Desert King, Pregnant Mistress(24)

'I chose  the garden suite for you myself,' the Dowager Sheikha informed  Beth,  drawing to a halt in front of a pair of exquisite gold-filigree  doors.  'I think this apartment enjoys one of the most beautiful aspects  in the  palace, plus the courtyard and gardens have plenty of shade for  baby  Hana.' She stared longingly at Hana, asleep in Beth's arms. 'When  she  wakes-'

'I'll see that you're informed immediately.'

'Oh,  would you?' Khal's mother turned grateful eyes on her. 'It's been a  long  time since we've had a baby at the palace, and I'd like to read  to her,  and maybe sing to her a little … '

And what would Khal make of  that? Beth wondered. Would he dare to  disapprove? Her eyes twinkled at  the thought of this double-pronged  rebellion by the women in his life.

Any  thoughts Beth might have harboured about being stuffed away in an  attic  somewhere out of sight were immediately obliterated when she  walked  into the cool tiled hallway of her new home. 'It's next door to  my own  apartment,' the Dowager Sheikha told her as she bustled ahead.  'I  planned it this way, hoping I might catch glimpses of baby Hana in  the  garden … '

As she turned, Beth saw the same longing in her eyes  again. 'You can  sit with Hana, or push her round the courtyard, any time  you want.' Did  dowager sheikhas do things like that?

'I'd love to!' Khal's mother exclaimed, dispelling Beth's fears.

Judging  by that response, Beth guessed Khal's mother was pretty much  like  herself and didn't mind starting new trends when she had to.

'I'm  going to leave you now, and give you chance to settle in,' she  said. 'I  expect you'd like a little time to get used to your new  surroundings.'

She  would never get used to them, Beth thought, acting like a tourist   already, turning circles to stare up at the gloriously ornate painted   ceiling.

'You'll have your own household, of course,' Khal's mother added at the door.

'My own household?' Beth repeated incredulously. 'Why would I need that?'

'Enjoy your temporary status as a member of the royal family,' the Dowager Sheikha insisted with a mischievous twinkle.

'You're  very generous, Your Majesty,' Beth said, remembering her  manners as she  bobbed a curtsey. 'But it really isn't necessary.'

'Nonsense,  you'll enjoy it. And I shall make the introductions myself,'  Khal's  mother decided on impulse, beckoning to the staff hovering  outside.  'It's better if you don't confide too many details,' she  murmured  confidentially, returning to Beth's side.

Beth's eyes widened as  she gazed down the line of neatly uniformed  staff. 'But, if all these  people are going to be looking after Hana and  me, surely they deserve to  know the situation?'

'You have a lot to learn, my dear.'

'Don't we all?' Beth sighed. Then, quickly remembering herself, she added, 'Well, obviously not you, Your Majesty.'





CHAPTER TWELVE




HE WAS on his way to the stables when he saw his mother hurrying towards him.                       
       
           



       

'The  baby's adorable!' she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in   delight. 'And I've seen your little friend settled in as you requested.'   As he turned to go, she put her hand on his arm. 'Won't you stay a   little while and talk with me, Khalifa?'

'I'm not in the mood to talk, and Beth is not "my little friend". Hana's mother is called Beth Tracey Torrance.'

'But I may call her Beth on your instruction, is that it, Khal? Too kind … '

'Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Mother.'

'And neither does this aloof manner suit you, Khalifa. And I hope you're not thinking of riding out without guards.'

'There's  a storm brewing, enough to keep the troublemakers in their  burrows.  Don't be concerned about me,' he added, seeing his mother's  concern. 'I  can read the desert.'

'Can you, Khalifa?'

He looked at his  mother's hand on his sleeve, saw the tension in her  face, and knew she  was remembering. 'I must have some freedom.' As her  hand relaxed, he  firmed his resolve and bowed to her. 'If you will  excuse me … '

'You won't find an answer to your Beth in the desert.'

