She turned and walked away proudly, deeply conscious of the child inside her, and of the love in her heart, both for that child and for the man who had fathered her baby. Razi had given her new confidence, and by opening up his heart to her last night he had changed her for good, because now she knew love—she knew how it felt to trust and to be trusted in return, and even if this wasn’t going to end in the traditional happy-ever-after, she believed him when he said he would never part her from her child.
She had to believe.
He had always thought the desert changed him, freed him, but now he realised it was only the space it gave him to examine his thoughts that made the difference. As they drank their last coffee in front of the campfire he realised that with Lucy at his side exchanging solitude for companionship had proved even more productive and that she had freed something inside him. He’d let someone else in and he’d never done that before. He glanced at her sideways, admiring her composure. They knew where they stood now. He’d take care of her in every way he could, but they’d live their own lives. A night that had started in heat and passion had changed them both. He cared about her. He always would. Perhaps more than cared—perhaps even loved—but that didn’t mean there could be a solution to this. She was carrying his child and that had made him instantly protective, but it wasn’t love—it couldn’t be; it was…something else. The nervous smiles Lucy was darting at him suggested her thoughts had turned to concern too. If only she could know how much he wanted this. If only he could tell her that a family was all he had ever longed for, but he’d always accepted there was a high price to pay for privilege and that for every night of pleasure the bank of duty would exact its revenge. He just hadn’t known how much it would hurt. To block it out he turned to practicalities. ‘When was your last scan?’
Lucy paused with the coffee cup halfway to her lips. She was sitting opposite Razi in front of the campfire he had rebuilt. Dressed in jeans and a jumper to fend off the early morning chill, she had been glad of the hot coffee to nurse after her swim. Now she put it down. Razi had brought out his phone, which seemed incongruous in the wilderness, but not half as incongruous as a sheikh taking care of her maternity concerns.
‘You do have baby scans in England?’ he pressed, shooting her one of his intense looks as he stabbed in some numbers.
‘Of course we do.’
‘Well? Have you had one yet?’
‘I have my first appointment when I get back—on Friday.’
‘And this scan is for how many weeks of pregnancy?’
‘Twelve.’ She blushed.
‘Twelve—and do you know if everything is progressing well?’
‘I presume it is.’
‘You presume?’
Razi’s tone was a dash of cold water in the face. She had seen the doctor to confirm her pregnancy and was following the protocol set up in her health authority area to the letter. There was only one reason she could think of for Razi putting pressure on her now. ‘I won’t know the sex of my baby for sure until around seventeen weeks.’ When he found out it was a girl as she both knew and suspected in a crazy, mixed-up, newly pregnant way, would he quickly lose interest?
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‘I want to know you’re both healthy,’ Razi pointed out in a stinging response to that thought. ‘Please allow me to speed up the process.’
‘I know I’m having a baby girl.’
The astute sea-green gaze flicked up. ‘Mother’s instinct is wonderful, I’m sure, but if you don’t mind I’d like a medical professional to check you’re both okay.’
Reality was pouring in thick and fast now, and as Razi held her gaze all the history behind that remark was reflected in his eyes, and she realised no woman would ever convince him that anything she said was true until she proved herself—and that included Lucy Tennant.
And was there something wrong with employing a belt and braces approach where the health of her child was concerned? She settled for, ‘Thank you.’
Razi raised his hand as the call connected and started talking rapidly in Sinnebalese. ‘It’s all arranged,’ he said. ‘We leave from here and go straight to the private clinic in the capital.’
‘Our news won’t be very private if you accompany me.’
‘Of course I’ll take you there. Who else is going to take you? You’re my responsibility and it’s my duty to make sure you have the best of care.’
His duty? She had been transformed by happiness up to that moment. She had seen so many emotions cross Razi’s eyes while they had been sitting cross-legged round the fire. His expression had even warmed and softened briefly, but there was none of that now. She had been transformed during the course of a cup of coffee from night-time lover into daytime responsibility and it seemed that with every inch the sun crept above the horizon the distance between them was growing.
‘If one of my employees needed medical attention,’ he said, ‘don’t you think I would personally ensure they got it?’
She wanted to put her fingers in her ears and blot that out—that was what she thought. Other than that she didn’t know what to think that didn’t hurt like hell. And that was mean-minded of her, Lucy concluded as Razi stood up and started kicking sand over their fire. She had heard nothing but praise for staff relations at Maktabi Communications since taking a closer interest in a certain R. Maktabi’s business card; she should be glad she was under the boss’s protection.
But she wanted so much more than that…
Then it was about time she got used to the fact she wasn’t going to get it.
It seemed only moments later that Razi brought the Jeep to a halt outside a gleaming white building. Life seemed that way because it took on a frenetic pace with Razi in it, Lucy concluded as a nurse in a starched uniform escorted them to the appropriate department. It was a relief to hear they were to be seen immediately—and less of a relief when there was no offer from Razi to wait outside the room where the scan would take place. By the time she had changed into a robe he had taken a seat in front of the screen. She climbed up on the examination couch and risked a faint smile as the radiographer squeezed cold jelly on her stomach and started the hunt for their tiny child.
‘Well, I can tell you you’re definitely pregnant.’