by Leslie North
“Well, the result is that you have pleased my father—he is now all for our marriage.”
Casey faced him. “What? I mean—he’s supposed to disapprove and throw me out of the country. I’ve got my interview.”
It was Khalid’s turn to stare. A pulse began to beat hard behind his left temple. “What interview?”
“Uh…well, with Fadiyah. I found her in the garden just about in tears over being forced into yet another marriage. Did you know she’s in love with the head of your security?”
Khalid waved away the comment. “That does not matter. I told you, I have it handled.”
Casey crossed her arms. “Well, you haven’t told me how you have it handled.”
“It is—”
“I know—no concern of mine. But it is. I promised Fadiyah to help.”
With a low growl, Khalid stalked across the room and back. Facing Casey, he told her, “My father thinks you a fit bride. We now must set a wedding date because of your praising Sharjah in print.” He waved at the computer screen. “That is our problem.”
“Oh, please.” Dropping her arms to her side, she slammed the computer lid shut. “The other article I sent to Luke will make your father unhappy.”
“And when does that appear? In a week? A month?”
Skin going pale, Casey lifted her chin. “You want out of this engagement so badly.” Lifting her hands, she struggled to pull off the ring. It wasn’t budging. Huffing now, Casey said, “Consider it off—ended. I’ll be on a flight out of here the day after tomorrow.”
Putting a hand over hers, Khalid tried to stop her from pulling her ring off. She jerked away from him. “Casey, this does not mean we have to stop seeing each other. I don’t want—”
“What? You don’t want to get married, but you don’t want me to go. So you just want a good time with me and then to move on?” Tears sheened her eyes. “I’ve been such a fool. I thought last night might have meant—oh, never mind. Just get out. I’m tired of you telling me you have everything handled with Fadiyah, but you won’t tell me a thing. I’m tired of being a pawn in this power play between you and your father. And I…I just thought…” She let the words fade. Turning away, she yanked off the ring and slammed it down on the table next to her laptop.
“Casey, I—”
She turned on him. “No. Not one more word. Just go.”
13
The palace ballroom looked better than any tent ever could. Gold and white fabric draped the ceiling and walls, peaking at a huge lantern with colored glass that cast rainbow hues onto the fabric. Candles flickered in a hundred other lanterns. And thank heavens, just about everyone had worn traditional robes and headscarves—Casey included.
She had managed to slip out of her room early in the morning, before the heat of the day or even before the sun had risen. After she’d thrown Khalid out, the guards had come back to bar her door, so she’d gone for the sheet-rope after all. She’d managed to shimmy down it and land without too much bruising. She’d waited near the front gate, lurking behind bushes and feeling more like some kind of stalker—until Fadiyah had arrived in a limo. Fadiyah had also arrived with maids and friends, all of them chattering. It had been easy to follow Fadiyah, but it had taken some work—and borrowing a maid’s uniform from the laundry—before Casey could at last corner Fadiyah in the bathroom where she was dressing.
“There’s not much time, so you have to do exactly as I ask,” Casey had told her.
Fadiyah just nodded as if she trusted Casey implicitly.
Now Casey was just hoping this whole thing didn’t blow up too soon. She kept her head down and her veil over her face. The henna on her hands marked her, but no one seemed to really be noticing that. She could also keep her hands mostly hidden in her robe. The veil covered her head and most of her face, leaving only her eyes revealed. She’d put on a lot of makeup and kept her stare lowered. And no one seemed to think she should say much.
Risking a glance around the room, she took in the two dozen people gathered.
This affair seemed a smaller event than Khalid’s wedding had been, with just relatives attending, if you went by the robes and traditional garb. The guest settled into clumps—no chairs had been set out, and Casey figured it was about time for the wedding to start. She took a deep breath and pressed a hand to her stomach, which was currently doing back flips. She was probably going to end up in jail again, but she’d thought ahead this time and had emailed Luke in advance to warn him she was going to need his help getting out of Sharjah. She’d also blasted him for publishing her background material without so much as a heads up—no one ever won a Pulitzer for fluff travel pieces.
One of the other women standing next to her nudged her arm and said something in Arabic. She was going to guess that was a hint to get moving. Wetting her lips and staring at the carpet design, she started forward.
Zaid had entered from the other side of the room. She could tell that from the flutter of movement and the creak of a door. Sneaking another glance, she saw he’d gone for full traditional dress—flowing robes, headscarf and like her, he seemed to prefer to keep his head down. Great—neither of them really wanted this. She was doing more than a favor for Fadiyah, she was probably saving the girl from a lifetime of misery.
And then something caught her eye.
For a moment, she thought…oh, but no, that was just her mind playing tricks. She was seeing Khalid’s broad shoulders and his athletic movement under Zaid’s robes because she wanted to.
She’d been such a fool.
She’d known from the start that Khalid was a playboy—a man who didn’t want to settle down. But she’d gone ahead and slept with him. She’d thought she could keep it all fun and games. Instead, he’d not just rocked her world—he’d rocked her heart. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but when he was so upset about having his father’s approval for their engagement, she had realized the truth. He didn’t love her. He never had. She was just one more girl he had taken to bed. She was just a fling.
