by Holly Rayner
Guards stood at the front doors to the main building, from which a gray-haired man in a suit came through.
“Mr. Clay.” The man bowed. “I am Gilani, the head of the palace house staff. Welcome.”
Kane bowed back, and Leyla did the curtsy she’d been practicing.
“It’s wonderful to meet you,” Kane said. “This is my fiancée, Leyla Al-Adain.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Leyla said.
Either Gilani had been prepped ahead of time, or he wasn’t easily fazed, because he didn’t so much as blink over being introduced to Kane’s American bride who was clearly of Middle Eastern descent.
“This way, please.” Gilani held one of the double doors for them. “The king has requested a meeting in his afternoon tea room.”
Leyla bit into her cheek to stop herself from laughing. Afternoon tea room? Were there morning and evening tea rooms as well?
Everything in the palace seemed larger than life, the walls reaching halfway to the sky and the portraits in the hall bordering on giant. The soft rugs in the halls muffled their footsteps as Gilani led them past at least a dozen closed doors and two separate staircases.
They eventually arrived at a room in the back of the palace that had a wall full of windows facing a sunny garden and loveseats and armchairs arranged in a way that looked random, but that had properly been placed by an expert interior designer.
A servant was already setting down a tray of tea, complete with delicate china and sugar cubes. It was a world away from the grocery store tea bags Leyla steeped in her chipped “I Heart Austin” mug at home.
“His Majesty will arrive soon,” Gilani said. “Can I get you anything while you wait?”
Kane looked to Leyla. Since she didn’t trust her tongue to work right, she shook her head.
“No, thank you,” Kane said.
With a bow, Gilani left on the heels of the servant who’d brought the tea. The room rang with silence.
Kane took a seat in an armchair facing the door, but it felt like there was a fire running through Leyla’s veins. She paced the length of the room, stopping at every little creak the building made and looking to the door in anticipation.
“What’s your plan?” She wrung her hands. “How are we gonna tell them about us?”
“I thought we would go with the flow. See when it’s the right time.”
She nearly tripped over her dress and stopped pacing. “That’s your master plan?”
He frowned at her, but the expression had more concern than it did pity. “We don’t have to bring it up today. Whatever you want.”
“No.” She ran her palms along her thighs. “We should tell them. It’ll be weird if we wait.”
“Whatever you like.”
Then, surprising her, he crossed the room and took her hands in his. An electric jolt went up her arms and heated her chest. His musky, woodsy scent wrapped around her, and his eyes softened.
“I’m here,” he whispered.
A deep gratitude swept over Leyla. But along with it came a twinge of sadness.
Yes, he was there, but not in every way she wanted him to be.
A knock on the door made them step apart. A moment later, and the door opened.
“His Majesty, King Mabrouk,” Gilani announced. “And his sister, Maryum.”
It seemed Leyla had forgotten how to breathe. A tall man with a generous beard entered the tea room, a woman with long, silky hair and strong eyebrows following close behind.
Even if she hadn’t seen pictures of them, Leyla would have known who they were right away. Not only did Mabrouk and Maryum both carry themselves with the confident air of royalty, but Maryum looked so much like Leyla’s mom that it made her weak in the knees.
There was a very good chance she wouldn’t make it through the next few minutes without fainting from the intensity of it all.
“Your Majesty.” Kane bowed low, and Leyla accompanied him with a curtsy.
Maryum’s eyes flicked over to Leyla, narrowing the slightest bit, like she recognized her from someplace but couldn’t say where.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Kane said. “May I introduce my fiancée, Leyla.”
“A…” Leyla struggled with words. “A pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.”
“Leyla?” Maryum asked before the king could respond.
“I did not know you would bring your fiancée,” King Mabrouk said. “It is good to have her here, though.” He looked Leyla up and down and smiled slightly with what seemed to be approval.
“You are Sharraini,” the king said.
Leyla swallowed against a lump in her throat. “Sharraini born, Your Majesty, but raised in Texas.”
