by Mary Lyons
‘I was brought down here under heavy guard, right in the middle of a torrential downpour that seemed to last for months!’ he said wryly. ‘The place was devoid of any human inhabitants--other than myself and my guards, of course. The only benefit of such solitary confinement was that I had a great deal of time in which to think about what I wanted to do for my country, and how to implement the plans I had made. I must confess that it would not have been too difficult to escape. However,’ he shrugged his shoulders, ‘my father put paid to that notion--rather cleverly, I thought.’
‘He . . . he told me,’ Leonie murmured. ‘He said he would put me in a dungeon if you even so much as talked to anyone, let alone tried to escape. I I’m sorry, Badyr, there wasn’t anything I could do to help you.’
‘My dear girl!’ he smiled. ‘My father was so firmly in the grip of senile dementia by that time, that not even all the luscious, shapely houris in paradise could have prevailed upon his crazed senses! Nevertheless, it became increasingly obvious I must escape before the country became engulfed in a civil war--my father versus the entire population!--but I had to see to your safety before I made the attempt.’
‘You said, in London, that you had arranged for me to leave the country. But, I thought your mother . . .?’
‘Let us just say that she and I came to an arrangement,' he remarked flatly, a muscle tightening along his jaw. ‘Not one that I would ever normally have agreed to--but I was not in a position that allowed me any choice in the matter.’ With a heavy sigh, Badyr rose from his chair to pace silently up and down the dark terrace.
'How I wish . . .’ he muttered under his breath, and then gave a harsh laugh. ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would ride! There is nothing to be gained by bitterly regretting what is already history in the sands of time What is done is done, hmm?’
‘Yes, yes, I suppose so,’ Leonie murmured, totally confused by the underlying savage tone in his voice, and not having the least idea of what he was talking about. ‘But you haven’t told me how you escaped, or . . .’
‘We will leave that for another time. It is growing late and I’m sure you will agree that there are far more important things we have to talk about.'
Leonie peered up at his tall figure, silhouetted against the light of the rising moon. Badyr seemed in such a strange mood tonight, and she couldn’t for the life of her think what . . .
His low voice interrupted her confused thoughts. ‘Just why do you think that I wanted us to be alone together? You have been in Dhoman for over a month now, and it is surely time that we discussed our relationship.' He came over to stand before her looking down at her pale face lit by the moonlight. ‘Can you tell me that it is not passionate desire that you feel in my arms each night?’ he said softly. ‘Can you deny the soft, tremulous cries of pleasure that haunt my days like a siren’s song, calling me back to your sweet body night after night?’
Leonie shook her head, shivering in the cool night air. She couldn’t seem to find her voice, but neither could she deny or repudiate any of the things he said.
‘Has it occurred to you that, in time, such feelings might become more than a purely physical response?’ he asked gently. ‘That you might possibly be able to forget the past, and learn to love me again--as I love and have always loved you? Or have my actions in the past destroyed all chance of that happening?'
Leonie gazed up at him, her mind and senses whirling in chaotic disbelief at what she was hearing. Was Badyr really saying ...? It didn’t seem possible, and yet . . . Her heart began a wild pounding, the blood surging and racing through her veins as her mouth suddenly became dry and she swallowed nervously, almost feeling sick with rising excitement.
‘I . . . er . . . could you p-possibly repeat w-what you’ve just s-said,’ she stammered helplessly.
‘Ah, my darling,’ he murmured, drawing her up into his arms and burying his face in the fragrant cloud of her hair. ‘I never stopped loving you, never for one minute of my life. I know . . .’ he added as she stirred restlessly in his embrace, ‘I have treated you abominably. First in not telling you the entire truth about what you would find when you first came to Dhoman, and then, when you had escaped from the Harem, in not contacting you for so long.’
