by Lynn, Sophia
“You play beautifully,” she said. “I'm sorry, please don't stop for my sake. I'd like to hear more.”
The player hesitated, and then with a barely perceptible nod, started to play again. This was a quicker piece, almost dancing, and there was a kind of beautiful joy to it that came through in the music. The piece ended too soon, and Frannie smiled.
“That was beautiful, so beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
She tilted her head as she recognized Khaliq's voice. She wasn't sure if she was surprised at all that he was the one playing. “It was you.”
“Yes. It's been a long time since I've played the oud. I'm out of practice.”
“I had thought it was a guitar.”
“No. The oud is far older.” Khaliq paused, and Frannie wished in that moment that she knew what his expression was in those shadows. “Come here. I'll show you.”
An hour ago, when she had been trying to walk off her anger and frustration, Frannie likely would have stormed away. Now, though, lulled by the moonlight and the music, she drifted closer, coming up the shallow stone steps of the gazebo. Khaliq, dressed in loose dark robes, gestured for her to come sit next to him, and with only a bare moment of hesitation, she did so.
When she was seated, he set the small instrument on her lap, guiding her arm to cradle it close to her. Frannie could not see much of it in the dark, but she could feel the round, smooth belly, the carved ivory pegs, and the taut strings, each one offering up a tremulously pure note when plucked. She could also feel Khaliq's lean hands on hers, guiding her. She felt her heart beat faster when he touched her, and when he inadvertently ran his fingertips along her pale inner wrist, she heard his breath catch as well.
“I wouldn't have thought you would be so very skilled with music.”
“My father taught me when I was a boy. I've not touched it in years. I suppose he has been on my mind more often than not lately.”
Moving slowly, giving her plenty of time to shy away if she wished to do so, Khaliq laid his hand on the gentle curve of her belly. For a moment, Frannie tensed, and then she found herself relaxing.
“I usually don't like other people touching me like that—”
“I'm sorry.”
“But you're different.”
In the darkness, she caught a glimpse of Khaliq's smile. “Am I?”
She took a breath. “You always have been.”
He started to say something, but then they were both surprised when a kick came from one of her twins. Frannie made a soft noise, because they had been quickening for some time now, but this was new.
“Oh! They've never kicked before like that!”
“Really?” Khaliq sounded almost awed, and Frannie laid her hand next to his. Together they felt another two powerful kicks, and then they looked at each other with wide smiles.
“That was incredible!” Khaliq said, and Frannie giggled.
“You might not have said that if you were the one getting kicked.”
“Did it hurt you? Was it painful?”
“It was just fine, it was... You were right. It's incredible.”
For a moment, they were both silent. Khaliq reached for the oud and set it aside, and Frannie knew that if she wanted to prevent what came next, she needed to move now. She needed to push Khaliq away, or stand up and walk out of the gazebo. She would need to act in a way that ran entirely counter to what her blood and her heart were telling her.
She couldn't.
Instead, Frannie's eyes fluttered closed as Khaliq's hand came up to cup her cheek. There was a tension between the two of them that reminded her of the strings of the oud, so taut and trembling that it felt like it could shatter if it was tugged any harder.
She felt him lean in, felt his breath across her lips, and then his lips came down over hers. When they had come together all those months ago in London, everything had been so urgent. She couldn't remember a kiss like this one, one where they tasted each other, where every nerve in her body was allowed to wake up, to come to sizzling life.
Frannie made a soft sound of surprise as she was tugged into Khaliq's lap. She could feel how muscular he was through the thin fabric of their clothes, how strong he was when his arms came around her. Then they were kissing again, and she could feel herself sinking into the sensual web that he spun. The more he kissed her, the more she needed him. The more he touched her, the more she craved him.
Frannie was so lost to the sensual bliss of Khaliq's touch that she didn't realize where it was all leading until she felt his hand slide down from her waist to her hip and then to her thigh. Suddenly a vision passed through her mind of lying down on the bench of the gazebo, of Khaliq stripping, and coming together with him. The vision was so vivid she shuddered, and at the same time, she knew she couldn't let it happen.
With a sharp cry, Frannie pushed herself back off of Khaliq's lap. She moved so quickly that she nearly ended up flat on her rear on the floor. She would have if Khaliq hadn't caught her. He tried to hold her still for a moment, but then she fought herself free, stumbling back down the steps and away from his grasp.
“Frannie!”
“I can't! I can't, not... I can't.”
In the dimness of the evening, she couldn't read his expression. She didn't think she could afford to do so. She heard him say her name again, soft and sweet enough to send a shiver of sensation down her back, and then she turned on her heel and fled.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Frannie
Frannie woke up the next day feeling as if she had sand under her eyelids. Her sleep had been thin and unrestful, studded with strange dreams where she was reaching for something that she could not catch.
“Subtle, very subtle," she muttered before going about her morning routine.
She had just finished showering and dressing and taking the vitamins that Dr. Rai had prescribed when she realized there was a package laid on the small table of her dining area.