“Please, sit.” He gestured at the couches surrounding the coffee table. “Have tea.”
They took their seats, Kane and Leyla sitting across from their hosts. Maryum hadn’t looked away from Leyla for even a second, and a line was deepening between her eyebrows.
“How have you enjoyed Sharrain so far?” King Mabrouk asked.
“We only just arrived.” Kane smiled broadly, showing off all his perfect teeth. “So far, I have to say, it’s mighty beautiful.”
Maryum cut in. “You look so familiar.”
Thanks to her hawk-like attention, there was no doubt who she spoke to.
“As do you,” Leyla said. An energetic buzz filled her.
Kane had said they could wait for the right time to tell her cousins the truth. Well, this seemed better than any. Maryum already suspected something was up.
With a touch on his shoulder and an eyebrow raise, Leyla connected eyes with Kane. He nodded once, understanding.
“It’s time we came clean.” Kane cleared his throat. “There is a second reason for our visit. It’s not all about the oil deal.”
Maryum’s eyelashes fluttered. “That necklace.”
Leyla touched the spot right above her dress’s neckline. She’d put her mother’s heart necklace on every morning, just like her mother had every day. It had been tucked under the dress, but must have come out at some point.
“I know that necklace,” Maryum said.
Mabrouk frowned. “It’s a simple heart necklace.”
“No,” his sister said with a slow shake of her head. “It has initials on the back.”
Tears welled in Leyla’s eyes. “It does. My mother’s initials. M. A.”
Maryum gasped and covered her mouth with a hand. “I knew it. You look so much like her.”
Leyla’s laugh was shaky. Maryum was the one who looked so much like Leyla’s mom!
“No…” Mabrouk’s eyes widened. “You are not saying…”
Kane put his hand on Leyla’s. “Leyla’s mother was Maira Al-Adain.”
Tears filled Maryum’s eyes. “I gave her that necklace when we were young. You… goodness…”
“You think this is Maira’s child?” Mabrouk asked. His eyes somehow went wider.
“I’m exactly that.” Leyla sat straighter.
Maryum’s hand moved to her throat. “Where is she? Did Maira come?”
Her head turned to the door, like Leyla’s mom might burst into the room at any second.
“No.” Leyla’s voice cracked. “She passed away a few months ago. Cancer.”
The silence was oppressive. For a long minute, everyone sat absolutely still.
“Oh,” Maryum said as her shoulders lowered.
Mabrouk sighed long and loud. “We always hoped that she would come back to us one day. We hated the way we parted.”
“That chance is gone,” Maryum whispered. “But a gift equally wonderful has come our way.”
Scooting to the edge of the couch, she reached across the coffee table and clasped Leyla’s hand.
“Leyla,” Mabrouk murmured. “It is an honor to have you here.” He brushed a tear from the corner of his eye.
The next thing Leyla knew, Maryum had pulled her from the couch and was enveloping her in a firm hug. Wrapping her arms aroun
d the other woman, Leyla hugged her back.
“Thank you,” Mabrouk told Kane. “How did you know?”
“The puzzle pieces fell into place on their own pretty quickly,” he answered.
Maryum squeezed Leyla tighter, and all worries and fears fell away. When her mother had died, Leyla had lost her family. Today, she’d found it again.
Chapter 14
Kane
“You’ll stay for dinner?” Maryum loosened her hold on Leyla for just long enough to ask the question.
“We would love to,” Kane answered right away.
His eyes burned, and it was only then that he realized he fought back tears. Seeing Leyla with her lost family had an effect on him that he hadn’t expected.
Though they’d both lost a parent in the last year, it was different for him. He still had his mom, as well as a horde of cousins, aunts, and uncles, even if he wasn’t particularly close with most of them. Leyla didn’t have any family.
Until now.
“Yes,” Leyla said. “Thank you. I have no other plans, and nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Her eyes shone with tears. Instead of wiping them away, she let them fall. Kane’s heart warmed. He liked seeing she wasn’t afraid to show her feelings.
