by Maggie Cox
‘No. I’ll be all right.’
Her lips formed a tight, reluctant little smile that told him she was far from being ‘all right’ and he frowned. ‘Are you nervous about the outcome of the test?’
‘What have I to be nervous about? I’ve always known the truth—right from day one. It’s you who suspects I might be lying.’
As if he’d been stung, his hand dropped away. He glanced across at Sami. The last thing he wanted to do was make the child fear him, should he sense there was tension between him and his mother. If the test revealed what his heart willed it to then his greatest desire was that he and Sami would start to build a good relationship—the kind of loving, mutually respectful relationship that Zafir had enjoyed with his own father.
‘Your Highness... Ms Carrick and Master Carrick...please follow me and we’ll get the paternity test underway.’
The trim nurse who had met them at Reception smiled warmly and led them into a room that, with its ecru couches and colourful cushions, clearly aimed to be as inviting as possible in order to put clients at their ease. But the indelible aroma of antiseptic pervaded the atmosphere and it was impossible to disguise its purpose.
The three of them took their seats and straight away Zafir noticed that Darcy avoided meeting his eyes. Instead she concentrated her gaze on her son. As he privately acknowledged his fear of the test’s outcome the capacity for speech seemed to desert him. Never had so much depended on the results of what was a fairly routine test these days, and he found his gut clenching as if to ward off a blow.
For a couple of minutes he fiddled with the band of his thick gold signet ring, just for something to do. Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long before a clinician arrived. The young twenty-something man, who was already losing his hair, took the requisite cell samples by swabbing the insides of their cheeks with cotton buds which were then put into a container, sealed and labelled with their names.
‘All done,’ he said brightly, surveying them closely with his keen-eyed glance, but being careful not to seem intrusive. ‘In twelve hours’ time I’ll be able to give you the results. You can ring me on this number at about ten tonight, Your Highness.’
Taking a small white card out of his pocket, he handed it to Zafir.
‘Are there any further questions?’
Zafir wanted to reply yes. How were they supposed to while away twelve hours and not succumb to the most unbearable tension?
As if reading his mind, the clinician—his voice still indomitably cheerful—said, ‘I’ll take that as a no, then. As you probably know, Hyde Park isn’t very far from here, if you feel like taking a walk. There’s a good café there, where you can get drinks and food. You can also feed the ducks that swim on the lake. Do you have a wheelchair with you, Ms Carrick?’
Clearing her throat, as if her voice had gone rusty after several minutes’ lack of use, Darcy glanced at Zafir then quickly looked away again. ‘His—His Highness has one in the car for me.’
‘Good. Then I suggest that you go and enjoy the day and try not to worry.’
* * *
With Sami happily holding her hand as she rode in the wheelchair—Zafir manoeuvring her and Rashid dutifully following behind at a suitably discreet distance, but still within earshot—Darcy started to relax a little.
The clinician’s idea about going to the park had been a good one. There was nothing like a dose of fresh air, the sight and scent of recently rained-on grass and a plethora of English oak trees to help raise the spirits, she thought. Add to that her beautiful little son, skipping cheerfully alongside her, and his equally beautiful, often brooding father wheeling her, in those precious few hours before their immediate future was decided on she could hardly have wished for more...
They made their way towards the wide glinting lake in the afternoon sunshine, and Sami rushed ahead when he spied the small flotilla of ducks converging at the waterside.
‘Mummy, there are loads of ducks here!’ he called out excitedly.
Zafir shouted back. ‘Don’t get too near to the water, Sami. Wait for me and your mother.’
‘All right... But I only want to talk to them, Your Highness.’
In response, Zafir threw his head back and laughed heartily. The sound raised Darcy’s flesh to goosebumps, it was so joyful.
She twisted in her chair to look up at him. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘He is so polite and well mannered...a real credit to you. Who told him to call me Your Highness? Did you?’
Returning his smile, she dimpled. ‘No. I expect it was my mum—either that or he heard her refer to you as that.’
‘Like I said—he is a credit to you, Darcy.’
For a long moment she allowed herself to bathe in the undeniable warmth of his lingering glance, and she almost forgot that there had ever been any disagreement between them. But even then she knew not to hope for too much. So many things were still unsettled.
Just as they reached the lakeside, and saw Sami happily chattering to the ducks, they noticed a fit and spry elderly couple with tans like mahogany moving purposefully towards them.
The woman called out. ‘Is that your little boy? I’m guessing he must be. You can see where he inherits his good looks. He’s a real mixture of you both, if you don’t mind my saying? By the way, that’s a magnificent costume you’re wearing, sir. Are you in the theatre?’ she asked curiously, staring at Zafir.
After a wry glance towards Darcy first, he looked back and answered, ‘I fear you have found me out. I should have changed when rehearsals ended, but my son was eager to feed the ducks’
‘Oh, my—do you mind if I get a picture of you?’
Fully expecting her companion instantly to say no, Darcy was amazed when Zafir agreed.
‘Why don’t you take one of all of us?’ he suggested, standing next to her with his hand resting possessively on her shoulder and at the same time calling out to Sami to come and join them.
