The Sheikh's Jewel

She knew Fadi would never wish her harm, but if it had been Amber who’d died suddenly, it would have set him free to be with Rafa—at least for a little while, until the next arranged political marriage.

She truly grieved for the loss of the gentle-hearted ruler, as she would grieve for any friend lost. Fadi had understood her feelings and sympathised with her, was like the moon’s sweet light in her darkness. So—was it awful of her to feel this sudden little thrill that her wayward heart’s feelings were no longer forbidden?

Fadi, I did care for you. I’m so sorry, but you’re the only one who’d understand …

‘I’m still in deep mourning, and you expect me to marry his brother while he’s still in hospital with second- and third-degree burns? Won’t that look—well, rather desperate on our part?’ she mumbled, wishing she had something better to say, wishing she didn’t feel quite so excited. Hoping to heaven her father wouldn’t see it on her face. ‘Can’t you ask Alim if he’d be willing to wait a few months for the wedding—?’

‘You will not be marrying Alim,’ her father interrupted her bluntly.

Amber’s head shot up. ‘What?’

‘I’m sorry, my dear,’ her father said quietly. ‘Alim disappeared from the hospital last night, unequivocally refusing both Fadi’s position and Fadi’s bride. I doubt he’ll return for a long time, if ever.’

Amber almost snarled—almost. Women of her station didn’t snarl, not even when the man she—she liked had just run out on her; but she managed to hang onto her self-control. ‘Where did he go? How did he manage it?’

‘Within hours of waking, Alim used his private jet and his medical team from the racing circuit to help him transfer to a private facility—we think he went somewhere in Switzerland. He still needs a lot of graft work on his burns, but he made it obvious that he won’t return here when it’s done.’

‘He must have been desperate to escape from me, leaving hospital when he’s at death’s door,’ she muttered, fighting off a sudden jolt of queasiness in her stomach.

‘I doubt it was a personal rejection, my dear. He hardly knew you. I think it was perhaps more of—ah, a matter of principle, or a reaction made in grief.’ Her father slanted her a look of semi-apology; so he was capable of embarrassment, at least. ‘I find it hard to blame him, after the part he played in Fadi’s death … imagine him waking up to find Fadi’s skin on his body. He must have felt he’d taken enough from his brother—life, skin … it must be horrifying enough, but wedding and bedding Fadi’s bride on top of all that must have felt as if he’d done it all on purpose.’

‘Indeed,’ she agreed, but with a trace of bitterness. Surely this day couldn’t get any worse?

‘Since you won’t ask, I’ll tell you. The youngest brother Harun has taken up the position as Hereditary Sheikh, and has agreed also to become your husband.’

The swirling winds of change had come right from the sun, scorching her to her core. ‘Of course he has!’ Amber didn’t know she spoke aloud, the fury of rejection boiling over. ‘So having been rejected by brothers one and two, I’m expected to—to wed and bed brother number three with a smile? There are limits to the amount of humiliation I must accept, surely, Father?’

‘You will accept whatever I arrange for you, Amber.’ His voice now was pure ice. ‘And you should be grateful that I have given such thought to your marriage.’

‘Oh, such thought indeed, Father! Why not send me to the princess pound? Because that’s what I’ve become to you, isn’t it—a dog, a piece of property returned for you to find a good home and husband elsewhere? Find another owner for Amber because we don’t want her back.’

‘Stop it,’ her father said sharply. ‘You’re a beautiful woman. Many men have wanted to marry you, but I chose the el-Kanar brothers because they are truly good men.’

‘Oh, yes, I know that well,’ she mocked, knowing Father would punish her for this unprecedented outburst later, but not caring. ‘Unfortunately for me, it seems they’re good men who’d do anything to avoid me.’ She spoke as coldly as she could—anything to hide the tears stinging her eyes and the huge lump in her throat. Alim, the wild and dashing Racing Sheikh, had risked his recovery, his very life to get away from her. As far as insults went, it outranked Fadi’s by a million miles. ‘Am I so repulsive, Father? What’s wrong with me?’