'She is not my Beth, and I am trialling a horse,' he said with as much restraint as he could muster.

'Whatever you say. Be careful, my son.'



As  Beth had suspected Hana wanted nothing more than to sleep after her   long journey. The facilities in the nursery were incredible, and the   girls on duty were graduates of a college that had been at the forefront   of childcare training for over a hundred years. After chatting with   them, Beth felt confident enough to leave Hana in their care and take a   look around.


The Palace of the Moon was on such a mammoth  scale it took Beth a few  minutes to reach her private garden. She hadn't  been invited to visit  this more secluded and very special part of the  palace on her last  visit to Q'Adar, so when she entered through a gate  she gave an  exclamation of delighted surprise. It was just like finding  the secret  garden, she thought, remembering one of her favourite  childhood books.  The stone walls held the scent of the flowers,  intensifying it, and  there were colonnades around the perimeter which  offered shade along  narrow pathways. The sultry temperature of late  afternoon was made  bearable thanks to the central fountain, which cast  plumes of twinkling  water high into the air. Having showered and changed  in her fabulous  bathroom, Beth was wearing a pair of loose-fitting  lightweight trousers  and a shirt, and felt refreshed, but it was still  tempting to perch on  the raised lip of the pool and throw her head back  to catch the spray.

Dressed for riding in breeches and a shirt,  he watched her from the  shadows. A new stallion awaited him, the finest  of his kind. It was a  gift from a neighbouring sheikh, and under normal  circumstances nothing  could have delayed his inspection. The horse had  recently knocked a  couple of seconds off the fastest recorded time on a  measured track,  and he had yet to try him out. That should have been  enough to blank  everything else from his mind, but it appeared Beth was  an exception,  and his senses roared as she turned her face to the sky  and sighed with  pleasure. There was one answer, and that was  exercise-fierce and hard.

'Khal … ?'

He paused mid-stride.  Had she sensed his presence? She certainly hadn't  seen him, and he was  moving away from her on silent feet. Was it  possible they were so finely  tuned that she'd known all along he had  been watching her? He stepped  out of the shadows and strode across the  courtyard. 'I trust your  quarters are acceptable?'

'My quarters? If you mean my fabulous apartment, it's great!'

He  had to stop himself smiling. How could he have forgotten the effect  she  always had on him? 'Great?' he said dryly, thinking of the kings  and  presidents who had stayed there before her. 'Well, as long as  you're  satisfied and have everything you need.'

'Oh, I do,' she assured  him, turning her attention to some rose petals  floating on the pond.  'Does someone toss these into the water each  day?'                       
       
           



       

'Why? Would you like the job?'

She  looked at him, and he saw the surprise in her eyes at the flash of   humour. He agreed with her, it was ill-judged. Beth was here because he   wanted to keep her and Hana safe. The last thing he wanted was to  remind  them both of times when they had been intimate, both in bed and  out of  it.

'I'd like a job, Khal,' she said, rushing to paper over the  cracks as  he had done. 'Though I doubt I'll be here long enough. But I  do have an  idea.'

Why wasn't he surprised? 'Go on … '

'Well, you don't have a palace crèche, do you?'

'There's only one royal baby, as far as I am aware,' he pointed out.

'But  there must be dozens more amongst the staff, and you obviously  have  contact with one of the greatest nursery-nurse colleges in the  world. It  just seemed to me … '

'Yes?' he pressed, eager to escape so he would no longer have to look into those crystal-blue eyes.

'Well, I just thought you could throw it open.'

'To all-comers?' He frowned.

'To everyone employed at the palace. It will be company for Hana, and I'm happy to help out. I could even run it for you.'

'You won't be here that long.' He could have kicked himself when her face fell.

'No, I forgot.'

She  tipped up her chin. She had been carried away by a scheme she had  no  hope of seeing through, and in doing so believed she had made a fool  of  herself.