nothing.”
She sat back and released a frustrated sigh. “Okay, Tarek. Toss me a few of your precious dollars every month and maybe set up a college fund for the kid, if that clears your conscience. But one day down the road, when our child grows up, he or she will begin to wonder about his or her father and why he abandoned them. I know that to be true because I wondered the same thing, even if I pretend it doesn’t bother me.”
Unbeknownst to her, he had felt the same way about his legacy. He still did, and the time had come to state the facts. “There is something you are unaware of regarding my heritage.”
Her frown heralded her confusion. “You were born to common folk like me. What else is there to know?”
“I was born to a common mother, but I cannot say the same about my father.”
“I thought you said he was a stone mason.”
“I am referring to my birth father.”
Her expression now showed her shock. “Are you saying the man you grew up with isn’t your father?”
“No, he is not. He wed my mother when she was pregnant with me after my biological father abandoned both of us and never acknowledged my existence.”
“Where is he now?”
“Dead. I might celebrate that fact, but unfortunately he took to the grave all the information I require about the circumstances that led up to my birth.”
She sent him a sympathetic look that he did not want or need. “I’m truly sorry, Tarek, but maybe it’s better you don’t know the details.”
“I demand to know the truth.”
She released a weary sigh. “Well, I would like to know the name of this mystery man who’s filled you with so much hatred.”
For the first time in his life, Tarek would unveil the identity of the tyrant responsible for his abandonment. The bastard who had ignored his own son. The royal leader who had led everyone astray. “Aadil Mehdi, your revered former king of Bajul.”
Nine
As her mind began to reel, Kira’s shock came out in an audible gasp. Any response escaped her at the moment, then suddenly reality hit home. “This baby is a Mehdi?”
“That appears to be the case,” Tarek began, “though I would prefer it not be true. Nothing good can come out of being born into a family of scheming royals who do not know the first thing about earning a living.”
Her loyalty to the royal family swiftly kicked in. “The Mehdi brothers are good men, Tarek, and their father was a strong, generous leader.”
“He was an autocrat who ignored his country’s poor.”
Kira had acknowledged long ago the former king wasn’t without faults or failures. “It’s true he didn’t make enough assistance available for them, but Rafiq, Zain and Adan have made great strides in that regard. Evidently you’re too bitter over their father’s actions to realize that.”
“We will see their true character when I inform them I am the illegitimate son of their former king.”
That definitely did not sit well with her in light of her own situation. “Every child is legitimate, Tarek. I despise that label.”
“Despise it or not, it still exists and
many would see me that way.”
She had so many more unanswered questions yet didn’t quite know where to begin. “Exactly how did you discover this information?”
A hint of sorrow showed in his dark eyes, but the anger soon returned. “My presumed father told me right before he died. He forced me to swear that I would never reveal my true parentage to honor my mother’s memory. Since that day, I have worked tirelessly to prove that in spite of the fact I was shunned and denied my birthright, I am as good as any prince.”
That explained his obsessive drive when it came to getting ahead in the business world. “Are you going to tell them you’re their half brother?”
“When I deem the time is right.”
She didn’t have the energy to ask what he meant by that, but she did see a problem with his plan. “If Rafiq, Zain and Adan knew the truth when you’d first met them, they would have probably welcomed you with open arms. But I can’t guarantee they’ll accept your subterfuge now.”
“It is immaterial what they think of me. I do not need their approval.”
Sometimes she believed she knew him better than he knew himself. Time to give him a hard lesson on self-awareness. “Their approval is exactly what you desire. You all but admitted it a minute ago. And I hope you tell them sooner than later, and that you have proof to back up your claims aside from a dying man’s declaration.”
“Not presently, yet I am sure someone in the palace is privy to my mother’s affair and her lover’s abandonment.”
She had another disturbing epiphany. “Is that why you sought me out and established a relationship? Have I been some pawn in your ploy to gain information?”
His hesitation spoke volumes. “I would be disingenuous if I said the thought did not cross my mind. Yet when you continually demonstrated your loyalty to the Mehdis, I determined you would not be forthcoming with confidential details.”
That gave her very little comfort. “I’m beginning to wonder if your relationship with me has been founded on revenge. What better way to get back at the family you believe wronged you than by seducing a woman who is like a sister to them?”