“It makes no sense. As you heard me say, you are intelligent… fiercely so. You had the world at your feet. Yet you travelled a thousand miles to marry a man you don’t know.”
“I did know you.” She clasped her hands together. “Or, at least, it felt like it. I can’t explain it. Think about this. Why would I have been so upset on our wedding night if I didn’t care for you? Your words cut me to the quick. I have never known such an aching sense of betrayal.”
“I have apologised for that.”
“I have accepted your apology,” she said quickly, cutting him off. “I am only telling you how your words made me feel.”
He shook his head. “It is useless to analyse this. I do not want to expose both of us to this kind of pain. It is a waste of energy. You will distract me, importantly, from the work that I do.”
“Perhaps. And perhaps I will add to your work in ways you can’t even fathom.” Gingerly, she moved over the bed, and came to kneel across him. “There are no guarantees in life. You could have died out there in the desert. And if you had, would you wish that you’d never married me? Or be grateful that we had a small period of time together?”
He made a muttered oath, a sound deep in his throat, as he gave into temptation and ran his hand down her back. “You were my last thought, as I brought the chopper down. Imagining leaving you made me know that death was not an option.”
Triumph flared inside of her. “But now you are pushing me away, and calmly trying to remove me from your life, as though I’m a pair of shoes that you bought in the wrong size.”
“You are. That is just what you are. I need a wife who will make things easier for me. Not complicate my existence with constant challenges and a body that drives me to distraction.”
She smiled impishly. “How… insipid… such a woman sounds.”
He made another sound of frustration and tilted his head forward. “I have berated you and insulted you, and still you want to remain with me. I can’t understand you, Emira.”
“I love you.” She put her hands on his chest and teased his muscles. “You are arrogant, and you are bombastic, and you are sometimes rude and grumpy, but you are also kind and thoughtful and good, and strong, and an incredible lover, and I would be effectively cutting myself in two if I walked away from this marriage.”
His face was troubled. “You would get over me. As you have got over Arnaud.”
“Oh, bloody Arnaud. Why do you even bring him up? It was meeting you that made me realise how little I really cared for him. Our so called ‘love’ was the most civilised, boring, predictable and safe emotion I’ve ever known. That’s not love. It’s not even life.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, enjoying the way he was kept captive beneath her by his casts. “Love is like a galaxy in a jar, without a lid. A burst of stars and milky ways and black holes – there is pain and there is loss but there is also indescribable delight.” She moved her mouth to his cheek, and then his ear. “Don’t you feel the potential between us? Don’t you feel the energy? The special force that only we can generate?”
He took in a deep breath. It was as though he was walking off a precipice, and he knew there was no safety net. No guarantee. “Yes. I feel it.”
“So what the heck are you thinking? To be trying to push me away?”
“You are, perhaps, not the one who is weak. Fear of all that you’ve just described has made me weak. I have never known love before. I have never expected to know it. As a child, I was raised to know that my marriage would be a matter of business and honor, rather than a match made for affection. To think that I can have both has made me doubt my own sanity over the past two months. Is this true? Is what you feel real? And is what I feel real?”
“I can’t speak for you,” she said, reaching down and placing her hands beneath his shirt, so that she could connect with his bare skin. “But I’ve never known anything more real than what I feel when I’m with you. Until I met you, I was marking time. Coming to Talina, and living as your wife, is when my future began.”
He shook his head from side to side. “I can’t even make love to you as I would wish. I’m not a man at present. I wish you would wait, until my bones have mended, to have this conversation.”
“But why? Your body will mend. And I don’t want to go another day without you understanding me. Without you comprehending what’s in my heart.” She chewed down on her lip. “Do you remember what you said to Ryan? That night in your study?”
He closed his eyes and felt shame wash over him. “Don’t think of it again, I beg you.”
She nodded quietly, but continued. “You thought it was a sign of stupidity that I hadn’t spoken a single word to you at our first meeting.”
“Do not repeat what I thought back to me. I deeply regret that you heard me behaving like such a terrible, spoiled bastard.”
She grinned. “Oh, you were completely wrong. But you’ve admitted as much and so I forgive you.” Her smile was dazzling and filled with cheek. “But the reason I didn’t speak to you, when I first met you, Aki, is that I was struck completely mute. And I just wanted to listen to you. It took all my powers of concentration to not fall off my chair! My goodness. You walked into our home like a living deity. I have never known such instant, overwhelming attraction.”
He lifted the fingers of his able hand and traced the outline of her lips. “I was too angry to pay any proper attention to you. I was so angry.” He shook his head. “A wasted emotion given how perfectly it has all turned out.”
She kissed his fingertip then angled her face, so that his palm cupped her cheek. “It scared me to realise how your words could wound me, because it forced me to accept, so early on, that I cared for you deeply.”
“Please, I beg you, Eleanor, don’t think of that conversation again. I should never have thought that way about you, let alone said those things.”
