Jewel in His Crown (4 page)

‘Obviously I can see that nobody with a brain would want the war to kick off again,' Ruby cut in ruefully, more shaken than she was prepared to admit by the serious nature of Ashur's plight. She had not appreciated how grave the problems might be and even though the ruling family of her birth country had refused to acknowledge her existence, she was ashamed of the level of her ignorance.

‘Precisely, and that is where
our
role comes in,' Raja imparted smoothly. ‘Ashur can only accept my country's economic intervention if it comes wrapped in the reassurance of a traditional royal marriage.'

Ruby nodded in comprehension, her expression carefully blank as she asked what was for her the obvious question. ‘So what's going to happen when this marriage fails to take place?'

In the dragging silence that fell in receipt of that leading query, his brilliant dark eyes narrowed and his lean, strong face took on a forbidding aspect. ‘As the marriage was an established element of the peace accord, many will argue that if no marriage takes place the agreement has broken down and hostilities could easily break out again. Our families are well respected. Given the right approach, we could act as a unifying force and our people would support us in that endeavour for the sake of a lasting peace.'

‘And you're willing to sacrifice your own freedom for the sake of that peace?' Ruby asked, wearing a dubious expression.

‘It is not a choice. It is a duty,' Raja pronounced with a fluid shift of his beautifully shaped fingers. He said more with his hands than with his tongue, Ruby decided, for that eloquent gesture encompassed his complete acceptance of a sacrifice he clearly saw as unavoidable.

Ruby surveyed him steadily before saying without hesitation, ‘I think that's a load of nonsense. How can you be so accepting of your duty?'

Raja breathed in deep and slow before responding to
her challenge. ‘As a member of the royal family I have led a privileged life and I was brought up to appreciate that what is best for my country should be my prime motivation.'

Unimpressed by that zealous statement, Ruby rolled her eyes in cynical dismissal. ‘Well, I haven't led a privileged life and I'm afraid I don't have that kind of motivation to fall back on. I'm not sure I can believe that you do, either.'

Under rare attack for his conservative views and for the depth of his sincerity, Raja squared his broad shoulders, his lean, dark features setting hard. He was offended but determined to keep his emotions in check. He suspected that the real problem was that Ruby rarely thought before she spoke and he virtually never met with challenge or criticism. ‘Meaning?'

‘Did you fight in the war?' Ruby prompted suddenly.

‘Yes.'

Ruby's appetite ebbed and she rested back in her chair, milk-chocolate eyes telegraphing her contempt in a look that her quarry was not accustomed to receiving.

His tough jaw line clenched. ‘That is the reality of war.'

‘And now you think you can buy your way out of that reality by marrying me and becoming a saviour where you were once the aggressor?' Ruby fired back with a curled lip as she pushed away her plate. ‘Sorry, I have no intention of being a pawn in a power struggle or of helping you to come to terms with your conscience. I'd like to leave now.'

On a wave of angry frustration Raja studied her truculent little face, his glittering eyes hostile. ‘You haven't listened to me—'

Confident of her own opinion, Ruby lifted her chin in direct challenge of that charge. ‘On the contrary, I've listened and I've heard as much as I need to hear. I can't be the woman you want me to be. I'm not a princess and I have no desire to sacrifice myself for the people or the country that broke my mother's heart.'

At that melodramatic response, Raja only just resisted the urge to groan out loud. ‘You're talking like a child.'

A red-hot flush ran up to the very roots of Ruby's pale hair. ‘How dare you?' she ground out, outraged.

‘I dare because I need you to think like an adult to deal with this dilemma. You may be prejudiced against the country where you were born but don't drag up old history as an excuse—'

‘There's nothing old about the way I grew up without a father,' Ruby argued vehemently, starting to rise from her chair in tune with her rapidly rising temper. ‘Or the fact that he married another woman while he was still married to my mum! If that's what you call prejudice then I'm not ashamed to own up to it!'

‘Lower your voice and sit down!' the prince ground out in a biting undertone.

