by Cara Albany
Becca turned away from him and he saw her chest rise and fall as she tried to regain her composure. Finally, she turned to face him. "Let's get one thing straight, Zaheer," she said sharply. "I'll do whatever it takes to help Abby."
"Including coming to Qazhar with me?" he asked breathlessly.
Becca's jaw tightened and her eyes flared with emotion. She leaned closer to Zaheer. She peered into Zaheer's eyes, as if she was searching for some hint of a truth she could have confidence in. Zaheer suddenly felt like he was being assessed like some prize animal. Was she weighing up her options? Was she trying to figure him out?
"Can I trust you?" Becca asked suddenly.
Zaheer was taken by surprise by that. He blinked. "Of course you can trust me. Why wouldn't you?" he asked.
The corner of her mouth twisted. "You know the answer to that question as well as I do, Zaheer," she said. "Don't pretend you've forgotten why I left."
Zaheer gazed at Becca. "I'm different now," he said. Becca lifted a skeptical brow. "We both are," he added quickly.
"You think so?" she probed.
He lifted a hand and took some stray locks of her long, blonde hair between his fingers. "You can't tell me that kiss meant nothing," he murmured, gazing into her eyes.
Her brows furrowed and he could see she was going on the defensive again. "A kiss doesn't fix anything," she declared.
"Really?" he asked lifting a sardonic brow.
Becca shook her head. "No. It doesn't fix what you did to me," she stated.
Zaheer lowered his head and nodded. "I know what I did was wrong. I've had plenty of time to think about it."
"Three years," Becca said in a flat voice.
Zaheer moved closer. "Three years that have felt like an eternity," he murmured.
"I told myself I'd never forgive you," she said, emotion cracking her voice.
Becca turned her head away. Too forcefully for Zaheer to be convinced she meant what she had just said. He knew how the kiss had affected her. Sensed that maybe, just maybe, she was giving him a chance. If not, he knew she would have been out there on the street, walking defiantly to the train station, determined never to speak to him ever again.
"What are we going to do about all of this?" Zaheer asked quietly
Becca sighed and peered at Zaheer one more time. She looked so incredibly beautiful it made his heart ache. She was so close to him, but judging by the way she was looking at him right now, she could as well have been a thousand miles away. Finally she fixed him with a steady, determined look. "This is what I'm willing to do."
"Willing?" he asked interrupting her.
Becca narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll go with you to Qazhar," she announced. "Just as you asked."
For a moment Zaheer was dumbstruck. He felt a surge of triumph. Before he had a chance to respond, Becca continued. "On one condition. It will only be for a short time. A week at most."
"A week?" he replied.
Becca nodded. "I can't leave Abby for too long. Maybe I can persuade our aunt to visit while I'm gone." She looked at Zaheer and added: "While I'm with you in Qazhar," she murmured.
Zaheer loved the sound of that. But the prospect of her only being with him for a week dismayed him. It wouldn't give him much of a chance to do what had to be done.
He paused, considering things carefully. And what exactly would he have to do?
It was simple. He'd have a week to convince Becca that she belonged with him; that she should become his wife; that the last three years had been a terrible mistake; that she should come back to him; that, if she did, then she could fix everything back home and move on. With Zaheer by her side.
"But what if we don't work things out?" he asked.
Becca looked at him steadily. "Then I just keep my promise and stand by Abby." Her gaze softened. "We'll get through it all. Somehow."
Zaheer was filled with sudden admiration for Becca's courage. She was willing to do that? To sacrifice herself for her beloved family member? She would do that?
He drew in a deep breath and considered just what that meant. Truly, Becca was fit to become a true honorable and strong Qazhar princess. She belonged with him. He sensed the truth of that thought. Felt it in his bones.
His instincts about Becca had been right, he told himself. He had to claim her as his very own princess. Destiny had delivered her to him once before, and he would not squander this opportunity again.
The car drew to a halt at the train station. Becca glanced at Zaheer and he knew she was waiting for his response.
"Well?" she asked.
"A week isn't very long," he said.
"Long enough for both us to find out the truth," she replied.
"When will you come back to me?" he asked. He didn't like the way that sounded.
She thought for a moment. "Give me a couple of days to arrange everything back home. Then, I'll call you."
"You still have my number," he stated. He'd have been surprised if she had thrown it away. Somehow he knew she wouldn't do that. Not yet, anyway, he told himself.
"Of course I've still got your number," she said. Becca peered at him. "I'll call you," said with an emphatic tone of voice.
He knew waiting for her to return to him would drive him crazy. Impatience was already stirring within him.
"My plane will be here for you," he explained.
She looked surprised by that, as if she had forgotten that he travelled privately.
"And you?" she asked.
"I'm going nowhere until I hear from you."
Becca smiled. "Of course."
The driver opened the door and the noise of the street rushed in.
"I'll see you to your train," he suggested.
Becca shook her head. "Please don't," she said.