One photo had turned into three by the time the American couple said their effusive goodbyes and departed, by which time Sami declared that he was hungry.
‘Then we should go to the café and have a sandwich. We can save some bread to feed the ducks,’ Zafir suggested.
‘Can we have cake too?’
‘But of course.’
‘Cool.’ With a delighted grin the little boy ran to Zafir’s side and slipped his hand into his as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do... In fact, as if he had been doing it all his life...
CHAPTER FIVE
SAMI FELL ASLEEP in the car and, with her arm protectively tucked around him, so did Darcy. An undeniable sense of ‘rightness’ filled Zafir as he observed the pair, and the more he looked the stronger the feeling grew.
Other than the very first time he’d set eyes on his stunning blue-eyed secretary, he’d never had such a powerful sense of something significant happening—something that he couldn’t control. Something that might possibly change his life...
He had always been restless by nature, too hungry to settle for what he deemed the ‘ordinary’ aspirations of others. But coming from royal lineage meant that somewhere along the line it was essential that he marry and have children. It had been playing on his mind for quite some time now, and his mother regularly got in touch to remind him about it and his agreement to Farrida. But she was the last woman he wanted to think about now...
There was still a fire in him to try and make a positive difference to those less fortunate, and he would continue to do so in whatever way he could, but having a loving relationship and the joy of a family of his own had suddenly become the most important thing of all. Was it seeing Darcy again that had made the idea seem more urgent?
He had never forgotten their love affair, and nor had he got over it... That period in his life had been an incredible time out of time, and for a while he had been joyously lost in his feelings for her. If she had betrayed him with his brother, as he’d thought, he wouldn’t be able
to forgive her easily. Yet he couldn’t deny that he was desperate to know if her son was his.
The time when he’d receive the test results from the clinic couldn’t come quickly enough.
Moving suddenly, Darcy yawned and sat up. A few strands of silky blonde hair had worked loose from her ponytail, and as the sunlight zeroed in on them through the window beside her they seemed to crackle with electricity.
‘Are we nearly home?’
For a moment those matchless blue eyes that were highlighted by dark gold lashes stopped him in his tracks. It was like glancing into the most extraordinarily still mountain lake. The bewitching appeal that had hypnotised him from the very first hadn’t decreased in the slightest. In fact it had become even more mesmerising.
Snapping out of the near trance he’d fallen into, he sucked in a breath to compose himself. ‘We are just approaching your house...look.’
‘What a relief.’
‘You must be tired. Let me help you.’
‘It would help me more if you could carry Sami.’
‘Gladly.’
When they reached the living room it was to find Darcy’s mother waiting. When she saw Zafir her smile was awkwardly deferential, but she immediately lifted the still drowsy Sami from out of his arms.
‘He’s probably had a bit too much excitement for one day, Your Highness. Darcy told me you were heading off to the park when she rang. I’ll take him up to his room and read to him for a while. If he falls asleep I’ll come back down and make you both a nice cup of tea.’
The couple were silent as Patricia disappeared upstairs, but it wasn’t by any means an easy silence. The two of them were both behaving as though they were wary of saying or doing the wrong thing. The situation was a veritable powder keg that might blow up in their faces at any time, and they both knew it...
Chewing down on the inside of her cheek, Darcy gingerly lowered herself onto the couch. She was grateful when her companion immediately stepped forward to relieve her of the crutches and lean them against a chair, but she wasn’t grateful that the tantalising scent of his cologne too easily had the power to scramble her brain. Plus, her injured ankle had developed the same nagging ache as a persistent sore tooth, and she couldn’t suppress her irritation. Add to that the stress of going for a paternity test to prove to her son’s father that he was the one responsible for siring him—surely it would be one stress too many in anyone’s book?
‘You don’t have to stay for a cup of tea,’ she declared suddenly. ‘Let’s not pretend this is some kind of fond reunion, when we both know it’s anything but. My mum was just being polite.’
‘And clearly you don’t feel the same need? To be polite, I mean?’ He crossed his arms over his chest, his black eyes glinting disapprovingly.
‘I can be as polite as the next person. But that doesn’t mean I have to act pleased that you’re here. If I hadn’t had that fall at your house we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. In all this time you’ve never bothered to find out what happened to me. You sacked me from a job I loved and probably didn’t lose an ounce of sleep wondering how I would manage to survive. And I don’t suppose it ever crossed your mind that you might have left me pregnant?’
At last. To say what was true was like puncturing a painful cyst that had troubled her for too long. Although upsetting, she was glad of the release of expressing her pent-up emotion. Even more so because she’d been certain that she’d never get the chance...
The expression on Zafir’s handsome, strong-boned face was stunned. There was a visible tremor in his hand when he lifted it to push back a swathe of rich dark hair.
‘As we are on the subject, did it ever cross your mind how I must have felt when I found you in the arms of my brother?’
