The helicopter soared above the desert, leaving the drama below them to play out. Beth could see the insurgents had been captured by Khal's troops. Perhaps she had done some good, drawing them out into the open. She hardly knew. She was seeing things she had never dreamed of seeing-and she ached for Khal, understanding now more than ever the pressures he was facing as well. Knowing the trials ahead of him, she was frightened for him, and thought his position lonely as well as dangerous.
They landed on the roof of the palace, where they were instantly surrounded by support staff and armed guards. Having ensured they were taken care of, Khal hurried away. It was a relief for Beth to have so many practicalities to occupy her: taking care of Hana, reassuring the young nanny, allaying fears amongst her staff. Everyone was tense, and it was down to her to give them confidence in Khal's ability to handle the situation. She wasn't aware of her exhaustion, there was far too much to do.
He came to the nursery to check on Hana as soon as he could get away. Beth looked exhausted, and from the confident smiles and glances he received from her staff he guessed she hadn't rested for a moment since getting back. She was busy now, making sure the young nanny had access to a phone and the privacy to call her parents to reassure them. He waited while Beth took the girl to a small ante-room, where she left her to make the call. The dark circles under Beth's eyes were a reproach for him, and he only wished he could have saved her the distress she'd endured. 'Beth … '
She looked at him distractedly for a moment. He could sense the adrenalin rushing through her veins, and knew the moment those levels dropped so would she. Then her eyes refocused, and relief flooded in. 'Khal-are you all right?'
Always her first thought was for him. 'I'm fine,' he confirmed quickly. 'Thanks to you, we've flushed out the last pocket of insurgents and captured their leader.'
'I was wrong to put Hana at risk.'
'No recriminations, Beth, what's the point?'
'How do you stand it?'
'Q'Adar is a country in a state of change, and will be for some time. This is my life, and these are my people. I'm not going to stop until corruption is driven out, and my people can enjoy the life they deserve.'
'But not at the expense of your life.'
'A country is more than one life, Beth, and if I can bring stability to Q'Adar the young people who follow me will take it forward.'
'With you as their leader,' she insisted stubbornly.
Rubbing a hand across his unshaven jaw, he looked at her. 'What you did today was very brave.'
She shrugged it off. 'It was instinct, pure and simple. I was terrified.'
'That's all right.' He smiled grimly. 'So was I. It's a foolish man indeed who doesn't know fear.'
'I understand so much more now … About you, about Q'Adar.'
'What are you saying, Beth?'
'Your people need you.'
'And?'
'You always have been merciless in your need to know, Khal.'
He relaxed slightly, shifting position. 'That's how I survive.'
Beth sensed the change between them. It was a change in understanding, and in the air. It was a change that wouldn't allow her to leave him, because she could only see that as the coward's way out now.
'Well?' he pressed again, raising his brows as he stared at her.
She drew herself up. 'I need you.' She held his gaze unflinchingly. 'And, if you still want me to, I'll stay with you here, in Q'Adar, at your side.'
For a moment he didn't move or respond in any way, and then with infinite slowness, so she could relish every tiny facial muscle softening, he began to smile. It was a smile of such tenderness and longing and humour and love-and warning, too, for all the difficulties that lay ahead of them. She hardly dared breathe in case she blinked and woke up, cold in bed somewhere without him.
The gap closed between them without either of them being aware of moving, and as Khal seized Beth's hand, and brought it to his lips, he told her fiercely, 'I don't deserve you.'
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THEY checked again on Hana and the young nanny before leaving the nursery, and then parted at the entrance to Beth's apartment, because Khal insisted she must rest.
'Take a bath,' he suggested. 'And then try to sleep for a while. I think you'll be surprised just how tired you are. If you wake in time, we'll have dinner together.'
Of course she'd wake, Beth thought, wondering what all the fuss was about. She didn't want to part now like this, not when they'd been so close to sorting out the future. But as one of the maids opened the door to her, and acknowledged him with a respectful bow, Khal told the girl to make sure Beth didn't fall asleep in the bath.
'Honestly,' Beth said, shaking her head. 'You must think I'm a real weakling.'
'Anything but,' Khal said, sweeping his strong hands down his dusty jeans as he backed away. 'But now, if you will excuse me, I think we both need to listen to our bodies and take some rest.'
'But I know you won't rest.'
'I'll take a shower.' His lips tugged up briefly in the vague approximation of a smile, and then he turned away.
Beth slept for so long and so soundly the maid had to shake her to wake her up.
'His Majesty has requested your presence at brunch.'
'Brunch?' Beth said, scrambling up. 'What time is it?'
Nearly noon the next day, Beth discovered with amazement. Taking a shower, she quickly changed into casual clothes, and then followed an attendant through the palace to the wing where the ruler of Q'Adar's private apartment was situated. She was taken through a plain-arched entrance to a part of the building that, like the man who lived there, was austere to the point of being spartan. The door that led the way into his office was a beautifully crafted, but undecorated mahogany. Khal was on the phone, and as the attendant left them, closing the door discreetly behind him, he beckoned her into the room. She could tell from his face he had something to tell her that she wouldn't like.
'You're safe to return home,' he said.
Her brain emptied. Hadn't she agreed she would stay with him?
'I was just checking everything I've put in place for you is operational.'
'But I thought-'
'I know what you said, and your offer touched me deeply, but you don't belong here, Beth, and it will be safe for you now in Liverpool. I have the co-operation of the British government. I don't want you to worry about a thing. I've even had my legal team identify three firms of solicitors for you to take your pick from-though, of course, you're free to go elsewhere if you prefer.'
She couldn't answer him. Her stomach had turned to ice; her brain had stalled too. Only one question broke through. 'And what arrangements have you made for your personal safety?' She despised the tremor in her voice.
'If I told you that, the arrangements wouldn't be secure, would they?'
Khal's lips quirked, but it was more than she could do to respond to his battlefield humour this time.
'We're living in dangerous times, Beth, and there will always be greedy, ambitious men who put their own interest above my people. It's up to me to make sure they never take hold again, and it's also up to me to keep you safe.'
'And Hana?'
'I'll drive you both to the airport first-thing tomorrow morning.'
Beth was stunned. 'You're letting Hana go?'
'It's wrong to keep a child from its mother. And, now I know a personal-protection squad has been detailed to mount a round-the-clock watch on her, I'm reassured.'
And it was wrong to take a child from a father who adored her, but as usual Khal was making sacrifices for the good of other people. She had done a lot of growing up since coming to Q'Adar, Beth realised, and Khal had taken a long journey too. Was there any greater gift he could have given her than this?
They drove to the airport the following morning in silence. There were outriders and several more cars containing armed men behind them. This was Khal's life, and she was leaving him to get on with it. She was deserting him in the middle of a situation that, whatever he said to reassure her, Beth knew still had time to run. She glanced sideways at Khal's strong, resolute face beneath his traditional headdress, knowing he would steel himself to this parting from Hana as he steeled himself to so many things.