Master of the Desert

‘I understand why you think the worst of me.’

He looked at her with suspicion, wondering what this new, conciliatory tone heralded.

‘But since the pirate attack,’ she continued earnestly, ‘my priorities have changed.’

His suspicions, already roused, grew. ‘That’s old news, Antonia. What’s really on your mind?’ He knew the answer to that question the moment Antonia’s hands flashed across her stomach to protect it. Antonia was pregnant? ‘Are you pregnant?’ he asked her quietly.

‘And what if I am?’ she said defensively.

‘Are you pregnant with my baby?’

‘Do you really think there’s any doubt?’

‘How do I know?’ Antonia’s continued defiance in the face of such momentous news drove him to explode. ‘For all I know, you’re like your mother in that respect too.’

If he’d thought the girl on his yacht a virago, this girl was a demon possessed. She launched herself at him. He captured her, holding her firmly in front of him. ‘Think of the baby—if you can!’ He was instantly aware of how it felt to hold Antonia, and was immediately remorseful for taking out his shock on the mother of his child. He let her go and stood back as she cried, ‘There have been no other men, Ra’id—how could there be?’

This impassioned outburst revealed more than she wanted to say. ‘Enough,’ he told her softly. ‘Do you want to upset yourself and the baby?’

‘Upset?’ Hugging herself, she turned away. ‘Do you care about me now?’ she demanded with disbelief.

If only she knew. He’d always known that one day he would face this dilemma: love or duty. But to him, with his father’s history to draw on, there was no choice to be made. ‘Of course I care about the child you carry. I have seen more grief than I care to think about brought down on a child thanks to the selfishness of its parents.’

‘Don’t tar me with that brush, Ra’id,’ she warned him.

But as she confronted Ra’id Antonia knew that this was not one of her wild, romantic fantasies but a very dangerous situation. She had brought her unborn child into a desert kingdom where that child’s father reigned supreme, and where its mother had no voice, no rights. She doubted Ra’id would let her go now he knew she was carrying his royal baby. What irony, Antonia thought as she stared up at the citadel’s forbidding walls. She really was following in her mother’s footsteps now. Would Ra’id make her a prisoner here like her mother before her? The loss of her freedom was a nightmare beyond imagining, and the very last thing she wanted for her child—but would Ra’id, a man driven so relentlessly by duty, respect that?

Ra’id would always do what was right, she concluded, but it didn’t reassure her to know that he had accomplished many good things in Sinnebar without once involving his feelings. Plus, he had lashed out verbally at both their parents, whom Ra’id considered had failed his stringent test. With all his wealth and privilege, would Ra’id be so very different when it came to bringing up a child? For him, duty always came first. The only certainty, Antonia decided, was that she would never agree to be parted from her child, and neither duty nor self-interest would change that.

‘You’re going to live here?’ The effects of pregnancy were more telling than he had realised, Ra’id concluded as Antonia stated her intention. ‘Firstly, the place isn’t habitable, and secondly, you would need my permission.’

‘I can’t do this without your help, Ra’id.’

‘I’m well aware of that. But first I would have to agree to you remaining in the country.’

‘Don’t you want to keep your child in Sinnebar?’ It was a passionate outburst in a last-ditch attempt to touch him. It was also the biggest risk she had ever taken in her life.

‘I have a country to consider.’ And now a pregnant mistress, Ra’id acknowledged tensely.

‘And I would be superfluous to your plans?’ Antonia suggested with biting accuracy. ‘If you think for one moment you’re going to part me from my child…’

He only had to picture Antonia staying in Sinnebar to know he still wanted her. And only had to think of his child to know he wouldn’t let her go. But she represented everything he had pledged to avoid. The irony wasn’t lost on him. Having shunned his late father’s self-indulgent lifestyle, it now appeared that he was following his father’s lead to the letter. Was he to lose everything he had fought for? Was the country he loved to be plunged back into chaos? Could he hide Antonia away as his father had hidden her mother? Just the thought of it disgusted him.