Ruby was so stunned by that command that she instinctively fell back into her seat and stared across the table at him with a shaken frown of disbelief that he could think he had the right to order her around. ‘Don't speak to me like that—'

‘Then calm down and think of those less fortunate than you are.'

‘It still won't make me willing to marry a stranger, who would marry a dancing bear if he was asked!' Ruby shot back at him angrily.

‘What on earth are you trying to suggest?' Raja demanded, dark eyes blazing like angry golden flames above them.

More than ready to tell him what she thought of him, Ruby tossed down her napkin with a positive flourish. ‘Did you think that I would be too stupid to work out what you're really after?' she asked him sharply. ‘You want the throne in Ashur and I'm the only way you have of getting it! Without me and a ring on my finger, you get nothing!'

Subjecting her to a stunned look of proud incredulity, Raja watched with even greater astonishment as Ruby plunged upright, abandoned their meal and stalked away, hair flying, narrow back rigid, skirt riding up on those slender shapely thighs. Had she no manners? No concept of restraint in public places? She actually believed that he
wanted
the throne in Ashur? Was that her idea of a joke? She had no grasp of realities whatsoever. He was the future hereditary ruler of one of the most sophisticated and rich countries in the Persian Gulf, he did not need to rule Ashur, as well.

 

A brisk walk of twenty minutes brought Ruby back to work. A little breathless and flustered after the time she had had to consider that fiery exchange over lunch, she was still trying to decide whether or not she had been
unfair in her assessment of Prince Raja. Waiting on her desktop for her attention was a pile of work, however, and her head was already aching from the stress of the information he had dumped on her.

At spare moments during the afternoon that followed she mulled over what she had learned about her birth country's predicament. It was not her fault all that had happened between Ashur and Najar, was it? But if Raja was correct and the peace broke down over the reality that their marriage and therefore the planned unification of the two countries did not take place, how would she feel about things then? That was a much less straightforward question and Ruby resolved to do some Internet research that evening to settle the questions she needed answered.

While Stella was cooking a late dinner, Ruby lifted the laptop the two young women shared, let Hermione curl up by her feet and sought information on the recent events in Ashur. Unfortunately a good deal of what she discovered was distressing stuff. Her late father's country, Ashur, she slowly recognised, desperately needed help getting back on its feet and people everywhere were praying that the peace would hold. Reading a charity worker's blog about the rising number of homeless people and orphans, Ruby felt tears sting her eyes and she blinked them back hurriedly and went to eat her dinner without an appetite. She could tell herself that Ashur was nothing to do with her but she was learning that her gut reaction was not guided by intellect. The war might be over but there was a huge job of rebuilding to be done and not enough resources to pay for it.
In the meantime the people of Ashur were suffering. Could the future of an entire country and its people be resting on what she chose to do?

Sobered by that thought and the heavy responsibility that accompanied it, Ruby started to carefully consider her possible options. Stella ate and hurried out on a date. While Ruby was still deep in thought and tidying up the tiny kitchen, the doorbell buzzed. This time she was not surprised to find Najar's much-decorated fighter-pilot prince on her doorstep again, for even she was now prepared to admit that they still had stuff to talk about. The sheer, dark masculine beauty of his bronzed features still took her by storm though and mesmerised her into stunned stillness. Those lustrous eyes set between sooty lashes in that stunningly masculine face exerted a powerful magnetic pull. She felt a tug at the heart of her and a prickling surge of heat. Once again, dragging her attention from him was like trying to leap single-handed out of a swamp.

‘You'd better come in—we have to talk,' she acknowledged in a brittle breathless aside, exasperated by the way he made her stare and turning on her heel with hot cheeks to leave him to follow her.

‘It's rude in my culture to turn your back on a guest or on royalty,' Raja informed her almost carelessly.

With a sound of annoyance, Ruby whipped her blonde head around to study him with frowning brown eyes. ‘We have bigger problems than my ignorance of etiquette!'

