The Sheik's Kidnapped Bride (20 page)

“King
Givon
,” she said, pushing her dessert aside and leaning forward. “Opening the colleges to women isn’t enough. Despite the advances made during your glorious rule, many families still believe it is a waste to educate a woman. They don’t bother to send them to more than a half dozen years of school, and most only receive that much because your government has made it the law. There are hundreds of bright and articulate females out there, and their potential is going to waste.”

The king raised his bushy, graying eyebrows. “They marry, they produce children. That is not a waste.”

“Oh, I agree completely. If you’re saying that your people are El
Bahar’s
greatest resource.”

Khalil
watched as his father considered Dora’s words.
Khalil
saw the trap at once, but he had the advantage of knowing his wife’s agile mind. The king was not so fortunate.

“Of course. They are our future.”

“If that is your belief, then I don’t understand your willingness to ignore and waste nearly fifty percent of the resources available to you. Educated women can still marry and have many children, but uneducated ones can do little to improve technology or teach in the schools, or become doctors and lawyers and entrepreneurs.”

She stared at the king. “These women deserve a chance to be their best. Not only for themselves, but for their country. All I’m asking is that you consider preparatory schools for teenage girls. Give them the opportunity to learn what they need so they can attend college.”

King
Givon
glared at her. “Schools mean buildings and teachers. That requires a large financial commitment.”

“You’d need scholarships, too,”
Khalil
reminded him. “Very few families could afford to send both sons and daughters to college.”

The king frowned. “You want too much.”

“It’s not possible to have too many dreams, Your Majesty. Especially when those dreams reflect what is best for El
Bahar
.”

“Oh, so now you want to tell me how to run my country?”

Khalil
forced back a grin. If the king thought he was going to intimidate Dora, he was in for a shock.
Khalil
had long since learned that his wife had a mind of her own. He glanced at his two brothers who had wisely stayed out of the discussion. Their gazes moved from Dora to
Givon
and back. He noted the faint flicker of respect in their eyes when they looked at his wife, and he was proud. He might have chosen her because she was convenient and met many of his criteria, but he wanted to keep her because he could not have found anyone more suited to himself and his world.

Dora smiled at the king. “Your Majesty is a wise and compassionate ruler. I would never presume to tell you how to oversee your country. I’m merely pointing out that there is no point in trying to move forward with the heavy weight of a silly tradition holding El
Bahar
back.”

The king glared at Jamal and
Malik
. “Have you nothing to say?”

The two brothers exchanged a glance.
Malik
shrugged. “We don’t want to get involved.”

“They’re afraid,” Dora said.

Malik
looked at her as if he was going to protest, then he grinned. “Let’s just say that Jamal and I have no desire to take you on, Princess Dora. You would be a most formidable enemy.”

“And a most advantageous ally,” Jamal added.

The king made a low growling sound, then turned to his youngest son. “Have you nothing to say, or are you content to let your wife speak for you?”

“As a man married to one of the bright, articulate women Dora mentioned earlier, in this matter I’m quite comfortable letting my wife speak for us both.”

The king did not look pleased with his response. He returned his attention to Dora. “I will consider what you have discussed with me and take it up with members of the inner council. That is not a promise or a commitment, Dora, it is my word that I will not dismiss your ideas. Your heart is in the right place.” The king softened his words with a faint smile. “Even if you remain a Western woman filled with foolishness about equality for your gender.”

“Who’s the fool?” she asked. “She who speaks the words, or the man who listens?”

Givon
laughed. “Leave me, all of you. I have work to complete this afternoon.”

They rose and left the king’s private dining room.
Malik
and Jamal headed toward their offices, but
Khalil
put his hand on Dora’s arm to stop her.

“Let’s go for a walk on the balcony,” he said. “I think you probably need to calm down.”

“I’m not upset,” she told him, but she allowed herself to be led outside onto the balcony.

