Lucy Gordon - The Sheikh’s Reward

At last she heard his footsteps outside, and sat up eagerly as he came into the room.

‘Why didn’t you tell me about-?’ they both said together, and stopped.

‘I’ve been talking with my mother,’ Ali said. ‘Why did you never speak to me of Howard Marks?’

For a moment Fran had to think who he meant. Howard and the life he represented was so far away.

‘Ali-I don’t understand-’

‘Howard Marks-the man you were planning to marry. My mother knows all about him, so don’t pretend that you don’t. How could you have concealed such a thing from me?’

A moment ago she’d been full of tenderness towards him, but at this flash of the old, imperious Ali her temper rose quickly.

‘How could I-? Well, you’ve got a nerve!’ She bounded off the bed and confronted him. ‘Don’t tell me that my disappearance has been noticed after all?’

‘Evidently. According to my mother, Mr Marks has been asking questions, claiming to be your future husband. This was something you should have told me.’

Fran stared at him, outraged beyond speech. She hadn’t mentioned Howard because Ali had driven him right out of her mind. In Ali’s arms no other man had existed. But there was no way she could say such a thing to this arrogant, overbearing man who barked out his unreasonable orders like a tyrant.

‘You’re very fond of telling people what they should do,’ she seethed. ‘Perhaps it’s you that should listen. I never asked to come here; I was tricked into it. I don’t recall you enquiring if there was a man in my life.’

‘Are you saying that there is?’

‘Are you saying it would have made a difference?’

They glared at each other, both furious.

‘Was he the man with you at the casino?’ he snapped.

‘Of course not. That was Joey. I wouldn’t take Howard on a job.’

‘Ah, yes, you were on a job. A job entitled “the seduction of a prince”. You naturally wouldn’t want to tell Mr Marks about that.’

‘There was nothing to tell. You may recall that there was no seduction-’

‘Yes, you slipped out when my back was turned,’ he said grimly.

‘So you did know I’d gone,’ she said triumphantly. ‘That story of yours about not coming back was just to fool me.’

He regarded her coldly, and she guessed he was furious with himself for the slip.

‘It seems we’ve both been playing a game of delusion,’ he said at last, in a voice harsher than she’d ever heard him use before. ‘You set out to trick me into thinking you were a true woman with a heart to offer, and you were very convincing, for a while.’

‘Was it my heart you wanted, Ali? I wonder. Maybe we both played games at first, but we weren’t playing for hearts.’

‘Yes, I know the prize you were after,’ he said grimly. ‘Not a heart but a scoop for your paper. And I taught you that I’m not a man to be played with. Now tell me about this man who plans to marry you. What kind of man is he who permits you to take such risks?’

‘Howard doesn’t permit or not permit. He understands that I’m my own woman, not subject to his orders.’ Furious indignation made her say the next words. ‘It will be a great relief to get back to him.’

Ali drew a sharp breath. ‘Do you think I’m going to let you return to the west with the secrets you’ve discovered?’

‘What secrets? I’ve learned about your charities, not your national security.’

He didn’t answer in words, but he gave her a burning stare that told her his true meaning. Facts and figures weren’t the only secrets. There were also the secrets of a man’s heart that could be learned only in his arms, in his bed, when two eager bodies became one in the life of true passion. These were the secrets that lived in the night, in the incoherent words of love too deep to be spoken. They were secrets a man might turn away from by day because they confronted him with a self that he feared. But they couldn’t be denied, and his eyes told her that he would kill them both before letting her expose them to a derisive world.

But how could he know her so little, she wondered wildly, as not to understand that he could trust her with these things, because for her too they were sacred?

‘Even you must know by now that you can’t keep me here for ever,’ she said.

‘But I can, and I will. My mother says that I have compromised you, and so deprived you of a good marriage. Very well. Then I have a duty towards you. I will replace a good marriage with a better one. As my wife you will have nothing to complain of.’

‘Your wife?’ she echoed, aghast.

‘Our marriage will take place immediately.’

‘Our marriage will never take place,’ she flung at him. ‘I won’t stay with a man who informs me of our wedding as though he’s doing me a favour.’

‘You will stay,’ Ali said, ‘and you will become my wife. The truth that is between us will prevail and make our marriage a happy one. I shall give instructions immediately, and the ceremony will take place in three days’ time.’

‘It will not,’ Fran cried wildly. ‘Ali, understand once and for all that I won’t marry you. Not in three days’ time. Not ever.’

‘My mind is made up. There is nothing further to discuss,’ he said calmly, and walked out.

Marriage, for a ruler of Kamar, was a complex business. Officially it was a secular state. Three of the world’s great religions lived peacefully side by side, with no one religion predominating.

So there would be, in effect, four weddings. The first was a civil ceremony, conducted in a small room in the palace. Then the ruler and his bride would present themselves at each of the three main religious headquarters in the city for the pronouncement of a blessing. These were riotous occasions, with the public thronging the entrances, clapping and cheering.

If this had been a normal wedding Fran would have enjoyed the buzz of preparation. From dawn to dusk she was engulfed in the making of a new wardrobe, and the selection of adornments for her state rooms. Instead, she floated through it all in an unhappy dream, wondering how she could be so miserable when her life was about to be joined to that of the man she loved. No, she amended that. The man she could have loved. For he seemed bent on destroying her feelings for him.

Elise had said the right woman could make Ali listen, but he showed no sign of listening. And in this tyranny Fran saw an ominous portent for their future.

Two days before the wedding Ali departed on a flying visit to the north of his little country, stating that he would return the following day. Elise came to spend the evening with her future daughter-in-law.

‘You’ll be glad to know that Yasir will not trouble you again,’ she said. ‘His wound is superficial and healing well, and he will have left the country before your wedding. Ali has banned him from returning in less than five years.’

‘That’s good,’ Fran said.

Elise observed her critically. ‘You don’t look like a happy bride preparing for her big day.’

‘Don’t I?’ Fran asked listlessly.

‘Anyone would think you were going to your execution instead of your wedding.’

‘Well, it feels like the end of my life.’

‘How ungrateful you are! Ali will make you the princess of a wealthy country. You’ll never have to lift a finger again.’

‘Is that why you married?’ Fran asked, regarding Elise levelly.

It fascinated her to observe that even now the mention of her late husband could bring a faint blush to Elise’s cheek.

‘I married the man I loved more than anything in life,’ Elise said. ‘And I knew that he loved me the same way.’

‘You’re lucky it was that easy for you,’ Fran said wistfully.