by Lucy Monroe
“Aaliyah will tell you I do not.”
Gene smiled. “Give me a couple of days and I will fly out commercial.”
“No. Your visit must be kept under wraps. Your place in Aaliyah’s life will not be announced until if and when she is prepared to recognize you as her father.”
“I cannot come on a moment’s notice.”
“With Giatrakos at the helm? I think you can.”
Gene frowned. “Fine. She deserves a little sacrifice on my part.”
“More than a little, I think, but luckily for you she has me now and no major sacrifices on your part will be necessary.”
*
“You called my father?” Aaliyah jumped up and paced across his mother’s receiving room. “And he’s going to be here within the hour?”
“Give or take, yes.”
“But why?”
“Because you deserve an apology for his idiocy.”
“What did you threaten him with to force the apology?” she asked suspiciously.
“No threats were required. He was already trying to find you.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Yes.”
“I doubt it.”
“I’d already hired a private detective and have the retainer receipt and first reports to prove it,” Gene Chatsfield said, having entered the room with Yusuf through the side entrance, indicating the bodyguard had brought him into the palace discreetly. “How he missed your location when your engagement is all over the media, I don’t know.”
Aaliyah spun around to face her father, her face blanching before her expression turned wooden.
Sayed crossed the room and put his arm around her waist. “All will be well. You are not alone.”
Gene smiled at them. “You look very good together.”
“Why are you here?” Aaliyah asked baldly.
“I owe you an apology. I should have heard you out to begin with, but I’m a suspicious man. I made mistakes in the past and they made me vulnerable to a certain type of people. You were not like them, but I was blinded to that at first.”
Sayed was impressed with the older man’s openness and sincerity.
Aaliyah didn’t look quite as taken with her father’s words. “So, you acknowledge I’m your daughter now?” she asked suspiciously.
“Oh, yes.”
“Don’t you want a DNA test, or something?”
Gene glanced at Sayed and then back to Aaliyah. “Already done. Your fiancé provided your results.”
“From the blood test?” Aaliyah asked quietly.
“Yes.”
She scanned his face, as if looking for something. “You planned this.”
“I did.”
“What if he’d kept acting like a bastard about it?” she asked, her vulnerability to that eventuality in her tone.
Though Sayed doubted anyone else would have heard it.
He let her see how serious he was before he promised, “I would have ruined him and destroyed the Chatsfield from London to Sydney.”
“Wow.”
Sayed guided her to a seat on one of the small sofas and indicated a chair for her father to take.
Once they were all seated, Gene said, “I realize I have a lot of making up to do to build a relationship, but I want to try.”
Aaliyah looked up at Sayed. “Is he sincere or is this because I’m going to marry a prince, a pretty ruthless one at that?”
“He is sincere. Believe it.”
She nodded. “Okay.” Then turned her head to face Gene. “We can work on it.”
“You are very forgiving. I am not sure I deserve it.”
“I’m pretty sure you don’t,” Aaliyah said with her usual honesty.
Gene winced. “Touché.”
“But Mom wanted me to try, and if you’re willing, I am, too. For her sake.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not calling you Dad, though.”
“No, I imagine we will suffice with Gene and Aaliyah.”
“Liyah. My friends call me Liyah.”
“I thought Sheikh Sayed called you Aaliyah.”
“Only my family calls me that.”
Like his parents and him. Sayed smiled.
“And I’m not that.” Gene sounded sad.
“Not yet.”
“It is something you will work on,” Sayed added.
The older man nodded. “Yes, I will. Liyah, I appreciate your willingness to try to forgive me―however, this news will come as a great shock to the children. I want to introduce you to them with the respect you deserve. But at the moment they are scattered throughout the world. They have lessons to learn,” he said ruefully, “hard lessons to learn before I would like you to meet them. Myself and Giatrakos are working on it, and they’ll all be back together soon. But for now, I would hope that you understand my request to wait.”
He was only able to stay one night, but in the time he was at the palace, Gene Chatsfield had shown nothing but genuine desire to build a relationship with the daughter he hadn’t known about.
Sayed was glad when both his parents confirmed his instincts that said bringing Gene Chatsfield into Aaliyah’s life was the right thing to do.
He returned Aaliyah’s locket to her before he left for the airport.
*
“That was kind of incredible,” she said after waving her father off.
“I am glad you enjoyed your time with him.”
“He’s not nearly the jerk I thought he was.”
Sayed agreed. “Just a man with fears and worries like anyone else.”
“You know he offered me an equal trust fund to what my half siblings have been given,” Aaliyah informed him.
Sayed had expected something like that and would have been disappointed if Gene had not done so. “What did you say?”
“No.”
“Good.” He’d expected that, as well.
Aaliyah smiled. “I don’t need his money. I never did.”
“You just wanted family and now you have mine.”
“It’s a pretty wonderful family.”
“My mother and father will be pleased to hear you say so.”
She frowned up at him as they walked back into the palace. “You’re not going to try some kind of intervention with the Amaris, are you?”
