A Diamond for the Sheikh's Mistress

by Abby Green

  Anger flooded her veins...

  She looked at Zafir, handing back the tablet as if it was poison. ‘I was never ashamed—why would someone say that? I was hurt and in pain, struggling to come to terms with a new reality—’

  Kat stopped abruptly, realising how close to full-on panic she was. She’d always dreaded this scenario—the story being leaked—and she realised now that she’d always hoped—naively, obviously—that she would be able to control the story before it came out.

  The last thing she had ever wanted was for other people who were in a similar situation to feel she was ashamed to be one of them. She was one of them. They had helped her to get through it.

  Zafir looked angry. ‘Do you know who might have leaked it? Your agent?’

  Kat drew back. ‘No, Julie is my best friend—she wouldn’t do something like this.’

  Zafir made some remark under his breath about people and money, and Kat said, ‘Give me your phone and I’ll call her now.’

  He handed over his phone and she made the call. Relief flooded her when Julie sounded as upset as she was, and she hated Zafir for infecting her with his cynicism for a moment, making her doubt her friend’s loyalty.

  When she’d handed back the phone she said, ‘Julie thinks it was someone at the hospital I was taken to directly after the accident. That they saw the new pictures of me and put two and two together.’ She grimaced. ‘When you lose a leg you tend to be a memorable patient—even if I was using another name and was hardly recognisable at the time.’

  Zafir still looked livid. Immediately she thought of something, and her belly sank. ‘I’m sorry.’

  He frowned. ‘What do you have to be sorry about?’

  Kat swallowed. ‘No doubt the last thing you want is for this news to come out now—before the final event and the last showing of the diamond. It’s bound to draw negative press.’

  There was a sharp rap on Zafir’s window, but he ignored it. They’d arrived back at the palace.

  He turned to face Kat. ‘There will be no negativity. The diamond will become even more famous when your story of courage is revealed. But I won’t force you to go out there this evening if you feel it’s asking too much of you. You’re the one who will be put under more scrutiny than ever now.’

  Kat felt alternately comforted by Zafir’s words and bereft. He sounded as if he didn’t care what she did either way.

  She shrugged minutely. ‘It’s not as if I’ve got anything more to hide than this. It was going to come out sooner or later. If you’re not afraid of it impacting the campaign negatively, then of course I’ll go out there this evening.’

  Even as she said that though, she felt flutters of trepidation—but she also had to acknowledge a fledgling sense of liberation, as if a weight was being lifted off her shoulders.

  Zafir looked at her enigmatically before saying, ‘Very well—as you wish.’

  As if he’d sent a psychic message to someone, his door was opened by a waiting attendant and he got out. The driver opened her door, and when she emerged into the sunlight Rahul was walking over to her, looking pale.

  ‘Miss Winters, I am so sorry. I had no idea about... If I’d known...’

  He looked so miserable in his inarticulacy that Kat touched his arm. ‘Rahul, you don’t need to apologise. You did nothing wrong. And no one knew.’

  Rahul walked back to Zafir, who broke away from his attendants to come over to where she was standing. The expression on his face reminded her of the enigmatic way he’d looked at her in the desert before they’d left. It was profoundly irritating that she couldn’t read it.

  Zafir gestured with a hand. ‘Jasmine is waiting to go through your wardrobe and she’ll help you choose an outfit for this evening.’

  Kat looked to where he was indicating, to see Jasmine and the golf buggy nearby.

  Zafir stepped back. ‘I’ll come to your rooms for you at six.’

  Kat wanted to cling to his robes and demand of him, Where are we now? What did last night mean?

  She watched him walk away and chastised herself. Last night had just been a last slaking of lust. No doubt now that the end was in sight Zafir was already casting his mind ahead to the future and lining up suitable candidates to be his Queen.

  Kat shoved down the rise of a very uncharacteristic bitterness and forced a smile as she greeted a serious-looking Jasmine, who was unusually quiet on their way back to the suite. Kat surmised that the news had obviously spread like wildfire.

