‘Thanks. I’ve never done this before. I didn’t know it was so thrilling.’
She smiled up at him over her shoulder and the glow of her pleasure drenched him like sunlight banishing the night’s shadows. Gone was the reserve she usually maintained when they weren’t having sex.
Karim’s chest expanded as pleasure filled him. ‘I haven’t either. That makes us all novices.’
‘You haven’t?’ She looked astonished. ‘I thought you must have learned as a boy.’
Karim shook his head. He was about to explain that there’d been little time for childish pursuits in the Za’daqi royal court when someone entered the clearing. His secretary—looking grim.
‘Your Majesty… Madam.’
He bowed deep and Karim saw his shoulders rise as if he were catching his breath. Karim’s smile froze. Such an interruption could only mean serious news.
‘Sir, may we speak in private?’
Karim felt Safiyah tense and tightened his hold on her. ‘You may speak in front of the Sheikha.’
This was more than some scheduling problem. With his staring eyes, the man looked to be in shock. Karim braced himself.Not Ashraf. Not his brother…
‘Very well, Your Majesty.’ He hesitated, then abruptly blurted out, ‘There’s a report in the media about your…background. Claiming that your father was—’
He stopped, and Karim came to his rescue. ‘Not my father?’ Weariness mingled with relief that there hadn’t been a tragedy. But clearly there was no escaping some secrets.
‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ The man stepped forward and proffered a tablet.
Karim took it, reading swiftly. The news piece was carefully worded, but it noted that if Karim’s father hadn’t been the Sheikh of Zad’aq Karim had no claim to the title of Prince. The implication being that without that the Assaran Royal Council wouldn’t have considered him a contender for its throne.
Regret surfaced that today’s pleasure should be blighted by an old scandal that he’d thought dead and buried. But then Karim squared his shoulders and concentrated on what needed to be done.
Safiyah read the headline and froze. When Karim dropped his arm from her waist, moving away with his secretary, Safiyah took the tablet from him with numb fingers.
She felt blank inside…except for a creeping chill where Karim’s body warmth had been.
‘Mama! Look out!’
Safiyah’s head jerked up. The line of the kite was slipping and she tightened her grip on it. With an effort she conjured a smile for Tarek, even as her mind whirled at the news story and Karim’s matter-of-fact response to it.
It couldn’t be true. The very idea was preposterous.
‘Here.’ She passed Tarek the kite. ‘You can have it, but you must stay here where I can see you.’
A glance revealed Karim and his secretary deep in discussion. Karim was showing none of the outrage she’d have expected if the story were false. Her husband looked stern but calm.
Her husband.
But who was he if he wasn’t the son of the Sheikh of Za’daq?
It felt as if the ground beneath her feet had buckled.
Slowly she moved into the shade of one of the trees fringing the clearing. Intent on answers, yet excluded from the terse conversation going on metres away, she turned back to the article. Reaching the end, she went back to the beginning and read it again, astounded.
It was an outrageous allegation, and no definitive proof was provided, though there was mention of a medical technician willing to swear to it. The story claimed Karim’s mother had been unfaithful to her husband before deserting him and that the old Sheikh had only learned Karim wasn’t his just before his death.
The report insinuated that Karim had then been banished by his younger half-brother, Ashraf, who’d threatened to proclaim the truth if he didn’t renounce his claim to the Za’daqi throne. Yet when Safiyah had seen Karim and Ashraf together at the coronation they’d seemed on the best of terms. And Karim had been full of smiles for his sister-in-law, Tori.
‘Seen enough?’
Karim stood before her, eyes narrowed to gleaming slits, hands clenched at his sides, in a wide stance that was pure male challenge. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the secretary hurry back towards the palace. Tarek scampered around, ignoring them all, watching the kite.