'If you'd told me, if you'd explained, if you'd even given me some warning … '
He made a dismissive gesture. 'I don't expect you to understand. You're still living in your small, safe world-or at least that's what you think. That world can change horribly and in an instant, Beth. Do you want to be alone when it does?'
For the first time Beth wasn't sure what to say.
'You must accept that our daughter inhabits the same world stage as her father.'
'From which I am excluded?'
'You don't face the same risks,' Khal said flatly.
And would she put Hana at risk? Her options had dwindled to nothing, Beth realised. Hana's safety was paramount. Did she have any alternative but to go with Khal? 'If you can keep Hana safe,' she murmured tensely, speaking her thoughts out loud.
'I can,' Khal told her. 'If she returns with me now to Q'Adar. But I cannot secure the rest of the world for you, Beth. You must come back with me.'
Closing her eyes for a moment, Beth begged for guidance. 'Then I will,' she agreed on a shuddering breath. She could only pray she'd done the right thing.
And do what when she arrived in Q'Adar? Beth wondered as she packed their day bag hurriedly and explained as best she could to Faith. Would she live out her life in Q'Adar as a second-class citizen, the ruling sheikh's embarrassing little secret? How would that affect Hana's future? Would Hana grow up estranged from her in a different part of the palace? Would she be forced to endure taunts and insults in later life because her mother was deemed unworthy? Beth bit her lip at the thought of Hana suffering in any way. 'There's no other alternative to this, is there?' Beth confirmed with Khal as they left the building. 'You couldn't leave more guards here to keep Hana safe?' She hesitated outside the limousine with Hana in her arms.
'You think you live in a warm, safe nest,' Khal told her. 'But what you forget is that violence can follow you everywhere. It can seep through the cracks of your happy life and steal everything you care about away.'
'Is that meant to frighten me into coming with you?'
'Beth … ' Khal's jaw worked as he fought back his feelings, and for just a second Beth thought she saw his eyes change too; they seemed to soften with understanding. 'I wish that was all it was with all my heart.'
Gazing at Hana, Beth knew she couldn't remain stubbornly obstinate; she had to do what was right for her baby.
Trouble started on the journey to the airport when questions bombarded Beth's brain and she couldn't keep quiet. 'How can your enemies be so sure Hana is your child?'
Khal didn't speak for a moment, and then he reached inside his breast pocket and drew out a document. 'They may have had sight of this. People talk … '
'What is it?' Beth said fearfully.
'It's the proof that Hana is my daughter.'
'Proof?'
'Don't look at me like that, Beth. Our daughter is a royal princess. I had to be certain. And now we both know that Hana is a member of the royal house of Hassan-'
'And I'll never be allowed to forget it, will I?' Beth said, turning the official-looking envelope over in her hands. She didn't need to read it, she had guessed the contents.
'Why don't you open it?' Khal said.
She pulled out the single type-written sheet and paled as her worst fears were confirmed. 'There is only way you could have got this, and that's by having someone come into the labour room while I was recovering from Hana's birth and take samples from her.'
'It was a necessary precaution.'
'You think that sending an intruder into a labour room is acceptable?'
'I deemed it necessary.' He shrugged. 'But there was no intruder, because that person was already there.'
Beth gasped as the implication of Khal's cool statement hit home. 'Who? Who did this, Khal?' Beth's eyes filled with tears as she thought back to her lonely vigil in a room full of strangers. She had been strong then for Hana's sake, but her sense of betrayal now was overwhelming. She was in such turmoil, it was a struggle to remember every face and name of the medical professionals who had been with her in the birthing room.
'Don't be so naïve, Beth,' Khal said impatiently as she bit down on her fist to stop the tears. 'As soon as I knew you were pregnant my team moved into action.'
'Your team?' It was worse than she had thought. He hadn't even handled this personally. But then why would he, when the ruler of Q'Adar had someone to carry out even this most personal of all tasks for him?
'I didn't take any chances,' Khal explained as if this were reasonable. 'I ordered a daily report on your progress.'
'From your spies?' Beth bit back.
'Do you imagine I would leave the birth of a baby that was almost certainly mine to chance?'
'Yes, Hana's your child, Khal,' Beth reminded him, stung more than she could say by the fact that he thought there could have been doubt over Hana's parentage. 'Your child … ' She wondered if Khal had any understanding of what it meant to be a parent.
'I had a war to fight,' he reminded her coldly, so distanced from her now they were like two strangers. It seemed to her that after a few moments of humanity Khal had slipped back into his old, hard ways.
You could have called me.
'Are you suggesting I should have given my position away, along with that of the men fighting with me? Isn't it enough to be separated from my child without having you lecture me on what I should have done, when I did all I could to keep you and the men in the desert with me safe?'
'But the way you went about it.'
'Ensuring Hana was my child? This is a big thing, Beth. We're not talking about any ordinary child.'
'No child is ordinary,' she fired back at him.
He bowed his head in acknowledgement that this time she was right. 'But all the same I had to be sure. And for your safety and my peace of mind, that was my doctor, my anaesthetist, my nurse, and my paediatric specialist with you when Hana was born. You should be thanking me instead of this. You surely didn't think I would turn my back on you when you were carrying my baby?'
'They could have told me.' The subterfuge was getting to her. She accepted his explanation regarding the need for discretion, but Khal's calculating actions almost made her wish he had abandoned them. The fact that Hana was a royal child deserving of some special treatment made Beth feel like a convenient womb, and made Hana sound like nothing more than the result of a successful and very privileged breeding programme. 'Stop … stop it,' she begged him, covering her ears with her hands. 'Don't say another word. I can't bear to hear you talking about Hana like this.'
'Like what?'
'As if she wouldn't be so precious without royal blood running through her veins.'
'Before you judge me, examine your own conscience. How long would you have waited before trying to contact me again?'
'The Q'Adaran embassy refused to give me your number.' Before Beth had a chance to say any more, the limousine drew up outside the VIP entrance and, taking Hana from her arms, Khal got out of the limousine, leaving Beth to scramble after him.
Beth was stunned to find Faith waiting for them in the VIP lounge.
'You mentioned Hana's routine, and so I had your attendant brought here,' Khal told her as he handed Hana over.
'Faith isn't my attendant, she's my friend. But, thank you … ' She looked at him properly and saw the lines of tension on his face. She would forgive him his comment about Faith, because that was just a symptom of Khal's distance from her life. It was something that, if she stayed with him, she would have to change. But for now she was worried about him. 'Is there somewhere we can sit down?' she said, extending an olive branch. For a moment she thought he would, or maybe he wanted to, but then he shook his head.
'When I've introduced Faith to members of my staff, and greeted all these dignitaries … '
She saw them then, lined up and waiting for him. However tired he was, and whatever the demands on him personally, Khal would always do his duty and do it well.
He was gone some time before he could join her in the private lounge. 'Do you have everything you need?' he asked, swinging back into the room in a flurry of sandalwood and energy.