The Sheik and the Runaway Princess (17 page)

“Mother, stay back.”

“But Kardal—”

Cala turned to Sabrina. “Help him.”

Sabrina didn’t know what to think. “I will. Of course, I just don’t know what’s going on.”

She glanced at the two kings,
then
focused her attention on the Prince of Thieves. “Is this some kind of game? What are you playing at?”

“He’s not playing,” her father said, stepping toward her. Hassan crossed the tiled floor and took her hands in his. “How are you, my daughter?”

“Confused,” she admitted. “Why are you here?”

“Because you are my child and I have behaved badly toward you.”

Sabrina stared into her father’s familiar face. They didn’t look very much alike—she’d always taken after her mother—but she knew him. Now she gazed into his eyes and tried to tell what he was thinking.

“You don’t believe me,” he said sadly. “I suppose that is your right. For all these years I’ve ignored you and treated you as if you were little more than a bother. I’m sorry. I’ve learned that you’re nothing like your mother. I was wrong to judge you as if you were.”

She pulled her hands free. “That’s a pretty crummy apology. What you should be telling me is that it doesn’t matter if I’m like my mother or not. I’m still your daughter. Parental love shouldn’t come with conditions.”

Surprisingly Hassan bowed his head. “You are correct. I have been gravely at fault. I hope that with time, we can begin to rebuild our relationship.”

She wanted to believe him. Perhaps she would…someday.

Hassan moved to stand next to her. He draped one arm across her shoulders. “On a different matter, Kardal, the Prince of Thieves has confessed to defiling you. Under normal circumstances, he would be put to death, but there are extenuating circumstances. The two of you are betrothed. Also, I have responsibility in the matter as I allowed you to stay with him.”

Cala began to cry. It was the other woman’s tears that convinced Sabrina this was really happening. She looked at Givon. “This is real, isn’t it?” she asked.

Kardal’s father nodded. There wasn’t a flicker of humor in his eyes. “Kardal has been a law unto himself for many years. But even the greatest leader must answer to a higher power. Kardal took something that was forbidden. He is fortunate to still be alive.”

She turned to Kardal. His steady gaze didn’t show any fear. “It’s not so bad,” he told her. “You can either marry me and all will be forgiven, or you can refuse me and I will be banished.”

Feeling returned to her body, and along with it, pain. “So this is another trick. You’ve got them all on your side. I’m not going to marry you, Kardal. No matter how many games you play.”

His dark eyes continued to watch her. “Good,” he said. “I do not wish you to marry me.”

She hadn’t thought he could continue to hurt her, but she was wrong. Another knife wound cut through her heart. “I see.”

“No, you don’t.” He started to stand but the guards on either side of him pushed him back to his knees. He frowned at them,
then
returned his attention to her.

“Sabrina, I was wrong from the beginning. I shouldn’t have kept the truth from you. My excuse is simple arrogance. I had read things about you, things that made me not like you. I had agreed to the betrothal, but I had second thoughts about the bride. I wondered if the alliance with Bahania would be payment enough.”

“Gee, thanks,” she muttered.

He shrugged. “Then I began to spend time with you. I learned the truth about your heart and your soul. I knew then that I would be proud to call you mine. I wanted to teach you a lesson—how to be a docile wife—yet I was the one who changed.”

He paused and shifted on his knees. She thought that his bindings looked uncomfortably tight,
then
scolded herself for caring. Kardal deserved whatever happened to him.

“I love you,” he said bluntly. “I who had thought men were above such emotions
have
realized you are my moon and stars. My father has loved my mother for thirty-one years, despite being apart from her. I fear that I would suffer the same fate should you cast me aside.”

Too much had happened too fast, Sabrina thought, still not sure what to believe. Her heart ached, desperate to be convinced by his words, but her spirit was not so sure.

“Kardal, how do I know this isn’t just some way for you to get what you want?” she asked.

“You don’t,” he said simply. “So I ask that you refuse my proposal. Then I will be banished.”

Her lips parted. “What? You would leave the city?”
The desert?
The place he loved more than anything in the world?

“Yes.
Once banished I would come to you and spend the rest of our days convincing you that you are my one true love.”
He smiled, then.
A warm, open, loving smile that began to heal the wounds of her heart.
“I can live without the city, but I could never survive without you.”