The suite she had been assigned was nearly as large as the floor of her flat. There were servants who came in and out to tidy, but this was the first time they had left her with anything.
"What in the world..."
Her name was written across the top of the box in a strong and slanting script, and slightly nervously, she unwrapped it. She blinked when she saw what it was.
It was a camera, and not just any camera, either. It was the descendant of her own, film and not digital, and she could have worked for a full year and not made enough money to afford it.
For a moment, she was simply stunned by the item itself. She had gone without breakfast for almost six months to afford her own camera, and now this one showed up as if it was a gift no more important than a box of chocolates or a toy.
I don't know how to feel…
Then a tide of rage came over her, and she knew exactly how she felt. She pushed the camera back into its box and tucked it under her arm. When she burst into the hall, she surprised one of the maids who had been hurrying along the corridor.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I need to speak to Khaliq. That is, I mean, the sheikh. I need to speak to the sheikh."
The maid looked at her with wide eyes, and Frannie guessed that there would certainly be some gossip about all this sooner rather than later. She didn't care.
"Sheikh Khaliq is usually at martial arts practice at this time of day, ma'am."
"Will you take me there?"
The girl nodded, and Frannie was too irritated by Khaliq's present to realize what the girl meant about martial arts practice until they got to the gymnasium, an airy space with padded floors and high windows.
Frannie fully intended to storm right up to Khaliq, but she was stopped by the sight in front of her.
Dressed only in loose black pants, Khaliq was fending off two attackers. She stared as he spun around as gracefully as a dancer, lashing out hard with a foot towards one attacker before landing a spinning open handed blow on the other. The other men, dresse
d similarly, crowded him, trying to circle him, but Khaliq was simply too fast. With a grim determination, he fended them both off before pressing the attack, raining down blows on one until the other drew his attention.
Frannie had always thought that she abhorred violence, but this was something else again. There was something beautifully graceful about the way Khaliq moved, the way he dodged and kicked and moved that she couldn't help watching with pleasure.
The camera in her hand made her want to use it, and she resisted the impulse, though it was harder than she had thought it would be.
Finally, one of Khaliq's attackers, an older man with a short gray beard, stepped back. "That's enough. Very good."
She watched as Khaliq exchanged a few words with the man, and then Khaliq's pale green eyes flickered to her. He cut the exchange short, bowing to both of his opponents, and then he jogged over to her.
"Frannie. I had not expected to see you here."
"I wanted to ask you what this was all about."
She thrust the camera at him, and though Khaliq tilted his head at it, he did not take it.
"It is a camera. A good one, I was advised."
"I don't take bribes!"
"What?" Khaliq looked at her with a blank expression his face, and she only grew angrier.
"Is this...some kind of payment for last night? Or is it some kind of down payment for something that you think you are going to get at a later time? Because I won't be bought, Khaliq! What we're doing here, we are doing for the benefit of our children, but you cannot buy me!"
Frannie's voice cracked on the last word, and Khaliq was staring at her with his mouth open in shock.
"This wasn't an attempt to buy you! I don't think of you as a whore, Frannie!"
"Then what is it?"
Khaliq was still long enough that she thought he wouldn't answer her, and then he shook his head. "Do you really wish to know?"
"I do." Some of her anger was beginning to drain away, and without it, Frannie felt oddly cold.
"I saw the way you looked at me playing the oud last night. Photography is your passion, and you are in Beian without a camera. I thought...the oud gave me such pleasure. It was good to reconnect with a part of myself that has always been important to me. I thought it would be the same for you."
"Khaliq..." A pang of remorse struck Frannie. She reached for Khaliq, but he stepped back.
"Take it. Don't take it. Give it away if you wish. It was a gift meant to comfort you, and if you take no comfort in it, the fault is mine."
Khaliq turned away from her with a military sharpness, and before she could stop him, he strode to the rear of the gymnasium, where she assumed the showers were. She thought of waiting for him, of trying to apologize, but then she left, returning to her suite with her face burning bright red.
What was she doing?
***
In the end, she went to find him again, the camera on a strap around her neck. This time, Frannie found him in his study, a spacious area lined with books and studded with tall windows. She entered without knocking, and though he glanced up as she came in, he said nothing to her.
For a moment, Frannie only watched him typing something on the impossibly sleek computer on his desk, frowning and tapping an impatient finger on the wood. It should have been awkward. It should have been supremely uncomfortable watching him there and having him ignore her.
It took Frannie a moment to realize why she wasn't uncomfortable.
This is what I'm used to. This is when I do my best work, when my subject is engrossed in his own world.
Smiling for the first time in what felt like a thousand years, Frannie lifted her camera up and started to take pictures. She could tell from the first whir of the shutter that Khaliq knew what she was doing, but he continued his work, ignoring her as she started to circle him, clicking away.
Frannie realized something else as she started to take the pictures. She realized that Khaliq was always aware of her. Through the lens of her new camera, it was obvious that he was always aware of where she was standing and what she was doing. He couldn't seem to help it. He was always on the verge of turning towards her, and even when she circled behind him, just catching a hint of his hand and the curve of his arm, he knew where she was.