Sayed shook his head. “Absolutely not. If you were not good enough to recognize before becoming emira, they will not be allowed to claim you now.”
She nodded decisively. “Good.”
“Besides, if we had any of the Amaris in hitting distance, I’m not sure my mother could control herself.”
Aaliyah laughed. “Now, that would make an interesting picture for the front page.”
“No doubt. Let’s avoid it, shall we?”
“Your mom calls me her daughter. I like it.”
“So does she.”
His father was extremely fond of Aaliyah, as well, but then so was Sayed. More than he’d ever thought he could feel for someone not born into his family.
He wasn’t sure he was in love with her, though he thought he might be. Until he knew for certain, he wasn’t saying anything. She deserved truth, not confusion.
*
Aaliyah’s wedding was a royal event, attended by dignitaries, heads of state, sheikhs, other royals and European nobility.
But she was most pleased by her father and his fiancée’s presence. Aaliyah’s only other personal guest was Stephanie Carter, the head housekeeper from the Chatsfield San Francisco, a woman Hena Amari had called friend.
Aaliyah wore white, her dress a traditional Middle Eastern ensemble designed by a prominent Italian designer who had designed several gowns for Queen Durrah. Sayed wore a more ornate version of the outfit he’d proposed to her in.
His coronation took place directly after their wedding, though it wasn’t the one everyone had been expecting. Sayed was given the distinction of crown prince, but his father had decided he wasn’t ready to retire.
&
nbsp; In fact, Sayed had shared with Liyah that King Falah had liked the idea of training his nephew to take Sayed’s place as emir before he was crowned melech. She hadn’t been surprised, though she didn’t tell Sayed so.
She’d had her own little talk with her soon-to-be father-in-law about the timetable for Liyah becoming melecha. She’d let him know in no uncertain terms she wasn’t ready yet.
He’d taken it in good humor, and though he’d blustered a bit, he’d given in pretty easily with her idea of training Bilal to follow in Sayed’s place.
The entire country celebrated the wedding and crown prince coronation into the early hours of the morning.
*
Following the pattern he’d established with her, Sayed lifted Liyah into his arms at the reception in the main ballroom and proceeded to carry her up the stairs and down unfamiliar corridors, ending up in his room.
“Our room now,” he said as he lowered her to stand beside the bed.
“Yes, our room.”
“Tonight, I make love to my emira.” The expression in his dark eyes took her breath away.
She reached up and touched his face, loving the fact she was the only woman besides his mother in the entire country allowed such familiarity. “Whatever we are outside that door, when we are together intimately, you are always my man, ya habibi, and I will always be first and foremost your woman.”
His expression turned nearly beatific. “Yes. I do. I am certain of it.”
“What?” she asked, feeling like she’d missed something.
“I love you, habibti. I was not certain because I’ve never experienced anything like what you make me feel, but my heart is yours, from the moment our eyes met unto eternity.”
She stopped, her heart going so fast she heard the rush in her ears. “You love me?”
“Yes. It happened so quickly, but you are perfect for me. Everything about you matches something in me.”
“I’ll never have a pedigree.”
“And I thank God for it. You help me to see with my heart, not my position.”
“I wasn’t born to be a princess.”
“But you were, born to be my emira.”
She was out of arguments. “I love you, too, Sayed, so much.”
“One day, you will carry my child.”
“Yes. You’ll be such a wonderful father.”
“I had a very good example, just as you did for being mother to our children.”
“We went from single to plural pretty fast.”
“I’ve got a dream.”
“Of lots of babies?” she asked a little worried.
“Not lots, just maybe four?”
“Four? Wow, you do realize I was an only child, right?”
“But you have so much love to give.”
That was one truth she could no longer deny. Gone were the days when Liyah denied her emotions. “You’re being persuasive again.”
He turned and grabbed something off the bed and handed it to her. “Thank you for marrying me.”
She smiled and stepped back from the box. “Just a second.”
She’d asked Hasiba to make sure Liyah’s gift for Sayed had been dropped off in the suite. She found it on the desk, wrapped in burgundy paper, the royal crest holding the gold ribbon together instead of a bow.
She rushed back into the room and offered it to him. “Thank you for marrying me.”
“Your love is all the gift I need,” he said fervently.
“Ditto.”
He smiled and opened the gift, his expression going very solemn as he opened the jeweler’s box. It was a traditional wedding bracelet, of the type brides gave their husband in Zeena Sahra. Though it was not leather, or hand woven from her hair.
It had something to do with their Bedouin roots, but all Liyah knew was that she approved the symbolism of it.
“The eternal circle of love and commitment,” Sayed said with satisfaction.
“Yes, because I will always love you and am in this thing for life.”
“As am I.” He slipped the heavy platinum masculine bracelet on, a single ruby for his royal house offset left of center on the top.
She’d used the last of her savings to buy it and couldn’t think of a better use of her mother’s final gift to Liyah.
“Now it is your turn.”
“Is it?” she asked, so full of love and happiness she didn’t think any gift could add to it.
“Yes. I remember you once told me, we are supposed to keep things even.”