White-hot rage such as she’d never felt before erupted inside Darcy. ‘As I told you at the time—and again the other day—it was a set-up! If you’d had any real feeling for me you would have seen that. Xavier had been plaguing me for weeks. When you came into the office, just as he grabbed me and kissed me, I knew by the look in your eyes that you hadn’t seen the triumphant smirk on his face. You wouldn’t even give me the chance to put my side of the story. Instead you condemned me. It was as though what we had shared meant nothing to you.’
The interminable silence that ensued made Darcy feel as if she was walking barefoot on broken glass... Already she felt as if she was inwardly bleeding.
When it came, Zafir’s reply was surprisingly frank.
‘If what you say is indeed true, then I have undoubtedly paid the price for my actions. Not only did I not know that I might have fathered a child, but I might have hurt his mother beyond measure...a woman I’d come to care for and respect...’
He looked to be having trouble continuing for a moment, and Darcy caught her breath.
‘But all this is still supposition. Can you not see that I had to take my brother’s word over yours? It would not have gone down well with my family if they’d discovered he was lying. Our good reputation is the cornerstone of our rule and it would have near destroyed them. Remember I saw you both with my own eyes, kissing passionately. What else could I think other than you’d discovered you preferred him to me?’
‘How can you even suggest such a thing? You ask me what it would have done to your family if they’d learned that Xavier wasn’t the blue-eyed boy they thought he was...that he’d lied to protect himself and implicated me...but what about the cost I paid for being gullible enough to believe that you loved me, Zafir?’
He definitely flushed a little beneath his smooth tanned skin. ‘I know it may not seem to you that I value the truth right now, Darcy, but I hope to change that opinion. If it is proved that I have indeed wronged you, then I give you my word that I will do everything I can to put things right...no matter what the personal cost.’
‘And you will tell your family the real story? That I was having a relationship with you? That you were confident up until that incident that I would never cheat on you? I told you from the start that I wouldn’t consider being intimate with you if my feelings weren’t strong. Is it likely I’d go after your brother? Anyway, it was cruel of him to not only ensure I lost my job, but to paint such a horrible picture of me...a picture that made it look like I had no morals at all.’
Zafir’s lips tightened and his expression was pained. ‘I very much regret it if he did that. I will talk to him again about what happened and remind him of what he told me at the time. Then I will give him the chance to think over the accusations he made and be absolutely sure he’s telling me the truth. Thankfully he is married now, and appears to be happy. I only pray his good fortune will help guide him to do what is right.’
‘And if it doesn’t?’
‘Then it will be up to me to decide what to do.’
Now Zafir not only looked pained, but weary too.
Darcy had a sudden insight into what a burden it must be to be the head of such a family as his, no matter how admired or influential they were. He had to utilise his wisdom in dealing with many differing personalities, glean what was truly going on in their disputes and act accordingly. And it didn’t prevent the individual members of that family from acting purely out of self-interest if they so chose.
She’d discovered long ago that not everyone had a conscience telling them to do what was right...
‘By the way, can I verify that you don’t have a relationship with anyone right now?’
His examining glance honed in on her like a searchlight.
‘I thought I told you that before? No, I don’t.’
‘That will make things a lot easier.’
‘What do you mean? Aren’t you engaged? Or did you forget?’
‘As far as that’s concerned, I will tell you my plans when I have the results of the test. But be assured I will do what is right.’
Darcy chewed down on her lip. ‘Right by whom, exactly?’
‘That’s enough.’ He couldn’t hide his mounting irritation
. ‘I will talk to you later, when I hear from the clinic. Right now I need to spend some time alone, and that being the case I think it’s time I left. Ring me if you need anything, but your top priority should be to rest and recover.’
Just like that he was gone.
The sound of the door closing was like the sound of a portcullis slamming down on her heart. Did he still harbour the belief that she was lying? His brother had sounded so convincing that day—using every trick in the book to make Zafir believe he was sincere, mercilessly using their family relationship to make him doubt his own judgement.
Leaning back against the couch cushions, Darcy shut her eyes tight and tried to jettison the memory of that terrible day from her mind. She’d felt so alone...alone and worthless. If that was the result of her lover not standing up for her, choosing to believe his brother’s version of events over hers, then she’d sooner stay single for the rest of her life than risk a similar demoralising situation. But she couldn’t stem her deep regret that she and Zafir hadn’t been able to put things right and save themselves the unnecessary heartache that had followed...
* * *
When the phone rang that evening, just after ten, Zafir all but jumped to snatch up the receiver and answer it. Anyone who had seen him just then would hardly have described him as being cool, calm and collected.
Having abandoned his usual formal attire for a more casual black tee shirt and jeans, he’d been lying on the couch, trying to give his restless attention to a book on the history of the pharaohs and knowing it was utterly pointless. All he’d been able to think about—all he’d wanted to think about—was Darcy and the golden-haired child who might turn out to be his...
‘Am I speaking to His Highness Sheikh Zafir el-Kalil?’ enquired a very circumspect English voice.
‘That is correct.’
‘Well, sir, I am contacting you about the paternity test you had at the clinic this morning. I now have the results for you.’
