Handcuffed to the Sheikh, Too

by Teresa Morgan

  She had all the power now. She could alert the media and expose him. Even he was not above Zallaq's laws.

  His future lay in her possession now. She could destroy him as easily as stepping on an ant.

  And yet he felt a measure of relief at not having to hide anything from her anymore.

  "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty." Jibril's voice broke in on his thoughts. "I had the impression you were fond of her. If you desire her to stay, we can find a way to manage. After all you have done..."

  He had only to give the order and Gwendolyn would be confined to the palace. She would have the largest, most elegant jail on Earth. She would lack for nothing. She would have a better life in Zallaq as his wife than she would in Chicago with her freedom.

  She would see how they belonged together and forgive him for his deception. She had told him she loved him, in the most unsatisfying way he could imagine. Even if she did not love him now, he could help her find her way back to loving him again.

  But she would be unable to leave his palace of her free will.

  No, he could not trap Gwendolyn. Captivity had been inflicted on him once, and he would not do the same to another.

  No matter how much he wanted to keep her with him.

  "After all I have done," Ithnan countered, "Miss Spencer is not a prisoner here. She is free to leave at any time."

  "You believe she will choose to stay, then?" his security chief asked.

  "I am certain she will not. But this is no longer your concern," he announced. "I accept your resignation. Complete the tasks I have given you and you will have a generous severance. Speak to anyone of this and your family will be exiled from Zallaq."

  His former security chief's jaw went tight. "I would never betray the trust you placed in me."

  Ithnan looked to the untouched diplomatic dispatches on his desk. He could concentrate on them now, he thought. His time of distraction would soon be over.

  "You already have," he said. "You are dismissed."

  ***

  "So your kidnapping was all about the pipeline?" Max asked. "The whole time, all he wanted was the pipeline."

  Gwen had kicked their driver out of the 4x4... but she couldn’t order the royal guard back to the palace, not with a pregnant princess on the loose. She'd ordered the guards to follow in another vehicle, told them to stay close, but taken the wheel of this one herself.

  She'd blown off some steam by driving the 4x4 into the desert, a half-hour's drive out of the city. Max had liked, or at least been a good sport about, driving up the dunes at a reckless speed.

  Now, she and Max sat on the sand at the crest of a dune, watching a neon-orange sun sink below the horizon.

  "Had to be." Some toxic chemical ate at her insides, consuming her from the gut out. If she sat here long enough, she would dissolve into a caustic puddle. "He worked hard to make me fall for him."

  "Why?"

  Gwen wasn’t feeling very diplomatic right now. She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking the princess next to her if she was stupid. "To get the pipeline."

  Max made a high-pitched sound in her throat. "He didn't need to pretend to like you for that. The laws of Zallaq said you would have been married anyway. He could have traded a divorce for the pipeline."

  True. And the idea made her angrier. "Who knows? Who cares?"

  "I wonder what he's really feeling."

  "Why should I think about his feelings? Why is he my problem?"

  "You are married to him," Max pointed out.

  "Because he had me kidnapped! I don't have any obligation to the man who targeted me for a crime. I didn’t agree to marry him, and just because I—" Gwen bit off the sentence at the end. She was about to say that brutal four-letter word.

  Love.

  Max said a different four-letter word. It didn't start with L. "Gwen, you're kidding me. You fell in love with him?"

  "Do my feelings matter?" The words burned like acid. "Even if I did, I can't stay here. You don't get to treat me like crap and expect me to forgive you. I have never been so betrayed in my life. I’m not going to turn around and betray myself. I have the right to choose my life for myself. The man is way too effed up to have a relationship with anyone."

  "But you'd like to have a relationship with him?"

  "Why would I even consider staying? I would be crazy. The worst case of Stockholm syndrome I've ever heard of. Should I reward him for every devious act he's done by giving him what he wants?"

  Max stared into the sunset, looking thoughtful. "So... he wants you to stay with him?"

  "Huh?"

