by Valerie Parv
She felt blissfully happy and knew why. Gage had told her he loved her and couldn't live without her. It was a dream of course, too beautiful and magical to be real, but oh, what a wonderful dream. She thought she had told him she loved him, too, then she had slipped underwater and drifted there for a long, long time.
Now some instinct told her it was time she returned to land. She started to swim toward the light, her strokes fluid and unhurried. Never had she known such lightness and joy. Her galabiya floated around her, pinpoints of phosphorescence clinging to the fabric like fairy lights.
"I think she's coming around," came a strange voice. She felt her eyelids being lifted back and a pinpoint of light shone in them. The hands were gentle.
She opened her eyes and the light was lifted away. She was lying in a high narrow bed in an unfamiliar room. The walls and ceiling were white, but against them were banked huge vases filled with red roses. Their glorious perfume surrounded her, bringing a smile to her lips.
A woman dressed in white was bending over her. Then the woman was moved aside, and Gage leaned over her, taking her hand. "Nadia, thank goodness."
He exchanged a few words with the woman in white, and Nadia heard a door close as she was left alone with Gage.
His voice sounded strained, she noticed, and his eyes were red-rimmed. "Where am I?" she asked, her voice husky.
Gage heard and cradled her head in one hand while he lifted a glass to her lips with the other. She swallowed a few drops of water, and the rasp in her throat lessened. "Thank you."
He eased her head back to the pillow, letting his fingers trail through her hair as though touching her was a minor miracle. "You're in the hospital," he told her. "You were injured and you collapsed in the alley at the Marhaba Souk."
Memory came rushing back, displacing her sense of tranquility. She looked at Gage with wide unhappy eyes. "Butrus?"
"He's dead," he told her. "I'm sorry."
Now she remembered seeing her fiance fall and land on the dagger he had knocked from Gage's hand. "It's hard to feel sorry," she said. "I had no idea he bore me and my family such ill will. My father was always good to him, yet he repaid us by collaborating with the Brothers of Darkness. How could he do such a thing?"
Gage caressed her forehead. "Many reasons can motivate a man to side with the forces of evil. Power, greed, the need to feel bigger than he is, are all reason enough if you want them to be."
She nodded. "Butrus told me his uncle adopted him. He never felt equal to the other children of the household."
Gage's face took on a faraway expression. "I knew someone in the same position. He never knew his father, and his mother died when he was a child. He was farmed out to aunts and uncles, then we became friends at school and my family adopted him. We grew up together as close as brothers."
"Your friend, Conrad Drake?" she guessed, remembering what she had overheard in the alleyway.
Gage seated himself on the side of her bed. "You heard what I told Dabir?"
"Not everything, but a lot. I gather you hold Butrus responsible for the death of your friend."
"Without a trial, I'll never have all the facts, but the evidence is there. Prince Lucas of Montebello identified one of the Americans Dabir met with at Zabara as belonging to the Brothers who held him prisoner in America. They kept their affiliations well hidden. If Lucas hadn't identified the man in the photos I sent to King Marcus, we still wouldn't have the link."
"You've been busy," she said dreamily, "for a minor English diplomat."
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "You're entitled to know that I'm neither English, nor a diplomat. The British ambassador and his wife are my godparents, and they kindly allowed me to use the embassy as a base, but my home is in Penwyck and my business.. .well, I think you know what that is by now."
She nodded, finding she didn't mind as much as she thought she would. Unlike Butrus, Gage hadn't deceived her for his own benefit, but to ensure that justice was done. She felt her eyelids grow heavy. "I forgive you," she murmured.
She was aware of the woman in white returning and checking her over, a doctor, she knew now, but her eyelids felt so heavy she could no longer keep them open.
Gage watched her slip into sleep, pleased to see how peaceful she looked. Her color was back to normal, and the pulse he felt under his fingers was strong and steady. He curled his fingers into hers, before bending and dropping a light kiss on her slightly parted lips.
