by Abby Green
Kaden lifted a hand. He’d gone very still and pale beneath his tan. “Pregnant? Twins?”
Julia nodded, hating herself for babbling like that. She’d wanted to be ultra-calm and collected, but now she was in front of Kaden she felt as if she was nineteen again. She wanted to run into his chest and have him hold her—but that scenario was about as likely as a sudden snow shower inside the palace.
“You look like you’ve lost weight—not as if you’re pregnant.” He sounded almost accusing.
Julia stifled a slightly hysterical laugh when she thought of the sizeable bump under her loose top. She was already wearing stretch-waisted jeans.
His hand dropped. His eyes narrowed. He looked even wilder now. “And you say these babies are mine?”
At that insulting insinuation Julia actually swayed on her feet. Kaden came around his desk so fast it made her feel even dizzier. She put out a hand, as if that could stop him.
“Do you really think I came all this way for the good of my health? Just to pass off some other man’s babies as yours?” Her voice rang with bitterness. “Believe me, I’ve been actuely aware of the awful irony of this situation for months of sleepless nights now. One baby I could have coped with. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to tell you. But two babies …”
Kaden’s eyes raked her from head to toe. His lip practically curled. “I used protection.”
Julia’s chin went up. “There is a failure rate, and clearly it failed.”
The enormity of what Julia was saying, and to whom hit her then like a ton weight. Two babies. Who would be unwanted and unloved by their father. It was so much the opposite of what she’d once dreamt of with this man that the pain lanced her like a sharp knife right through the heart.
Everything was becoming indistinct and awfully blurry. That numbness was spreading. But in the face of his overwhelmingly hostile response Julia had to assert her independence. She had a horror of him assuming she’d come for a hand-out.
Faintly, Julia tried to force oxygen to her brain and to be articulate. “These are your babies, Kaden, whether you like it or not. And now that I’ve told you I’ll leave.
I don’t expect anything from you. I just wanted you to know that they exist … or will exist in about five months, all being well.”
She turned on her heel, but it seemed to take an awful long time—as if everything had gone into slow motion. And then, instead of getting closer to the door, she seemed to be moving further and further away. With a cry of dismay as black edges appeared on her peripheral vision, Julia felt herself falling down and down. Only faintly did she hear a stricken “Julia!” and feel something warm and strong cushion her back before the blackness sucked her down completely.
“Why is she taking so long to come round?” Kaden asked the wizened palace doctor impatiently. He didn’t like the metallic taste of fear in his mouth. “Shouldn’t we go straight to the hospital? I told you she’s pregnant.”
The doctor was unflappable and kept his fingers on Julia’s wrist, checking her pulse. Kaden had laid her down on the couch in his office before bellowing for his secretary to call Dr Assan. She’d been so limp and lifeless, her cheeks paler than he’d ever seen, dark bruises under her eyes.
And he’d kept her waiting all that time—after a long journey. She was pregnant. His conscience stung him hard.
Dr Assan looked at Kaden pacing near to him. “We’re just waiting for the paramedics to come and then she will be taken to the hospital for a full examination. But as far as I can tell she is fine—probably just tired and dehydrated. You said she flew from England today?”
“Yes—yes, I did,” Kaden agreed irritably. He was used to things happening quickly, and even though it was only a couple of minutes since she’d collapsed time seemed to have slowed down to the pace of a snail.
With a granite-like weight in his chest, he cursed himself for lashing out just now and insinuating that he might not be the father. Of course he believed her when she said the babies were his. She’d looked shell-shocked, not avaricious. He knew with a bone-deep certainty that she wasn’t mercenary enough to make a false claim of paternity.
In five months’ time he would have a ready-made family.
The thought was overwhelming.
Just then a knock came to the door, and in the flurry of activity Kaden concentrated on what they were doing to Julia. When they produced a stretcher to carry her out to the ambulance Kaden reacted to a surge of something primal, and waded in and picked her up into his arms himself, ignoring the paramedics.
Dr Assan motioned for them to follow Kaden as he strode out with Julia in his arms. Kaden was oblivious to the sea of people hurrying after him. He was only aware of the swell of Julia’s pregnant belly against his chest, and something powerful rose up within him. His gut clenched tight. In his arms Julia stirred, but he didn’t even break his stride as he looked down to see those pools of grey on him. Dazed and confused.
For a moment he forgot everything and reacted only to those eyes, and to the sensation of relief rushing through him. “Don’t worry, you’re safe, and I’m going to take care of you.”
Julia was warm and secure in a dark place. But someone kept prodding her and shining a light in her eyes. Instinctively she moved away from the light, but it kept following her until eventually she opened her eyes, and then it blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut again, but heard a kindly voice saying, “Julia, you need to wake up now. You’ve given us all quite a fright.”
In her hazy consciousness she heard an echo of Kaden’s voice. Don’t worry … I’m going to take care of you …
Without really knowing where she was or what was happening, she spoke from a place of urgent instinctive need, “Kaden … where is Kaden?”
A moment of silence, and then she felt his presence. A hand on hers. The relief was overwhelming. “I’m right here.”
