Duty, Desire and the Desert King

“It depends on the woman. Oh, and she needs to be strong.”

“Strong?”

“Mentally…emotionally. I don’t want a subservient woman. She must be able to hold her own with me, as well as my family. It can be an intimidating family and although Sarq is more modern than many of our neighbors, it is still a Middle Eastern kingdom and quite different from our Western friends and allies.”

Rou’s pen hovered in midair. He was describing a woman she would never have picked for him. She would have thought he’d want a gorgeous bimbo, or a sultry beauty who’d make him look good in public. But beauty was sixth on his wish list. Intelligence was number one. Interesting, but puzzling, which made her realize she knew far less about Zayed than she’d thought.

The flight attendant returned with a tray holding their cups and her pot of tea, along with a plate of light biscuits and fruit and cheese.

Rou found herself reaching for a dark red grape and then a small wedge of cheese and realized she hadn’t eaten since last night. She’d been so nervous this morning she’d only drunk coffee. A little food was good. A little food now would go a long way.

She glanced up and saw Zayed studying her again, his brow furrowed. She reached for the linen serviette and brushed at her mouth. “What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

“No. It’s good to see you eat. You’re so very thin—”

“My mother was thin,” she interrupted, “Unfortunately I inherited her fast metabolism instead of her stunning cheekbones.” Rou smiled at her own joke but Zayed didn’t smile back.

“I suspect you don’t eat enough.”

“Sharif used to say the same thing. But I have this terribly sensitive stomach. When I’m nervous, or anxious, I can’t eat anything. My throat just closes up and tea is about all I can manage.”

His golden gaze had darkened at the mention of Sharif’s name. “You knew my brother well?”

Rou glanced down at her lap where she spread the linen cloth flat. “I think you know I earned the Fehr scholarship at Cambridge. It’s what helped me pay for all my graduate studies.”

“And that’s why you’re so devoted to Sharif?”

She felt herself blush. “No. But Sharif became a friend as well as a mentor during my years at Cambridge. It wasn’t until after I’d earned my advance degrees that I realized he helped me because of his sisters.”

“How did he help?” Zayed persisted.

“He offered advice and wisdom. He listened to my goals. He made introductions when he could.” She looked at Zayed, saw the skepticism in his expression and shrugged. “I know it sounds strange. Your brother is a powerful man, a very wealthy man, but he’s also a compassionate man, and I think in his own way, he needed me as much as I needed him.”

“Sharif needs no one. He’s the rock of the family. Invincible.”

Rou wrinkled her brow. “You think so?”

“From birth he’s been groomed to lead. From the start he’s known what is expected of him and he’s done it, without complaint.”

“But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t felt loss, or pain. Or worry, or doubt.”

“You’re not describing my brother—”

“And you just don’t want to see your brother as a man, and vulnerable.”

“Sharif isn’t vulnerable. He’s never been vulnerable, and he’s going to be found. He’ll be back in Sarq, running the country again in no time.”

Rou studied him curiously. “If you really believe that, then why go to all the trouble of finding a proper wife and getting married? Why not just wait for his return?”

“I can’t.” His tone was curt, his frustration evident. “Sarq law requires a present king, therefore I must assume the throne, but I can’t without a bride.”

She was silent a moment, digesting this, as well as wondering how to best word what she wanted to say next. “Sheikh Fehr, I have to be honest. If you want a woman to marry you so you can assume the throne, then that’s one thing. But if you want a woman who is your life partner, that’s entirely different.”

“The woman needs to be one and the same. I need a bride, and I want a successful marriage. Surely you have someone in your system who would be open to a short courtship? Someone not opposed to, say, an arranged marriage? Someone who would benefit from my position, and wealth? Someone who could contribute to our lives here…?”

She knew the answer. It was no. None of the women she’d met and represented would want to be whisked here, married within days, and then left here for the next twenty-some years. For most modern women it’d be a horrific prospect. “Forgive me, but Sarq is in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yes.”

“You’re isolated.”

“And…?”

“Do you intend to remain here permanently, then? Or will you live part-time in Monte Carlo? I know you have a home there.”

“As king I have to live where my people live.”

“And your new bride?”

He gave her a look that indicated she might have lost her mind. “She’d live with me, of course.”

She ran a hand over her eyes, already exhausted. This was impossible. He had to realize that, didn’t he? Wonderful, successful, intelligent, confident, strong women didn’t just run to the Middle East and marry a sheikh and stay there, buried in the desert. It was one thing if a woman was desperate, or had no choice, but the woman he described as his ideal wife would have a choice, and she wouldn’t find his life as a desert king appealing. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’re describing an arranged marriage, and if you want an arranged marriage, you’re better off with a woman from your own culture—”

“No.”

“—who could embrace the concept of arranged marriage,” she continued as though he’d never spoken. “Western women won’t.”

“Why not?”

“You know the answer to this. You’ve only dated Western women for years. Women in the West don’t want to get married because they have to, or because he has to. They want to marry because they’re desired and loved and cherished.”

His strong, black brows flattened, emphasizing the lines of his high, hard cheekbones and straight nose. “But I would respect and cherish my wife.”

She noted he said respect and cherish, not love and cherish but she didn’t comment on that. “It takes time for a woman to know that, as well as examples. Proof. That’s why men court women. They’re showing women how they’d be treated…what they can expect. It’s a wooing, and you’re not leaving time for that.”

“I’ll do it after the ceremony. Just let her know it will happen.”

“After the ceremony?” She gave him her sternest look. “And now one last question. It’s sensitive since I know we’re coming from two different cultures, but I need to know about the political and social rights of women. Are women considered equals in Sarq? Are there laws to protect them? What rights do women have?”

“Women do not have all the rights of men—yet. But that is something Sharif has been working to change, and I will make this a priority, as well.”

“So what if a woman—your woman—breaks the law? What would happen to her?”

“I’d protect her.”

“But could you?” Rou leaned forward, urgency in her voice. “Could you truly?”

“Do you doubt my word?”

“No, I don’t doubt your word. I just want what’s best for your future wife—”

“And you think I don’t?” he interrupted almost violently, his features dark, his expression fierce.

She stared up at him in stunned silence. She’d never seen him like this, never heard this anger in his voice before, either. “No,” she stuttered.

“Good. Consider the subject closed.” He rose from the table and walked away, disappearing into a cabin at the back of the plane.

The back cabin of the jet had been designed as a small, snug and yet exceptionally comfortable bedroom. Zayed sat heavily on the edge of the lo

w bed and covered his face with his hands.

He rarely lost his temper. He hated that he’d lost it now. But her questions…those questions…

She didn’t understand. She’d never understand. No one had ever understood.

He wasn’t like the rest of his family. He was different. Cursed. And yet once, he and his brothers had all been the same, all raised the same. Arab princes, beloved sons of the desert, children of fortune.

And although Zayed was the middle of the three princes, and the second-eldest of five, he’d been his father’s favorite and he knew it. He’d never wondered why he was the favorite, either, he’d just accepted it, just as he accepted his good fortune. Just as he’d accepted that he was destined for greatness, and great things. In the beginning it was so clear that fate had favored him, so obvious he would live a blessed life.

But he’d been wrong.

It wasn’t a blessed life. It was cursed. He was cursed.

And so he took himself away from the desert and his family, away from the people who might be hurt by his curse and turned to the pleasures of the world, only there was no pleasure when one was cursed.