After the rigors of these last horrible few days, he felt as tired and battered as he ever had, but he didn't care as long as she was all right.
When he thought she had been fatally wounded, he had thought his own heart was going to stop. Cradling her, watching the crimson tide seep through her gown and knowing there was nothing more he could do, he had fought back tears of anguish, which had threatened to become a flood if he gave in to them.
He had not wanted to give her up to the care of the police and ambulance attendants who had arrived at the scene. When the paramedics told him she was only slightly injured, he hadn't believed them.
"No one bleeds that much from a slight injury," he had insisted, knowing that his control was a hairbreadth from snapping.
Not until one of the paramedics had taken Gage to the ambulance and shown him the tube of paint that Nadia's knife had ruptured did Gage start to believe she might live. He had no idea what she was doing with a tube of red paint tucked in her galabiya, but he thanked God that it was there. When Dabir threw her against the wall, the paint had absorbed most of the impact of the knife, so she was only slightly wounded. Gage had been right all along. She had fainted from the shock of Dabir's revelations and seeing him fall on his knife.
"The princess is exhausted," the doctor had assured Gage. "We will hospitalize her to treat the shock and the minor wound, but she will recover quickly."
After the police had confirmed his identity, he was allowed to ride in the ambulance with Nadia, and they agreed to take his statement at the hospital later. They would need to talk to the princess, too, but Gage could see they were prepared to await her pleasure. There were some advantages to being royal, he thought. He didn't mind as long as it meant he could be with her.
When next Nadia opened her eyes, daylight streamed into the room. Gage was asleep in a chair at her bedside, she saw, her heart filling with joy at the sight. During the night she had drifted in and out of awareness as doctors watched over her. She had known that Gage was there, a reassuring figure, willing her to recover.
His prayers had worked. She felt strong and well, and relieved beyond measure that Butrus hadn't succeeded in subverting the throne of Tamir to the will of the Brothers of Darkness. Thinking of how close he had come made her shudder. If she had forced herself to do what she thought was her duty and marry him, she would have been helping him to further his devilish aims.
Never again, she thought resolutely. From now on, she would be true to herself first. She had no illusions that Gage would sweep her off her feet. He had said he loved her, but that was in the heat of battle with Butrus. In daylight he would probably feel otherwise. They were from different backgrounds. Her father would never allow her to marry Gage.
She felt a smile start. Old habits died hard. She had just finished deciding to be true to herself, and already she was worrying about what her father would and wouldn't permit her to do. After all, he had allowed her sister Leila to marry an American just weeks ago. She might just tell her father that she was going to visit Penwyck. The former British colony was reputed to be a beautiful place. If she and Gage were to meet there, who knew where it could lead?
"You look pleased with yourself," Gage observed.
Her thoughts had been so busy, she hadn't seen him stir. "I was thinking of my future," she said. "Thanks to you, I have one to look forward to." She didn't add how largely Gage himself figured in her dreams.
He stretched and stood up, then padded to her bedside to take her hand. She felt some of his strength flowing i
nto her. "Don't thank me. You were the one who attacked Dabir with the knife." He picked up a distorted piece of metal from the bedside table. "Thank God the blade went into this tube of paint, instead of into you."
She nodded, remembering. "I found it in the field where I'd left Tahani painting. Butrus had sent a car and taken Tahani and my driver back to the palace. Until I stumbled across the tube of paint, I thought I was in the wrong place."
"Picking up the tube probably saved your life."
Her hand went to her breast. The knife had pierced her galabiya, fatally she'd thought. She was pleased to find only a small dressing over the place and murmured a prayer of thanks.
Gage heard her. "Amen to that. But I wish you'd found another color besides red. When I held you in my arms, I thought you were bleeding to death."
"Would blue paint have made you believe that royalty is truly blueblooded?" she asked, hoping to defuse the tension she saw in his face and posture.