Sabrina took a step toward him,
then
paused. What should she do? She so wanted to believe him, but could she?

“Follow your heart,” Cala said, stepping into Givon’s embrace and holding him close. “Sabrina, trust what you know to be true.”

“Don’t marry me,” Kardal said. “Please. Have them send me away. I swear I will come to you. I will prove it all. I will worship you as the sun worships the City of
Thieves
.”

“Kardal…”

“Sabrina, you were right. I didn’t mean to play you for a fool, but that is what happened. You deserve to be sure of me and what I tell you here today. Banish me. Banish me and I will love you forever.”

His dark gaze seemed to see into her soul.

“You know we belong together,” he continued, his voice low and heated. “We are too much alike to ever be happy with anyone else. Let me prove my love.”

“No!”

Sabrina shook her head, then turned and hurried from the room. There was too much information.
Too many questions.
Banish Kardal? Have
him
lose everything to prove his love?

She reached her quarters and slipped inside. Footsteps sounded in the hall,
then
her father stepped into the room.

“This is not a bluff,” Hassan said. “Givon and I will have him banished.”

“I don’t want that,” she told him. “I just want to be sure.”

“What would you have him do to convince you?
Give up his heart’s desire?”

Which is what Kardal had done.
She thought of the beautiful city and how happy he was there. She thought of all the times he’d come to speak with her, seeking her advice, sharing secret fears with her. These were not the actions of a man who didn’t care. He’d been arrogant and stupid. He was a prince—and a man—why was she surprised?

“I love him,” she said, impulsively hugging her father. For the first time in her life, he hugged her back.

“I’m glad. After all, you could be pregnant with his child.”

Sabrina froze. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Pregnant?
With Kardal’s baby?

Joy filled her. Joy and a certainty that eased the pain in her heart and made her feel as if she could fly. She loved him. Cala had been right. It was time for her to follow her heart.

She ran across the room and opened the first of the small trunks she’d brought with her. Inside were dozens of priceless treasures.

“They’re in here somewhere,” she said, digging through the gold, diamonds and other precious stones.

She opened a second trunk, then third. Finally she crowed in triumph and pulled out a pair of slave bracelets. They were solid gold and intricately carved. They were also much larger than hers—designed to fit a man’s wrists and forearms.

Hassan raised his eyebrows. “I am most impressed with your creativity.”

“Thank you.”

Still smiling she hurried back to the villa’s foyer. Everyone was still there, including Kardal who remained on his knees. She crossed to him and motioned to the guards to release him.

“I have decided,” she said.

Kardal waited until his wrists were unbound, then he rose and stood in front of her. She held out the slave bracelets. Kardal looked at her, then at the gold symbols of servitude. Without saying anything, he put his arms out straight in front of him. She locked the bracelets in place.

“Just as a reminder that I could have had you banished,” she said, watching his expression.
“Although I’ve decided to marry you instead.”

Love and pleasure lit his eyes. He touched her cheek. “Most couples prefer to exchange rings of some kind.”

“We’re not most couples,” she told him.

He pulled her close and kissed her. “I will spend the rest of my life proving myself to you, Sabrina. I am deeply sorry that I hurt you. I did not intend to make you feel that I didn’t care.”

“I know.”

“Then you forgive me?”

“I love you. I don’t have a choice.”

He gazed into her eyes. “You had one today. I would have come for you regardless of my fate.”

“I know, but now you can have me and the city.”

“I have loved the city all my life,” he admitted, “but you will always possess my heart.”

His lips touched hers again. Behind them she heard Cala sigh.

“I am relieved that is over,” her father said. “I really thought she might banish him. And then what would we have done?” He cleared his throat. “Now I must go home and deal with the rest of my family.”

Sabrina raised her head and looked at her father. “Are my brothers all right? Is something wrong?”

Hassan smiled. “Not in the way you mean. I have four sons in need of wives. It is past time they married and still they resist me.”

“I could never resist you,” Kardal whispered in her ear. “Are you ready to go home, my desert bird? We have a wedding to plan.”

She smiled at him. “We have a couple of other things to do as well. One of them is to find the keys to these slave bracelets.”

He laughed. “I will love you forever, Sabrina. I will be as constant as the desert, for all of our lives and into the next.”

“That works for me,” she told him.

They turned and headed out into the bright morning light, ready to begin the adventure of their lives.