The Sheik Retold(80)

"Everything, my dove." He smiled. "We go to be wed. Even now, Raoul is on his way back from Morocco to stand as witness to the event."

My jaw dropped. "You intend to marry me?"

"Of course. I told you once that I would make you mine in every way."

My pulse sped. He hadn't been unaware of my discontent, after all. "But you have said nothing in all this time."

"Because there were considerable arrangements to be made—and no small amount of obstacles to overcome. I had to wait until all could be properly orchestrated."

"What do you mean?" I was puzzled by this. "What kind of obstacles?"

"You are not of my religion, ma belle, and while our union would still be recognized in this country, I do not wish for there ever to be any chance of disputation. Our union is to be solemnized by an Anglican clergyman."

"An Anglican clergyman in Oran?" My confusion bloomed. "But there is no Anglican church in all of Algeria!"

"No, but there will be a clergyman to officiate our nuptials." He pulled more documents from his waistcloth. "A rector named Witherspoon."

"How can this be?" I laughed outright. "You are not even Anglican!"

"No. Ahmed Ben Hassan is not…but the Viscount Caryll shall be."

I blinked in arrant incomprehension. "Wh-what did you just say?"

"You feared for your future security, Diana, so I intend to provide for it. The Anglican reverend of whom I speak owes his living to the Earl of Glencaryll and will do precisely as the earl wishes."

I was incredulous. "The earl? Your father? The man you have refused all contact with these fifteen years?"

"Yes," he replied tightly. "They await us in Oran—along with the earl's solicitor."

"But what has Glencaryll to do with you and me?"

"I wrote Glencaryll asking him to assume responsibility for you should anything befall me. He accepted my request only with the proviso that I allow him to be present for our nuptials."

"You mean to say that you will finally meet him? After all these years?"

"Yes. It was a form of extortion on his part, but I do not act for him. It is only for you that I do this thing, ma bien-aimée. For this one time only, to make our marriage legal in every sense, I will claim my English heritage." He paused, and his gaze met mine. "Of course, I could hardly do otherwise, given the circumstances."

"Circumstances? What do you mean?"

"My wife and child must always be provided for."

"Your child?" I was suddenly unable to breathe. I could barely speak for the lump in my throat. "You have a child? When did you plan to tell me?"

"The better question, my dove, is when did you plan to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That you carry my child."

My heart froze. "But I'm not…I c-can't be…that's imp-possible!" I sputtered as my brain scrambled to calculate my last menses.

"Impossible?" He cocked a dubious brow. "Yet Zilah is an obedient and most observant servant. She informs me that it has been—"

"Two months," I declared. "But that doesn't mean anything. I don't know why you would think—" Dear God in heaven! Could it be true?

"I don't think. I know, ma belle." He took me into his arms and kissed me deeply. "You have too much the look of a well-loved woman about you for it to be anything else."

His words warmed me to the core. Was it only a few months ago that the spoiled and stubborn Diana Mayo had ventured into the desert seeking to fill her empty life?

Seven months later, my heart was filled to bursting and my happiness complete as I gazed down at the bundle in my arms and into another pair of intense blue eyes—living proof that I was indeed well-loved by my husband, my bel Arabe, my savage desert sheik.





~END~