He put his hands on her arms, holding her away from him and staring intently down at her bemused expression. ‘Love is very much a matter of trust, hmm? So, I am asking you to trust me, my dearest one. I would not have deserted you, other than for your own sweet sake. Please believe me when I say that I could not leave Dhoman, and it was only because I wished everything to be absolutely right for you, that I did not bring you back here any sooner. I loved you too much to do that. Can you understand that I made what I felt to be the best decision--in your own interests?’
‘I don’t really understand anything you’ve been saying, except . . .’ She paused. ‘You do really love me?’
‘Oh, my darling, how can you doubt it!’ he whispered thickly, cupping her lovely face in his hands. ‘I would never have stolen Jade from you. But when I realised that you had been so hurt, so disillusioned by my desertion that you would not retum to Dhoman, I had no alternative but to blackmail you into retuming to this country. I have lived in desperate hope that your love for me was not dead, that given time it would come back to life and flower once again.’
‘Oh, Badyr,’ she breathed huskily.
The next instant she was locked tightly in his arms as he rained fervent kisses on her upturned face. Her heart leapt for joy as all her doubts and uncertainties
dissolved and vanished away. Dizzy with the almost unbelievably wonderful fact that Badyr loved her, she wound her arms about his neck, drawing him closer to her trembling body as his hands slid sensuously over her warm curves; aware of his quickening desire and that his heartbeat was as rapid as her own.
‘My darling Badyr. I never stopped loving you!’ she whispered softly.
With a strangled cry of triumph, he swept her up in his arms. Carrying her as if she weighed no more than thistledown, he strode across the terrace and into the palace, swiftly mounting the stairs two at a time until he reached their bedroom where he laid her on the downy softness of the large bed.
‘My beloved Leonie, I have such a great, over-powering love for you,’ he murmured, quickly stripping off his clothes before slowly removing the light caftan she was wearing. His long, tanned fingers moved caressingly over her pale skin, casting aside the thin scraps of silk and lace as he exposed her full naked beauty.
‘Exquisite!’ he breathed thickly, his hands erotically stroking the full ripe curves and thrusting peaks of her breasts and the tender softness of her stomach. Leonie’s flesh trembled beneath his touch, a sense of wild exultation at the intensity of his desire flowing through her veins like quicksilver. As if under a magic spell, she floated in a dreamlike trance as Badyr’s lovemaking raised her to peaks of ecstasy she had never attained before, sweeping her up in a wild spiral of ever-escalating rapture until, when she was certain she could not bear the deliriously exciting agony a moment longer, his body merged with hers in a heavenly explosion of joyous, rapturous delight.
The long hot days and nights merged together into a shining stream of delight and happiness. It was as if Leonie and Badyr were discovering a completely new world together, one that was encompassed by the high walls surrounding the Summer Palace. Wandering hand in hand through the many rooms, or lying out under the shady trees in a garden full of the scent of exotic flowers, Leonie revelled in the beauty that surrounded her on every side.
‘They are nothing to your ravishing beauty, my dearest,’ Badyr murmured drowsily one hot afternoon as Leonie called his attention to the brilliant, shimmering colours of a pair of humming-birds hovering over a small pool of crystal clear water, near where they were lying on the grass.
‘Oh Badyr--do look! Aren’t they lovely?’
‘I am looking.’ He raised himself up on one elbow, leaning over her prone figure as his fingers moved to slowl
y untie her long, filmy gown, sliding it off her shoulders and exposing the unconfined, sweet curves of her breasts. ‘And they are indeed lovely!’ he breathed, his eyes savouring her beauty before he bent to touch his lips first to one rosy peak and then the other.
An echo of the previous night’s lovemaking rippled through her body and she uttered a shivering sigh of deep pleasure. ‘I can’t believe that I can be so happy!’
‘Umm,’ he murmured, his erotic kiss deepening as his mouth teased her nipples until she gave a small cry of pain. ‘Darling?’ he looked at her with concern. ‘I did not mean to hurt you.’
