More Precious than a Crown

CHAPTER SIX

IT WAS FAR more complicated, though.

Zahid knew it.

It wasn’t just that his people would never accept her as his bride. Or that she might not want to be one.

It went a lot deeper than that.

Zahid rolled away as he did after sex, but then thought twice and rolled back to face her again.

‘Penny for them,’ Trinity said, and it took a moment for him to register that she was asking his thoughts.

‘Oh, it would cost a lot more than that,’ Zahid said.

It might cost him his kingdom or, worse, he might lose his head, though not in the way he had joked about before. How could he run a country with Trinity waiting in his bed? How could he focus on his people when his mind would be so consumed by her?

It was no surprise when Trinity turned from his silence and picked up her phone.

Whatever he thought of them, they were her family.

‘Eight missed calls,’ Trinity said.

‘You need to go down?’

‘I don’t want to,’ Trinity admitted, ‘but, given that I fly out this afternoon, it would be wrong not to put in an appearance.’

‘I know.’

Zahid then made a huge concession. Yes, he had decided to sever ties but for her he would do the right thing. ‘Do you want me to come down with you?’

Trinity shook her head and climbed out of bed and started to gather her things.

‘What are you doing?’ Zahid asked.

‘I have to get ready. I need to go to my room.’

‘You can get ready here.’

‘It’s going to be bad enough wearing last night’s clothes in the elevator, I’m certainly not going down to face everyone in my bridesmaid’s dress.’

‘Go and have a shower,’ Zahid said. ‘I will have your things brought here.’

He took care of all the details so easily, Trinity thought as she quickly had a shower and this time she did make a bit of effort with her hair, blasting it with the hotel hairdryer and doing what she could with Zahid’s comb.

Now came the hard bit and for once she didn’t mean facing her family or facing her fears.

It was facing the man on the other side of the door and pretending what had just happened had been little more than a very pleasant interlude.

Now she had to give him up.

Maybe she could go to the pharmacist and ask for Zahid patches, like Donald had when he’d tried to give up smoking, Trinity thought, making a little joke to herself, trying to lighten the load on her mind. But no gradually reducing dose was going to wean her off Zahid. Trinity knew that already.

Cold turkey, here I come, she decided, opening the door and wearing a smile.

Zahid lay in bed, watching as she put on some make-up and then tied up her hair.

It was over.

He just didn’t want it to be.

Or rather he did, for these feelings that he had for her did not sit right with him, these feelings spelt danger.

His mind flicked to his father, bereft on his mother’s death, scarcely able to stand, let alone lead a country.

The same would not happen to him.

The dress she had bought for this morning was colourful and floaty and did not quite match her threatening tears as she took the case to the door.

‘I’ll drop it in my room on the way down.’

Zahid nodded.

So this was goodbye.

‘You look beautiful,’ he told her, for it was the truth.

‘Thank you.’

She ached, not just from him but for him.

‘What time is your flight?’ Zahid asked.

Trinity told him.

‘That is an hour before I am scheduled to fly,’ Zahid said.

Their eyes met as they did the maths in their heads, as their brains raced to mental calculators to tap in more time.

One more kiss, one more taste, one more time.

‘I could take you to the airport.’

‘So I...’

‘Leave your case here.’

She almost ran to him. Maybe she did, for suddenly she was back on the bed and in his arms and responding to the fierce promise of his kiss.

‘Take as long as you need with your family,’ Zahid said as she wrenched herself off, ‘but not five minutes more.’

They smiled because they both wanted that little sliver of time before they had to leave.

‘Are you sure that you don’t want me to join you?’ Zahid offered again.

‘I’d rather go down on my own.’

She looked at Zahid and there was a moment when she truly wanted to tell him the truth but the very fact that she hadn’t meant that, no, he could not join her downstairs.

If he did then it would be a huge disservice to Zahid for, yes, he would do the right thing and make polite small talk with her family, even Clive.

She would not put him, even unwittingly, through that.

‘Penny for them,’ Zahid said, and Trinity just gave a pensive smile.

‘They’re not even worth that.’

They weren’t, Trinity realised.

Not a pennyworth of thoughts did she want to give to a man who had no place in this room.