  When they got to her rooms Jasmine looked at Kat with big eyes and asked hesitantly, ‘Is it really true, Miss Winters?’

  Kat took a deep breath and nodded. Then she sat down and pulled up her kaftan, showing the young girl her leg.

  Jasmine sank down at Kat’s feet. When she looked up at Kat her eyes were brimming over with tears, and for the first time since her accident Kat felt a sense of liberation bubble up inside her as she reached out and wiped Jasmine’s tears.

  ‘It’s not that bad, really,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘Here, let me show you...’

  * * *

  That evening, Kat paced back and forth unevenly across her suite. In spite of her bravado earlier, her nerves were intensifying with every moment at the thought that when she was presented tonight everyone would know.

  Jasmine melted away discreetly when Zafir appeared at the entrance to her main reception room. Kat stopped pacing and looked at him, her nerves dissolving for a moment as she took him in, resplendent in cream and gold robes, every inch the powerful and impressive King of his country.

  His grey eyes raked her up and down. ‘You look beautiful.’

  Kat felt ridiculously shy and half shrugged. ‘Jasmine liked this dress the best.’

  It was a long traditional Jandori kaftan, with deceptively simple flowing lines and a V-neck that showed off the diamond she was already wearing. Noor had delivered it shortly before. Over the kaftan she wore a long sleeveless robe inlaid with gold embroidery.

  She noticed then that she and Zafir were almost matching, as her kaftan was a similar colour to his. For a second her rogue imagination wondered if this was close to what the bride of Zafir would wear on her wedding day.

  It took her a second to realise that Zafir had spoken and she hadn’t even heard him. Mortified, she said, ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’

  She noticed then that he appeared less than his usual composed self.

  He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. ‘There’s something I need to tell you. I was going to wait until later, but...’

  Kat went cold inside. ‘What is it?’

  He was grim. ‘It’s something I discovered this afternoon—a couple of things, actually.’

  Kat wasn’t sure why, but she felt she needed to sit down on a nearby chair. ‘What things?’

  Zafir started to pace back and forth, exactly where Kat had just been. He stopped and said abruptly, ‘My father was the one who leaked those pictures and the story of your background to the press.’

  Kat went very still. Zafir’s father’s cold features came back into her mind’s eye. She stood up again. ‘I know he didn’t approve of me... But how...? Where did he find the pictures?’

  Zafir was pacing again, energy crackling around him like a forcefield. ‘He hired investigators to look into your past. They found the photographer and paid him a lot of money to hand over some of the photos.’ He stopped again and looked stricken. ‘I’m sorry, Kat. I had no idea... If I’d known...’

  Kat walked blindly over to another chair, and clutched the back of it. Faintly, she said, ‘You couldn’t have known.’

  She looked at Zafir and tried to push down the feeling of betrayal, even though it hadn’t had anything to do with him. She’d known his parents hadn’t liked her, but to go that far was hurtful in the extreme.

  ‘It’s not relevant now, anyway. What’s done is done...your father is dead.’

  ‘There’s something else too.’

  Kat’s hand tigh
tened on the chair. She regretted standing up. ‘What?’

  ‘I tracked down the photographer—or rather my team did. That’s how I found out about my father’s involvement.’

  He paced again and then stopped. He’d never reminded Kat more of a caged animal than right now.

  His face was all stark lines and hard jaw. ‘You should have told me everything, Kat. You should have told me that the photographer was blackmailing you.’

  She blanched. ‘He told you...?’

  Zafir nodded. ‘I wanted to make sure that he had no more images of you, and I made sure that the ones that did get leaked to the press were destroyed. They’ll never surface again. He was still very bitter about having had his payday taken away from him when the pictures were leaked and published. You could have told me, Kat,’ Zafir said now, with an almost bewildered tone in his voice. ‘Was I such an ogre?’