‘No, you didn’t, not really. It’s just--well, I’m a bit sensitive at the moment. I wasn’t sure until a few days ago, but. . .’ She paused, suddenly feeling oddly nervous. ‘I think . . . in fact, I’m quite sure--that I’m going to have a baby.'
If she had been worded about his reaction to the news, her fears were instantly put at rest by his overwhelming joy and pleasure at the news. ‘You wonderful, wonderful woman!’ he exclaimed, clasping her rapturously in his arms. 'And I promise you, my darling,’ he murmured later as he tenderly stroked her warm flesh, ‘that I will be close beside you at all times during your pregnancy. I cannot ever forgive myself for not being by your side when you were expecting Jade.'
He smiled tenderly down at the girl in his arms. ‘We shall call him Karim, after my great-grandfather.’
Leonie laughed. ‘"Him" . . .? Well, I don’t recommend buying the baby a train-set just yet—she might prefer to play with a doll!’
‘Oh no,’ he said, his hands moving possessively over her stomach. ‘You are going to give me a son to rule this land after me. Of that I am quite certain!’
‘And . . . and if l don’t’? lf it should happen to be a little girl?’ she asked, her blue eyes suddenly shadowed by uncertainty.
‘Ah, my dearest, I will then have the perfect excuse--if I am ever likely to need one!--to keep on making love to you until we have a great tribe of children.’ He lowered his head to passionately kiss her lips. ‘Yes, of course I want a son, but if Allah should bless us with another daughter--like my little Jade--then I will be more than happy and content.’
Reassured by his words, Leonie surrendered to the tide of desire engendered by his lips and hands, the long lean length of his hard body as he swiftly removed their clothes. She gloried in the intimate contact of his warm flesh against her yielding softness, the throbbing urgency of his arousal as unable to contain himself, he possessed her there and then on the soft green grass. Only her small moans of excitement disturbed the peaceful setting, the high afternoon sun slanting down through the tall trees to cast long, golden shadows on the figures which lay so closely and intimately entwined together on the green lawn far below.
CHAPTER SEVEN
'ALAS, all good things must come to an end--if only temporarily,' Badyr said with a wry smile as they sat together at breakfast one morning. ‘I’m afraid that I have no choice, my darling, but to begin a round of official duties, which means that my uncle Hassan will be joining us tomorrow.’
Leonie sighed. She was still so emotionally caught up in the wonder and delight of Badyr’s love, that she resented anyone or anything that interrupted their blissful reunion.
‘Besides, you will want to see Jade again. You said last night that talking to her on the radio-telephone was not very satisfactory.'
‘No, it wasn’t, but at least I needn’t worry about her having missed us too much. It sounds as if your uncle Feisal is absolutely her favourite man of the moment. If you don’t watch out, you won’t be "stu-pen-dous" any more!’
‘Where on earth does she pick up these words?' he asked, his mouth twitching with amusement.
‘Think yourself lucky! Three months ago, she heard something on the television and it was weeks before my mother and I could stop her shouting "for-nic-ation", at the top of her voice!’ Leonie giggled.
Badyr threw back his head and roared with laughter. ‘I am sorry, my darling, but I think I really must pray very hard to ensure that our coming child is indeed a boy. Can you imagine what it would be like to have two little daughters like Jade? Wallahi! do not think I could stand the . . . er . . . strain!’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Leonie agreed with a smile.
‘Oh, by the way,’ he added as he rose from the table. ‘It occurred to me that it might be nice for Jade to get to know her little cousin, Ali. So I have invited not only my uncle Hassan, but his wife and son also. You will be pleased to see Sara again, yes?’
‘Yes, of course. Although Ali’s only two, and just a little young for Jade, who will probably order him around unmercifully,’ she smiled. ‘I’m very fond of your half-sister, who’s every bit as sweet and placid as her mother.’
