The Mistress Bride

'Are you saying that the bed reserved in the private clinic was not your doing?' Evie questioned.

The nod of his covered head confirmed the point. 'Though I can accept,' he added, 'that I must have given the impression that it would have been better if the coming child had not been conceived or my ill-chosen messenger would not have taken the initiative upon himself to add such a grave suggestion in my name. Needless to say-' .he shrugged '-Jamal Al Kareem no longer holds such a trusted position in my employ-or any other position, come to that.'

'If this is the truth, why hasn't Raschid told me all of this?' Evie was already questioning the truth in what he was saying here, for there was no doubt in her mind that Raschid would have rushed to tell her, if only to help clear his father's name. But the Crown Prince was shaking his head. 'Raschid cannot tell you what he does not know,' he said, then added with a shrug and a grim smile, 'He would kill the man if he discovered this. Better I continue to shoulder the blame than have my son imprisoned for murder in one of our own jails. He will learn to forgive me in time, you see. Whereas you,' he added shrewdly, 'I suspect will never forgive-or even let me get close to my grandchild if you continue to believe me capable of such a dastardly crime. Which is why, of course, I am making this confession to you.'

He was right, and Evie didn't even bother to pretend otherwise. Now all she had to do was decide whether she could risk believing him or not.

Then she looked into that face that was so like Raschid's face. Saw the pride there, saw what it was costing that pride for this man to make this confession to her, and at last felt the tension begin to ease out of her backbone.

'Your people lined our route here,' she remarked, quite out of context. 'Raschid insists they were welcoming us. Were they?'

'Yes,' he confirmed.

'And was that your doing?'

'Ah,' he said, and his smile was wry to say the least. 'I understand what you are attempting to do here. You are attempting to bestow upon me qualities I do not possess,' he perceived. 'But I will reluctantly decline the redeeming offer. So no.' He replied to the question. I did not command my people to welcome you both here tonight. In fact I confess that their response came as big a shock to me as it did to Raschid. You see .. .' he added softly, 'I saw my son's marriage to you as a sign of weakness in him-whereas my people surprised me with their perception in seeing only strength in a man who stands by his principles, no matter what those principles are going to cost him.'

'Kismet,' Evie murmured softly.

'My son's definition?' he asked, then smiled. 'He could be right,' he quietly conceded. 'And who am I to be so conceited as to pull against the will of Allah?'

You are a man who is seeing your own power diminish as your son's grows stronger, Evie realised on a sharp pang of understanding as she watched those eyes so like Raschid's eyes cloud with a sadness at his own dulling senses.And without letting herself think about it she got up and walked over to squat down beside him. 'If I promise to be as good a wife as any woman could be for your son,' she offered, 'do you think you and I could call a truce?

'And what would you require from me in return?' 'Acceptance,' Evie answered instantly. 'That I am what Raschid wants, even though I absolutely refuse to walk two paces behind him, no matter how exalted he is,' she added with a teasing smile that at last melted the ice from her eyes. The Crown Prince burst out laughing.

And that was how Raschid caught them when he strode into the room a moment later. His face was hard, his eyes angry, his body taut with a desire to taste someone's blood.

'Ah,' his father murmured in greeting. 'My prodigal son at last. You have married well, Raschid.' He dryly announced his approval. 'She is beautiful. She is tough, and she is blessed with compassion. I commend your good taste and your good fortune.'

'I wish you would tell me what he said to you,' Raschid sighed out in heavy frustration.

'I told you,' Evie replied, leaning contentedly against him. They were standing on the balcony of Raschid's private apartment in his father's palace. The stars were still out, though not for much longer. Dawn was on its way. 'He apologised. I accepted his apology. Then we called a truce.'

'Just like that?' He didn't believe her.

'Well, not just like that,' she allowed, but still had no intention of breaking his father's confidence. 'I liked him,' she confessed. 'He showed dignity in defeat and apologised with grace. And I felt sorry for him,' she added with a small sigh. 'He sees his own strength fading as yours grows stronger. It hurts him.'

'And because of that you decided to forgive him?'

'Well, no. But...' Twisting around in his arms, Evie gazed up at him solemnly. 'He is your father,' she explained. 'Which means that without him you would not have been born. Now ... ' she continued, moving closer to the lean, hard length of his body. 'Just think for a moment what that would mean to me. No you and me coming together like this,' she said as her fingers began trailing across his silk-covered shoulders. 'No one for me to love and be loved by. No fantastic sex on a starlit balcony.'

'No, Evie,' he groaned, catching hold of her fingers. 'I-'

'I know,' she cut in. 'You made this vow. But tell me, Raschid, how much more proof does Allah need that you must truly love me, having just watched you marry me not once but three times? And anyway,' she went on before he could answer, 'I have come up with a really ingenious strategy to get around your silly vow,' she confided, reaching up to run the tip of her tongue along the rigid line of his jaw.

'I seduce you ... .' she whispered, freeing her captured fingers so she could slip the bootlace straps that were holding up her nightdress down her arms. 'You don't have to do a single thing, I promise you .. .' Fine silk whispered to the ground around her bare feet.

'This way, your honour remains firmly intact and I get what I want...' she explained as her hands then became busy with the belt on his blue silk robe. She found warm, tight male flesh and pounced hungrily on it. Her body arched, stretched sensually then moved even closer until she was pressing herself to the full length of him.

'You see,' she breathed against his mouth, 'you taught me well. I know all the right moves to make this work for us.' As she spoke one of her legs hooked itself around his leg, the pad of her bare foot stroking caressingly along a rock-solid calf muscle. The action brought her hips into more intimate contact with what was cradled between his hips.

If he was fighting to withhold his response to this blatant bit of female provocation, he wasn't being very successful, and Evie sighed with pleasure against his mouth as she moved softly against him.

It took just two minutes to make him weaken, and another two to have him scoop her up in his arms and carry her inside. The bed waited-a wickedly decadent affair with silk sheets strewn with jewel-coloured cushions, which he settled them both down amongst.

Then there were too many long, delicious minutes to count when he took over the seduction, drawing her down through layer after layer of pleasure until she lay, boneless, beneath him.

'A thousand years from now,' he murmured as he paused above her, his face a dark gold map of intense desire, 'I will still remember this night.'