The summer heat was nearly upon them. Already, midday temperatures climbed to a hundred degrees. They stayed in the shade, but even so they walked slowly so as not to get overly warm.

“I appreciate what you said,” Dora told him, slipping her hand into his. “When you told the king that I was bright and articulate and that you didn’t mind me speaking for you. That meant a lot to me.”

“I told the truth,” he said lightly, although he found himself pleased by her praise. “You are bright and articulate, and in this matter, I’m quite pleased to have you speak for me.”

“Oh, I see. In this matter, but not others.”

He stopped and turned so he faced her. “In some matters,” he said. “Just as you would be content to let me speak for you in some things, but not others. That is all I meant, and I believe you know that. Why do you want to fight with me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them and exhaled. Some of the stiffness left her body. “You’re right,
Khalil
. I’m being difficult. I guess I’m still frustrated by my conversation with the king. There’s so much to be done, and I feel like it’s all going to happen so slowly.”

“Perhaps, but it will happen. You are committed to my people and that means more than you can know, to both myself and the king. He will listen. My father is a wise man.”

“I know. I’m being a child, wanting what I want, when I want it, which means right now.”

He understood her feelings, for that is exactly how he felt about her. He wanted her on his terms, and he wanted her now.

They started walking again, moving toward their offices. “There’s so much opportunity here,” she said, again taking his hand. “I want to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”

“You are.”

While he wanted to continue the conversation, a part of him was distracted by the feel of her fingers laced with his. Ever since the kiss the previous week, there had been more touching between them. She had initiated much of it, and while it gave him hope, it also made him want to have the trouble between them already fixed. But along with being bright and articulate, she was also quite stubborn.

They walked into the main corridor of the office complex and found themselves in the center of bustling activity. Martin walked quickly toward them, saw Dora, stopped and smiled.

“Good afternoon, princess,” he said, grinning as if he had a delicious secret. “Did you enjoy your lunch?”

“Very much,” Dora said, sounding puzzled. “Thank you for asking.”

“Have you been back to your office yet?” Martin asked.

Dora frowned. “No. Why?”

“There’s a surprise waiting there.”

Khalil
stiffened. A surprise? If one existed, it didn’t have anything to do with him. Had Gerald shown up unexpectedly? A flash of jealousy cut through him like a knife. He and Dora might have some things to work out but he was not about to let his wife return to that eater of camel dung. Besides, he’d made some discreet inquiries shortly after he and Dora had arrived in El
Bahar
. Gerald had been fired from his job and had been forced to move back home with his parents. The other man didn’t know where Dora was, nor had he tried to contact her after that single phone call.

Even though he told himself it was nothing that should bother him,
Khalil
still urged Dora to hurry. Who else would have prepared a surprise for her?

But when they reached the office, her large room was empty of furniture. Eva met them at the door. Her smile was as broad as Martin’s.

“This way, Your Highness,” she said, leading them back into the corridor and on to the other side of the office complex. There, near the office for the prime minister and the deputy minister of finance, stood a man securing a name plate on a wide double door.

Khalil
read the words. Fierce pride filled him as he watched his wife study the letters. Emotions flashed across her face—first shock, followed by surprise, confusion, comprehension and joy.

Princess Dora Khan, Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs.

“I don’t understand,” Dora said, turning to
Khalil
. “The king couldn’t have done all this since we left lunch. There wasn’t enough time.”

Eva laughed. “No, Your Highness. He’s had it planned for several days. That’s why the working lunch lasted so long. He wanted to get your things moved. Oh, and the king said to tell you that he still wants you to act as liaison with Western companies, but that you’ll also be busy with the project of your heart, so he’s going to ask parliament to grant you a staff of a half dozen or so.”

Dora still looked stunned as she turned her attention to
Khalil
. “Did you know about this?”

“No. And I didn’t talk to my father about it, either. You’ve done this one on your own, Dora.”

She flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. He held her close. “Thank you for everything,” she whispered fiercely.

