Jane Porter - The Desert Sheikh's Innocent Queen - King of the Desert, Captive Bride

“You can’t possibly really buy all that,” she said in protest as they exited the elegant shopping mall.

Khalid didn’t answer. He just gestured to the car’s open door, but Liv hesitated. She could still remember how Val had stood elbow-high in tissue and boxes and garment bags. “Sheikh Fehr, I saw the price on the bag—which alone was seventy-five hundred dollars. I don’t even own a car worth seventy-five hundred dollars.”

Khalid sighed and glanced at his watch. “Miss Bakr has impeccable taste and everything she selected is perfect for our needs.”

“But all those clothes! They must cost thousands and thousands of dollars.”

“You need a proper wardrobe.”

“But this is too much. A couple skirts, a few blouses, a pair of sandals. But certainly not all the designer labels, and those extravagant accessories … and you must admit a seven-thousand-dollar purse—”

“Please get in the car,” he interrupted quietly, but in such a no-nonsense tone that Liv gulped a breath and complied.

Inside the car he added, “We do not argue with our women on the city streets, and our women do not disagree with us in front of family, friends or strangers.”

Flushing with embarrassment, Liv went hot and then cold and hot again. She was just trying to save him money. She’d only been trying to make things easier. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. I just didn’t want you spending so much on me. There was no need.”

“But there is,” he corrected. “It’s what people will expect of you. You now represent me. You are my fiancée, and here in the Arab world, I am very well-known.”

“But you must understand I can’t pay you back for these things,” she protested huskily. “My mom certainly can’t. She’s nearing retirement, and Jake can’t, either. He’s a carpenter. He builds houses for a living.”

Khalid sighed. “I don’t expect to be paid back. But I do expect your respect, and cooperation. I have put my name and reputation on the line for you. I am risking my personal and family honor, and honor is everything here. Honor is the difference between life and death.”

It was dark now and the streetlights and building lights illuminated the city blocks.

“My job is to protect you, but you must allow me to protect you. You must trust me when I say we are in a difficult, and dangerous, situation.”

Khalid’s warning sent a shiver through her. How many times had Jake virtually said the same thing? How many times had he told her the world wasn’t a nice place, the world wasn’t a safe place, especially for a girl from a small Southern town?

But she hadn’t believed him. She’d thought Jake was a pessimist. Now she knew differently.

“Are you listening?” Khalid asked.

“Yes,” she answered hoarsely. The things Khalid was telling her terrified her. It wasn’t the life she knew. It wasn’t how she’d been raised.

“I do not mean to frighten you,” he added after a moment, “but I need to impress upon you the importance of appearances. We must be discrete. Everything we do will be observed by others. Everything we do—individually, or together—will be documented, analyzed and discussed. The only time you are truly free, or truly safe, is when you are alone with me.”

She gave a short nod to show him she understood.

Khalid fell silent, his forehead creasing, his expression turning brooding. “One more thing. I phoned your brother earlier, while you were finishing your tea. I told him you were safe. I told him you were with me. And I told him you would personally phone later tonight and he said he’d look forward to speaking with you, but in the meantime, he sends love and extends to us his heartiest congratulations.”

Liv’s blood froze. “Congratulations?” she whispered, through impossibly cold, stiff lips.

“On our engagement.”

“You told him?”

“I had to. He’s going to read it in the paper soon. I thought he’d rather hear the news from us.”

“But we’re not really going to get married,” Liv choked, fingers balling into fists in her lap. “It’s just a ruse, a facade to buy us time.”

When Khalid didn’t answer she felt downright hysterical. He couldn’t be serious about marriage. There was just no way. No way. And how was it possible that she’d left prison only to be forced into marriage? Apparently it was just one jail in exchange for another. “I can’t do it,” she said fiercely, “and I won’t.”

“Then tell that to the Jabal officials who are coming to see us in an hour or two,” he said, doing little to hide his annoyance. “Tell them you’re not really my fiancée, tell them it was all a mistake and you’ll see what will happen when you get me out of the way. Olivia, I am the only one keeping you from that prison. I am the only one who can, and the only way I can is by offering you my name, my life and my family’s reputation.”

She hung her head, closed her eyes and dragged in a breath, and then another. “Why does it have to be jail or marriage? Why?”

“Because this isn’t Europe, or America, and you were charged with a very serious crime. A crime which can carry the death penalty.”

“But why did you have to tell Jake that I was getting married? He didn’t have to know. It hasn’t happened, and it might not happen—”

“He was going to read it in the papers tomorrow or the next day. I thought he’d want to know first. I thought he’d want to be prepared.”

Jake wasn’t going to understand, though. Jake knew her. He knew she’d only dated a little and had never had a proper boy-friend. When it came to men she was still ridiculously sheltered and the last thing she’d do, ever, was jump into a relationship with a man she didn’t know, much less a man from a culture so very different from hers.

“Jake’s just going to be more worried,” she said. “It’s only going to make things worse.”

“It can’t be much worse for him that it already is,” Khalid answered shortly. “He’s had his hands full these past few weeks and the truth is, you are safer with me than you were in Ozr.”

“What do you mean, things can’t be much worse for him than they already are? What’s happened back home?”

Khalid abruptly turned the interior light on, flooding the car with yellow light. “Your mother took the news of your disappearance badly—”

“What do you mean ‘badly'? How badly?” she interrupted.

“She had a heart attack—”

“No!” Liv pressed a hand to her mouth. “No,” she repeated, voice muffled. “It can’t be.”

“I understand she’s better. She’s stable, and resting, but she’s still not strong and your brother has been caring for her. Otherwise he’d be here now.”

Liv shook her head, her thoughts wild and chaotic. Her entire world had been upended and she couldn’t get her bearings. “When did she have the heart attack?”

“A week ago.”

With an unsteady finger she reached up to dash away tears before they could fall. “Are you sure she’s okay?”

“She’s back home. She’s sleeping a lot right now.”

“That’s why you didn’t want me to call home earlier.”

“Yes.”

Exhaling slowly, she drew another painful breath. “I’m not ready to lose my mom. I just lost my dad a couple years ago.”

“You must be strong now. You must believe that everything will work out. Everything will be fine.”

“Do you really think everything really be fine?”

He gazed down at her for a long, level moment. There was a fierce intelligence in his eyes that reminded her of a hawk or falcon circling before making its kill. “Yes.” His long black lashes dropped, concealing his fierce, dark eyes. “It may take time, but things always do work out. One way, or another.”