Then she did something that took him by surprise. Before she rose to leave the limo, she leaned across and kissed him on the cheek. He knew he probably looked startled. Becca crinkled her nose at him and then quickly left the limo.
She waved at him from the sidewalk and then started to make her way toward the station entrance. He watched her walking away, feeling a heaviness in his middle.
Soon, she was lost in the crowd. Zaheer ordered his driver to close the door and take him back to his nearby apartment.
It was going to be a long wait.
CHAPTER SIX
Becca sat on the train and gazed out at the darkened landscape, the passing lights of towns. Emotions warred within her as she tucked herself into the corner of the seat.
It had been an incredible evening. Zaheer had taken her by surprise. But, she should have expected that, she told herself. He may have claimed he was a changed man, but he was still the same Zaheer who could confound her every expectation.
She felt relieved to be out of the city. She needed time to think about what had happened tonight.
One the one hand it had been amazing to see Zaheer again. Of course it had been, she told herself. How could she have forgotten how incredibly sexy he was? If anything, he was more handsome than before.
On the other hand, he'd shocked her with his proposal. Becca thought she was completely over Zaheer, but she'd been wrong. Tonight had proved that beyond doubt.
Zaheer still had the ability to ignite her fire. The kiss in the limo had shown her that.
Becca leaned her head against the window of the train carriage, feeling the coolness of the glass against her forehead. She recalled the flame of desire which had reawakened as his lips had crashed down upon hers.
His kiss had been exquisite and tender. But, she could tell he'd held himself in check. As if he hadn't wanted to spoil all the good work he'd done throughout the evening as he'd tried to convince her he was a changed man. A better man than the one she'd left behind. A sheikh tamed by life. Someone the passing years had made more mature.
But, was that true? It was what he'd claimed. That he was a better, different person. One in whom she could have faith.
Could she trust her feel
ings? The undoubtedly powerful feelings he'd ignited in her tonight.
She sighed as she realized she still didn't know the answer to that question.
And now, she was heading back home with a new and very genuine problem to solve.
What was she going to do about the fact that Zaheer had asked her to become his wife. Because that was what he had done. Wasn't it?
It was shocking, but true. Even if he'd tried to pretend it had something to do with her cousin, Zaheer had actually been bold enough to stride back into her life and propose some kind of convenient marriage to Becca.
She gasped as she thought about it. As if they could do anything like that. It seemed ridiculous the more she thought about it.
They both might have tried to dress the whole thing up, pretending that the last three years hadn't changed their attitude toward each other. But it had. She knew that. Absence hadn't made their hearts grow fonder. If anything, their time apart had created an even bigger dilemma.
Could she believe that Zaheer was a changed man? A tamed man, compared to the one she had left behind.
But, there was another thing to consider about Zaheer.
Was he a healed man? Because, three years ago, when she'd seen the depth of the darkness in his soul, his need for control, she had simply ran from him, feeling hurt and deceived.
But, Zaheer was now claiming that he had changed.
Maybe he had changed, she told herself, as she recalled how he had conducted himself this evening.
When she'd spoken to him on the phone a few days before, Becca hadn't been able to judge whether Zaheer was still the same, arrogant, possessive, demanding sheikh she had abandoned. His voice had sounded measured, even kind. But she knew that she'd have to meet him in person if she was going to be able to gauge whether he could help her. Help Abby really. Because that was what had driven Becca to risk seeing Zaheer.
The biggest risk she'd taken in her life.
No. That wasn't true.
The biggest risk had been going with Zaheer to Qazhar in the first place.
At first that had turned out wonderfully well. Amazing, really. Like something out of a young girl's fairly tale.
But, then it had all turned sour. So quickly.
When she had witnessed the depth of Zaheer's need for control, for an uncompromising dominance, Becca had ran. Because it had scared her that a man she could feel so much about could be so dominating, so insensitive to Becca's needs.
So she'd left Qazhar. Fast and without telling Zaheer her plans. It had been a retreat, away from an exquisite dream which had promised so much, but had turned out to be just a fantasy.
Back in her safe, ordinary life, Becca had returned to the real focus of her life with the only thing that really mattered to her. Family.
She'd almost forgotten Zaheer. Or at least, that was what she tried to convince herself of. But, she knew she was probably fooling herself.
And now Zaheer was trying to tempt her back with the promise of what?
Love?
Was there even the chance of that? Becca allowed herself a moment of honesty. After what she'd seen tonight, was there the slightest chance that she could have a future with Zaheer?
Being in his presence, being kissed by him like that, feeling a familiar emotion take hold of her as they'd held each other, she'd sensed something powerful. Something she thought she'd lost forever.
A deep connection. Something beyond words. A feeling she'd believed she'd locked away for good.
But tonight had proven her wrong. Unbelievably, there was still a connection between her and Zaheer.
A connection with the sheikh who once had made her feel more alive than she'd ever felt. Before or since.
Becca knew what she had to do.
She had agreed to go with him to Qazhar, not simply because it may be the way to helping her cousin, but also because, after tonight, she realized she couldn't continue to live if she didn't know for sure whether leaving Zaheer had been the best thing she'd ever done. Or the worst.