  Her weak heart clenched. ‘No, of course not. I didn’t tell you because I was ashamed. You weren’t an ogre, but you were a Crown Prince, Zafir. You didn’t suffer fools lightly. And I felt like a fool for allowing myself to get into that situation. So many times I wanted to tell you what had happened, but at the last second I couldn’t... I never wanted you to find out. Not even now.’

  Zafir’s jaw clenched. ‘No, you would have preferred to go into marriage bringing your baggage with you—bleeding us both dry.’

  Kat’s blood drained south. This was proof, if she’d ever needed it, that nothing had changed between them. She was still in disgrace.

  Kat lifted her chin and said, as coolly as she could, belying her profound hurt, ‘That would never have been my intention, Zafir.’

  Zafir cursed and ran a hand through his hair again. ‘I’m sorry... You didn’t deserve that...’

  Kat refused to let his apology impact on her and forced herself to say, ‘Even if you’d known the truth it wouldn’t have changed anything. I still would have been deemed unsuitable. I broke your trust, Zafir. I know that.’

  His mouth tightened into a grim line. The pain cut deeper when he didn’t contradict her. As she watched she could see him retreat somewhere, become stiff, expressionless.

  ‘You don’t need to go out there this evening if you don’t want to, Kat. I know it must terrify you, in spite of what you said earlier. I hired you and put you in front of the world’s media again, and it was through your involvement with me that you had to endure your career and reputation being ruined in the first place. It’s my fault you’re under this renewed scrutiny.’

  He sounded like a stranger. A civil stranger. Not the man who had taken her into a magical pool last night and made love to her as if his life depended on it. But then she hardly needed reminding of where this had been headed all along.

  Kat stepped out from behind the chair. She said, ‘No. I committed to doing a job and I’m not going to renege on that.’

  Just then there was a knock on the door, and Rahul’s voice saying, ‘Sire, they’re ready for you and Miss Winters.’

  * * *

  Zafir looked at Kat. His insides felt as if they were being corroded by acid. He felt tainted by his father’s machinations.

  He was still reeling from the revelations of the previous few hours, but now he felt something similar to the way he’d felt much earlier that day, when he’d watched Kat with that bird of prey on her arm, clearly scared but determined not to show it. Proud. She’d looked regal, and it had impacted on him like a punch to his gut.

  She stepped forward now, and she was a vision in gold with the red diamond glowing at her throat.

  He said, ‘Are you sure, Kat? You really don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. I’ve asked enough of you.’

  An inner voice mocked him. You asked for nothing less than her unconditional surrender and you got it.

  ‘I’m sure.’

  And then she walked to the door, straight-backed and proud. Zafir battled an almost feral urge to grab her and shut the door—as if he knew that as soon as she walked through it she would be lost to him in a way he’d never really appreciated before.

  But he couldn’t stop her.

  He followed her out to the corridor, where Noor and Rahul were waiting. Kat was staring straight ahead and he took her arm, leading her towards the ceremonial room. She didn’t resist his touch but he could feel her tension.

  Just before the doors to the ceremonial room opened Zafir gripped her arm hard and willed her to look at him. After a few seconds she did—with clear reluctance. He couldn’t read anything in those golden eyes. Could see nothing but a distance he’d never seen before.

  His bleakness intensified. For the first time in his life he was floundering. The big doors were slowly opening, and with a heavy weight in his chest he said, ‘I’m sorry, Kat.’

  * * *

  ‘I’m sorry, Kat.’

  Zafir’s words reverberated in Kat’s head as she wound her way through the crowd, with Noor hovering protectively at her side. She’d smiled so much she thought she’d never be able to crack a smile again, even while her heart was shattering.

  When Zafir had looked at her outside the door and said those words Kat had known then that it was over. It couldn’t have been clearer.

  Their past had been resurrected in spectacular fashion and now Zafir knew Kat’s story—warts and all. Clearly he was taking responsibility for his father’s actions and felt guilty, but Kat couldn’t let him own all that guilt.

