“Strong points, dear wife. So why did we marry, then? Why not simply become famous lovers? Princes do it all the time,” he teased, pushing her because the effect when he did—the way she got all strong and firm before his eyes, refusing to back down or be intimidated—set off thrills in his blood.
And she did not disappoint him now.
Tossing her head, throwing that thick, glossy hair of hers over her shoulder in the process, she angled her chin up. “That was never on the table, prince or not. The mysterious mechanic might work on the cutting edge of technology, but she is still an old-fashioned Muslim girl from an old-fashioned Muslim and South Asian family.”
Jag could not stop his eyes from flaring with the triumph at yet another welcome, if utterly unexpected, development. “Is that true, Rita? About you, I mean? Are you a Muslim?” he asked.
Guardedness creeping into her eyes, Rita nodded, her answer a tentative, “Yes.”
“Unbelievable,” he uttered on an exhale, and she frowned.
“What?” she asked warily.
“I just couldn’t have planned it better myself. Unsuitable, and yet infinitely suitable.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“You being a Muslim woman, I did not expect it, but am beyond pleased.”
“Why?” she asked.
“As a Muslim woman, you have removed my father’s greatest potential argument against our marriage. I was prepared and, according to national polls, Hayat was prepared for its first non-Muslim princess, but now that is irrelevant. When I debut you to the world as my bride, my father will have no excuse with which to invalidate our marriage.”
“Your father would do that?” Rita asked, less aghast than he might have anticipated coming from an American.
“I warned you that he was a ruthless tyrant. He believes it is a king’s right to dictate the lives of all of those he encounters. As you might surmise, I have been less than amenable to those beliefs. A great deal of your appeal as my wife lies in your being the antithesis of what he would want in a daughter-in-law, but while I am happy to take every shot I can at my father, I never like to do so at the expense of my people. The fact that you are Muslim, however, will make it easier for them. He will not be able to use religion to stir up the wrong kind of controversy, and they will find you more relatable.”
“And here I’d always thought faith was a personal thing,” she said dryly.
Jag laughed. “Nothing is personal when you are royal.”
“Yippee,” she responded darkly, and Jag could not hold back his laughter.
“Relax,” he said, still quietly laughing. “You are exactly the woman for the job. Our marriage is expressly for the purpose of securing the approval of my people, and I would never bring them a bride who I did not think would serve them. The wrong woman in the position could be disastrous, no matter how temporary the arrangement might be. But you, you just keep proving yourself more and more suited to the role. You’re nothing my father would want for my wife, and yet everything my country is clamoring for. Announcing to the world that I have made NECTAR, the world’s greatest electric conversion engineer, my bride as the grand finale of my international electric energies exhibition will not only be the coup d’état of my exhibition, but has the potential to be the kind of story that captures the attention of the world.”
It was all so close, he could almost taste it.
CHAPTER FOUR
ASUSUALWITHher conversations with Jag, Rita’s mind zeroed in on the minutiae of what he said while sailing over the probably more important parts.
“Debuting NECTAR?” she asked, fingers and thumbs suddenly and inexplicably numb.
Jag smiled, the visions of the future in his eyes much clearer than what was before him. “Of course,” he said. “The future Queen of Hayat being the world’s foremost expert on electric engines and systems will catapult my vision into reality far more efficiently than even the world’s rarest car.”
“No one in the world knows who NECTAR is,” Rita said, as if stating the well-known fact was evidence enough of the point she was trying to make.
“And because of that, the reveal will be that much more a sensation.”
“I’ve kept my identity a secret for a reason.” Many reasons, in fact, not the least of which included not having to wade through the nonsense of men who didn’t respect women and being able to get away with charging what she did for her work. She was the best there was at what she did, but there was just no way her clients would pay a woman that much money for a job. Especially when she had first started.
And then there was the fact that she hadn’t wanted to cause her family to lose any more face. There was no need to flaunt her disobedience—to either of the families involved.
Jag shrugged insouciantly and waved the concern away. “I’m sure it was a good one,” he said. “Circumstances now call for a change.”
“It is easier to do my job when people think they are dealing with a man,” Rita tried again.
Leaning forward, he took her hand, his amber gaze trapping hers. With deepest conviction he said, “Imagine how easy it will be once they know you are a princess.”