She was wondering about a tricky angle that would get his reflection in the nearby window when Khaliq finally spoke up.
“Enough. What are you doing?”
“Well, I feel as if that should be self-evident. I mean, you got this camera for me as a gift, didn't you?”
Despite her initial bravado, there was something a little hesitant in her voice. Frannie hated that about herself. Her pregnancy had made her as bold as a lioness when it came to advocating for her girls, but when it came to just her and Khaliq, standing as just a man and a woman, she was still hesitant, still so nervous about her place in this world.
“I did,” Khaliq said with a shrug. “You did not seem to want it.”
“I do. I've always wanted this camera, and...and it is an amazing gift. Thank you for it.”
“Thank me with a kiss.”
The words were uttered so very easily that Frannie almost didn't understand. Then she did, and she knew in her heart that this was a bad idea. Whenever she kissed Khaliq, it felt as if it could never just stay a kiss.
One kiss was like throwing a match on a pile of dry wood and tinder. However, despite her good sense telling her that it was a bad idea, Frannie found herself stepping closer to Khaliq, laying the camera carefully on his desk.
"Thank you with a kiss?" Her voice was soft and husky, and she felt a strange rush of power and pleasure when Khaliq looked at her warily.
"Yes..."
In that moment, she forgot all about being a woman who was practically a beggar living in the house of one of the wealthiest men in the world. She forgot all about how her back ached, and how the twins seemed to grow heavier with each passing day, and how she was starting to waddle a little when she moved.
Instead, all she cared about was the look in Khaliq's eyes when she came around the desk to stand in front of him. He spun the chair towards her so she could come stand between his knees, but he kept his hands down as she leaned in.
Frannie couldn't resist putting her hands on his shoulders as she leaned in. She came so close to him that she knew he could feel her breath on his lips, and she held his eyes as she spoke.
"Thank you," she whispered, and she kissed him.
This time, she was the one who was in charge of the kiss. She took her time with it, kissing him, parting his lips slightly with her tongue before drawing back teasingly and then advancing again.
When Khaliq started to move, she decided that she didn't care for that. She buried her hands in his sleek dark hair and deepened the kiss, driving her tongue between his lips just as he had once done to her. There was something smoky and warm and absolutely delicious about the way he tasted, and the fire rose up between them as it always did.
This time, however, she was the one in control, and she felt almost giddy as she simply took what she wanted.
By the time she broke the kiss and pulled back, she knew her face was red and her eyes were wild. Frannie's breath was coming quickly, and her heart beat a light tattoo in her chest. She grinned at the slightly stunned look in Khaliq's eyes.
"You're very welcome," he said after a moment. "I would ask you what else I could get you that would get me another kiss like that one, but I think you would take offense."
"I probably would. But I am sorry I shouted at you yesterday. I saw the camera...and I suppose I assumed the worst."
Khaliq shrugged, and it occurred to Frannie that there was something tired in the way he moved.
"I suppose you have every reason to think the worst. Obviously my attempt to quiet that instinct in you went badly."
Frannie shrugged, but in truth it had. She was speaking again before she realized she was going to say anything at all. "It feels...it feels as if we're
stranded on two cliffs with a deep canyon between us."
Khaliq looked at her curiously, and though she was tempted to let it be, she forged ahead. "As if we're just...just two people with such different needs and goals, and no matter what we're doing, no matter how much we shout at one another, we can't make ourselves heard."
"I have been very clear about what I want," Khaliq said, and Frannie couldn't stop herself from passing a hand over her belly protectively.
"I know what you want. I know what I want for my daughters. And...I'm not sure where I fit into this."
Khaliq stared at her as if he didn't understand what she was saying.
Frannie shook her head ruefully, because of course he didn't understand. "So I take it you have never felt out of place anywhere in the world?"
"Why would I?"
"Right. I suppose that makes sense. Well, my problem is that I have never felt anything but. I don't fit in. I have no place. My parents died when I was young, and I suppose I have plenty of friends, but they're far away. If I don't contact them, sooner rather than later, they'll forget all about me."
"That's a dark way to look at things."
"It's truthful at least. I don't fit in anywhere. I wouldn't worry at all about fitting in in Beian except...well, my daughters. Our daughters. This is going to be their home."
"It can be your home as well..."
"I don't know that. I know that you want our daughters to be as much a part of the fabric of this country as you."
"Of course."
"So...where does that leave me?"
"Frannie..."
"I have told you before that you are not going to take our children from me. I don't think you will. You're too good for that."
Khaliq tilted his head at her. "You don't sound as happy about the idea of me being good as I might have thought you would."
"I am glad you are so good, and from what I have heard about you from your sister and the servants, you are kind. That is a good thing. But it doesn't tell me what place I will have in my daughters' lives."
Frannie felt her voice crack a little, and both of her hands came down to cup her belly. She felt infinitely fragile, infinitely vulnerable now. It wasn't in her nature to be this bare in front of anyone, but she forced herself to keep speaking.
