Darker Side of Desire & the Sheikh's Pregnant Prisoner(27)

When he left she was almost glowing with happiness. His things had been moved into her room, and he had reassured her yet again that he would not be absent for long. But her fragile bubble of happiness burst disastrously the following morning when Zenaide came in to say that Princess Nadia had arrived to drive her to the airport.

Raoul had said nothing about Nadia coming to drive her, but perhaps it was as well that this had happened, Claire decided miserably. At least it served as a reminder to her as to where his feelings really lay. He was glad now because she was carrying his child and would be a tender, caring father. But he would never love her as a woman—as he loved Nadia.





CHAPTER TEN


TRYING not to betray how dismayed she was that Nadia was driving her to the airport, Claire checked her appearance in her mirror. The pale buttermilk linen suit she had chosen looked chic and attractive, her skin betraying just the barest suggestion of a tan. Saud was going with her—Raoul had suggested that she take him—and as she went downstairs to meet Nadia Claire couldn’t help wishing that Raoul was there to go with them instead.

Nadia, as before, was expensively and elegantly dressed, her eyebrows rising slightly as she ganced at Claire’s suit.

‘Chanel?’ she questioned unhesitatingly. ‘But then Raoul always was very proud and he would scarcely want it to be said that he could not afford to keep his wife decently clothed. He said to tell you that he might be delayed, by the way,’ she threw casually over her shoulder as she led the way to the car, and Claire had to bite down on the exclamation of dismay which sprang to her lips. When had Nadia seen Raoul? He had promised to telephone her and she had stuck close to the palace all day waiting for his call. He could not find time to telephone his wife, but he did have time to talk to Nadia, or so it seemed.

The interior of Nadia’s Mercedes was comfortably air-conditioned, the fine leather seats contoured to provide the utmost comfort, but Claire wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the quality of the car’s German engineering and attention to detail. Nadia said something to her chauffeur before closing the panel that separated the front of the car from the rear, leaning back in her seat and lighting a cigarette.

‘So. You have a brother, Claire, and Raoul has discovered that he has another responsibility. It seems you have also been able to effect a reconciliation between Raoul and his father. You know I find that very hard to believe. Not even our uncle, the Sheikh, has been able to make Raoul overcome his bitterness towards his father—and it isn’t even as though Raoul cares in the slightest about you. Oh, come,’ she drawled when Claire would have spoken, ‘you and I both know the truth. Raoul might have turned to you in a moment of physical need…’ she shrugged elegant shoulders, ‘that is only to be expected, but he does not love you Claire.

They had been driving towards the city and Claire frowned as they suddenly veered off the main road, heading for the desert. ‘A short cut,’ Nadia drawled languidly, noticing her reaction. ‘It will help us to avoid the congestion of the souk. Have you been there yet, Claire? Most Europeans find it interesting. Has Raoul told you that had he been born of the Sheikh’s brother and not his sister our marriage would have been permitted? That would have meant that in time Raoul would have succeeded the Sheikh.’ She spoke almost absently and yet Claire had the feeling that something important was hidden in her words. ‘In the East, the only way for a woman to wield power is through her husband. My husband is third in line to the throne. He was fifth in line until my cousin was killed, a most unfortunate accident, and then his baby son too was murdered, in London as it happened. He would have been about the age of your Saud. Indeed, I believe there is also a certain physical resemblance, although I must admit that I only saw the child twice. But then, of course, they are related. Why, Claire,’ she commented, watching her, ‘you have gone quite pale. Are you quite well?’

‘It is nothing,’ Claire assured her, driven by some impulse to inflict her own wounds by adding casually, ‘The early weeks of pregnancy can sometimes be uncomfortable. You have two children of your own Raoul tells me, so you will understand…’

‘You are carrying Raoul’s child?’

Something had gone wrong, because there was triumphant delight in the dark brown eyes instead of the angry jealousy Claire had expected to see, and when she glanced out of the window Claire was disturbed to see that they were surrounded by desert, with the city nowhere in sight.

She glanced at her watch, frowning as she realised the time.

‘My brother’s flight—’ she began urgently.