  "He wants you to stay with him. He wants you to be married to him. Sounds like he's got some Stockholm syndrome, too. Do you think maybe he likes you?"

  "Whoa," Gwen said. "Whoa, whoa. Tell me again why I should care."

  "Hmm." Max adjusted her flowing skirt over her knees. "I might be projecting. Sayd kidnapped me once. I thought he was crazy, but he had a good reason."

  Yeah, projecting for sure. Gwen wanted a friend to talk to—but Max had her own issues. Her abduction by her husband had turned out great. "Ithnan isn't Sayd. How did you forgive Sayd, anyway? I’m not sure I can forgive someone who kidnapped me."

  "How do you feel about Wafa?"

  Gwen searched her feelings. Her hatred and fear had faded into resentment. In time, her irritation might go away, too. "I'm not going to ask him to water my plants anytime soon, but I see your point."

  "When Sayd figured out what was wrong with me, he created a new love story for me. What he did was magical." Max had a faraway tone in her voice. She was deep in her memories, Gwen could tell.

  A lump crawled into her throat. She couldn't see Ithnan doing something anything similar for her. His childhood had taught him to fear everyone, that they were going to betray you as soon as they had the chance. He would never make himself vulnerable, never fall in love with anyone. A life with him would be a constant battle to prove yourself. She couldn’t go through life with suspicion always hanging over her head.

  "And I risk losing the magic if I take the so-called cure to restore my memory," Max continued.

  "I'm sorry?" Clearly Gwen had missed something.

  "Oh, right. If I take the cure for my memory loss, I might lose the time between when I lost my memory and now."

  "So you'd remember the kidnapping by the terrorist group, and forget the kidnapping by your husband."

  "Maybe. They don't know for sure. They give the drug a seventy-five percent chance of working." A stray gust of hot wind blew a strand of hair into Max's face. She paused as she pulled the lock away. "I'd remember the first love story with Sayd and forget my second. Remember giving birth to my son and forget conceiving this baby."

  "What a choice," Gwen said, watching Max rub her pregnant belly in loving circles. But she knew exactly what she would do. She wouldn’t even consider letting anyone mess around in her head with chemicals.

  "Yeah, I have a lot of thinking to do. But back to you. Maybe Ithnan had a good reason—" Max shook her head. "Sorry, I keep looking at your problem through my own filter."

  "Okay, how about... if your baby is a girl and she was in my situation, what would you tell her?"

  "That she's way too young to date." Max sighed. "I'd tell her to run like a rabid werewolf was chasing her and to never stop running. But what do you want?"

  "I want for Ithnan not to have abducted me. I'd like to get to know him in a real way, without liking him because he forced me to or hating him because he's the one who forced me. I want to go back in time and see what we could have had." She shrugged. "Not gonna happen, so..."

  She and Ithnan had no hope. Why fight for such a damaged relationship? She still loved him. She might always love him, but her love wasn’t enough to bring Ithnan back from the dark history tainting every aspect of his life. Not without him wanting to change.

  "Gwen, you can't be as matter of fact about this as you sound."

  She wasn't. She had razors in her c
hest, blades cutting deep.

  The glowing sunset blurred in front of her, unshed tears building up. She swiped the sleeve of her shirt across her eyes, mopping up the moisture. Mascara smudges marked the fabric.

  When she spoke, her voice cracked. "What are my options, Max? The only way for me to fight for our fake marriage would be to martyr myself for a guy who doesn’t love me, can't ever trust anyone, and sees no reason to change."

  "What are you going to do, then?" Max asked.

  Gwen stood. The sun sinking below the horizon was same color as the Heart of Zallaq. Soon, the sliver of light would be gone completely.

  "I’m going to go yell at my husb—" She cut herself off. "At His Majesty. Then I'll leave for home and see if I can recover anything of my life."

  ***

  Ithnan found his wife sitting framed in the archway opening onto the balcony of their apartments. From her point of view, she would be able to look over the expanse of Ismek.

  It was not the first time they had spoken on a balcony. But now, the lip of marble hanging from his palace felt like the edge of a cliff.

