style="font-size:15px;"> Shame drenched her. Before she could find words to appease him, he continued. ‘I need a yes, Allegra.’ His gaze caught and locked on hers, a ruthless compulsion in the hazel depths. ‘A yes that you’ll mean come tomorrow morning.’
The reminder that she’d fled in the night after promising to stay made her flush. She wanted to look away, but that would show weakness. And she couldn’t be weak. Not when it came to such an important decision.
Taking a deep breath, she passed a soothing hand over a stomach swarming with butterflies. ‘Yes, Rahim. I’ll marry you.’
He stared at her for several seconds, then he took an equally deep breath before exhaling. ‘There must be no delay. There’ll be enough questions as it is when you deliver in seven months.’
‘Really, people still question legitimacy based on a nine-month conception within marriage?’ she asked cynically.
Rahim summoned a ghost of a smile. ‘In many ways I’m as western as you are, but unfortunately, I can’t speak for all of my kingdom. Best we don’t set too many tongues wagging. Dar-Aman can’t afford another scandal right now.’
Allegra was reminded then the many times Rahim had spoken of his people when she’d been in Dar-Aman. She’d been too clouded with her own judgements to hear the affection and devotion in his voice when he spoke of his subjects. But now she knew better.
And everything she did from here on would also reflect on his people.
Swallowing the nerves, she rose from the chair. His keen eyes watched warily. ‘I’m fine,’ she said hastily when he took a step towards her. She didn’t want him close. So far she’d been able to retain enough rationality to make the vital decisions. Allegra didn’t think she’d be able to progress as effectively if he stood close enough to touch, to smell. She had a hard enough time not devouring him with her eyes.
She’d thought he looked beyond exceptional in a traditional abaya. Seeing him in clothes that accentuated his honed body so sensationally was a weakness on her system she couldn’t allow. Not when that look of hungry lust they’d shared before he left in the middle of the afternoon still tugged relentlessly at her.
‘So what happens now?’ she asked, desperately wresting back the practical side of her nature that seemed to have deserted her.
‘I inform my council of my intention, and they will take it from there. I expect the date will be within the week.’
‘A week?’ She didn’t realise she’d swayed again, until he caught her arms. His touch was as electrifying as it’d been this afternoon. But this time self-preservation made her resist.
He tightened his grip. ‘Dammit! Stop fighting me. And don’t tell me you’re only pregnant, not sick. Ahmed tells me you didn’t eat anything on the tray the butler brought you. You’re so weak you can barely stand on your own two feet. I’m calling a doctor.’ Taking a step forward, he placed her back on the sofa.
‘Rahim...’
He silenced her with a hard kiss, gone almost before it’d arrived, but no less stimulating. ‘No. You’re a modern woman who can work hard and play harder with the best of them. I get it. But you’re carrying my child, Allegra. And if you think I’m going to stay quiet or stand down when it’s obvious you’re unwell, you can think again. You’ll receive the best care from a team of doctors while you’re carrying this baby. That is completely non-negotiable.’ There was a raw and unshakeable resolve in his voice that dried any protests she may have had. But it was the almost too carefully disguised note of fear in his voice that caught and held her attention.
It urged her not to stand in his way. After all, the baby’s health and safety was just as important to her. ‘Okay,’ she conceded.
Nodding, he reached for his phone. After a five-minute conversation conducted in rapid-fire French, he ended the call. ‘The doctors are on their way.’
She also found out just how invested Rahim was in his child when a team of four doctors and two medical technicians walked into the suite an hour later. Allegra’s eyes widened when the sonogram was wheeled in.
Once she’d been quizzed thoroughly on her medical history, Rahim dismissed all but one doctor and technician, then took her hand and led her to the master bedroom.
A medical robe had been left on the bed, and he picked it up, a look of anxiety crossing his face again. ‘I leave for Dar-Aman tonight. Before I do, I’d like to hear my child’s heartbeat. If you don’t mind?’ The guttural request lanced her heart, sparking warmth that radiated outward until it engulfed her whole body. For one blinding second, Allegra hoped for the impossible—that this child had been conceived via the fairy-tale love she’d once dreamed about. Recognising the wish for the foolish act it was, she pushed it away, and embraced the real gift being handed her.
‘I’d really love that, Rahim.’
His smile was blinding, heart-stopping. Nodding, he handed her the robe, left the suite and returned a few minutes later with the doctor and technician.
Allegra had thought Rahim would remain standing, but he got into bed with her, and slid in close. His warmth and scent engulfed her, pushing that wish once again to the fore. When he caught and held her hand as the gel was spread on her stomach, she carefully avoided looking into his face. She was too afraid her own would give too much away. So she held her breath and trained her gaze on the monitor as the probe glided over her belly.
After several minutes of silence, a strong heartbeat filled the room, followed a moment later by a grainy picture on the monitor. Allegra gasped, pure joy racing through her bloodstream.
Rahim made a rough sound, and her head swung to him, the vow not to look at him so much dust in the face of the transcendental moment they were caught in.
‘Is everything all right?’ he jerked out, the hand holding hers almost punishing in his grip.
The doctor nodded. ‘Yes, it’s a little too early to tell the sex, but everything is as it should be, Your Highness.’
Exhaling a breath she hadn’t realised she held, Allegra glanced back at Rahim. A fierce light burned in his eyes as he looked from her face back to the machine. As he stared at the image, a transformation seemed to come over him. The apprehension she’d glimpsed on and off since announcing her pregnancy flashed over his face one last time. Then his features settled into stony determination. Allegra felt his withdrawal seconds before he dropped her hand, slid off the bed and accepted his copy of the ultrasound picture.
‘Rahim?’
He didn’t answer, just continued to stare at the picture as slowly, inexorably, a new and even more terrifying tension enveloped him.
‘Rahim, are you okay?’ She raised her voice, alarm catching hold of her.
His gaze jerked to hers, and his mouth compressed. ‘All will be well. Insh’allah,’ he said, his voice deep and powerfully final. Sliding the Polaroid into his pocket, he walked out of the room.
The vow was still echoing in her head when she’d dressed and left the bedroom ten minutes later. Something urged her to seek an explanation for Rahim’s unsettling reaction. For the fleeting glimpses of fear she’d seen on his face.
Entering the