And at his touch and his voice it all came back. She wasn’t nineteen any more. She was thirty-two, and pregnant with his babies. And he didn’t want her—or them. Instantly she was cold and wide awake. Her eyes opened to see Kaden towering over her where she lay in a hospital bed, austere and remote in his robes and with that beard. She pulled her hand away, knowing that he must be hating her so much right now.
She looked to the man who had to be the doctor. “What happened?”
“You’re severely dehydrated and fatigued. You’ll need to be supervised on a drip for at least twenty-four hours. But apart from that everything is fine, and your babies are fine too. You just need rest and sustenance.”
Julia immediately put a hand to the swell of her stomach and felt Kaden take a step back from the bed. She couldn’t bear to look at him and see the censure in his eyes. The disgust he must feel that she was here, with this unwelcome news. The last woman in the world he would have picked to be the mother of his children.
She wondered again if she should have come, and her own doctor’s words came back to her. “Julia, twins are a monumental task for anyone to take on board. You should not do this by yourself. You must include the father.”
Kaden’s doctor patted her hand and said, “I’ll leave you alone now to rest.”
He left the room and the silence was oppressive. Kaden walked around so that he was in Julia’s line of vision. She felt acutely vulnerable, lying on the bed in a hospital robe.
“Where are my things?” she asked, as if that would postpone the painful conversation that was due.
“Your bag is still with my secretary and your clothes are here.”
Julia bit her lip. “I can’t believe I collapsed like that. I had no idea—”
He exploded. “How could you not have known you were so weak and dehydrated? For God’s sake, you’re pregnant. Are you not taking care of yourself?”
Julia could actually feel any colour she’d regained drain from her face. She’d known Kaden must be angry, but to see it like this … ?.
He cursed and ran a hand through his unkempt hair.
Somehow it only had the effect of making him look even more gorgeous. His black eyes came back to her, and to Julia’s utter shock he looked contrite.
“I’m sorry. I had no right to speak to you like that. This has all been a bit of a shock … to say the least.”
Julia’s heart thumped. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t warn you first. It just seemed too huge to send via text …” She blushed. “I don’t even have your mobile number … and I didn’t think it appropriate to leave a message with your aides.”
His eyes narrowed on her face. “You said if it hadn’t been twins you might not have told me?”
Julia avoided his eye guiltily, fingers plucking at the bedspread. “I don’t know what I would have done, to be honest. It was pretty clear at our last meeting that neither one of us wanted to see each other again.”
His mouth tightened. “Yes … but once a baby is involved … he or she … they are my heirs. Part of the royal Burquati dynasty. If you had kept my child from me I would never have forgiven you.”
Julia looked at him, curling inwards at his censure. “I’m sure I would have told you about the baby, even though I know a lasting reminder of our … our meeting again was the last thing you wanted or expected.”
Kaden’s eyes flashed. For a long moment he didn’t speak, and then he said, “That’s beside the point now. We’ll just have to make this work.”
Julia’s eyes narrowed on Kaden as a shiver of foreboding went down her spin. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean, Julia, is that we will be getting married. As soon as possible.”
Kaden hadn’t even realised he was thinking of such a thing until the words came out of his mouth, but to his utter surprise he felt a wave of equanimity wash over him for the first time in months.
Julia just looked at Kaden where he stood at the foot of the bed. Dominating. Powerful. Implacable. Inevitability and a sense of fatalism made her feel even weaker even as she protested shakily, “Don’t be ridiculous, Kaden. We don’t have to get married just because I’m having your baby.”
He folded his arms, and corrected her. “Babies. And, yes, we do.”
“But …” Julia’s mind was feeling foggy again. She was glad she was lying down. “The people won’t accept me as your wife …”
His mouth tightened. “They’re conservative. It might take a while for them to accept you, but they will have no choice. You will be my sheikha—the mother of my children.”
Julia wondered how it could be possible for her to feel dizzy when she was lying down, but the room was spinning and those black edges were creeping back. She heard Kaden swear again, and he moved towards her, but by the time he’d reached her she’d slipped back down into the comforting numbness of the black place.
One week later
“You are much improved, my dear. You should get out and enjoy some of the sunshine. Sit in the garden, breathe the fresh air. I’ll go and get Jasmine to come and help you.”
Julia smiled at the kindly Dr Assan and watched him leave. He’d been on standby since she’d returned to the palace from the hospital nearly four days before, and had been checking up on her at regular intervals.
For the last few days all she’d done was eat and sleep. And tried to block out Kaden’s proposal—if she could even call it that. He hadn’t mentioned it again. He’d come in and out of her bedroom and not said much at all, usually just looked at her broodingly.
Julia sighed deeply now and sat up. Her room was stupendously luxurious. Kaden had obviously had the palace redecorated in the intervening years, because before it had always had a very rustic and ascetic feel. Now, though, it might have come straight from the pages of an interior design magazine.
It hadn’t completely lost that rustic feel. For instance it didn’t share the de luxe opulence of the Hussein Castle in B’harani. But it was just as impressive. The palace itself looked as if it had been carved out of the hill it stood on, soaring majestically over the small city. Vast courtyards opened out into colourful gardens, where peacocks picked their way over glittering mosaics.
