‘Because he’s there solely for my benefit. And also because he sees it as a sign of disrespect to me to be brought into a private conversation.’
‘But I mean no disrespect! Surely he knows that?’
‘Whether you do or not doesn’t alter his belief.’
‘Really?’
Zaid sobered. ‘Yes. There was a time when he would’ve been severely punished for being addressed directly in the presence of his ruler.’
‘What? That’s preposterous! It’s not his fault if he’s spoken to while he’s in the room.’
‘He’s supposed to be unobtrusive. Being made to feel self-conscious doesn’t sit right with him.’
‘Okay. Thanks for telling me that. I’ll make sure he’s not uncomfortable in my presence.’
She gasped when he caught her hand and linked their fingers. ‘You’re a true gem, Esmeralda Al-Ameen. I’m a very blessed man.’
Esme allowed her heart to take the leap it wanted. Although it soon fell with the knowledge that with each day that passed, and the more she fell under her husband’s spell, the more heartache she was inviting.
As for her rush to tell Zaid her sordid secret, he’d said her past didn’t matter. She’d decided to take his word for it.
For now.
One day he would need to know. And when that day came, she would tell him.
Except the day came much, much sooner than she anticipated. Eleven days into their two-week honeymoon, to be exact. It didn’t matter that the day was perfect, cloudless and the happiest day of her life.
The moment Fawzi walked onto the sunny middle deck, where she and Zaid were having post-swimming drinks, she knew her days in paradise were over. His bow to her was brusque, and when he spoke it wasn’t in the deferential English he’d taken to speaking to both of them but in his master’s language.
Slowly, she watched Zaid’s whole body turn deathly still, then he started to fire questions at his private secretary. Questions Fawzi answered without once looking her way. But Zaid was looking straight at her, with cold eyes that froze her to the marrow. He spoke again to his assistant, and this time Fawzi’s gaze darted to her. Esme wished he’d kept ignoring her. That way she wouldn’t have seen the pity in his eyes.
He started to walk away. Zaid issued one last instruction. The younger man actually swallowed before he bowed and left the deck.
Thick silence ensued. Despite the blazing temperatures, she shivered.
‘You know about Bryan, don’t you?’ Her voice was as weak as she felt.
His nostrils flared for a wild instant before he spoke. ‘Is it true? He killed himself because you fleeced him out of one hundred thousand dollars then rejected him?’
Her heart shook with misery. ‘No, it was my father. But he wouldn’t have gone after Bryan if I hadn’t made friends with him. My interest in him was what triggered my father’s attention.’ Like every time she thought about Bryan, she wished she’d walked away the day he’d approached her in that restaurant in Vegas.
‘This is the guy who took you in his helicopter?’ he pressed. ‘He’s the reason you’re racked with guilt whenever you approach a helicopter?’
She nodded, her throat clogged with a boulder of dreadful pain. Not just because of the memory but the certain knowledge that she was about to lose Zaid.
‘When did he take his own life?’
‘The day after I refused his proposal. It was a few days before my eighteenth birthday. He wanted us to get married on my birthday. I said no. I was too young. God, so was he. We rowed after the helicopter ride and I never saw him again. A few days later his letter arrived. My father had emptied his bank account. Bryan thought I’d helped Dad to do it, but I didn’t. I hadn’t known anything about it. I tried to get my father to return the money. But...’
‘But?’ Zaid demanded harshly.
‘It was too late. Bryan threw himself off a bridge that morning.’
His face hardened. ‘Did you know he loved you? Did you love him?’
?
?No, I didn’t love him. He was just my friend. But I love you, Zaid,’ she confessed desperately.