He leaned over and gathered her into his arms, being careful to avoid hurting her. She almost sighed with annoyance, wanting him to be anything but gentle. She wanted to be crushed against him, to feel his mouth hungry on hers and to hear him say he loved her now, when he knew she wasn't dying.
He didn't say it and she became aware that his embrace was stiff and awkward. She pulled back a little, looking at him anxiously. "What's the matter, Gage?"
"Your parents are due to visit at any moment."
She frowned. "I thought the sheik was still away." He and her mother were inspecting the new oil field on the island of Jawhar.
"They returned as soon as they knew you were hurt. They were here earlier, but you were still asleep, so they went out for some air. They'll be back any moment."
She gripped his arm. "Stay with me, please."
"Your father isn't very happy with my clandestine activities."
"I'm happy with you," she affirmed. "I want you to stay."
"You're certain?"
Another thought made her frown. "Is Tahani all right?"
"She's a little shaken by what happened to you, but she's fine. The police arrested the guard who was working for Butrus."
She chewed her lower lip. "Butrus had photographs of us."
"I know. I found them on him and destroyed all but one."
"To use as blackmail against me?"
"To remind myself of what a lucky man I am to have known you."
Past tense, she noticed with a stab of anguish. He sounded as if he was preparing to leave. What else had she expected? Declaring his love when he thought she was engaged to another man or dying was one thing. Saying it now would probably be more of a commitment than he wanted to make. Although she had prepared herself, the thought plunged her into the depths of despair.
Reading the unhappiness in her expression, Gage touched a hand to her cheek. "Don't worry, Princess. All will be well."
She had said the same thing to Tahani, and look what had happened. Then she had no more time to brood, because her mother and father entered the room. Sheik Ahmed looked astonished to find Gage there, but made no comment. Her mother was too busy gathering her into a loving hug.
"My dearest child, I was worried out of my mind. Are you all right?"
Nadia returned the hug. "Yes, Mother, I'm fine. It's good to see you both."
Sheik Ahmed moved closer to the bed and took her hand. "It's good to see you awake, my daughter. From what the police told me, we almost never saw you again."
Nadia's look included Gage. "Mr. Weston saved my life, and saved Tamir from Butrus's schemes."
The sheik's cool nod acknowledged Gage's role. "Since arriving in our country, Mr. Weston has been rather active, he tells me."
A doctor who had followed the ruler and his wife into the room bustled around the spacious suite, rearranging the comfortable chairs for them. Alima declined hers, preferring to perch on Nadia's bed and cling to her hand as if to convince herself that her eldest daughter was really safe and well.
Sheik Ahmed thanked the doctor curtly, his tone suggesting dismissal. The doctor took the hint and left.
"Gage has told me why he came to Tamir," Nadia said to her father. "He had nothing but our best interests at heart."
The sheik's lips thinned. "Mr. Weston and I will discuss this again later, Daughter. It is not your concern."
"But it is my concern," she insisted, a now-or-never feeling driving her to throw caution and years of royal education to the wind. "I want you to know that when I marry, it will be for love."
The sheik looked as if she wasn't telling him anything he hadn't suspected—and dismissed. "Love has little to do with making a good marriage. Your mother and I married for family reasons, and they were sufficient."
Nadia saw Alima's face dimple and knew that love had crept into her parents' relationship over the years. She was sure her father felt the same, although he would never admit it. She took a deep breath. "Your way was appropriate for your generation. I am of a new generation, and I wish to live my life differently."
"I told you so," Gage said, folding his arms and resting his back against the wall, his gaze soft on her.
She looked at her father in confusion. "What does he mean?"
"While you were asleep, Mr. Weston asked me for your hand in marriage," the sheik said. "He asked me not to tell you until you indicated that you wanted the same thing." He looked over his shoulder at Gage. "I think we may take this as an indication."
"Sounds like it," Gage said equably. He sounded insufferably pleased with himself.
