Desert King, Pregnant Mistress(32)

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.