A Secret Birthright

“Rose did, without a second’s hesitation.”

“Rose, as you noticed, is…is…”

“Blessedly unreserved. You should follow her example because I won’t be called anything else by you. We’re not only colleagues—” before she could contest that, he pressed on “—working in complementary fields, but I owe a lot of my most positive results to your breakthrough. The drug you developed has been my most reliable postoperative adjuvant therapy for years.”

She gaped at him, her heart flapping inside her chest with a mixture of disbelief and pride. “I didn’t realize…didn’t know…”

He gave her one of those earth-shaking smiles of his. “Now you do. And even though I’m getting impatient with your slowness in developing the other drug that should shrink tumors before surgery, I’ll forgive you on the strength of the first one. So we have far more than enough grounds for at least a first-name basis.”

His lips listed those acceptable reasons, but his eyes told her the truth. He wanted this intimacy, would have it.

But she needed formality to hide behind, to keep things in perspective. Otherwise…

No. No otherwise. If anyone was off-limits to her, it was Fareed Aal Zaafer. She’d better never forget that.

“How about that game? It’s super-easy and a lot of fun.”

The indulgent drawl, which he only produced while talking to Ryan, snatched her out of her latest plunge into turmoil.

She watched him lay Ryan down on the exam bed and hand him a reflex hammer and penlight to play with. He moved around, turning on machines, gathering instruments, all the time explaining what he was doing and naming everything and what they were for.

He was talking to Ryan because he must know she knew all that. And that he was explaining to a ten-month-old, without the least condescension, as if he believed it was never too early for Ryan to learn, as if he hoped Ryan would at least understand the consideration in his attitude, choked her up again.

When he returned to Ryan’s side, she asked, “Won’t you call your assistants?”

He cocked one eyebrow at her, teasing sparking the fiery brown of his eyes. “You think I can’t handle examining one highly cooperative tyke on my own?”

“Actually, I’m worried this is the calm before the storm. In previous visits, Ryan acted as if the doctors were torturing him.”

His eyebrows shot up before he looked at Ryan. “But you won’t do that to your obedient ride, will you? And I won’t make it such a cheerless endeavor that you’ll be driven to tears. You can even assist me, hold instruments, test and taste them to your heart’s content. Between us, we’ll make this a great game, Ryan.”

His thoughtfulness, then the way he said Rye-aan, Ryan’s similar-sounding Arabic name, lanced through her.

After receiving Ryan’s gleeful endorsement, he moved to start prepping him. She moved, too, bumped into him.

Feeling his steadying hands on her shoulders made her jump back. “I—I’ll just undress him.”

He gave her a tiny squeeze before setting her free and turning to Ryan. “As Ryan’s designated driver this afternoon, I think he’d want me to do the honors, right, Ryan?”

Sure enough, Ryan let out a squeal of agreement.

She stood back, every nerve buzzing as he undid Ryan’s snap-button jumpsuit with great care and dexterity, although it was clear he’d never performed the task before. Instead of fidgeting as he usually did, Ryan stunned her by chewing on a chart and offering Fareed every cooperation in stripping him down to his diapers.

“You’re an extremely well-cared-for little prince, eh, Ryan?”

Her heart gave another painful thud, which was stupid. It was just a figure of speech.

“Now, let’s start the game.”

She stood mesmerized, watching Fareed’s beautiful hands probe Ryan’s muscles for power, pushing and pulling on his feet and legs, making Ryan an eager participant. He turned to sensation, walking his fingers along nerve paths, before pouncing with tickles and eliciting Ryan’s shrieking giggles.

Next came recording muscle contraction and nerve conduction and he made Ryan help him fit in plugs and place leads over his body, all the time explaining everything. Ryan hung on his every word, his eyes rapt as he watched this larger-than-life entity who’d entered and filled his limited world. Fareed warned him that the tests were a bit uncomfortable, but would be over in no time, and Gwen braced herself for the end of the honeymoon.

But as he started the tests, instead of the dreaded wails, Ryan seemed to only notice Fareed’s banter, awarded him with a steady stream of corroborating gurgles.

She shouldn’t be surprised. Fareed’s darkest silk voice made her forget a world outside existed, or a past or a future.…

What was she thinking? She should only be thinking of running away once this exam ended, forgetting she’d ever seen him again.

She’d only sought him as a last resort, had hoped to slip in among his appointments undistinguished. But she’d ended up having his attention in its most undiluted form. Then it had gotten worse and he’d remembered her, had been treating her since as if he…

Her thoughts piled up as he dressed Ryan then caught her eye. “I’ll see those investigations now.”

She pounced on the briefcase, but he gently stopped her fumbling, took over. He studied the X-rays and MRIs briefly, set aside the reports without reading them before putting everything back in the briefcase. Then he turned to Ryan, who was demanding to be picked up—by him.

He complied at once. “So how was that? Fun as I promised, eh?” Ryan whooped an agreement. “But you know what? We had all this fun together, and I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Fareed.” He pointed to himself, said his name a few time.

Ryan’s eyes twinkled before he echoed triumphantly, “Aa-eed.”

“Ma azkaak men subbi!” Fareed exclaimed. “What a clever boy you are.” Ryan seemed delighted by Fareed’s approval, and continued to say Aa-eed over and over. Fareed guffawed. “We’ll work on the F and R later. I bet you’ll get it right in a couple of months, being a genius, like Rose said—” he turned to her “—and like your mother is.”

Gwen felt about to faint again.

It’s dreading his still-unvoiced verdict, she told herself.

But it wasn’t. She was terrified of having her worst fears validated, but that lightheadedness, as if she’d been hungry all her life, was the effect he had on her. Anything he did, every move and look and breath induced pure emotional and erotic tumult.…