by Olivia Gates
The ruler of her heart and life was born to be king.
He was going on. “I am here today to make two announcements. The first is that I have asked for Al Sayedah Roxanne Gleeson’s hand in marriage, and she has honored me by accepting. Our wedding will be held at her earliest convenience and readiness.”
Roxanne’s jaw dropped. B-but they’d agreed not…
“And with the pledge of my service and support to Azmahar unchangeable for as long as I live, I make the second announcement. I am withdrawing my candidacy for the throne.”
Before anyone could react, before her heart found its next beat, he was stepping down from the podium, walking toward her.
The moment he reached her, she smacked him.
Murmurs interspersed with laughter buzzed through the ballroom.
“I had to out us.” He caught her hand, pressed it to his lips, then to his heart. “I couldn’t take having no one cleaning the kitchen after our Cherie-inspired culinary adventures any longer.”
She smacked him with her other hand. “Don’t even try to joke! When did you reach that monumental decision, and how dare you spring it on me like this?”
“I knew we’d have this argument, and I wanted to have it only once. My mind is made up, ya naar galbi, fire of my heart.”
“Without telling me?” she seethed. “What about your vow that you’d tell me everything.”
“It’s right here, where it will always be. But this is not about me. This is for Azmahar’s best.”
“It’s for Azmahar to choose its best, and if it chooses you, you’re damn well becoming king whether you like it or not!”
“And do you, without emotions and hormones, think I’m as qualified as Jalal or Rashid for the job, now of all times?”
“Qualified and more, for any throne in the world.”
“That’s habibati talking.” His smile was all indulgence as he led her out of the ballroom.
“No, it isn’t,” she persisted, temperature rising another notch. “Personally, you’re everything a king should be, and more.”
“But there’s more to me than what I am personally. You of all people know how my background—read, my mother—could mess things up. I don’t believe I’m the one who can induce the best climate in the kingdom. Not in the top chair. I can do a lot of good from the sidelines, though. As I intend to, with you by my side as my princess. And consultant. I already told Jalal he shouldn’t expect your exclusive services in that area.”
She opened her mouth to protest and he closed it for her with a kiss. “I thought I would redeem myself by taking the throne and fixing what my mother and her family had destroyed. But I realized I was playing into her hands. The hands I can feel all over my candidacy. She wants me to become king, would do anything to achieve her objective. I believe she’s still doing it. Stepping down is the only way to spoil her plans. To outrun her shadow. That will be my true redemption.”
After collecting her jaw off the floor, Roxanne rasped, “I don’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m on her side on this one. That throne you do deserve, and would be perfect for.”
Haidar’s smile was unperturbed, his determination unwavering. “And you think she’d stop after I’m king? From experience, she’d have more in store, and not anything for the general good. She’s my mother, and I’ll always be her son, will always serve her and take care of her, but I’m not giving her the chance to use me, or steer my life, our lives, anymore. It’s as simple as that.”
She stopped, realized they were in that corridor at the very spot where he’d once driven her to ecstasy, clung to him. “Haidar, it’s not—”
“Can you possibly be that simple?”
Roxanne lurched at hearing the dark drawl, at feeling the presence that made all her hairs stand on end. She felt Haidar stiffen before he turned away. To face Rashid.
Haidar cocked his head at him, his lips twitching. “I’m beginning to think you have a teleportation device, Rashid. Though your materialization is welcome this time. If only to serve as a cue to move on to better topics.” He looked back at her, eyes filling with intimacy and indulgence. “Like talking wedding and honeymoon plans.”
Roxanne’s heart fluttered. With delight at what Haidar was saying, agitation at what he’d just done and anxiety at Rashid’s approach.
Rashid stopped a couple of steps away, drawing both her and Haidar’s focus back to him.
His eyes bored into Haidar. “Don’t tell me you think you can escape my payback by stepping down?”
Haidar shook his head, sighed.
Roxanne put herself between them. “Sheikh Aal Munsoori, I’m convinced there has been a tragic misunderstanding that’s led to the current regrettable state of affairs between you and Haidar. But I am confident that we will be able to resolve the situation, and restore your relationship to its former closeness.”
Rashid’s darker-than-the-night eyes regarded her with nerve-rattling stillness, assessing, contemplating.
Then he gave her a smile that made goose bumps storm over her body. “I told Haidar you were very good. I was wrong. I’m now in possession of enough data to know you’re superlative. But it’s evident you’re blinded by emotions—for now. So marry him, if you currently believe you can’t live without him. But also do what will count, in your life and that of others. Join my team.” Rashid suddenly picked up her hand, took it to his lips for a brief electrifying peck, his eyes glittering onyxes as he looked down at her. “Just name your terms.”
Haidar growled something exasperated at her back. “Don’t even think of using Roxanne as part of your payback plans.”
Rashid slanted his gaze back to him, one formidable eyebrow arching sardonically. “I think too much of her and too little of you to do that. This is a legitimate offer, and all for her. She will end up wising up and dumping you as she should all on her own.”
“Don’t hold your breath, or only if you can for the rest of our lives. This is how long Roxanne and me will last. As for you, I’m shoving peace down your throat whether you like it or not.”
“And you’ll do that while hiding behind your lady?”
Haidar stepped before her and in Rashid’s face, his face relaxing in a smile. “Your inflammatory tactics won’t get a rise from me again, Rashid. This war is over.”
Rasid’s summing-up gaze lengthened until Roxanne felt she’d snap with the tension.
Then in ultimate calmness, he said, “I’ll grant you only a ceasefire, Haidar, for Ms. Gleeson’s sake. Once the honeymoon is over, the war resumes.”
Then with a courteous bow to her, he walked away.
Roxanne let out the breath that had been clogged in her lungs on a tremulous exhalation. “We really need to find out what he believes he has against you. Fast.”
Haidar exhaled heavily. “Aih.” He suddenly lifted her off the ground in a fierce hug, smiling full down at her. “After a very, very prolonged honeymoon.”
Before she could think of a response, he pressed her against the wall, took her lips in a kiss that wiped away anything else but him from her mind.
She surfaced from his kiss struggling to remember the other paramount issue at hand, gasped, “But promise me another thing. If Azmahar demands you on the throne anyway, you won’t refuse, for any reason.”
“I promise.” His solemn expression turned bedeviling as he winked at her. “If I can prove the whole population wasn’t mass-manipulated by my mother, that is.”
“Haidar!”
He kissed her indignation away, had her objections and arguments blurring before he withdrew to look down at her, grinning teasingly. “So what do you think it is about me that makes the women in my life want to put me on a throne?”
She sighed, dreamily, resignedly. “You’d be gorgeous on one?”
His eyes twinkl
ed. “I thought I was gorgeous on, in and out of anything.”
She surrendered, dragged him down for another life-affirming kiss. “You are that, and then awesome.”
* * *
A long time later, after loving her into the night, he hugged her more securely into his body, whispered against her cooling cheek, “I do promise, ya naar hayati. I will answer the call of duty if Azmahar issues it and I’m certain it has made the right decision. But know this. For myself, I crave only your love, aspire only to having you for my lover, my princess, my partner in everything. I want us to work together to bring Azmahar back to its former glory. Whether I become king or not.”
She turned to look into his eyes, saw his heart, let him see hers and pledged, “I promise you that, too. And everything else that you yet have to wish for or imagine…”
* * * * *
Get swept away with the next DESERT KNIGHTS book THE SHEIKH’S CLAIM, Jalal’s explosively passionate story! September 2012 Only from Olivia Gates and Harlequin Desire!
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ISBN: 9781459230354
Copyright © 2012 by Olivia Gates
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