From the corner of his eyes,
Khalil
saw Eva disappear into Dora’s office, leaving the two of them alone. He hugged his wife and inhaled the sweet scent of her body.

“I told you, I didn’t have anything to do with this,” he said. “You don’t have to thank me.”

She straightened and stared at him. There were tears in her eyes. She impatiently brushed them away. “Of course I have to. You might not be directly responsible, but you’ve made all of this possible.” She raised herself up on tiptoes and kissed him. “I have to get to work now.”

He watched her disappear behind those wide double doors. Dora had accomplished so much in such a short time—both with his country and with him personally. He couldn’t imagine life without her anymore. But as much as he wanted to make this wonderful woman his, he did not know how to make that happen. He knew what she wanted from him, but he wasn’t sure he could give it to her. She asked much of him, as both a man and a prince. Could he learn to bend? Did he have a choice? If he didn’t, he would lose her.

Khalil
found himself trapped by circumstances of his own making. And there wasn’t anything he could do but wait and see how it would all play out.

“You will yield to me, wife, or I will know the reason why,”
Khalil
bellowed as he stood in the center of Dora’s bedroom.

His shirttail hung free of his slacks, and his feet were bare. Dora wore little more than her bra, panties and blouse. They’d been in the middle of kissing, when he’d asked her to finish taking off his clothes. But instead of being swept away by passion, she’d found herself slightly distracted and had refused without thinking.

“You know the reason why,” Dora told him calmly.

Better to fight about this, she thought, than for him to know the reason that she hadn’t been completely involved in their lovemaking. She’d fought against the truth for a long time, and Lord willing, she was going to continue to fight against it. Life was complicated enough without her worrying about any significant changes in the status of her family. She and
Khalil
had to learn to be a married couple before they could be parents. At least that’s what she told herself with more conviction than she felt.

“I do not know anything of the sort,” he insisted. “It has been nearly four months. Why won’t you admit that you love me?”

His question nearly made her gasp aloud, but she managed to control her reaction. “You want me to love you so that I will do as you wish, but there is more to a marriage than subservience from the woman. I want a partnership. I want us to share and be honest. Those are things you can’t seem to understand.”

“Of course I understand. I don’t want you to be subservient. I want you to admit your feelings.”

That she loved him? She couldn’t continue to live with
Khalil
, work with him, ride with him and share the most intimate act possible between a man and a woman without loving him, but she would be damned if she would admit it before he did.

She wished it were just a matter of pride. That would be easy for her to overcome. But it wasn’t that simple. The truth was, despite loving
Khalil
, she didn’t fully trust him. She needed to know that he cared for her as much as she cared for him. She needed to know that any unborn children would be welcomed and raised by adoring parents as part of a strong family unit. She desperately needed to know that he would never grow tired of her and move on. She wanted to hold the key to his heart as much as he held the key to hers.

“Why don’t you admit your feelings?” she asked. “You’re being stubborn as well. Tell me you love me and that you’re sorry and all will be well.”

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “How much longer do you plan to play this game?”

“Forever, if necessary.” She looked at him, then planted her hands on her hips. “You know my terms,
Khalil
. You resist them, you deny them and you want them changed, but nothing is different today than it was when I first arrived. You lied to me. You took advantage of the misfortune in my life and told me that you cared for me. You implied that you loved me, then you railroaded me into marriage and brought me here without giving me time to consider other options.”

His dark eyes blazed with fire. “I married you. You seem to forget that fact, but it remains the central issue of this discussion. I have honored you by taking you as my bride.”

She glared at him. “Oh, and you weren’t the least honored by my agreeing to marry you?”

“Of course not,” he said. “Look at the life that you had before we met. So small and pitiful. You were nothing, and I gave you the world. I am Prince
Khalil
Khan—”

She took a single step toward him. “Don’t start that. I’m warning you, I’ll throw you out of my room right now and never let you back.”

