and brave. ‘And so will you.’
Felicity hugged her mother and then she walked away, through the security checks and barriers with all the other tense passengers. And as she entered to the boarding lounge, despite her doubts and worries, there was excitement too.
This was her time. This was her adventure.
For Felicity it wasn’t about making money and saving for a deposit on a home, it was about clearing debts, about cleaning up the past and moving onto the future. And also, though she tried to curb it, there was a sliver of hope too as she boarded her flight—because, despite his firm words, there was surely a chance she might see Karim again.
It was a long journey but a comfortable one, even in economy class. Zaraq Air looked after its passengers.
Just, Felicity thought, as Karim had looked after her that magical night and day.
Putting on her headphones, Felicity flicked on her little screen, smiling at the tourist information film about Zaraq. She gazed at the images of sandy beaches, deserts and mosques, excitement building. Soon she would really be there…
It was talking about the royal family now. She listened as the narrator explained about the ancient kingdom, with a royal blood line so pure that its founders had passed on their proud name—each King a true Zaraq. It was riveting. Felicity watched the screen as soldiers marched smartly outside the palace, with the King of Zaraq waving to his subjects from the balcony, his family beside him.
And then Felicity’s heart stopped.
Because there, smiling from the seat-back in front of her, dressed in full military uniform and looking stunning, was—as the commentator informed her through her head-phones—Sheikh Prince Karim of the Kingdom of Zaraq.
It was as if her bowels had turned to ice.
Karim was a prince.
No wonder he had warned her they could never be together. It wasn’t just miles that separated them, but a heritage that went back thousands of years.
‘Your seat belt?’ Felicity blinked as the stewardess reminded her, snapped on her belt, and sat in stunned silence as the plane began its descent.
Her first glimpse of Zaraq was through disbelieving eyes. She watched the blue Mediterranean ocean give way to yellow sands. The plane circled in a wide flight path, as if to mock her, letting her glimpse all the power behind the man and the vast abyss that separated them.
Golden sands as far as the eye could see one minute, and then, as the plane dipped to the left, she glimpsed Zaraqua, its ancient buildings huddled together. The cabin lights dimmed, and it seemed wrong somehow to be encased in metal, seeing medieval mosques, colourful markets, from such a modern invention. And then for a second she glimpsed it—the most spectacular building of them all, rising as if from the dust with the ocean as backdrop. What must surely be the palace.
That was Karim’s home.
As the tyres hit the tarmac, as the brakes screamed and Felicity was pinned to her seat, it was nothing to the impact she was feeling as she landed in Karim’s world.
As she entered the Kingdom of Zaraq.
‘LEILA?’ Her back was to him, and Karim watched his exmistress jump as he walked into his bedchamber. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Waiting for you.’ She turned and smiled.
‘You were not invited.’
‘So?’ She pouted. ‘That never worried you before. I heard about the King, and I wanted to be here for you, to give you some comfort during these worrying times.’ She ran a hand over his chest and Karim grabbed it.
‘Leave.’
‘Karim…’ Her other hand moved to his crotch but Karim blocked it. ‘Leave, Leila. I should not have to say it twice.’
‘One last time,’ she pleaded. ‘Make love to me one last time—we were so good together, Karim.’
And they had been good together—at least Karim had thought so at the time. Yet since Felicity there had been no one, no desire, no need for another woman. And it confused him, because there was desire and need but it was aimed solely at her.
At Felicity.
‘Leave.’ Three times Leila made him say it, and Karim’s voice was black. Her tears didn’t move him; her sobs only enraged him further. Karim summoned his guards to remove this woman from his life.
He would find another, of that there was no doubt, but the next one had—according to his father—to be his bride.
The thought made him shudder. His brilliant mind was bored easily, and the thought of waking to the same woman every morning chilled him to the marrow. He could take a mistress—he would probably have to—Karim conceded. And his mind, as it always seemed to these days, flicked to Felicity.
He was tempted to ring her, to check with Noor if she had accepted the job at the hospital. But, no, it was too dangerous a time right now. Maybe when these next months were over, maybe when there was a suitable bride-to-be in the palace, when things were more stable, he would allow himself that indulgence.
Maybe, Karim thought, lying back on the bed as Leila’s sobs faded in the distance, he could keep Felicity in London.
Pleased with himself, liking his idea, for the first time in a hellish day Karim smiled.
Felicity soon found out the meaning of hitting the ground running. She was met at the airport, as promised, by a fellow English nurse. Relief flooded her as she saw her name on a card being held up by a dark-haired smiling woman who introduced herself as Helen.
‘Thank you so much for this…’ Shy, awkward, and still stunned at discovering who Karim really was, Felicity had great difficulty listening to all Helen was saying.
‘Don’t worry; you’ll be greeting people yourself in a few months. It’s a great system. After orientation you’ll be buddied up with me for your first few shifts.’
‘How long have you been here?’
‘Nearly a year,’ Helen said. ‘I’m going home for a visit in a few weeks, and then I’m coming back for another year. I only intended to stay for one, but I love the place.’
There was so much to take in.
Her accommodation was fabulous. She had a small apartment on the same floor as Helen’s, and there was a gym and two pools—one for women, one for men. It was bliss, Helen told Felicity as she showed her around the complex, to dip into the pool after a hard day on the ward.
‘You work hard while you’re at work, but there’s loads of leisure time too,’ Helen explained. ‘It really is wonderful once you get used to it.’
And for those first few days it really was just that—wonderful.
