Midnight in the Harem: For Duty's Sake / Banished to the Harem / The Tarnished Jewel of Jazaar

“And that’s it? We disagree and you do whatever you please?”

“Would it make you feel better if I claimed otherwise?”

“It would make me feel better if you said it and meant it.”

“It will not always be as I wish it.” “Oh, really?”

“You left Zohra, did you not?”

“You’re saying you would not have prevented me if you had been able to?” She made no attempt to temper her skepticism.

“You gave me no such opportunity.”

“So?”

“So, you are intelligent and resourceful. I will not always get my way.”

“I need to know that you won’t act without thought to my feelings. I don’t want a marriage based on a series of one-upmanship competitions.”

“We are not children.”

“Agreed.”

“I did consider your feelings.” “And yet you still called your father with the news.”

“Waiting to do so would only cause you further stress and upset. Prolonging a thing of this magnitude only invites more complications as it becomes more likely the opportunity to act on your own timetable will be taken away.”

“No one knew I was pregnant until I told you.”

“You have not been examined by a doctor?” he asked with clear censure.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course, I have and everything is normal and as it should be.”

“Good. I will expect the family physician to conduct his own exam however.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

“So, this doctor knows that you carry my child.”

“She knows I am pregnant, not who the father is and she is bound by laws of confidentiality.”

“And you claim you are not naive.”

“This isn’t Zohra, Zahir. Dr. Shirley has no reason to believe the father of my child is a person of interest to the media. I’m hardly one of the glitterati myself.”

“Perhaps that was once true, but things have changed since Amir’s wedding.”

That was putting it mildly. “You mean the very public courtship you were supposedly engaged in?”

“Supposedly?” he prompted, sounding none-too-pleased.

“I left Zohra six weeks ago. Today is the first time I have heard from you.”

“I sent daily gifts for the past few weeks.” “Without a single phone call.” “This did not please you.”

“Of course it didn’t, but it didn’t surprise me, either.”

“I cannot claim the same. Your actions after our single night together astounded me.” “I told you my plans.”

“I thought you were doubting the existence of passion between us.”

“And when you gave me proof it existed, you assumed I would go forward with the plans to marry?” she asked, unable to hide her disbelief at his assumptions.

“Yes.”

“You only hear what you want to hear.” “It is a failing.”

“But not one you are often accused of.”

“This is true.”

“Yet, you don’t deny it.”

“How can I? Clearly, in this instance, I did hear what I deemed probable and acceptable.”

“Lina walked away from the marriage arranged for her with your brother. What’s improbable about that?”

“You are not Lina.”

“No, I am not. She was raised with a much stricter sense of responsibility to her family’s position.”

“Lina was not in love with my brother.”

Angele could not argue that point. Lina and Amir had barely known each other, despite growing up in the same circles.

“I see you do not deny loving me.”

“What would be the point?”

“In the car, you intimated your feelings were not involved with your decision to marry me. It is only natural then to question if they have changed.”

“My feelings for you were not a deciding factor in my decision to marry you. Our child’s future was.”

“Do you still love me?” he asked bluntly.

“Does it matter?”

“I prefer to know.”