She laughed, remembering. “That was about getting naked.”
“We will get to that.”
“Promise?” she teased.
“Oh, yes. Now, open your gift.”
Liyah tore the paper off the flat box and pulled off its lid, but was a little confused when she saw it was filled with legal documents. “What are these?”
“You know the hotel where I proposed?”
“Yes.” She’d loved the rooftop restaurant.
“I bought it for you.”
“You bought me a hotel?”
“It’s in your blood, but you’ll have to keep a general manager as your duties as emira will not allow for a full-time occupation outside of the palace.”
“Your mother explained.” Queen Durrah had been giving Liyah “princess lessons” daily since she agreed to marry Sayed.
“And you do not mind?”
“No, Sayed. When I say I love you, I mean the you that is emir, too.”
“You are amazing, habibti. Intee albi.”
“And you are my heart. We’ll beat for each other. I love you so much, Sayed.”
“As I love you. With everything that I am or ever will be.”
“I know it.”
“You do?”
“The proof is in the pudding, as they say.” Her heart was so full it was hard to get the words out, but she did. “First you gave me the gift of family, both my father and your own parents, cousins and aunt. Then there’s the hotel—the grand romantic gesture the men in your family are known for.”
“I should have realized I loved you when I started negotiations for the hotel.”
“Maybe.”
“Perhaps you need a little more proof.” Sayed’s meaning was clear in the hunger glowing in his espresso eyes.
“I’ll never say no to that type of proof.”
Nor would she ever balk at giving it. Love had turned her from repressed into passionately expressive.
And Sayed adored her that way. He said so.
They made love throughout the night, taking turns expressing their spiritual affection in carnal ways no less beautiful than the emotion that flowed between them.
Ultimately, Hena Amari had gifted Liyah with Sayed, her final request leading her daughter to London where fate ordained she connect with the other half of her soul.
Liyah whispered a prayer of gratitude as she slipped into sleep, wrapped in the arms of her one true love, and hoped her mother could hear it, as well.
*
If you enjoyed this book, look out for the next instalment of THE CHATSFIELD:
PLAYBOY’S LESSON by Melanie Milburne, coming next month.
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
Harlequin Presents welcomes you to the world of
The Chatsfield;
Synonymous with style, spectacle…and scandal!
Read on for an exclusive extract from
Melanie Milburne’s sparkling story in this
exciting eight book series:
PLAYBOY’S LESSON
Charlotte’s hand fluttered like a little bird inside the cage of his, sending a shockwave of heat through his pelvis like the backdraft of a fire. Lucca released her hand and had to physically stop himself from wriggling his fingers to rid himself of the electric tingling her touch had evoked.
‘Thank you, Your Royal Highness,’ he said with exaggerated politeness. He might be an irascible rake, but he knew how to behave when the occasion called for it, even if he
privately thought it was all complete and utter nonsense. In his opinion people were people. Rich or poor, Royal or common.
She pressed her lips together so tightly as if she were trying to hold an invisible piece of paper between them steady. He wasn’t sure if it was out of annoyance or a gesture of nervousness or shyness, but it drew his gaze like starving eyes to a feast. She had a bee-stung mouth, full lipped and rosy-pink without the adornment of lipstick or even a layer of clear lip-gloss. It was a mouth that looked capable of intense passion, but it seemed somewhat at odds with the rest of her downplayed and rather starchily set features.
A feather of intrigue tickled Lucca’s interest. Did she have a wild side behind those frumpy clothes and that frosty façade?
Maybe his exile here wouldn’t be a complete waste of time after all…
Step into the gilded world of The Chatsfield!
Where secrets and scandal lurks behind every door…
Reserve your room!
June 2014
Copyright © Harlequin Books S.A. 2014
Chatsfield Author Q&A
The Chatsfield Uncovered!
Read on for an exclusive interview with Lucy Monroe.
Creating a world as large as The Chatsfield must be very exciting—did you discuss the hotels with the other authors?
Absolutely. One of the things I loved best about writing Sheikh’s Scandal was the opportunity to collaborate creatively with the editorial team and the other authors in the continuity.
What was the most fun bit about creating this luxurious, scandalous world?
The research I did for both the hotel and Sheikh Sayed’s palace in Zeena Sahra. There are so many gorgeous places in the world to take as inspiration and I’ve definitely added to my “must travel to” list.
Did you do any extra-special research for writing this book? A sneaky cocktail at an exclusive hotel perhaps?
Yes, in fact…I did. I wanted to go to London and stay at Claridges, but could not wangle the time or the travel partner. So, I took my youngest daughter for a long weekend to a very swanky hotel in San Francisco (where my heroine hails from) and did a ton of research on the city and the type of hotel that might be The Chatsfield San Francisco. We did so much walking about the city that falling into the cushy beds at the end of the day felt more like relief than research.
What did you most love about writing your story?
Besides what I’d mentioned earlier about working with some very talented creative people, I adored my characters and getting inside their heads. It’s what makes writing romance so very satisfying for me. I always want to know why people do what they do and with my own characters, I usually get the answer!