As the tall, powerful man entered the room in Ruby's wake Hermione peered out of her basket, beady, dark
eyes full of suspicion. A low warning growl vibrated in the dog's throat.

‘No!' Ruby told her pet firmly.

‘You were expecting my visit,' Raja acknowledged, taking a seat at her invitation and striving not to notice the way her tight black leggings and shrunken tee hugged her pert, rounded curves at breast and hip. The fluffy pink bunny slippers she wore on her tiny feet, however, made him compress his handsome mouth. He did not want to be reminded of just how young and unprepared she was for the role being offered to her.

Ruby breathed in deep, fighting the arrowing slide of shameless awareness keeping her unnaturally tense as she took a seat opposite him. Even at rest, the intoxicating strength of his tall, long-limbed, muscular body was obvious and she was suddenly conscious that her nipples had tightened into hard bullet points. She sucked in another breath, desperate to regain her usual composure. ‘Yes, I was expecting you.'

Raja did not break the silence when her voice faltered. He waited patiently for her to continue with a quality of confident cool and calm that she found fantastically sexy.

‘It's best if I lay my cards on the table this time. First of all, I would never,
ever
be prepared to agree to a normal marriage with a stranger, so that option isn't even a possibility,' Ruby declared without apology, knowing that she needed to tell him that upfront. ‘But if you genuinely believe that only our marriage could ensure peace for Ashur, I feel I have to consider some way of bringing that about that we can both live with.'

Approbation gleamed in Raja's dark gaze because he believed that she was finally beginning to see sense. He was also in the act of reflecting that he could contrive to live with her without any great problem. He pinned his attention to the stunning contours of her face while remaining painfully aware of the full soft, rounded curves of her unbound breasts outlined in thin cotton. Clear indentations in the fabric marked the pointed evidence of her nipples and the flame of nagging heat at his groin would not quit. Angry at his loss of concentration at so important a meeting, however, he compressed his wide, sensual mouth and willed his undisciplined body back under his control. ‘I
do
believe that only our marriage can give our countries the hope of an enduring peace,' he admitted. ‘But if you are not prepared to consider a normal marriage, what are you suggesting?'

‘A total fake,' Ruby replied without hesitation, a hint of amusement lightening her unusually serious eyes. ‘I marry you and we make occasional public appearances together to satisfy expectations but behind closed doors we're just pretending to be an ordinary married couple.'

The prince concealed his surprise and mastered his expression lest he make the mistake of revealing that inflicting such a massive deception on so many people would be abhorrent to his principles. ‘A platonic arrangement?'

Ruby nodded with enthusiasm. ‘No offence intended but I'm really not into sex—'

‘With me? Or with anyone?' Raja could not resist demanding that she make that distinction.

‘Anyone. It's nothing personal,' she hastened to assure a male who was taking it all very personally indeed. ‘And it will also give you the perfect future excuse to divorce me.'

Hopelessly engaged in wondering what had happened to her to give her such a distaste for intimacy, Raja frowned in bewilderment. ‘How?'

‘Well, obviously there won't be a child. I'm not stupid, Raja. Obviously if we get married a son and heir is what everyone will be hoping for,' she pointed out wryly. ‘But when there is no pregnancy and no child, you can use that as a very good reason to divorce me and then marry someone much more suitable.'

‘It would not be that simple. I fully understand where you got this idea from though,' he imparted wryly. ‘But while your father may have divorced your mother in such circumstances, there has never been a divorce within my family and our people and yours would be very much shocked and disturbed by such a development.'

Ruby shrugged a slight shoulder in disinterested dismissal of that possibility. ‘There isn't going to be a
perfect
solution to our dilemma,' she told him impatiently. ‘And I think that a fake marriage could well be as good as it gets. Take it or leave it, Raja.'

Raja almost laughed out loud at that impudent closing speech. What a child she still was! He could only begin to imagine how deeply offended the Ashuri people would be were he to divorce their princess while seeking to continue to rule their country. What she was
suggesting was only a stopgap solution, not a permanent remedy to the dilemma.