Sheikh's Scandal(43)

Maybe the melech didn’t realize how close to gone on Aaliyah his son, the emir, was. “Why? So I can get into yet another weeklong wait to discover my fate?”

“You are that attracted to her?”

“I wanted to snatch the birth control pill from her hand and throw it in the garbage rather than let her take it,” Sayed admitted.

He’d wanted to just let destiny take its course, but a prince could not deny his responsibilities. Sayed thought Yusuf might have realized it, too, but like a true friend, he’d said nothing.

“I am surprised,” his father admitted, sounding it.

“No more so than I.”

“Your mother and I were betrothed in the cradle.”

“I know.”

“But I was in love with her before our wedding ever took place.”

“You were?” Sayed could not stifle his shock. “You married so young.”

“From the moment I began to notice the opposite sex, Durrah was the one I wanted. Discovering on our wedding night that she shared my affection was the happiest moment of my life to that point.”

“You were very lucky.”

“Blessed by fate,” his father agreed with a rare genuine smile. “Yes, we were.”

“Mother was everything that you could want in your queen.” With nothing in her background for the media to feast on.

Not like Aaliyah, who not only came from the masses but whose mother had not been married to her father. Sayed did not care, but some would and she could be hurt deeply by the viciousness the media was capable of.

“Yes, she was and is.”

“I barely know Aaliyah,” Sayed claimed, though he wasn’t sure he spoke the truth.

He felt like he already knew the important parts of her too well to forget easily.

“You knew Tahira your entire life.”

Sayed wasn’t sure what point his father was trying to make. “And I had no idea she was having an affair.”

“You cannot be sure she was.”

“She ran off with him.”

“For love, if her note to her father is to be believed. I raised you better than to simply assume the worst on the basis of circumstantial evidence.”

“Yes, you did.”

“And I raised you better than to hurt someone the way you did Miss Amari arguing with your mother about spending time with her.” His father frowned. “Didn’t you tell me you promised to show her the country of her mother’s birth?”

“It was a foolish promise to make.”

“But a commitment nonetheless.” The implacability of his father’s tone and expression said this was not an argument Sayed had a hope of winning.

Especially when it meant fighting his own deepest desires.

As he went to leave his mother’s receiving room, his father’s voice stayed him at the door. “It may help to remember a salient truth, Sayed.”

“Yes?”

“Both your mother and I have already committed to accepting and helping Aaliyah succeed in her role should she be pregnant.”

“And if she’s not.”

“You know us well enough to answer that.”

Sayed wasn’t so sure. He’d only come to realize very recently how mistaken he’d been about himself. He’d thought he would have been content to marry Tahira and only now realized how miserable he would have been.

He thought he might even owe her a thank-you for the elopement.

* * *

Standing on the balcony overlooking the harem gardens, Liyah ignored the second knock on her door in less than hour.

Hopefully, if she didn’t answer, whoever it was would take the hint and go away.

The sound of a door opening and soft footfalls across the carpet told her she had not been so lucky.

“I was an ass.”

“Yes.” She wasn’t going to deny the obvious.

Nevertheless, Liyah did not react outwardly to Sayed’s presence or his surprising admission, though her heart started beating faster.

Honestly, if she could ignore him completely right now, she’d prefer it.

But Sayed was a guy who took responsibility and apparently his mother believed he had some sort of obligation toward Liyah. Queen Durrah had apparently convinced her son of it, too.

So, here he was. To apologize? To invite Liyah on an outing?

Whatever it was, she wanted it over and him gone. Her defenses were always at her lowest around this man and she did not want him to see the tears tightening her throat.

He stepped up behind her, laying his hands on her shoulders. “I hurt you.”

She shrugged, unwilling to lie and equally loath to admit to her weakness. It was too close to admitting why she was so susceptible to him.

Love hurt. There was no other name for the conflagration of emotion he sparked in her. She loved him.

She was pretty sure she always would, too. That one-true-love stuff she’d always thought a ridiculous fairy tale? She was living it. Only the happily ever after? It was still in the realm of fantasy and always would be.

“I am very sorry. It was not intentional.” His right hand slipped down and around to press against her stomach, guiding her body back toward his.

“I never thought it was.” She was just a one-night stand that wouldn’t go away and his apology didn’t change that, but she’d still liked hearing it. “Please let go of me.”