Desert King, Pregnant Mistress(21)

       
           



       

'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.