The Sheik's Secret Bride (23 page)

Malik
shook his head. “He’ll be charmed, as I am. You didn’t have any trouble speaking with him at dinner.”

“That’s because we were talking about
Bethany
. I mentioned how much she adored all the horses in your stable and we were off and running, so to speak.”

“The king is a great cat lover. Ask him about his favorites. That should be enough to get you through a dance.”

Malik
took in Liana’s pretty features and the way her tiara caught the light. Tonight she looked every inch the princess, and while she was quite beautiful, he found he preferred Liana dressed as a regular woman.
Or in nothing at all.

He closed his mind against that image, because he didn’t want to have to deal with the natural result. His blood already flowed so hotly that it would take no more than a light touch for him to become aroused.

“Is there some sort of briefing for these kinds of functions?” she asked, oblivious to his thoughts. “If I have to attend another one of these, I’d like to be a little more prepared.”

“Yes. The staff gathers complete files on all the guests. Had I known you were interested in attending, I would have made sure you were prepared.”

“Next time,” she said, swaying in time with him.

“Next time,” he agreed, even as he wondered if there would be a next time. After all, days moved by quickly. If she kept true to her word and stayed only a month….

But he wouldn’t think about that. He didn’t want to believe she was leaving him. He had just over three weeks to convince her to stay with him for always. Three more weeks, as his grandmother and Bethany had pointed out, to make her fall in love with him. An easy enough plan…if only he knew how.

“I had a very nice time,” Liana said awkwardly as they approached the door to her quarters.

When
Malik
had offered to walk her back to her room, she’d had high hopes for more than idle chit chat. After all, his smoldering gaze had followed her all evening while she’d danced with dozens of visiting dignitaries. She’d found herself stumbling over polite conversation as she imagined herself making love with
Malik
. But since leaving the ballroom, he hadn’t touched her once; maybe she’d simply imagined his interest.

Which made life more confusing, she thought as they paused in the hallway.
Hadn’t he been the one promising to share her bed after she’d had a chance to get settled? Well, she was about as settled as she was going to get, so what was he waiting for?

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,”
Malik
said formally.

Wasn’t he going to do anything? Didn’t he want her anymore?

A more mature, braver woman would have asked. But she felt neither. Instead she sidestepped the issue. “Would you like to come in for a drink?” she asked. “
Bethany
is spending the night in the nursery with Dora’s two, so we wouldn’t have to worry about waking her up.”

She felt like a brazen hussy. After all, she didn’t doubt he could read the desire in her eyes. Her skin was hot and her face felt flushed. She’d been partially aroused since their first dance. Being so close to him and unable to touch him had been torture, but
Malik
had been politeness itself. Maybe he’d forgotten how it had been between them. Should she remind him or just let it go?

“A drink would be nice,” he said, as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Ah, a neutral response, she thought as she made her way to the fully stocked wet bar in a corner of the living room. He wasn’t giving anything away.

“Have a seat,” she told him, then reached for a bottle of cognac and waved it in the air. “Is this all right?”

“Perfect.”

He sat on the striped sofa, not at one end, but not exactly in the middle either. Which meant she had to decide how close to sit to him when she gave him his glass. She poured a splash into each snifter and sighed. Getting to know a man had always been complex. The intricacies of new relationships were one of the reasons she generally avoided them. Being with Chuck had been easy. They’d been young and had thought they were in love. Passion had allowed them to gloss over the rough spots. While she and
Malik
had shared plenty of heat, it wasn’t enough to allow them to mesh their lives with ease. Perhaps if he’d been just a regular man that might have been possible, but he wasn’t.

As she walked over to the sofa, she paused to open the French door leading to the balcony. Scented night air drifted into the room.

“I think it’s getting cooler,” she said as she handed him his glass. She settled herself on the same sofa, about as far from the right corner as he was from the left.

“I agree. Winters are mild in El
Bahar
, but the summers can be difficult until one adjusts.”

So they were going for scintillating and witty conversation, she thought humorously. Perhaps next they could do a fashion recap on who wore what to the party.

“We have our own version of the changing seasons,” he continued, after taking a sip of his cognac. “There are different festivals in the winter. The English garden is at its best in the spring when all the plants are blooming. When the wind is right, their scents travel as far as the main roads around the palace grounds.”

She started to say she couldn’t wait to experience it all but then she remembered she probably wouldn’t still be in El
Bahar
in the spring. It was mid-October. If she only stayed for her required month, she and Bethany would be home for Thanksgiving. Oddly enough, the thought made her sad.

“What do you think of my country?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen enough to form an opinion. The palace and the grounds are lovely, of course.”

He reached up and loosened his formal black tie. The dangling ends contrasted with the snowy white of his shirt and looked amazingly sexy.

“I would be happy to put a driver at your disposal,” he said. “You could go wherever you like.”

Her mouth twisted. It’s not as if she didn’t have the time to see all of El
Bahar
. Her days were pretty empty. “While I appreciate the gesture,
Malik
, I don’t think that’s going to be enough.” She set her drink on the low table in front of them and folded her hands together in her lap.

She gazed at him. “I’ve always been a busy person, and I’m more comfortable going and doing all the time. Right now I spend my days wandering around these rooms.
Bethany
is in school, and everyone else is busy.”

“What do you want to do?”

She didn’t have an answer to that. As much as she would like to return to teaching, she knew it was out of the question. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Dora is busy with her political work, forwarding the rights of women, and Heidi spends all her free time working on ancient texts.”