  As he crossed the floor to her, he loosened his tie. She had not moved or acknowledged his presence, but he sensed she knew he was there.

  He leaned on the archway, standing behind her, and spoke to her back. "You will leave me now."

  She showed no surprise at hearing him speak. Her legs were tucked up underneath her, as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible. She seemed to gaze sightlessly into the night. An untouched glass of amber liquid sat on the table at her elbow.

  "I trusted you," he continued. "I told you things I should not have. You told them to my enemy—"

  Her head whipped around. "Your. Brother," she said, dangerously.

  "My. Enemy," he reiterated. "You betrayed my trust and you will leave me now."

  She unfolded from the chair, her river-blue eyes sparking at him. "How dare you make this about me? I'm not the villain here. I'm leaving to escape you. You made me your hostage to secure my father's good behavior. Just like your father did to you."

  "My father put me in danger, handed me over to people who had no interest in my safety or happiness." How could she compare what he had done with his father's actions? "I personally ensured your protection and allayed all your fears."

  As if she hadn't heard, she simply shook her head in disbelief. "You accuse me of betraying your trust? What about mine? You lied to me. You kidnapped me. Did you give Gray Scarf orders to try to rape me so you could play hero? Oh God, did you do it so I'd sleep with you for rescuing me?"

  He grabbed her by the shoulders to make her look at him. "Whatever you think me capable of, I would never do such a thing."

  She looked down at his hand digging into her flesh. Sudden shame came over him that he would touch a woman that way, no matter how desperate. He dropped his grip.

  "You must believe me, Gwendolyn. What happened with that man was never part of any plan. My men are questioning the mercenary guards now to attempt to discover where he is hiding. He will be found and punished."

  "Just keep him from hurting anyone else. You owe me that much."

  "And as my wife, you owe me loyalty. You will remain in Zallaq. We will forget that you revealed my past to my brother and move on."

  "Are you kidding me? How can I stay here, Ithnan? Has anything you said to me ever been the truth?" She gave a humorless laugh. "You once told me if the story of our abduction came out, I'd be a national heroine. What a joke. More like a laughingstock. I wouldn't be an inspiration. I'd be a horrible warning."

  "You said you loved me. Does that mean nothing to you?"

  "It should mean nothing." The tone of her voice turned cold. "I fell for some man I thought I knew, but he turned out to be a manipulative asshole who kidnapped me. You know, in some ways, I have more respect for the guy who tried to assault me when we were—" Here she mimed quotes. "—abducted. At least he was honest about what he wanted."

  "I did what was required for my people. And for you. I am the best man for you and I will not apologize."

  "You are the worst," she said, rage in her eyes. "What do you mean you did it for me?"

  He opened his mouth to answer, but she held up a hand and interrupted. "You know what? Never mind. I don't care what justification you come up with. It doesn't matter."

  "You are too naïve, Gwendolyn. You said it yourself. Men have taken advantage of you to get close to your father. You need my protection so this will never happen again." Surely she could see the rightness of his argument.

  "Uuuuuuhhh," she said, drawing the word out. "You mean like you used me to get something you wanted out of my father? What gave you the right?"

  "The pipeline's importance to Zallaq outweighs the needs of either of us," he answered. "But the matter of you and I is separate."

  "It's not separate. It's the same thing. You could have gotten the contract another way." She whirled on her heel and stalked away from him, though she went no further than the length of the balcony before turning back. "You didn't even know Dad had decided on Askar."

  He had nothing to say. So he said nothing.

  "I should have kept your crappy ruby—" She stopped her frustrated pacing. "Wait. I gave you back your ruby and then you kidnapped me. Do those two things have anything to do with each other?"

  "No." Of course they did not.

  Something had shifted in her mood. She'd gone from enraged to logical. She seemed to be working out a theory.

  "You practically made fun of me for not keeping your precious jewel. Before the balcony, we'd never talked in private. You were surprised by my honesty, which didn’t make any sense until I found out about your childhood." Gwendolyn's anger seemed to have gone out of her. Now she looked deep in thought. "I asked you to trust me, and you did. You don't trust people. Except for me, and you trusted me from the night of the party."