The interior stone floors were minimalist, but covered in the most exquisitely ornate rugs. The walls were largely bare, apart from the occasional silk wall hanging or flaming lantern. Windows were huge and open, with elaborate arches framing stunning views of the city.
Julia had a suite of rooms comprising a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room. With every mod-con and audio visual requirement cleverly tucked away so as not to ruin the authentic feel.
Outside the French doors of her sitting room lay a private courtyard filled with flowers. There was a pond, and a low wall which overlooked the ancient hilly city. In the near distance could be seen the blue line of the Persian Gulf. Seagulls wheeled over head, and the scent of the sea was never far away.
Julia felt incredibly emotional whenever she looked out over the city. From the moment she’d first come to Burquat the country and its people had resonated deep within her. She felt at home here. Or she had until that night—
“Dr Somerton? I’ll help you get ready to go outside.”
Julia glanced around from where she’d been sitting on the edge of the bed to see Jasmine, the pretty young girl who’d been helping her every day. She knew she’d only worry Dr Assan if she didn’t go out, and she craved some air, so she smiled and let Jasmine help her.
Clothes had materialised one morning—beautiful kaftans and loose-fitting trousers to wear underneath—and Jasmine laid out a set now, in dark blue. They were comfortable and easy to wear in the heat—especially now that her bump seemed to be growing bigger by the day. It was as if her coming to Burquat had precipitated a growth spurt.
The palace had many gardens, but Julia’s favourite so far was the orchard garden, filled with fruit-bearing trees. Branches were laden with plums and figs, and a river ran through the bottom of the garden, out of the palace grounds and down into the city. It was peaceful and idyllic.
Jasmine left her alone to walk there after showing her where a table and chair had been set up for her to rest in the shade. Julia couldn’t believe how kind everyone was being to her. Certainly the oppressive atmosphere she remembered from Kaden’s father’s time had lifted, and she had to wonder if that was because Kaden’s stepmother had also died, and some of the older, more austere aides were no longer part of Kaden’s retinue.
She sat down and took a sip of fresh iced lemonade, savouring the tart, refreshing bite.
“I hope you don’t mind if I join you.”
It wasn’t a question. Julia looked up to see Kaden standing nearby, and her belly automatically clenched. He’d shaved off his beard and had a haircut, but he looked no less wild or uncultivated despite the custom-made suit he now wore. He alternated between western and traditional dress easily.
She shook her head. As if by magic a man appeared with another chair, and through the trees some distance away Julia could see a man in a suit with an earpiece, watching over his precious Emir.
He sat down, his huge body dwarfing the chair, and helped himself to some lemonade. “You’re looking much better.”
Julia fought not to blush under Kaden’s assessing gaze as it swept down over her body, and wished she’d put her hair up and some make—up on. Then she remembered how quick he’d been to let her go in B’harani and looked away, afraid he might see something of her emotions. Once again she felt humiliated heat rise at remembering that he’d seen the necklace.
“I’m feeling much better, thank you. All of your staff have been so kind. I should be well enough to return home soon. I’ll have to organise a plane ticket back to the UK.”
He shook his head. “You’re not going home, Julia. I’m already arranging to have your belongings packed up and sent here. We can rent out your house in London while you decide what you want to do with it.”
Julia looked at Kaden and her mouth opened. Nothing came out.
He leaned forward, his face grim. “We are getting married, Julia. Next week. Your lif
e is here now—with me.”
Panic bloomed in her gut, but it had more to do with the prospect of a lifetime facing Kaden’s cool censure than the prospect of a lifetime as his wife. “You can’t keep me here if I decide I want to go home. That would be kidnap.”
“It won’t be kidnap because you’ll be staying of your own free will. You know it’s the right thing to do.”
Julia reacted. “Is it really the right thing to agree to a marriage just for convenience’s sake?” She laughed a little wildly. “I’ve already been through one unhappy marriage. I’m not about to jump head-first into another one.”
Kaden was intent, his face stark. “This isn’t about just you—or me. It’s about the two babies you are carrying. And it’s about the fact that everyone knows you’re here and that we were once lovers. The news of your pregnancy will soon filter out, and I want us to be married before that happens. For your sake and our babies’ sakes as much as mine.”
Our babies. Her eyes were wide. She felt control of her own existence slipping out of her grasp. She knew she must have gone pale again, but at least she felt stronger now.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, his words resonated within her on a practical level—bringing up two children on her own would be next to impossible with no familial support to speak of. Both her adoptive parents had died some years previously. Her divorce had wiped out any savings and a meagre inheritance. How could she afford childcare for two children unless she worked like a demon? And what kind of a life would that be for her children?
But Kaden’s words also impacted on her at a much deeper and more visceral level. Growing up knowing she was adopted had bred within Julia an abiding need to create her own family. To have children and give them the assurance of their lineage and background that she’d never had. Her adoptive parents had loved her, of course … But she’d never really got over the stain of being unwanted by her birth mother and father. Irrationally she felt it was a reflection on her, something she’d done. And she had carried it down through the years to make what had happened with Kaden so much more devastating. But he was the last person she could confide in about this …