The truth had hurt.
Well, she was done with him and with this whole country. She was getting Fadiyah out of this jam of an arranged marriage to Zaid and then she was out of here—that was, if she wasn’t in jail.
Staring down at her red and gold robes, she thought she’d never worn anything so lovely. Her heart tightened. She’d always thought her wedding dress would be white, but now she thought she’d never seen anything more beautiful. It was going to be a shame to have to change it for prison garb.
When she reached the front of the room, she stopped and stood still, her heart hammering. Zaid had reached her side. She peaked up at him from under her lashes and her veil, but she couldn’t see more than his shadowed face—his headscarf hid his features. The cleric started to speak—and Casey wished now she’d brushed up on Arabic weddings. Was she married now or at the end? Did she pull off her veil now and blow this up? She wanted to wait as long as she could to give Fadiyah and Hazim time to get as far away as they could, but she also didn’t want to end up as Zaid’s bride.
She started to count. At twenty, she’d pull off her veil and face whatever came next.
Instead, when she hit ten, the man standing next to her straightened and pulled off his headscarf—and Casey stared up at Khalid’s face, not Zaid’s.
Khalid pulled off his keffiyeh and turned to face those gathered. He heard the gasps and the muttered curse from his father. Mehmood stood and shot an accusing finger at Khalid and started to demand what trick this was. Khalid knew that Ahmed had spirited Zaid from the palace after slipping sleeping tablets into Zaid’s tea this morning. At least his father would not be able to prop up a confused Zaid and insist this wedding continuing.
But he was under no illusions about his fate—his father would most likely disown him. However, that did not seem to matter. Not when he feared he had lost Casey.
He had never thought love could happen so fast, but it seemed that with him it had. When she had pull
ed off the ring he had given her, he realized then that he was in love with her. He had seen the tears glinting in her eyes and they had torn into him as nothing ever had.
But she would not listen to him. Perhaps she would listen after this—she must. That was assuming his father did not throw him into prison.
Glancing around the room, Khalid raised his voice and said, “I am sorry, but this wedding cannot continue. I am not Zaid and I know Mehmood will not have me for a son-in law.”
The sultan stepped forward from the crowd. “Khalid, you dare make a mockery of this ceremony?” The room seemed to be buzzing with whispers and gasps and shocked laughter.
Raising his hands, Khalid said, “The mockery is in the arrangement. This woman loves another man, yet is being asked to give up her happiness and for what? For nothing more than an alliance? One that could easily be worked out on paper. This makes no sense. Everyone, thank you for attending, but once again, you will not be witnessing a wedding. It is one thing to arrange a marriage when the bride and groom are agreeable to such a thing. But to force a woman into a marriage she does not desire will dishonor my family with a partnership based on lies. My father sees tradition. I see injustice. I will honor traditions when it is wise to do so, but when tradition threatens only sorrow, I must do what I can to change the way of things. Father, we must look to the future—and our future is one best served by undoing what is unjust.”
Mehmood’s face reddened. He sputtered. Khalid kept his stare on his father’s face. The sultan was frowning, but had not ordered Khalid to be dragged from the room. Nor had he asked where Zaid was. Both were good signs.
Khalid started to relax, and then the woman standing next to him pulled back her veil. Gasps echoed around the room. Khalid turned and stared down at Casey’s face and her bright, blue eyes. “I guess now is the time I should explain I’m not Fadiyah.”
“Where is my daughter? What have you done with her?” Mehmood demanded. He stormed forward.
The sultan lifted a hand. “I think it is time to take this to my office. Khalid, you and your…that American follow me. Mehmood, you will come as well. Everyone else, please wait and I will arrange for refreshments to be sent in.”
Turning, the sultan strode away, his robes swirling.
Khalid turned to Casey and held out a hand. “I thought I told you I had this handled.”
She smiled at him, but the expression seemed hard. “Seems we had the same idea.” Pushing past him, she followed the sultan. And Khalid couldn’t help but frown—she had not taken her hand.
Once the door to the sultan’s study closed, the sultan faced Khalid. “Explain this farce.”
Khalid shrugged. “Did you not choose your own wife, my mother? But you expect others to accept your choices in all things. Zaid was willing to do this, but once I learned that Fadiyah’s heart belongs to another, I could not allow her life to be ruined.”
The sultan turned on Mehmood. “Is this true? Your daughter has affections for another? Why did you say nothing of this?
Mehmood spread his hands. “Fadiyah is but a girl. She sees a man who works security here in the palace and makes him into something more. It is nothing more than a fancy. She is a dutiful daughter and will make a good, obedient wife.”
“So obedient she runs off first chance she gets,” Casey muttered.
The sultan picked up his phone and barked out orders to bring Fadiyah and whoever might be with her back to the palace. Casey’s eyes sparked and she opened her mouth to say something more, but Khalid stepped forward—he would have his father’s wrath upon him, not Casey. “Father, this plan was all mine and mine alone.”
“That’s not true,” Casey said, the words sputtering out.
Khalid shot her a frown. She glared back at him, then glanced at the sultan. “I told Fadiyah I’d help her—and I did. And she really is in love with Hazim.”
