'Everything, thank you,' Beth said, wishing they didn't have to be so stiff with each other. She patted the seat beside her and a after a moment's hesitation he joined her. 'You asked me in the limousine why I didn't take action when Hana was born. I didn't want anything from you, Khal, and that was why. I just didn't see the point.'
'You were entitled to my support,' he said, turning his proud face towards her.
She was so relieved they were communicating again she didn't want to break the mood, and knew this wasn't the time to admit she had feared rattling the cage of Khal's formidable legal-team, and had buried her head in the sand to some extent. 'I wouldn't have kept on working at Khalifa if I'd been trying to hide from you.'
'Or maybe you had nowhere else to go,' Khal suggested, getting up to pour them both a soft drink.
'I've got my family … '
He noticed how she flinched at the lie, and he flinched too, but inwardly. He didn't want this, but perhaps it was better if the truth came out. He knew more than Beth thought he did. His investigations hadn't concentrated solely on her pregnancy. 'Why didn't you go to your family?' He turned to face her. 'Why didn't they come to you, Beth?' He knew this was cruel, but it had to be said. He couldn't live with deception any more, he'd had enough of it in Q'Adar.
Seeing he knew the truth, she looked away. 'Well?' he pressed. 'Isn't it time you told me about your family, Beth? From what you've said about them I imagine they must have been thrilled to hear about the baby. No? Is that the reason you haven't gone near them while you were pregnant … or when you had the baby?'
Her blue eyes filled with tears, but still she raised them to meet his gaze. 'You know about that too, don't you, Khal? You know all my talk on the beach was just that-talk. I don't have a family. Or at least I didn't have a family until Hana was born. I had the store, I had Khalifa; that was my family. And that's why my job means so much to me,' she admitted huskily.
He remained silent. He'd known for some time that Beth's stories on the beach had just been her sad little daydreams, and now he had trampled them it didn't make him proud.
As always she rallied fast. 'I might not have a family, and a fancy support-structure like you, but I can still appoint a lawyer to act for me, and-'
'And I will fight you,' he assured her, instinct driving him. Launching a defence against every threat that came his way was bred into him.
'I expected that,' she told him tensely. 'I expect you to stop at nothing to get your own way, Khal.'
'Don't you think Hana deserves to know both her parents? I want her to enjoy her birthright both as my daughter and as a princess of Q'Adar. Surely as her mother you would want that for her?'
'I want Hana to be happy, and that's all I care about.'
'And I want that too.'
'No, Khal, you want to take Hana from me and bring her up believing that money and power is everything, and love doesn't matter.' Was he even listening? Beth wondered.
'If you fight me,' he warned, 'I'll apply for full custody. Are you prepared to lose Hana?'
'Don't threaten me.' But just the thought of losing Hana was so terrible her voice was shaking, and all the bravado and cheerfulness that had always lifted her had gone. And for the first time in her life Beth felt beaten.
'All I want is my legal entitlement as Hana's father, a father who can provide the type of life Hana deserves.'
'The life Hana deserves?' Beth repeated, shrinking inside.
'Try to understand that the difference in our circumstances dictates-'
'Dictates what, Khal? That with your fabulous wealth and immense power you can buy a lawyer, buy a judge, buy a child?'
'It isn't like that, Beth, and you know it. You're distraught.'
'You bet I am!'
'Your choice is simple. You can stay in Liverpool and take your chances, or you can come to Q'Adar with me and Hana.' He glanced towards the runway where his private jet was waiting. 'Either way, Hana goes with me.'
Put so starkly, Beth could only think about Hana's safety. In the final analysis it was the only thing that mattered to her. 'Are you sure you can keep her safe?'
'Decision time, Beth … '
'I won't be your mistress.'
'I'll make the necessary arrangements for you to board the flight.' Khal cut across her without emotion.
And that was it. She felt grief for what they'd lost, but this fast decision-making and brevity of speech fit the dangerous times through which Khal was living, and she knew she could expect nothing more. With Hana always first in her mind, she thanked him and said they would be ready to leave the moment they were called.
'Tell Hana's nanny that she will also be made welcome in Q'Adar.' It wasn't much, but he wanted to give Beth something. It had never been his intention to crush her, or to have her return to Q'Adar under duress. As he held her gaze, something tugged at his heart, and instinctively he made the Q'Adaran gesture for a blessing that he had made so many times before to so many people, but never to the one person who needed it most.
While Beth went to see to Hana he sat heavily on a chair, staring through the panoramic windows, seeing nothing. He was still reeling from the shock of holding his baby daughter for the first time, and seeing Beth again. She challenged him every step of the way-but did he want the mother of his child to be a lioness or a milksop? He couldn't guarantee their safety in England, but Q'Adar would always be turbulent; it was the nature of the people. She would have to be strong, and deep down he knew she would cope, because Beth was an exceptional woman. She challenged everything he believed in-his views on life, and even his role in it. No one had ever done that before; no one had ever dared.
He'd always known she wasn't malleable mistress-material, but that didn't stop him wanting her in his life. If there was a solution to this, he couldn't see it. He couldn't marry Beth, and she would never agree to be his mistress. And so he must be content. Bringing Beth and Hana back with him to Q'Adar where he could keep them safe was the result he had aimed for when he'd come to England. He had succeeded in that, and it would have to be enough for him to know they were under his protection now.
He was content, Khal told himself … or as content as he ever could be.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE ruler of Q'Adar's preferred mode of transport wasn't a small private jet, but a full-sized airliner with the royal crest of a hawk emblazoned on its tail, and the royal standard flying from the nose of the plane. Beth was standing with Hana in her arms on the tarmac, and they were being escorted to the plane by security staff. This was how it would be from now on, Beth realised. Khal was still making his way down the line of dignitaries, and looked magnificent in his flowing Arabian robes.
'Where's Faith?' he asked the moment he could get away.
'She received a phone call to say her father has been taken ill. I took the liberty of asking your driver to take her home. I hope you don't mind?'
'You did the right thing,' Khal told her, and then instead of sweeping in front of her he paused at the foot of the steps. 'Shall I take Hana for you?'
It didn't take a flock of royal attendants hurrying to her side to tell Beth how incongruous this offer was. She couldn't imagine many sheikhs took their baby, the baby no one had previously known about, into their arms in full view of everyone. 'I can manage, thank you,' she said, staring up to where the flight attendants were waiting to greet them, in what was to all intents and purposes Q'Adar.
Aware of Khal close behind her, Beth mounted the steps with Hana in her arms. Behind Khal came a contingent of his office and security staff. She had to wonder what they made of their leader's ready-made family. To his credit Khal didn't seem in the least bit concerned.
'Would you like to put Hana in a cot?' he suggested as they entered a reception area on board the plane. 'I've made sure there are several cots on board,' he told Beth, when he saw the surprise on her face.
She held Hana a little more closely, feeling overwhelmed now she was here.