  She should have told him everything. She should’ve have trusted that he wouldn’t reject her... And even if he had—well, then she might possibly have saved herself the negative press fallout because he might have pursued the photographer earlier to protect his reputation as much as hers.

  But she’d been living in a dream...fantasising that Zafir loved her and that she would make a great Queen...until it had all shattered. The truth was that their bond hadn’t been strong enough to hold them together.

  Then...or now.

  For a moment the crowd seemed to thin around her and she sucked in a breath, relaxing her facial muscles for the first time in hours. Zafir was on the opposite side of the room, and Kat saw that for once there were no bodyguards close by. She had the crazy sensation that she wanted to run from the room, taking the diamond with her—as if it was all she had left to bind her to Zafir, and once it was taken off at the end of the evening she’d disappear completely and he wouldn’t even notice she’d gone.

  Kat looked over to where Zafir was and at that moment, as if feeling the weight of her gaze on him, he turned his head and his gaze zeroed in on her immediately. Not wanting him to read her far too expressive face, Kat turned and took advantage of the lull to escape to a quieter part of the room.

  She saw open French doors nearby, and was almost there when she bumped into someone. She started to apologise, but the words died on her tongue as she recognised who it was. Zafir’s mother. And suddenly everything she was feeling coalesced into a very familiar sense of inadequacy. The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming.

  Zafir’s mother was a tall and regal woman, with cold dark eyes and a strong-boned handsome face. Her head was veiled and she wore an elaborate royal blue kaftan. Kat felt ridiculously ill-prepared, and found herself doing what she’d done the first time—bending in an awkward curtsey, with the vague idea that all royalty had to be curtsied to. Not that she’d ever done that to Zafir, of course.

  When she stood again the older woman was managing to look down her nose at Kat, even though she was about the same height.

  In perfect English she said, ‘I hadn’t expected to see you here again.’

  Kat tried to ignore the dart of hurt at the thought of what this woman’s husband, and possibly she too, had done. Kat didn’t need to be reminded that she was not of this world and never would be. ‘Your son was kind enough to offer me a job opportunity...’

  To be in his bed.

  Kat didn’t say it.

  But as if reading her mind, the older woman made a rude sound. ‘
If you want to call it that.’ And then she said, ‘Is it true what they’re saying? You lost your leg?’

  ‘Yes.’ Kat stood tall. ‘My left leg—below the knee.’

  Someone who looked like a personal maid came forward then, and whispered something in Zafir’s mother’s ear.

  When the maid melted away again she gave Kat a glacial once over and said, ‘If you’ll excuse me, please?’ And then she swept off with a veritable retinue of people in her wake.

  Kat was left reeling a little at the woman’s ill manners. And then, remembering that she’d wanted to escape Zafir, she quickly walked outside to a blissfully deserted terrace. She went over to the wall overlooking Jahor and sucked in some air. Thousands of lights lit up the city, making it look even more exotic than usual.

  For a moment she stood tthere, soaking in the view, because as of tomorrow morning when her flight took off she wouldn’t ever see it again.

  Her peace was shattered, though, when a group of laughing, chattering people came out to the terrace. Kat tensed and turned around warily, ready to project her model persona again.

  When the group of about five men and six women saw who it was they stopped, before smiling and moving forward towards Kat, evidently excited that they had a private audience with her.

  Kat smiled, but the wall was at her back and the people were pressing closer. They weren’t speaking English and they were all talking at once, crowding around her to see the diamond.

  Kat tried to look around them, to see if she could see Noor or another bodyguard, but there was no sign of anyone from the security team and she cursed herself for fleeing.

  Someone reached out to touch the diamond and Kat started to panic, her breath growing choppy. They were closing in on her and she had nowhere to go. She couldn’t see past them, and one of the women had very strong perfume, which made it even harder to breathe.