‘Unfortunately you will not be there to meet it,’ Nadia interrupted with ill-concealed venom. ‘You are far too trusting, Claire, and have played right into our hands. Hasim was right to guess that you would be our most powerful weapon. You and Saud, who we both know to be the son of my cousin, my dead cousin,’ she repeated, ‘and not Raoul. Oh yes, it was a clever move, and for a time you had us fooled. We truly believed that Saud had perished as he had been intended to, but Hasim was suspicious about this marriage between you and Raoul, and about the child you were supposed to have borne him. Raoul is a clever man, but not clever enough. He forgot about this.’ She touched the birthmark on Saud’s leg mockingly. ‘This is something Saud inherited from his mother. She was my half-sister.’ Her mouth curled in mocking contempt. ‘She was also my father’s favourite. I was too much a rebel, too greedy for power and riches—like Hasim. Has Raoul told you nothing of Hasim, my brother?’ she added. ‘It was Hasim who urged my father to forbid the marriage between us. Raoul, like the Sheikh, is far too philanthropic. If it were left to them all the wealth we derive from our oil would be wasted on coaxing the desert to flower, on educating ignorant tribes people, but they will not be allowed to do so. Now that we have Saud we can force the Sheikh to abdicate and Hasim will take his place on the throne. We have turned too much to the West in recent years, but once Hasim is in power things will be different.’

Nadia’s brother was the leader of the rival faction? Did Raoul know of this?

‘Raoul, of course, suspects nothing of this. No one does,’ Nadia continued, almost as though she had guessed Claire’s thoughts. ‘Hasim has been at great pains to remain in the background, but soon the day will come when he can take his rightful place as leader of our country, and you have helped us, Claire. With Saud in our hands my uncle will refuse us nothing, and I am sure that Raoul will also pay us well for the return of his wife, especially as she is carrying his child.’

‘I thought you loved him.’ The words escaped stiff lips as Claire tried to come to terms with what Nadia had told her.

‘Loved him? A man who considered his pride more important than me? He could have changed his religion as my father directed but he refused, and humiliated me with his refusal, and I swore then I would be revenged upon him. Of course, he does not know how I feel. It is very easy for a woman to conceal her true feelings from a man, isn’t it, Claire? I believe you love him, don’t you?’

Averting her profile, Claire stared out of the window. Ahead of them she could see a fringe of palm trees against the horizon and bleakly remembered the oasis she had visited with the Princess. As they travelled along the straight road, the palm trees grew larger and Claire saw that they were indeed heading towards a small oasis, although whether it was the same one she had visited earlier she could not tell. Half a dozen black tents stared blindly at them as the Mercedes swept past in a cloud of dust. Nadia laughed tauntingly as she saw her expression. ‘Ah no, I’m afraid there will be no opportunity for escape nor for rescue…’

‘But Raoul will know the truth, he will know that I left for the airport with you.’

‘By that time it will not matter. Once we let the Sheikh know we have Saud, we shall no longer need to preserve any secrecy.’

Although she talked glibly about ransoming her, Claire suspected that neither she nor Saud would be allowed to live, and as she looked down at the small boy asleep beside her Claire thought wretchedly how she had let him down—and not just him but Raoul as well. Her hand fluttered towards her stomach, the gesture arrested by Nadia’s mocking laughter. ‘Poor Raoul, he will be beside himself with concern when he learns what has happened, won’t he, Claire? Not concern for you, of course, but for the child you carry. You can only be in the very early stages of pregnancy, an acutely vulnerable time…’

She wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t already raced through her own mind, and Claire turned her face back to the window, pushing down the hood of her burnous as she stared through the tinted glass with burning hot eyes. She wouldn’t give Nadia that satisfaction. A cloud of dust on the horizon caught her attention, and Nadia grimaced as the Mercedes swiftly overtook a small cavalcade.

‘Badu! The Sheikh and Raoul seek to educate them—when Hasim is in power money will not be wasted on such folly.’

‘If your brother does turn towards Russia, do you honestly suppose you will be allowed to retain your wealth?’ Claire asked quietly. ‘A communist country would never…’