Desert King, Pregnant Mistress(35)

And now the time had come  and, surrounded by those who loved her, Beth  walked out of her apartment  and along the corridors to the top of the  grand marble staircase in the  Palace of the Moon, where she looked down  on the crowded assembly. Her  gaze locked instantly with Khal's, and in  response to his look of love  she started her journey towards him.






EPILOGUE




THREE  months earlier Khal had bought an emergency licence. For an  emergency  marriage, he'd told Beth, dragging her into his arms to tease  her with  kisses.

'You can't do that in Liverpool,' she'd protested, leaping up in bed in her little house.                       
       
           



       

'If the Sheikh of Sheikhs can't, then he'll find someone who will.'

'Friends in high places?'

'Relations  between our two countries have never been better,' Khal had  agreed,  throwing Beth down on the pillows. 'I've got something for  you.'

'What is it?' she demanded, starting to rifle the pockets of his casual jacket.

'This,' he said, straight-faced, handing her a box he had hidden behind his back. 'I know you can't stand jewellery.'

'Who says I can't?'

'And so I thought … '

'Khal,'  Beth protested, leaping up in bed. 'What have you done?' She  burst out  laughing as he opened the ornate jewellery box and plucked  out the  'engagement ring' he'd bought her.

'Plastic fantastic!' she  exclaimed. 'How did you know it's exactly what  I wanted? Did you have it  made especially for me?' Holding it up to  the light, she brandished the  chunky ring, pretending to admire it.

'I had to buy a lot of crackers before I found one I thought you'd like.'

'I love it, and I'll never take it off,' she assured him, overacting terribly.

'I hope you don't mean that,' Khal said, turning serious. 'It could give a man a nasty bruise.'

'And what's this?' Beth said, as he handed her an intact cracker.

'Let's pull it and see, shall we?' he suggested, joining her on the bed.

Beth gave it all she'd got, and gasped when the contents came tumbling out. 'Is this real?' she gasped.

'Please, not that again,' Khal begged her, affecting weariness.

'Okay, it's real,' Beth agreed excitedly. 'But Khal, you shouldn't have.'

'Okay, give it back to me.'

'No-finder's keepers … '

'Let  me help you, then,' he said, easing the plastic ring from Beth's   wedding finger and replacing it with the most spectacular jewel Beth had   ever seen. The ring was composed of a cluster of sapphires in all the   colours of the rainbow.'

'Except for red,' Khal explained. 'Because red is the preserve of the ruby … '

'Oh, Khal, no!' Beth protested when he brought out yet another ring from his shirt pocket. 'You can't do this.'

'Who says?' he demanded. And now he replaced the second ring with a third, a ruby heart the size of a quail's egg.

Beth was astounded. She had never seen anything like it. The ruby heart was surrounded by the most fabulous blue-white diamonds.

'I hope you like it.' Khal said dryly. 'You can keep the plastic for every day.'

'I love it … '

'Good,'  he said, and, ignoring laughing protests, he brushed the debris  off the  bed, threw off his clothes, and joined her beneath the covers.



The  grand ceremony in the Palace of the Moon was quite a wedding,  though  they both knew that nothing could mean as much to them as that  simple  service back in Liverpool. The two weddings had reflected their  very  different lives, but from now on they would walk the same path,  and  share the same life …

Khal had been waiting for her, looking  magnificent in his robes of  Bedouin black trimmed with the crimson and  gold of the al Hassan  family, while Beth's fairy-tale gown had been  picked out for her by her  friends at the Khalifa store in Liverpool. She  was going to keep in  contact with all of them, now Khal had involved  her in the  business-though her brief had just expanded to embrace a  country. For,  when Khal placed the official wedding-band of Q'Adar on  her finger, she  became queen of that country. That ring would sit next  to the plain  gold wedding-ring he had bought for her in Liverpool, and  in tribute to  both their countries she would never take either ring off.



It  seemed for ever that day until they were alone again. 'You didn't  need  to do all this for me,' Beth protested, staring out across the  ocean as  Khal's yacht slipped out of port. Their honeymoon would be  brief but  wonderful, as neither of them could bear to be parted from  Hana for  longer than a few days. Of course Beth wasn't to know that  Khal had  arranged for Hana and Faith to join the yacht when they docked  at the  next port. It was just one of many surprises the ruler of  Q'Adar had  planned for his beloved wife.                       
       
           



       

'I know I didn't have to do anything for you,' he said. 'Which is why I want to do so much for you.'

As  Khal moved to brush her hair back from her face when the ocean  breeze  tossed it in her eyes, Beth trapped his hand in hers. 'Well, I'm  very  glad you did … '

'So am I … ' He turned her hand and stared down at  the ring she was  wearing. 'The colours of the sapphire will always  remind us that life  is full of possibility.'

'If we take it by the scruff of the neck and shake it?' Beth suggested with a laugh.

'I  couldn't have put it better myself-though right now that's not what   I've got in mind … ' He glanced towards the companionway that led the way   to the owner's suite.

'So it's more of a passionate ruby-red-heart sort of moment?' Beth guessed, smiling up at him.

'Exactly,' Khal agreed, drawing Beth into his arms.