“My head of security?” The sultan sat down with a thump in his desk chair. “Has all the world gone mad?”
Turning to Mehmood, Khalid asked, “Tell me, Mehmood, if my father said he sees Hazim as almost another son—for the man has been with our family forever—if a marriage there would bring you an alliance to our family, would you be happy with that?”
Mehmood shifted on his feet. He glanced from Khalid to the sultan and then said, “Does not every father wish to see his child happy?”The sultan stood. “I am done talking. Mehmood, go and find your daughter when she is returned and see her settled with her Hazim. You have my word such a marriage is as good as marriage into my family. It may not make your grandson sultan, but I can tell you this—you are fortunate not to have any of my sons in your family for they are nothing but trouble.”
Mehmood opened his mouth as if he would say something, but he snapped it closed, bowed and left the room.
The sultan turned to Khalid. “What did I ever do to be cursed with a son such as you?”
Khalid laughed. The sultan stiffened, and Casey turned to stare at him, but Khalid had realized the utter truth in Casey’s words—he was his father’s son. Khalid knew he could easily have turned into a despot such as his father was if he lacked the help of someone at his side to show him a better way. He glanced at Casey, but now was not yet the time to speak to her. First, he must calm his father and prevent any of his father’s anger falling on Casey or on his brothers.
“Father, you are cursed with sons who are as strong as you are. We have your iron will, we have your pride, we have your short temper. We defy your orders because we would have our own lives. Would you really care more for us if we had no spines? If we simply bowed to your will even when we disagreed?”
The sultan said nothing, but he began to stroke his beard.
Khalid stepped closer to Casey. “I have this woman to thank for showing me the truth of this. I am your son—and it is because I am that I defy your orders and think for myself. In truth, I think you would be unhappy with anything less. You do not want a stupid man to become the next sultan.”
The sultan gave a rude snort and turned to Casey. “So you are the one I have to thank for turning my sons against me?”
Casey started to shake her head. Khalid opened his mouth to say something, but Casey shot him a look and suddenly he knew she would not thank him for stepping into this. She had something to settle here as much as he had.
“Turning them against you?” Casey pulled in a breath and seemed to struggle to calm her voice. “Haven’t you been pushing them? Testing them? Trying to see if you can bend them or break them? How much respect can you have for anyone who just rolls over and does what you want without putting up a fight? I think what you really want is to know your sons have become good men. You worry they will not be able to take on the responsibility of managing a country, or a business, or anything else. You worry so much that you hold back those responsibilities. I think you’ve been waiting for them to do just this—to show you they’re grown men who can manage their own lives and find their own wives.”
Khalid could see the spark in his father’s eyes—they had pushed him far enough for one day.
Before his father could say anything, Khalid grabbed Casey’s hand. “You must excuse us, Father. I do have my own wife to settle.” He pulled a protesting Casey from the room, but he glanced back and saw his father smiling and shaking his head.
Outside his father’s study, Casey jerked away. “Oh, no—you’re not going to start using your charm to—”
“You think I’m charming?” Khalid stepped closer to her.
She backed up a step. “I think you’re a man who has had too many women fall into your lap. You’re spoilt and you really are a little irresponsible…but that was a good thing you did back there, stepping into save your brother from being pushed into a marriage with a woman who is in love with someone else. I just don’t know why you couldn’t have told me what you were planning.”
“Perhaps for the same reason you could not tell me—we have not yet really learned to trust each othe
r with our hearts.” He put his hands on her waist.
She turned her head to give him a sideways look. “Okay, I’m not so sure I’m all that comfortable with the talk about hearts. Is this yet another line of yours?”
“No, I have run out of lines. I have only the truth. Just as I gave my father the truth, I will tell you what is in my heart. This pretense engagement has become too real for me. I did not even see it until you pulled off the ring you gave me. Suddenly, I could see you walking away from me, and I knew if that happened I would lose you. I cannot. You are right—our night together did mean something. It meant I have fallen in love with a woman who is bold and independent, and whose courage shines like the sun. Casey, I did not think love could happen like this, blooming overnight like a desert flower. But it does—at least it has for me. This time I ask you to marry me. Marry me to make me a better man. Marry me so that the truth you seek and speak will always be close to me. Marry me because I love you.”
She swallowed hard and put her hands over his. “Khalid, I don’t…are we crazy? We’ve known each other what? A few days? A couple of weeks? This is…”
“Is what? Do you think more time will change how we feel? I know how much I ask of you. I cannot leave Sharjah, so you must leave your world if you join your life to mine. But I swear to you—I will not change my feelings for you. And I will not ask you to give up everything. There is no need for you to stop writing or to stop seeking your Pulitzer. But I want you with me..”
She shook her head. But she didn’t remove her hands from his. “What about your whole not wanting to get married?”
He took a deep breath. “What I wanted was to avoid marrying the wrong woman. I knew that today as I walked up to the woman I thought was Fadiyah and all I could think was that a merciful God would put have you waiting to wed me. I have spent so long avoiding things I do not want. But today, for the first time in my life I realized exactly what I do want—and it is you by my side. Please, will you marry me?”