‘Thank you,’ Trinity said, and Zahid’s eyes narrowed in a slight frown, for it had been a little joke that she might want to thank him but it sounded like she meant it.

‘The pleasure was mine.’

One more kiss, and then just one more, before Trinity headed downstairs to where both Donald’s and Yvette’s families were gathered. Surprisingly it was a lot easier, knowing that if things got too difficult she could go back up to Zahid.

Even not by her side, he gave her a confidence that she had never had.

‘I hear you’re working in a library,’ Yvette’s mother said, and she almost went to correct her but for the sake of peace Trinity lied.

‘In the reference section.’

She was the perfect daughter, circulating nicely, even pretending that she was listening as her mind roamed several floors upwards. Finally, when she glanced at the clock for the fiftieth time, it was time to say goodbye.

‘I’m sorry I got so upset yesterday,’ Yvette said as Trinity kissed her goodbye and wished her well for the honeymoon. ‘I spoke to Donald last night and it was all just a miscommunication with the hotel.’

‘That’s good.’

They spoke for a suitable time and Trinity was just saying her goodbyes to everyone else, silently congratulating herself on a job well done and about to slip away to spend a final, magical hour with Zahid, when Donald pulled her to one side.

‘Can I have a word, Trinity?’

She felt her heart sink and just closed her eyes as history repeated itself.

‘You know how I hate to ask,’ Donald said.

Except it didn’t stop him from doing so!

‘The hotel is insisting I pay for it all up front. How can I tell Yvette that I’ve messed up the honeymoon?’

‘I haven’t got it to give you.’ That wasn’t the issue, though and, not for the first time, she did her best to face it. ‘Donald, you need help.’

‘I need my honeymoon,’ Donald said. ‘It’s just been an expensive few weeks. If I can just get away...’

Trinity was too worried to be cross.

So, instead of heading back to Zahid and the bliss of his arms, after a lengthy discussion she sat in the business centre of the hotel and pulled up her account as her time with Zahid slipped ever further away.

She didn’t need to ask for Donald’s bank details, she had already used them several times.

Thanks to flying economy and saving what she could, Trinity had just over eight thousand dollars in her account. ‘How much do you need?’

‘Well, there’s the hotel, taxis, going out...’

‘How much?’ Trinity asked, and she couldn’t even manage a shrill edge to her voice.

‘Whatever you can manage.’

She left herself one hundred dollars and she was too tired from it all to be angry and too scared for her brother to be cross.

‘Please, get help, Donald.’ She gave him a hug when she stood.

Trinity truly did not know what to do.

She’d begged and pleaded with him over the years, she’d argued and threatened, had offered him the chance to come and stay at hers and just hang out by the beach, but all to no avail. ‘I don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t want to be at one of these bloody family things without you.’

‘I’m fine,’ said Donald, peeling her off, only she didn’t want to let go.

‘I’m scared I’m going to lose you.’

‘Honestly, Trinity, there’s nothing to worry about.’

‘I love you,’ Trinity said, ‘and so I do worry.’

‘Well, there’s no need. Thanks for this.’

By the time she’d calmed down and sorted out her make-up to look as if she hadn’t been in tears enough to go back to Zahid’s room it was already time for she and Zahid to leave for the airport.

‘I’m sorry, I got stuck...’

‘It’s fine.’ Zahid pulled her into his arms as their baggage was placed onto a large gold trolley. It wasn’t just sex he wanted from Trinity but this, that moment when he held her in his arms and she almost relaxed to him.

He could feel her heart hammering in her chest and, despite a brilliant make-up job, he knew there had been tears, and from the way she clung to him now he doubted that they had been happy ones. ‘How was it?’

‘Same old, same old,’ Trinity attempted, forcing herself to pull back and smile, but she met very serious eyes. ‘It was fine,’ she said, adding another log to the fire of lies between them.

The traffic was light and in no time they were at Trinity’s terminal. Zahid would go onto the VIP section and so they said their final goodbyes in the back of his car. Zahid raised his hand so that no one opened the door to let her out but her luggage was unloaded and it taunted Trinity from the corner of her eye.