Maryum drew Leyla over to the other couch, to sit between her and Mabrouk. With her cousins on either side of her, the resemblance really was striking. Leyla looked like she could be Maryum’s daughter, and Mabrouk shared their nose and expressive eyes.
“Now, about that oil deal.” Mabrouk poured himself some tea.
Maryum reached around Leyla to slap his shoulder. “Mabrouk. Leyla has just returned to us after nearly thirty years, and you are talking business!”
“What I was going to say, was that we will get to it some other time.” He dropped a cube of sugar into his tea. “Right now, we have too much catching up to do with Leyla and her soon-to-be husband.”
Husband. That’s right.
In the joy of seeing a family reunited, Kane had momentarily forgotten about the lie that had gotten him and Leyla through the palace doors in the first place. It seemed almost intrusive to be sharing a private moment with the people he was deceiving.
With a stare at the polished wood floor, he pushed down the bubbling guilt. This was all for a good reason. One that Leyla had agreed to.
“Tell us everything.” Mabrouk pierced Kane with a firm look. “Where did you meet?”
They launched into their “story,” though Kane noticed Leyla dragging and dropping words here and there. There was a lot going on for her, so he didn’t mind picking up the slack and sharing the details of their coffee shop run-in that had never really happened.
“Dinner is in an hour,” Maryum said, once the story had finished. “If you can’t wait until then, we can have the kitchen prepare something early.”
“Oh, no,” Leyla answered. “We can wait.”
“How about a rest? Do you need to lay down? Shower? I know that you came on the plane today, yes? We have everything you need here. Where are your bags?”
“At the hotel,” Kane said.
Maryum nodded firmly. “We will send for them. You must stay here, in the palace.”
Leyla’s lips parted. She looked at Kane, waiting for his answer. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she really wanted to take Maryum up on the offer. The older woman clung to Leyla like the slightest breeze would carry her away, and Leyla didn’t seem to mind at all.
“We don’t want to impose,” Kane said.
“You would not.” Mabrouk’s booming voice echoed off the walls. “We want you here. Stay. Please.”
He nodded. “Then we will. Thank you very much.”
Staying at the palace meant more opportunities to butter up Mabrouk. It would also give Leyla the time she craved with her family. Talk about a win-win situation.
From the tea room, they moved to the gardens, where the women walked ahead arm-in-arm. At Maryum’s urging, Leyla shared detail after detail about her life in Austin, from her school years to the odd jobs she’d worked while building her acting resume. Kane found it hard to pay attention while Mabrouk went on about Sharrain’s textile industry. Info about Leyla’s life felt way more important.
Maryum was true to her word and sent someone to fetch their suitcases from the hotel. Walking up the main staircase, Kane worried briefly about the sleeping situation. He’d booked that big suite at the hotel in order to make Leyla feel more comfortable.
Did Maryum think that the two of them, as an engaged couple, would be sharing a room?
The thought made his pulse pick up. It felt so wrong that he wouldn’t mind sharing a bed with Leyla at all.
But they couldn’t.
She didn’t want that, and it would be inappropriate.
Still… when they were shown to separate bedrooms down the hall from each other, his feelings were mixed. He couldn’t help it.
“It’s lovely,” Leyla said, opening a window in her room that looked out onto the flower garden.
Kane and Mabrouk stood in the hall just outside the doorway while in the room, Maryum and a maid fluttered around, fluffing pillows and laying out towels, making sure everything was perfect.
Turning from the window, Leyla pursed her lips at Maryum arranging a vase of roses. “You don’t have to make everything perfect on my account.”
“No, no. I only want it to be nice.” She continued to fuss with the flowers.
“But—” Leyla started.
“Let her,” Kane interjected. “She sees how special you are, and only wants the best for you.”
Leyla pressed her lips together. Even though her cheeks were colored, the pleasure was evident in her eyes.