Feeling as if she had been outmaneuvered, Nadia felt her face heat with annoyance. "So the two of you have already settled my future?"
Gage nodded. "Pretty well."
"Without bothering to consult me?"
"Uh-huh."
"That is how men decide matters," the sheik added loftily.
Nadia retrieved her hand from her mother and gesticulated in anger. "Men! Always men! What they want, think, decide. Can't a woman decide for herself what she wants and whom she will marry?"
Gage seemed unmoved by her tantrum. "I thought she already had."
"Is Gage wrong?" her father asked.
She subsided against the pillows. "No," she said sulkily. "But it would have been nice to have my opinion considered."
"Your opinion was considered," Gage said, moving closer. "Why do you think I asked Sheik Ahmed to withhold his news until I knew how you felt?"
As marriage proposals went, it had to be the strangest one in the history of Tamir, she thought. Then it came to her that she didn't really mind if it meant she and Gage could be together for always.
"I admit I wasn't pleased when I heard why Gage had come to our country," the sheik continued. "I had started to believe that relations between us and King Marcus of Montebello had reached a new level of understanding. Finding that the king had secretly arranged to have our family investigated hardly seemed a step in the right direction."
"I wish there had been another way, too," Gage agreed. "Your father now accepts that there was no other way to uncover the traitor who was working against your family's interests." Alima touched a hand to Nadia's cheek. "You're not too distraught about Butrus, are you, child?"
Nadia shook her head. "I shudder to think of the havoc he could have caused Tamir if he'd achieved his aims."
"That isn't going to happen now," Gage said. "You're safe, and so is the peace process between your country and Montebello."
The sheik rose to his feet, adjusting his headdress and 'iqual, and gathered his wife up with a look. "We'll leave you to rest now, Daughter. Your sister and attendants will visit later. They have been beside themselves with worry and will be relieved to hear that we found you looking so much better."
Alima placed Gage's hand into Nadia's. "Keep her safe for us."
His glowing expression was answer enough, but he said, "Believe me, I will." If it cost him his life, Nadia read into his expression.
Thinking of how close t
hey had come, she tightened her fingers around his and sent her father a radiant look of gratitude. "Thank you for giving us your blessing, Father." Then a frown creased her brow. "Although I don't understand how you can be so pleased that I wish to marry a commoner of another country and faith."
The sheik's look went to Gage. "He is not as much a commoner as you think, my child. Tell her, Gage."
Gage shuffled his feet and looked uncomfortable. "It's true I'm from Penwyck, but from the royal part of it, although I don't use the titles much."
"I'm pleased to present His Grace, Gage Weston, Duke of Penwyck," the sheik said with a satisfied smirk. "As for his faith..."
"We share the same beliefs," Gage said quietly.
She blinked in surprise. "But you have godparents."
"An honorary role. The Theodores are long-standing friends of my father's and consider themselves my godparents. I have known them so long that I regard them in that role, too."
Alima clapped her hands in delight. "I must return to the palace. There is much to be done to plan another royal wedding feast."
Nadia didn't even try to mask her distress. The thought of her wedding reception being turned into a royal circus was not to be borne. "Mother...," she said warningly.
Alima gave her a wicked smile. "Permit a mother her pleasures, child. I promise to make the feast last no longer than a week."
Nadia collapsed against the pillows, knowing when she was being teased. "You are impossible, but I love you both."
Her mother stroked her brow. "As we love you, too, Daughter."
Although they might frustrate and anger her beyond belief, Nadia had always known her parents loved her. She felt blessed to hear it spoken at long last. Murmuring a prayer of leave-taking over her, the sheik left with his wife in tow.
"They're quite a couple, aren't they?" Gage asked. He got up and snapped the lock closed on the door. They were finally, blessedly alone.
"You should have told me you were a duke," she said reprovingly. "How many other secrets have you kept from me?"
"Only one," he said with a seductive smile. "How much I truly love you. I doubt if even your parents have any idea."
