He pushed on with his argument, completely unaware of the emotional tempest raging in her chest. “Even if you were to sell the flat and move back in with your mother, your circumstances are hardly comfortable. Whereas here you can live with ease, luxury, and your mother too. Think about what this marriage could give to her.”
“You don’t get it,” she groaned, tapping her palm to her forehead, pushing away the dangerous lure of his offer. What wouldn’t Millie give to offer her mother some respite from her stress and grief? “I can’t just uproot my mother from her life. I’d never ask it of her.”
“But you’re asking me to forego a role in my child’s life instead?”
Her lips parted, yet she was silent, struggling to answer that. “No,” she said eventually, with a small, not-very-convincing shake of her head. “Of course you can be involved, if that’s really what you want. But I don’t see why that involvement has to take the form of…” she couldn’t even say it.
“Marriage,” he supplied after a slight pause.
“Right.” She fidgeted her hands at her sides.
“But you do,” he corrected, moving ever closer, so her pulse began to thunder for myriad reasons, his proximity setting off some kind of alarm in her central nervous system so she found it almost impossible to think straight. “If I were any other man, perhaps you would have a more valid argument, but I’m not. I’m the Sheikh of Abu Qara and without our marriage, this child will never be acknowledged as my legal heir. He or she will never have the opportunity to rule this country. Are you really willing to deny them that from before birth? You don’t know what they’ll be like. You don’t know what their wishes will be. Would you really want to curtail their prospects because you’re too selfish to get married?”
She gasped. “Selfish? How dare you say that to me?”
His lips tightened but he made no reply.
“Can you hear yourself, Zafar? We’re talking about marriage. This isn’t some insignificant issue that I can just rush into.”
“I agree. It’s a very important decision, and if we had the luxury of time, I would suggest you take some to consider this further. But you are already visibly pregnant. We must act quickly to avoid this seeming like a shotgun wedding.”
She ignored the fact he was making it sound as though it were all a fait accompli. “And what about when the baby is born, in four months time?”
“It’s not ideal. But by then, you’ll be accepted by my people as the Emira of Abu Qara. The timing will matter less.”
She shook her head. “That won’t work. I don’t want our child to grow up and read tabloids that suggest we got married because I was pregnant. It’s far better if we say we were married the week of your father’s death, that we didn’t want to announce it because of the timing. That way, we avoid having to have all the hoopla of a big wedding now,” she pointed out pragmatically, without realising the trap he’d laid for her, a trap she’d walked into absolutely blithely.
“Yes, that makes sense,” he agreed. “I’ll have Bashir arrange the paperwork. We can sign this afternoon.”
Her mouth formed a perfect ‘o’, and she shook her head. “I was speaking hypothetically,” she rushed to walk-back her statement. “That wasn’t an acceptance.”
“Wasn’t it?” He closed the gap between them completely, his eyes ravaging her face. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” she responded. “I don’t want to marry you.”
“This isn’t about what either of us wants. You’re pregnant, with our baby. All our decisions now come down to him or her.”
Her heart twisted, an unfamiliar emotion rioting through her. “I just can’t see how this would work,” she responded softly. Standing close to him like this, she remembered what it was like to be able to reach out and touch him. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d been living in a fantasy world for months. That blissful time secretly spent together, passionate nights in one another’s arms, snatched moments in the palace’s gardens. Millie had been falling in love, but Zafar had just been using her because it was convenient and it suited him. She’d been a willing body close at hand, and oh so eager to please and learn from his masterful seduction. What a fool she’d been then!
“Then tell me what you need to know,” he said softly, the gentleness surprising her. Out of nowhere, she felt the cloying sting of tears and swallowed hard to vanquish them. “I appreciate this is a…curve ball,” he employed the American euphemism seemingly as an afterthought. “For both of us.”
The threat of tears grew. She didn’t need another reminder of the fact this man never intended to have children nor get married. He’d been so clear about that. “This is the last thing you want,” she said with a soft nod. “I remember.”
His eyes sparked with hers, something electric travelling between them. “You’re going to have my baby. There’s no sense discussing anything other than the facts – and what we must do now.” He reached out, surprising her by placing his far larger hand over hers. The touch was like a mini-explosion in her central nervous system. She startled, her gaze drawn to his face, her throat thick with something other than tears now. My baby. The words spiralled through her. She looked away quickly.
“I have meetings this morning. Appointments I can’t move. But join me for lunch, and we’ll discuss the finer points of our marriage. Will this put your mind at rest?”
It was laughable for so many reasons, yet she wasn’t laughing. “Obviously we need to discuss this further,” she agreed quietly. “But I also have plans.”
He was quiet, as though such an idea hadn’t occurred to him.
“Gareth and I booked a tour of the ruins at Alkasat. We’ve been looking forward to it.”
Something darkened his expression, an emotion she couldn’t comprehend. “Absolutely not.”
Surprise ran through her. “What?”
“This is no longer possible.”