Feeling someone’s gaze on him, Kane turned to find Mabrouk watching him. A slow smile tugged at the corner of the king’s mouth.
Kane wanted to ask what that was about, but the fact that he was, well, talking to a king, stopped him. He couldn’t really josh around with Mabrouk like he would any other man. Or even approach their relationship like any other business one.
Even if they were about to become family by marriage.
Mabrouk inclined his head. “Do you appreciate art?”
“Yes, sir.” Correcting himself, he added, “Your Majesty.”
The king didn’t seem to care about the mistake. He gestured for Kane to follow.
The two of them went down one long hallway and then another, then up a short staircase and through a few connected rooms. Right when Kane was suspecting that he wouldn’t be able to find his way out of the palace if he tried, Mabrouk stopped in front of a door between two bookshelves and took a key from his pocket.
It was one of those jaw-dropping private collections that Kane had heard about but never seen in person. He knew a few people that had a couple Monets or Van Goghs, but King Mabrouk had it all. Impressionist paintings. Sculptures that were surely from civilizations long dead. A medieval tapestry that covered a whole wall.
Kane froze in the doorway, at a loss for words.
“I like art,” Mabrouk said.
Talk about an understatement.
“This is my best.” Mabrouk gestured at the tapestry, which had a fruit tree and a unicorn on it.
“It’s beautiful.”
The king smiled up at it. “I never found a woman I loved as much as I love my hobbies. My art. But you…”
He let the unfinished sentence linger.
“I can appreciate art,” Kane said. “But I’m more of an outdoors guy. Riding.”
“Hm.” Mabrouk paused. “You love more than that, though. You love Leyla the most.”
“Of course.” Kane said it without any hesitation whatsoever. What kind of man would he be if he didn’t put his fiancée first?
“The way you look at her,” Mabrouk said. “Tells all. She is the love of your life.”
Kane’s mouth went dry.
He’d never been in love before. Since his first crush in middle school, girls had
been fun and not much else. The ones that had shown interest in getting serious, he’d dropped like hot coals.
Getting tied down wasn’t something he was ever interested in. At least… the old Kane wasn’t.
He’d changed a lot in the last year. Truth was, he wasn’t entirely sure what the new Kane wanted. For a while, all it had been was ClayFuel’s success, keeping his father’s legacy going. Reaching that pinnacle had been worth putting fun, girls, and the rodeo circuit on hold.
Or so he’d thought.
Because how much fun could it really be at the top if you were alone?
Clearing his throat, Kane nodded. “Yes. I love Leyla very much.”
The words stung. Not because they were false. Because they were true.
And it didn’t matter one bit. Leyla would never be his in the way he really wanted.
Chapter 15
Leyla
Closing her eyes, Leyla sank deeper into the frothy bubbles. The warm water relaxed her sore muscles, and the steam caressed her face.
It had been what felt like one of ethe longest days of her life.
Thanks to the time change, she couldn’t even count how many hours she’d been awake. All she knew was that she was not only exhausted, but very, very happy.
All the worry she’d been holding onto had dissipated. Her cousins had been thrilled to meet her. After a long dinner, Maryum had brought out photo albums and shown Leyla dozens upon dozens of pictures of her mom.
Each photo had come with a story, but there’d been one big tale missing. Maryum never mentioned why Maira had left Sharrain.
The question had been on the tip of Leyla’s tongue, but it never felt like the right time to ask it. Additionally, Maryum and Mabrouk never once mentioned Leyla’s father.
Not that she wasn’t used to that. Leyla knew absolutely nothing about him.
Sighing, she picked up a bar of soap and lathered her hands. The time for explanations would arrive. No point in getting too heavy her first night in the palace. She was grateful to be there at all.
When the bath got too hot to stand, she toweled off and padded into the adjoining bedroom. The room she’d been assigned at the palace was just as nice as the hotel suite they’d left behind, but it had the bonus of being larger.