“I know. I understand you so much better now. But Aki, there is one thing that I can’t forget. And even though I love you as I do, I know that my happiness will always be a little bit lessened if we don’t… talk about it.”
“What is it?” His face was serious, his eyes searching her expression for understanding.
“My papa.” She lowered her gaze, focussing on the print of his shirt. “I don’t want the two men I love to continue as enemies. The enmity you feel for my father is difficult for me to accept, especially because I think you misunderstand him completely.”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t want to do anything that upsets you,” he promised firmly. “But hating your family has been the habit of a lifetime.”
And the beautiful joy she’d felt just a moment before seemed to burst, like a water balloon that had been made too full. Pop, and out went that sense of euphoric contentment. “He’s… not what you think.”
“I know.”
Her eyes flew to his. “You know?”
“Yes.” He lifted her hand and kissed it. “I wanted to hate him, and I wanted to hate you. But when the chopper was going down, all I could think was that I couldn’t hate you. That I couldn’t hurt you. And that I had to start working out how to make our marriage work. Your father is important to you, and so I will get to know him better.”
“He really never wanted to be in this palace, you know.”
“I understand. It is simply that he is a focal point for a dedicated band of disruptive fools. Once we have a little Katabi-Rami heir, the issue will be sealed.”
She grinned at him, feeling her joy top the balloon right back up again.
He pushed up so that he could kiss her lips, and as always, felt that magical, time-defying string wrap around them. “You know, I have been thinking about your family and you.” He pulled away from her so that he could show her how serious his words were. “How incredibly brave you were, to come to this country and do what you did, all for your father’s sake.”
“Uh uh,” she interrupted. “Remember? It was for my sake too.”
He nodded
. “Nonetheless, it was a courageous leap of faith. I wondered if we should formally invite your parents and Michelle to journey to Talina and remain for a period of time. To ease your transition, and also to help Michelle move past her marriage.”
Eleanor smiled down at him, her throat clogged with tears. “I like that idea very much. On one condition.”
“Yes, Emira?”
“I don’t want anyone to take me away from you –for long. The thing is, I’m rather obsessed with my husband, and I like the idea of being locked in this room with you forever and ever and ever. Just us.”
His laugh was a low rumble. As he looked up at her radiant face, he felt a weight shift inside of him, and sobered. “No matter what happens in my life, Emira, I will live with the greatest gratitude for whatever conspired to bring us together. You were always my destiny, but now you are my match, in every possible way. I love you like no man has loved before, and for the rest of this life on earth, I will show you that you are beyond value.”
EPILOGUE
Three years later.
“She definitely has your eyes.” The sight of the powerful Sultan Aki Katabi, ruler of Talina, cradling a tiny baby in his arms was enough to bring an already emotional Eleanor to tears.
“They are my father’s eyes, too,” she said with a watery smile.
“So they are,” Aki nodded, coming to sit gingerly on the bed beside his wife. Their little daughter was staring up at him, the recognition amazing to see in a new born. “She is curious about life, like you too.”
Eleanor looked down at the bundle she held and grinned. “And he seems to like only to eat and sleep. I don’t know where that comes from!”
He laughed. “He’ll change. For now, at least one of them seems likely to give you a break.”
“They’re perfect, anyway.” Her voice cracked. “A little prince and princess for Talina.” She looked up at her husband. “When will you announce their arrival?”
In accordance with the centuries’ old Talinese tradition, not a word had been spoken about Eleanor’s pregnancy. Many generations ago, the risk of assassination to prevent unwanted heirs had been too great, and so concealment had offered necessary protection. Though such risk had passed into legend, the tradition remained.
“Soon,” he said without taking his eyes off their daughter. “I want them to belong only to us for a little while longer.”
“They’ll always belong to us,” she pointed out with a wistful glance at both of her children. “As much as two people can belong to their parents, anyway”.
“I know. But the moment they are announced, they will become the future of this country. I know what this life will be like for them. To grow up with the knowledge that you are to rule is both a gift and a burden. Let’s give them at least the first day of their lives as innocent little babies.”
Eleanor scanned her husband’s face. “You’ve never spoken like that before.”
“I suppose I don’t think of it often.”
“Your childhood was happy, though. You were close to your parents and cousins.”
“I was fortunate that my father was not ruler. The fact that it passed down through my mother meant that my parents were more relaxed with all of the protocols.” He cleared his throat and looked into his wife’s eyes. “These children are the future of Talina, but I do not want them to feel that is all they are. Their value is far greater than the sum total of their expectations.”
Her eyes glittered in her face. “They are so much more than that already.”
He reached across and brushed a hand over his wife’s hair. Not a day had passed, since his accident, when he hadn’t looked at her and thanked the heavens for having her in his life. Now, with her face showing signs of her exhaustion, and her eyes wet with unshed tears, he felt that his heart was almost bursting out of his body, for all the love it held.
“Can we come in yet?” A knock at the door sounded, followed by Michelle’s head craning through the opening.