  "I do not understand what you think you know," he stated.

  "And you just said that the matter of you and me was separate. What does that mean?" She made a thoughtful sound low in her throat. "You could have gotten the pipeline another way..." Her eyes went wide. "You were going to get the pipeline another way, weren't you? Kidnapping me was never the plan, not until then. Mouna said you were going to kidnap my father. And then what?"

  He ignored the reference to this Mouna person, whoever he was. "I assure you your father would have been safe the entire time."

  She laughed, almost hysterically. "And you would have been at the head of a dramatic rescue. Oh, he would have loved being the center of attention. Perfect. You would have gotten your pipeline for sure."

  "I made a mistake," he said, glancing to the floor to make it look like he admitted something he was not proud of. "You were taken from your room instead of your father. I gave orders to take him, not you, but my orders were misunderstood. When I saw the mistake could not be corrected, I accompanied you. You were never the target."

  "Liar. You don't make mistakes. Except you wanted a left-hand drive Toyota, didn't you? You planned for me to get cuffed to your left hand so your dominant one would be free. If I hadn't been able to drive stick, the whole plan would have crashed down on your head."

  "The man who assaulted you. He was also a mistake." Ground they had already been over. Yet he needed her to believe him.

  She nodded. "But I was the target. I was very much a target. Never a mistake. You didn't have to tell me about yourself. You made a huge effort to get close to me. Once we were back here, you wanted me to stay."

  To say he could not follow Gwendolyn's thought process was an understatement. She leapt from one conclusion to another in a dizzying spiral. "Will you tell your father to put his pipeline in Askar?"

  "Yeah, go back to the pipeline," she mocked. "You're most comfortable there, aren't you? But no. Consider it a farewell present. Or maybe a consolation for the people of Hidd. First they had Sheikh Mahmoud, now they have to put up with you."

  "Tr
ue." He had been on the brink of failure, but she had once more handed him his goal, despite his betrayal.

  She cocked her head at him, a defiant look in her eye. "You're in love with me. You were in love with me long before I was in love with you."

  For a moment, he did not breathe. The world felt... paused. This was the wildest assertion of them all. She had created a reality where the thing she most wanted was true. He could take advantage of the delusion, or he could tell her the truth.

  He chose the truth.

  "Your emotions run away with you."

  She shook her head, planting a hand on a jutting hip. "No, they don't. I gave you back your ruby and you fell in love with me. So you did everything in your power to make sure I had to stay with you. That's insane, you know."

  His throat seemed tight, yet he managed to speak in his normal tone. "I find your theory insane."

  She gave a snorting laugh. "Coming from a guy who abducted a woman because he liked her. Yes, my theory is crazy, but I'm dead-on. Don't suppose you realized kidnapping me would destroy the thing about me you like the most, the trust between us. You were lied to and stabbed in the back so many times you couldn’t trust me until I proved myself by giving you your ruby. You love me because you trust me. So tell me, how can I trust you now?"

  "Then you will return to Chicago." His words sounded like they emerged from behind a wall.

  "I should," she said thoughtfully. "I should definitely go, and leave your closed-off, untrusting, manipulative self here to rot in your shell like a month-old oyster."

  "My private jet is at your disposal."

  She ignored him. "Why is it my job to rescue you from yourself?"

  "I am confused," he admitted.

  "Wait." She held up a hand to stop him, as if he was the one whose thoughts were scattered like the stars. "Why should I have to? My staying here doesn’t mean I have to fix you. Fixing you should be your job."

  "I am no less confused."

  "Then let me lay things out for you. I love you, and you love me, but I can't be with you. You have to change the way you deal with people. Not only for me, but for yourself, for your family, and for your country. Because I’m not falling for your crap anymore. I'm just not. I'm going to have a plane—my own plane, thank you very much—ready to leave at any moment. Forever, you understand."