‘We must hope that Sara does not become quite as fat as Fatima--my stepmother seems to grow more enormous with every passing day!’
But there seemed no likelihood of that, Leonie thought, as she sat out on the terrace one afternoon a few days later. Sara was still slim and petite, although she had confessed with a shy smile that she was expecting another baby in seven months’ time.
‘And, maybe you, too?' Sara had murmured that morning, casting a knowing eye over Leonie’s glowing skin and the burgeoning swell of her breasts beneath the long filmy gown.
Leonie had wanted to keep her pregnancy a precious secret between Badyr and herself, until such time as it became too obvious to hide. But Sara’s unexpectedly shrewd question had caught her on the hop, and she had not been able to hide her blushing, tell-tale confusion. I
Now, as Sara’s little boy, Ali, played quietly in the sand by the edge of the terrace, she asked Sara not to tell anyone else about the coming baby.
‘I feel it’s terribly important that Jade hears about the new baby from Badyr and myself, and doesn’t pick it up from a servant’s careless remark. Although, you know what the gossip in these palaces is like,’ she added drily. ‘Everyone knows exactly what is going on, weeks before one knows it oneself!'
‘Very true!’ Sara agreed ruefully. ‘But where is little Jade? I have not seen her all afternoon.’
‘When Badyr’s uncle Feisal invited your husband and mine to go fishing on his yacht, Jade gave him no peace until she was allowed to go too!’ Leonie laughed. ‘I think Feisal invited Elizabeth Jackson along simply to make sure he retained his sanity!’
‘Well,’ Sara mused. ‘That may be so, but I think Feisal likes Miss Jackson very much. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised . . .’ She hesitated.
‘Oh, no--surely not’?’ Leonie looked at her with startled eyes. ‘He’s far too old for Elizabeth! I mean . . .’ she paused, horrified by what she had said as she realised that Sara’s husband, Hassan, was considerably older than his brother, Feisal.
‘Relax, Leonie!’ Sara smiled. ‘You have an expression in England, do you not? "There is many a good tune played on an old fiddle"! Hassan may have grey hair, but I can assure you that my dear husband is very . . . er . . . very vigorous in every other respect!’ she giggled.
‘For the love of Allah--can’t you two talk about anything else but marriage and babies?'
Leonie bit back a sharp retort as she looked over at the girl lounging on one of the comfortable chairs spread along the terrace. She hadn’t been pleased to find that Nadia had invited herself’ along to the Summer Palace with Sara and her husband, and the girl’s malicious, bitter comments were beginning to get under her skin.
‘Marriage and babies are a fact of life--literally!’ she murmured with a smiling shrug of her shoulders.
‘Babies! We poor women find ourselves trapped as soon as we marry!’
Leonie gave a light laugh, attempting to defuse the situation as Sara’s small figure bristled in the chair beside her. ‘That may possibly be true, Nadia. But when you fall in love, you will undoubtedly find that you are happy to be caught in such a warm, tender trap!’
'Never!’ Nadia cast a spiteful glance
at the English girl’s fair, glowing beauty. ‘You may be fool enough to welcome your husband straight from his other wife’s bed, but I would never submit to such an indignity!’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake! What on earth are you talking about?’ Leonie looked at her in puzzlement, only half aware of Sara’s hands fluttering in the air as she tried to prevent her sister from saying any more.
‘Oh, it’s all so stupid!' Nadia snapped at Sara. ‘I ask you--how does Badyr think he can possibly keep Leonie from hearing about Aisha? She’s bound to find out sooner or later. Surely it’s better that she knows the truth?'
‘Nadia! How can you do this?’ Sara cried, jumping to her feet in consternation. ‘Badyr will kill you! Why must you take such delight in being malicious and cruel?’
‘I don’t understand.’ Leonie looked on in confusion as the two sisters began screaming at each other in Arabic. ‘W-what "other wife"? And who is Aisha? I’ve never heard of her, I . . .’