Eleanor nodded welcomingly. “Yes, come in. Come and meet your little niece and nephew.”
And though pride in her children occupied her emotions, there was joy for her sister too. Three years after the end of her disastrous marriage and she was completely unrecognisable. Her smile seemed to travel from ear to ear, and her eyes always shone with contentment.
“Come on, Rye! Hurry up!” They walked in hand in hand, two people who’s union had also been written in the stars. Had it not been for the fateful marriage of Aki to Eleanor, Ryan and Michelle would never have met. Not that their path to marriage had been a smooth one, but they’d got there in the end, and their happiness was contagious.
“Are Mum and Papa here yet?” Eleanor asked her sister, handing her son over to Michelle’s waiting arms.
“Their flight should have landed about five minutes ago. I’m sure they’ll make it to the hospital in record time.”
Eleanor grinned. “Our daughter has dad’s eyes.”
“So she does.” Michelle craned her neck to look at the baby Aki was holding. Ryan was standing back a little way, hovering uncertainly on the edge of the group.
“Jeez, Rye, you look like you’ve never held a baby before.”
“I know – it’s just Juliette is so big now. Compared to these tiny little things.” He looked at his wife. “Was she really ever this tiny?”
“Yes.” Michelle laughed. “But you’re right. She’s grown so much in two years.”
“Where is my favourite niece?” Eleanor asked quietly, for her son was starting to stir in Michelle’s arms.
“She’s at the palace. She fell asleep while we were waiting to hear.”
Michelle and Ryan stayed just long enough to demonstrate that they were going to be a spectacularly affectionate aunt and uncle to the royal twins. They left when Katherine and Nasir arrived, as even the royal suite at the hospital felt crowded with two babies, and six adults.
“They’re perfect,” Katherine enthused softly, easily managing both twins on her lap. “Just like you.” She smiled at her youngest daughter, and felt a stirring of deep maternal pride. Eleanor had always burned with a bright flame, her certainty as to her decisions something they had often joked about.
But she had been right, again.
In marrying a man she hardly knew, she had brought good to so many people’s lives. Nasir was finally free to come and go in his own country. Despite the resentment each had brought to the relationship, Nasir and Aki were now close. Where Ryan was a completely irreverent, relaxed son-in-law the bond between Aki and Nasir was filled with formal respect and an understanding of the burden each had shouldered. Descending from royal bloodlines was not easy, but all that could be different for this generation of Katabi children.
But both of the men their daughters were married to were kind, generous, and interesting souls.
Katherine’s face darkened momentarily, as she thought of Michelle’s first husband. Jak. How dark had been those days for a mother to bear. To see her first daughter so over-ruled by someone; to see her miserable and unable to comprehend that she could remove herself from the situation.
And now? Michelle was almost happier than any human had a right to be.
Yes, life had a way of working out, sometimes. And the proof of how splendidly it had all come together was the three beautiful grandchildren she had welcomed to her heart.
“They seem very happy with their newest additions to the family,” Aki remarked, as Eleanor’s parents left.
“How could they not be? The twins are, after all, quite divine.”
He grinned. “They are not yet teenagers.”
“Oh, we have forever to worry about that.”
“No.” He shook his head, and came to sit beside her on the bed. He lowered his head and kissed her gently. “No worry for you. Never again. If I can promise you one thing, my beautiful Emira, it is that you need never worry about anything in your life.”
She smiled against his cheek. “That’s pre
posterous.”
“Perhaps. But I am King, don’t you know? I order you to be the happiest woman on the earth, forever and ever.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”
THE END.
If you enjoyed The Sultan’s Virgin Bride, I think you’ll love The Velasco Love Child. There’s a little excerpt following, and the book is available exclusively on the amazon store.
THE VELASCO LOVE CHILD
Clare Connelly
All the characters in this book are fictitious and have no existence outside the author’s imagination. They have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names and are pure invention.
All rights reserved. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reprinted by any means without permission of the Author.
The illustration on the cover of this book features model/s and bears no relation to the characters described within.
First published 2015
(c) Clare Connelly
Photo Credit: dollarphotoclub.com/captblack76
Contact Clare:
http://www.clareconnelly.co.uk
Blog: http://clarewriteslove.wordpress.com/
Email: [email protected]
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“To lose thee, sweeter than to gain
All other hearts I knew.
‘Tis true the drought is destitute,
But then I had the dew!”
-Emily Dickinson
PROLOGUE
It’s not like she actually had to sleep with the guy.
No amount of money would lower Maggie’s standards to that degree.
A lingering look would do. A hand on her back. Perhaps a kiss.
Anything that would show her ‘mark’, in this case the gloriously handsome and rich Spanish wine mogul, for the cheating bastard he was. All she needed was a shared moment of intimacy that was damning enough for the agency’s photographer to catch. Proof for the poor wife, who’d suffered silently through affair after affair.
The Sultan's Virgin Bride: A story of lust, loyalty and passionate resentment. Page 12