She had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out. The wound from his thoughtless words went deep, all the way down to her heart. Nothing? Is that what she’d been to him? Had he really thought so little of her when they were first married? She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe slowly. She knew the answer to the question. It was as obvious as his quick and easy response. Yes, he had thought nothing of her or of their marriage. He’d been in a difficult situation, for reasons that had never made sense to her. She’d been slightly appropriate and very available. End of story.

Something warm stroked her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw that her husband had moved closer. He cupped her jaw. “I spoke hastily,” he told her, smiling faintly and with what she wanted to believe was affection. “At the time I didn’t know you enough to be honored by the thought of you as my wife, but I have learned. You are a great woman, and I am fortunate to have you in my life.”

She wanted to give in to him. She wanted to take off the rest of her clothes and have him do the same, then stretch out with him on the big bed and make love until morning. She wanted to hear words of love and have him hold her close, then find the courage to tell him what she thought might have happened…that their lovemaking could have produced a child who was, at this very moment, growing inside of her.

But she did none of those things. Because
Khalil
was a stubborn man. Nearly as stubborn as herself, she thought, trying to find a crumb of humor in the situation.

“Tell me you were wrong,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around him. “Tell me you’re sorry. Tell me that you care.”

He pushed her away. “You cry after the moon. You still want your dreams. I am
Khalil
Khan, prince of El
Bahar
, and I will not be dictated to by a woman. Accept what we have between us, and be grateful.”

She straightened her spine. She was sick of hearing him announce his name and title as if those words had the power to change the tides.

“That may be true, Prince
Khalil
, but you are forgetting one very important fact.”

He raised his eyebrows expectantly. “What is that?”

“I am Dora Khan, princess of El
Bahar
, and I do not sleep with liars.”

With that, she walked to the front door of her suite and held it open.
Khalil
moved slowly toward her.

“Is this what we’ve come to?” he asked. “A battle of wills.”

“It’s always been a battle of wills. The only difference is this is the first time you haven’t won.”

He glared at her. “You will not win this one. Don’t push me too far, wife, or you will be sorry.”

She thought of all her hopes and dreams. How she’d come so far in some areas and not made any progress in others. “I already am,
Khalil
. You think I turn away from you out of stubbornness or a desire to punish, but the truth is the pain in my heart drives me.”

Then, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say, she gently closed the door, shutting out her husband and leaving herself very much alone.

Khalil
stood in the hallway. He wanted to rage against circumstances or fate or whatever it was that had brought him to this place. He did not deserve to be shut out from the bed of his wife. Didn’t she understand that?

He glared at the shut door and thought about ordering her to let him back in. The problem was Dora might choose to ignore him. She could be stubborn that way. Actually she could be stubborn in many ways. She was infuriating. She was also bright and good at her new job. She saw the possibilities in El
Bahar
that no one had seen before.

If only she would give in on this one simple matter. How dare she expect him to apologize for what he’d done? It wasn’t as if she’d had such a great life and he’d taken her from it. She’d been alone, jobless, abandoned by her fiancé. She’d been…

The thought ended, and a new one began. It was most disquieting, so he started walking to distract himself. He hurried down the familiar corridors until he came to his own rooms. But instead of entering, he stood there thinking.

Dora had been a person, he thought at last. Someone with rights and feelings, and there was the smallest possibility he’d been wrong to take advantage of her. Even if she was just a woman.

But to admit that he loved her? Preposterous. He opened the door to his suite and stepped inside. The darkness seemed to surround him. He still ached for her. They’d begun to build the fire but had not had time to quench the hunger with flames. His body was ready to take her to that place of perfect paradise. His arms needed to hold her close, his lips longed to utter her name.

She wanted words of love and foolish apologies. He offered a kingdom—money and power. They battled to be the victor. His grandmother had told him to woo her; his pride said that Dora must surrender first. One of them would have to bend, he thought sadly. If they didn’t, they were destined to fail.