‘I see you are in need of relieving your, ah, feelings,’ her father said with a strong streak of cold disapproval that she had feelings to vent. ‘But we are not home, Amber. Royal women do not scream or make emotional outbursts.’

‘I can’t believe the last remaining brother in the dynasty is willing to risk it,’ she pushed in the stinging acid of grief and humiliation without relief. ‘Perhaps you should offer him one of my sisters instead, because it seems the el-Kanar men are allergic to me.’

‘The Lord Harun has expressed complete willingness to marry you, Amber,’ her father said in quiet rebuke.

‘Oh, how noble is Brother Number Three, to take the unwanted responsibilities of his older brothers, nation and wife alike, when the other just can’t face it!’

‘Amber,’ her father said sharply. ‘That’s enough. Your future husband has a name. You will not shame him, or our family, in this manner. He’s lost enough!’

She knew what was expected of her. ‘I’m sorry, Father. I will behave,’ she said dully. She dragged a breath in and out, willing calm, some form of decorum. ‘That was uncalled for. I have nothing against the Lord—um, Harun, and I apologise, Father.’

‘You should apologise.’ Her father’s voice was cold with disapproval. ‘Harun was only eight when his father died in the plane crash, and his mother died three months later. For the past six weeks he’s been grieving for a brother who had been more like a father to him, and he couldn’t stop working long enough to stay at the hospital while the only brother he has left, his only close living relative, was fighting for his life. With so many high-ranking families wanting to take over the sudden wealth in Abbas al-Din, Harun had to assume the sheikh’s position and run the country in Alim’s name, not knowing if Alim would live or die. Now Harun’s been left completely alone with the responsibility of running the nation and marrying you, and all this while he’s in deepest mourning. He’s lost his entire family. Is it so much to ask that you could stop mocking him, be a woman and help him in his time of greatest need?’

Amber felt the flush of shame cover her face. Whatever she’d lost, Harun had by far the worst suffering of them all. ‘No, it isn’t. I’m truly sorry, Father. It’s just that—well, he’s so quiet,’ she tried to explain, feeling the inadequacy of her words. ‘He never says anything to me apart from good morning or goodnight. He barely even looks at me. He’s a stranger, a complete stranger, and now I must marry him in a month’s time? Can’t we have a little time to know each other first—just a few months?’

‘It must be now,’ her father said, his voice sad, and she searched his face. He had a way of making her feel guilty without trying, but this time he seemed sincere. ‘The sharks are circling Harun—you know how unstable the entire Gulf region has been the past two years. The el-Shabbat family ruled hundreds of years ago, until Muran’s madness led to the coup that gave power to Aswan, the greatest of the el-Kanar clan, two hundred and fifty years ago. The el-Shabbat leaders believe the el-Kanar clan are interlopers, and if they ever had a chance to take control of the army and kill the remaining family members, it is now.’

Amber’s hand lifted to her mouth. Lost in her own fog of grief, she’d had no idea things were so bad. ‘They will kill Lord Harun?’

He nodded. ‘And Alim, too, while he’s still so weak. It’s a good thing nobody knows exactly where he went. All it would take is one corrupt doctor or nurse and a dose of poison into his IV bag, and the el-Shabbats will rule Abbas al-Din once more—a nation with far greater wealth and stability than they ever knew while they were in power.’

‘I see,’ she said quietly.

‘And we need this alliance, my dear daughter. You were but one of twenty well-born girls offered to Fadi—and to Harun—in the past few years. We are the far poorer, less stable nation, and yet they chose alliance with our family and nation. It’s a blessing to our nation I hardly expected; it’s given our people hope. And I must say, in my dealings with all three brothers, Harun is the man I’d have chosen for you if I’d had the choice.’

His voice softened on the last sentence, but Amber barely noticed. ‘So the contract has been signed,’ she said dully. ‘I have no choice in this at all.’ Her only decision was to go down fighting, or accept her future with grace.

‘No, my dear, you don’t.’ The words were gentle, but inflexible. ‘It has been inevitable from the moment the Lord Harun was made aware of his duty towards you.’