Either way, she'd given him a week at most to prove to her that the way she still felt about him wasn't simply rash or foolish, but true.
And then what?
Becca thought about the way he'd spoken as he'd suggested marriage.
Those were words she'd thought she'd never hear from Zaheer. But he'd spoken them. To her.
And when he'd said them, there had been a firm, penetrating look in his eyes that had told her he meant just what he'd said.
Maybe he had. Perhaps all his declarations of passion for Becca had been authentic.
She'd find out soon enough.
Within a week she'd find out if the sheikh from Qazhar was a man who was worthy enough for Becca to consider marrying.
****
Two days of torment. That was what the last forty-eight hours had been, Zaheer told himself as he stood by his private jet waiting for the limo to arrive. He glanced at his watch. They were late. She should have been here an hour ago. Becca had insisted Zaheer wait for her at the airport and let the limo collect her. It seemed like she didn't want him meeting her at the train station.
Away in the distance, he heard the roar of a plane taking off. He turned and watched it rise into the bright, blue sky. It was a good day to be leaving New York. Made even better by the fact that he would be travelling with the woman he wanted to be his wife.
Correction.
The woman he would have to spend the next few days persuading to become his, forever. That wasn't going to be easy. But he was determined. More resolute than he'd been about anything in his life. He was fated to be with her. Destiny had brought them together, and it was inconceivable they'd part again.
He'd felt her terrible absence again during the last two days and very long nights. The same longing which had driven him to seek Becca out once again. It had been brutal, painful and hard to be without her after seeing her two nights ago.
Being alone in his Manhattan apartment hadn't been easy. He'd resisted the temptation to go out on the town, distract himself with the pleasures New York had to offer.
He was done with all that now, he told himself. Life was going to be different from now on. He was going to be a different person. His future with Becca depended on it.
He leaned against the wing of his private jet and thought about what had happened at the restaurant and in the limo afterwards.
Zaheer wondered if he'd convinced her. He'd come to New York this time with one goal in mind. To persuade Becca that he wasn't the man she'd left behind three years ago. He knew his only chance of future happiness was to win over the one woman who had found a true place in his heart.
How was he going to do that?
Simple, really.
He'd just have to be himself.
He scoffed at that thought.
A few years ago, doing that would have ensured that any woman close to him would eventually go running in the opposite direction. But not after he'd taken his pleasure; not before giving the woman temporarily in his life an unforgettable experience of ecstasy.
The reality was that the man he had once been would have taken his pleasure and done everything possible to avoid any real feeling, any true emotional connection with a woman. If he was honest with himself, Zaheer knew he'd once been a harsh man, an arrogant man. He knew that the expectations of growing up as a powerful, wealthy sheikh had somehow warped his soul, had made him unnecessarily cold with the opposite sex.
That was how he had once been.
But then Becca had walked into his life. At the New Year's party in New York three years ago. At first he'd toyed with her, just as he'd done with so many other women. Becca had seemed so innocent, so naive, that Zaheer had almost submitted to his worst inclinations.
But, then he'd noticed something startling about this woman. There was a quality about Becca he'd never come across in any of his other many conquests.
At first, it had been difficult to pin down. But, as they'd gotten t
o know each other better in Qazhar, as he'd shown her his life there, he'd been taken aback by the rare selflessness in her character. She hadn't been impressed by his wealth. Not at all. In fact, she'd surprised him with her almost complete indifference to his power and status in Qazhar.
That was something he'd never seen before. But, that wasn't all. Becca possessed a wise and sensitive soul. There was a quiet determination in her spirit that had impressed Zaheer, and hadn't gone unnoticed by his friends.
Within days of arriving in Qazhar, his two brothers and his parents had been probing him about whether he had serious intentions about the beautiful, mysterious American who was winning everyone's heart over. They'd found out about her, but he'd managed to keep her to himself. He'd planned for a grand introduction to his family.
But it had never happened.
Had that been the moment when his troubles had began?
During the last three years, Zaheer had had plenty of time to reflect on this, and he'd come to the conclusion that, somewhere deep within him, panic had set in. He'd simply lost his nerve, even as he was losing his heart to Becca.
It hadn't taken him long to ruin everything. Tensions had set in, made worse every time some family member had teased him about an impending marriage.
Many Qazhar sheikhs had taken American women as wives in recent years. Zaheer knew of the Al Kharif brothers as well as the three daughters of the US ambassador who had recently wed Qazhar sheikhs. It was a sign of great change in the kingdom, one that Zaheer had only really understood once he'd been foolish enough to make every mistake possible, and lose Becca.
But that was all about to be fixed, he told himself. He had a chance to change all that.
And he would do everything in his power to claim her as his bride.
Zaheer stood upright as he saw the limo slide into view around the corner of the hanger. It pulled to a halt and the driver got out and came round to the door.
"What was the delay?" Zaheer asked his driver.
"Traffic, sir," the driver replied.