The party was going strong when Dora arrived. She stood in a side entrance to the ballroom and admired the beautiful decorations and the glittering crowd. King
Givon
hosted a “small, intimate” birthday celebration for his good friend and prime minister,
Aleser
. However, small and intimate in the royal world was different from small and intimate in Dora’s experience. There were more than a hundred people in the room.

Dora drew in a deep breath and tried to relax. She felt fine, and she looked good. At least that’s what she’d told herself as she’d dressed an hour before.

Since arriving in El
Bahar
, she’d started letting her hair grow. Now she wore it swept up in an elegant French twist. A few weeks before she and
Khalil
had gone to Paris for business meetings. Fatima had given Dora the name of an exclusive salon, which had pampered her with a manicure and facial. Afterward, a gifted artist had taught her the best way to apply makeup. All the horseback riding and the long distances between rooms in the palace had helped Dora drop ten pounds since arriving. While she would never be model perfect, she was an attractive, vital woman. Unfortunately she cowered in the shadowed doorway like a frightened schoolchild. If only she’d been able to walk in with
Khalil
.

Dora sighed. While her husband had been greeting guests, she’d been throwing up in her bathroom. So much for morning sickness occurring in the morning. Her attacks were infrequent, but they generally came in waves, striking every few hours, then disappearing for a day or two. Still not sure how to tell
Khalil
the truth about her pregnancy, she’d sent him away, telling him that she’d found a stain on her dress and had to change. The price of her lie was that she would be forced to enter the party on her own.

She took a step into the well-dressed crowd and moved toward the bar. There she ordered sparkling water poured into a wineglass, then plastered a smile on her face and prepared to plunge into the insanity.

“Your Highness,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

Dora turned and saw Martin
Wingbird
hurrying toward her. A tall, stately man walked briskly behind him. She paused.

“Good evening, Martin.”

“Your Highness.” Martin bowed, then glanced at his companion. “Princess Dora Khan, may I please present Lord Andrew Hall. He’s heard about your plans to increase opportunities for young women to attend college and would like to speak to you about that.”

Lord Hall took her offered hand and bowed low over her fingers. “Your Highness, I hesitated to disrupt a party to discuss business, but I’m only in El
Bahar
for a short visit.” He straightened. “My late wife was a great advocate of female education, as she called it.” He smiled, but his deep blue eyes remained sad. “In honor of her, I have dedicated my life to that cause. After hearing about your campaign and your success in convincing the king of the need to educate women, I would like to talk about offering scholarships to worthy female students so that they could attend British universities.”

Dora studied the thin man. His white hair was thick and wavy, his skin permanently tanned. “How on earth did you hear about my program?”

“News travels quickly, Your Highness. You are a highly visible and respected member of the royal family. People watch and talk.”

Dora laughed. “I suppose I have to believe you, but I’m still having trouble adjusting to all this.” She waved to take in both the party and the palace. “Lord Hall, I would be most delighted to discuss the scholarships with you. Will you still be in El
Bahar
tomorrow?”

“Business keeps me here for three days.”

“Good.” She looked at Martin. “Make an appointment for Lord Hall.” She returned her attention to the older man. “I look forward to our discussion.”

“As do I.” He nodded and moved away.

Dora sipped at her sparkling water. Life was certainly different these days. Just six months ago, she couldn’t have imagined a world such as this.

She circled the room, greeting people she knew, introducing herself to others. Small talk wasn’t her favorite, but practice made her better. She kept looking for
Khalil
, wondering where he was and what he was doing. Finally she caught a glimpse of something familiar, and she stopped in her tracks.

Dora stood near a small alcove, one of many that lined the ballroom. Behind her music played and people laughed and talked, but in front of her was relative silence. She waited, then caught the movement again. It was no more than a swirl of fabric from a woman’s dress and the gesture of one slender arm. Yet she sensed something familiar…something dangerous.