‘You’re definitely growing up,’ Vivi conceded ruefully. ‘I never thought there would come a day when you would fight with me.’
‘Even Winnie fights with you!’ Zoe laughed and gave her much taller sister a hug, relieved the unnervingly intimate dispute was over.
After Vivi had been picked up an hour later, Zoe walked thoughtfully back to her suite with Raj. Not. In. Love. With. Him. She was simply happy and there was nothing wrong with being happy, was there? Zoe hadn’t enjoyed much happiness in her life and she was determined to make the most of every moment.
She studied the fainting couch set out like a statement, an invitation, and she smiled before she wandered down the steps to the private courtyard around which their rooms ranged, which allowed them complete privacy.
And all around her she could see the proof of Raj’s desire to please her and make her happy, for the once dark courtyard had been replanted during their absence into a spectacular jungle of greenery amongst which exotic flowers bloomed. Even the fountain she had admired, which had long since fallen out of use, was now working again, clean water sparkling down into the brightly tiled basin below. He hadn’t mentioned a word about his intentions, but then he never did. He never looked for thanks either. Gifts simply appeared without fanfare, gifts like the wonderful transformation of an outdated, neglected courtyard garden.
She didn’t need him to love her as he had loved Nabila, she only needed the proof that he cared, Zoe reflected fiercely. And care he did with amazing efficiency and resolve. How could she expect any more than that in a pretend marriage? After all, he was already giving her much more than she had expected to receive. It wasn’t going to last, she knew that, accepted that and that was her choice, her choice to live for today and worry about tomorrow only when it arrived...
CHAPTER NINE
ZOE SAT UP in bed and her head swam and her tummy rolled.
Worry gripped her. She had believed she had caught a virus when the symptoms first started but weeks had passed since then and the unwell feeling was lingering, despite the careful diet she had observed. Raj had wanted to get the palace doctor in but she had stalled him once a greater concern began to nag at her nerves.
Zoe grimaced at her pallid reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had lost weight and her eyes looked too big for her face. As soon as the dizziness had evaporated, she went for a shower, striving not to agonise again over the reality that she had not had a period since she’d arrived in Maraban. After all, she couldn’t possibly be pregnant even if the light head, the nausea and her tender breasts reminded her of what her sisters had experienced during pregnancy. How could she be pregnant when Raj had not once run the risk of getting her pregnant? But, she did recall once, weeks ago in the shower when he had overlooked the necessity and she had meant to mention it but hadn’t been worried enough to do so.Now she wished she had pointed out that oversight.
Of course no method of birth control was infallible, another little voice nagged at the back of her head. And how on earth was she to put her worries to rest when the acquisition of a pregnancy test in secret had so far proved beyond her capabilities. She never got the opportunity to leave the palace alone. She was surrounded by security and all too many helpful people when she went out. Let’s face it, Zoe, she thought forlornly, the Crown Princess of Maraban cannot be seen buying a pregnancy test without causing a furore. It was ironic that what would have thrilled the population filled Zoe with sick apprehension because she couldn’t forget Raj saying that such a development would be a disaster in their situation.
Of course, it would be when it was only a pretend marriage and if she had a boy, he would be next in line to the throne. If she was pregnant and it was a boy, she would have to live in Maraban for at least the next twenty years as Raj’s ex-wife and she certainly didn’t fancy that option as a future. She would have to sit on the outskirts of his life, watching him marry another woman and have a family with her. Naturally, Raj would move on after their marriage ended but she certainly didn’t want to sit around nearby to actually watch him doing it.
When she emerged from her bedroom, dressed in a pastel-blue dress with her hair in a braid and her make-up immaculate, Bahar, her PA—or social secretary, as Zoe preferred to think of the young attractive brunette—awaited her with a list of her appointments. It pleased her tremendously that after three months away from home she had now acquired the confidence to handle visiting schools and such places without having to drag Raj everywhere with her for support. Coming to Maraban and marrying Raj had been the best decision she had ever made when it came to getting stronger and moving forward with her life.
As her breakfast was brought to the table, Zoe’s stomach lurched even as she looked at it and she pushed the plate away and settled for a cup of tea. After all, she couldn’t afford to eat if she was going out to an official engagement where her succumbing to a bout of sickness in public would be a serious embarrassment, she reflected with an inner shudder at the prospect. She would catch a snack later, by which time hopefully the nausea would have subsided.
Walking down the last flight of stairs, she was wondering whether or not to call in on Raj in his office when she broke out in a cold sweat. Her legs wobbled under her and she snatched at the stone balustrade to stay upright but the sick dizziness engulfing her was unstoppable and as she lurched to one side, dimly conscious that someone was seizing hold of her from behind, she passed out.
When Zoe came around slowly, she winced at the sensation of a needle in her arm and gripped the hand that was holding hers in dismay. Her eyes fluttered open as Raj leant down to her saying, ‘Don’t try to get up in case you faint again. Dr Fadel decided a blood test would be a good idea...sorry about that.’
The very quietness of his voice made her scan the room behind him, which seemed to be filled to the brim with anxious-looking people. Mortification made her close her eyes again and do as she was told because she had a clear recollection of almost tumbling down that last flight of stairs.
‘I’ll be late for my appointment,’ she protested.
‘You will not be leaving the palace today.’
‘But...’
‘Not until the doctor has diagnosed what is wrong with you,’ Raj spelt out more harshly, in a tone she wasn’t accustomed to hearing from him.
r /> In shock at that attitude, she glanced up at him, but he had already moved away to speak to the older man closing a doctor’s bag on the desk. She registered that she was in Raj’s office on the sofa he had slept on when they were first married, and very slowly and carefully she began to inch up into a sitting position.
Raj stalked back to her. ‘Stay flat and lie still,’ he told her wrathfully.
He was furious with her, Zoe realised in consternation, wondering why. Possibly the uproar her faint had caused, she reflected unhappily, because the room was still crammed with staff all trying to speak to Raj at once in his own language, so she could only follow one word in three that she was hearing and those were the simple ones. Her ambition to learn Arabic was advancing only slowly. Finally, the room cleared and they were alone again.
‘May I sit up now or are you going to get angry again?’ Zoe murmured.
Raj gazed across the office at her and then moved forward before hovering several feet from her as though an invisible wall had suddenly come down between them. ‘I apologise. I was not angry with you, I was angry with myself for neglecting your health,’ he admitted tautly. ‘I knew you were unwell but I listened to you when you refused to let me call the doctor in. I shouldn’t have listened!’
‘Raj, that was my fault, this stupid virus, and I’m not awfully fond of medics.’
‘You will want to express thanks to your bodyguard, Carim. He saved your life when he prevented you from falling down the stairs. At the very least you would have been badly hurt with broken limbs,’ Raj framed jaggedly, his hands clenching into fists by his side. ‘But such a fall could definitely also have killed you and nothing is worth that risk.’