“You said that you always wanted to continue your education. Obtain your post-graduate degrees. El
Bahar
has several prestigious universities. Two of them are right here in the city.”

“Yes, there’s that,” she said quietly.
Except she wasn’t going to be around long enough to take one class, let alone get a doctorate.

“You are thinking there isn’t much you can do toward that in a month,” he said, his voice faintly accusing.

She felt herself flush and had to bite back a defensive retort. She had no reason to feel guilty, she reminded herself, even if she didn’t believe it.

He leaned toward her, his expression intense. Darkness filled his eyes until the pupils and irises were the same color and impossible to tell apart. “Is it so horrible here?” he asked. “Is that why you don’t want to stay?”

“No.
Of course not.
It’s just…” How could she explain the distance between them if he refused to acknowledge its existence? “I’m not sure I can fit in. I wasn’t raised to be a royal princess. While I’ll agree there are wonderful advantages, it can be a difficult life. I saw a bit of that tonight. Everyone was staring, and I was terrified I would put a foot wrong.”

“You were fine. Everyone adored you.”

“This time.
But what happens when I say the wrong thing or accidentally insult a visiting dignitary? I don’t want to be responsible for starting an international incident.” She rubbed her temple. “I can’t figure out if you really don’t understand or if you just don’t want to. Didn’t
Iman
have any doubts?”

He stiffened. “I will not discuss her with you.”

“Of course not.
Everything always goes your way, or it doesn’t go. Isn’t that right? You wanted to marry me and we’re married. You want me to stay and you expect that to happen as well. You don’t want to discuss
Iman
or how she died, or what was so horrible about your relationship, so we don’t.” She glared at him. “You can’t have it both ways. Either I’m your wife or I’m not. If you want me to take this seriously, you have to do the same. Circumstances do not bend to your will, however much you might wish them to.”

Malik
put his glass on the table and stared at her. She half expected him to leave, but instead he rose to his feet and crossed to the French doors. Once there, he stared out into the darkness.

Tension radiated from him.
Tension and something that might have been pain.
For a moment she thought about going to him and wrapping her arms around him. Not because her body ached for his touch, but because he looked so alone standing there, as if once again the burden was his to
bear,
and no one was going to share the load.

But before she could decide if that was a sensible idea, he spoke, and his words immobilized her.

“
Iman
isn’t dead.”

Her lips parted. She tried to speak, failed,
then
tried again. “But everyone said…” She paused and recalled what had been said to her. They hadn’t actually said she was dead. “They implied she was dead.”

“A subtle difference, but there all the same. She has left El
Bahar
and will never return. That is what matters. While it would have been better for all of us if she had died, she did not.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” she admitted. “You’re sorry your ex-wife didn’t die.” A thought occurred to her and she gasped. “You are divorced, aren’t you?”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “I assure you, my marriage to you was completely legal.
Iman
and I have been divorced for years.”

“Oh. Good.”
Although if they hadn’t divorced, her problem would have been solved.
Odd how she felt relieved to hear otherwise.
She pressed her lips together. “Why are you so angry with her?”

He shrugged and returned his attention to the darkness beyond the balcony. “Anger doesn’t describe how I feel.” He paused. “Ours was an arranged marriage, as most are for those in my position. It was a disaster from the start. We had nothing in common. Despite that, I attempted to get to know her. I thought we could at least be friends. And perhaps with friendship would come caring.”

He hadn’t said love. Liana had the brief thought that he hadn’t experienced very much of that in his life, so he was unlikely to expect it in an arranged marriage.

“But that didn’t happen?”

“No.
Iman
was beautiful, but her heart was cold and ugly. She had been forced into our marriage against her will and she made no attempt to conceal her hatred both of me and the situation. When we finally consummated our union, I discovered that she’d already been with another man.”

A virgin bride might be an old-fashioned concept back home, but Liana suspected it was expected for the bride of a soon-to-be ruling monarch. “You couldn’t forgive that?” she asked.

He turned to face her. “I couldn’t forgive her lover following her here and continuing to claim her favors. I couldn’t forgive her for making a fool of me and, by association, my country. I couldn’t forgive the fact that many of the servants knew of her infidelities but were afraid to tell me the truth, and that rumors abounded in the souk where the street sellers told stories about the new princess. And I couldn’t forgive her stupidity and carelessness in allowing me and my father to walk in on her while she entertained her lover in our marriage bed.”

All the blood seemed to leave Liana’s head. She felt dizzy and confused.
Malik’s
stark words painted a clear picture of a faithless wife making a fool of her husband.

“The name
Iman
means faithful, but in her case it was a lie,” he continued. “When I realized the extent of her transgressions, I banished her and divorced her. Everything she had ever touched was destroyed and her name was no longer spoken here. She betrayed us all, for what is done to the Crown Prince is done to each citizen. I care not about what she did to me, but it is unforgivable that she so defiled the glory of El
Bahar
.”

Lines of tension stiffened his body, but his face was expressionless. Except for the clipped harshness of his words, he might have been discussing a current movie.

But Liana knew him well enough now to sense what the truth cost him. While she didn’t understand what it must have been like for him to have his wife’s infidelities spoken of throughout the country, she felt his pain now as clearly as if it was her own. Her heart ached for the proud man standing in front of her. He wanted only what was good and right for his country. He’d sacrificed himself in ways no one could ever truly appreciate. He was El
Bahar
, and he would give his all for the betterment of his people. His last thought, his last breath, would be for them.