She pressed her lips together hard, fighting unseemly tears. Perhaps she should be grateful that the Lord Harun wasn’t leaving her to face her public shame—but another man willing to marry her from duty alone left her stomach churning. At least she’d known and liked Fadi. ‘But he doesn’t even look at me. He never talks to me. I never know what he’s thinking or feeling about anything.’ Including me. ‘How am I to face this—this total stranger in the marriage bed, Father? Can you answer me that?’

‘It’s what many women have done for thousands of years, including your mother and my grandmother Kahlidah, the nation’s heroine you’ve always admired so much. She was only seventeen when she wed my grandfather—another stranger—and within a year, eighteen, pregnant and a new widow, she stopped the invasion of Araba Numara, ruling the nation with strength and wisdom until my father was old enough to take over. Do as she had to, and grow a backbone, child! What is your fear for one night, compared to what Harun faces, and alone?’ her father shot back.

Never had her father spoken to her with such contempt and coldness. She drew another breath and released it as she willed strength into her heart. ‘I’ll do my duty, of course, Father, and do my best to support Lord Harun in all he faces. Perhaps we can find mutual friendship in our loss and our need.’

Father smiled at her, and patted her hand. ‘That’s more like my strong Amber. Harun is a truly good man, for all his quiet ways. I know—’ he clearly hesitated, and Amber writhed inside, waiting for what she’d give anything for him not to say ‘—I know you … admired Lord Alim. What young woman wouldn’t admire the Racing Sheikh, with his dashing ways, his wins on the racing circuit worldwide, and the power and wealth he’s brought to this region?’

‘Please stop,’ she murmured in anguish. ‘Please, Father, no more.’

But he went on remorselessly. ‘Amber, my child, you are so young—too young to understand that the men who change history are not always the Alexanders, or even the Alims,’ he added, with a strained smile. ‘The real heroes are usually unsung, making their contributions in silence. I believe Lord Harun is one of them. My advice is for you to look at the man I’ve chosen for you, and ask yourself why I brought this offer to him, not even wanting to wait for Alim’s recovery. I think that, if you give Harun a chance, you’ll find you and he are very well suited. You can have a good life together, if you will put your heart and soul behind your vows.’

‘Yes, Father,’ Amber said, feeling dull and spiritless at the thought of being well suited and having a good life, when she’d had a moment’s dream of marrying the man she—well, she thought she could have loved, given time …

At that moment, a movement behind the door caught her eye. Damn the officious staffers and inquisitive servants, always listening in, looking for more gossip to spread far and wide! She lifted her chin and sent her most icy stare to the unknown entity at the door. She felt the presence move back a step, and another.

Good. She hoped they’d run far away. If she must deal with these intrusive servants, they’d best know the calibre of the woman who was to be their future mistress—and mistress she’d be.

‘If you wouldn’t mind, Father, I’d like to—to have a little time alone,’ she said quietly.

‘You still grieve for Fadi. You’re a good girl.’ Her father patted her hand, and left the room by the private exit between their rooms.

The moment the connecting door closed, Amber said coldly, ‘If I discover any of you are listening in or I hear gossip repeated about this conversation, I will ensure the lot of you are dismissed without a reference. Is that clear?’

It was only when she heard the soft shuffling of feet moving away that Amber at last fell to her bed and cried. Cried again for the loss of a gentle-hearted friend, cried for the end of an unspoken dream—and she cried for the nightmare facing her.

Frozen two steps back from the partially open door to the rooms of state allotted to the Princess Amber, the man who was the subject of his guests’ recent discussion had long since dropped the hand he’d held up to knock. Harun el-Kanar’s upbringing hadn’t included eavesdropping on intimate conversations—and had he not frozen in horror, he wouldn’t have heard Amber so desperately trying to get out of marrying him. He wouldn’t have seen that repellent look, like a shard of ice piercing his skin.

So now he knew his future wife’s opinion of him … and it was little short of pure revulsion. Why did it even surprise him?

Turning sharply away, he strode towards the sanctuary of his rooms. He needed peace, a few minutes to think—

‘Lord Harun, there is a call from the Prince al-Hassan of Saudi regarding the deal with Emirates Oil. He is most anxious to speak with you about the Lord Alim’s recent find of oil.’