“You’re still nowhere near my orbit, you said so yourself.”
“There will be a media furor.” He sounded way less bothered by that than he should be. “But nothing like the ongoing existence of a woman in my son’s life who is not my wife.”
“You can’t want to marry me. I’m not princess material at all.”
“I disagree. You have already proven to have more heart and honorable intent than Tahira ever did—at least where I am concerned. You are articulate and intelligent, self-controlled, as well. Once you have the proper training, the rest of the world will be able to do nothing but admire my choice in emira.”
“Proper training?” she asked carefully, not liking the sound of that at all.
His thumb caressed her palm, sending shivers through her. “Consider it like going to university to get a degree in being a political figure.”
“A political figure’s wife, surely.”
“Make no mistake, as my emira and ultimately melecha of our country, you would have a political role, just as my mother does.”
“How am I supposed to train for something like that?”
“With the teachers who served me best.”
“You had tutors? I thought you went to boarding school in the States.”
He smiled, the expression impacting her like it always did. “I’m referring to my parents. Both have already agreed to do their best to help you learn your new role, should it become necessary.”
“I didn’t think having sex with you was signing me up for a new career.”
Sayed shrugged, his body shifting against hers. “Life is like that, full of curve balls, as one of my old professors was so fond of saying.”
“This is crazy. You know that, don’t you?”
“Difficult? Perhaps. Crazy? No.”
“Stop talking about it.” She wasn’t pregnant and all this talk of marriage was only going to make it harder to leave him.
She couldn’t afford dreams with so little substance.
“For now.” Sayed turned over, pushing her onto her back and proceeded to blow her mind. Again.
If his lovemaking seemed to be tinged with desperation, she figured maybe her own feelings were simply reflecting back on her.
* * *
Sayed stormed into his father’s office and threw the newspaper in his hand onto the king’s desk. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Once the story broke, there was nothing you could do.” His father flicked a glance at the image of Sayed and Liyah in a passionate lip-lock—and not the first one in three days to run in their country’s most widely circulated newspaper. “The only course of action left open was to wait and see how it was received.”
“Pictures of Aaliyah and I kissing were on the Net hours after we arrived at the retreat.”
“You did kiss her outside.”
“In our private gardens!”