the tent after insuring Nawar was still slumbering, Iris bumped into Asad.
He smiled down at her. “You wanted to make sure she had not woken, despite the fact she has not left the tent?”
“She might have realized we were not here—I mean, you weren’t here—and been nervous about coming out.”
“But she is fine.”
“Yes.”
He smiled, his white teeth flashing. “When she was a baby, I would go into her room at night and lay my hand on her chest to confirm she was breathing.”
“I probably would have done the same thing,” Iris admitted with a laugh.
“Yes, I think you would have.” He brushed her cheek. “You will make a wonderful mother.”
She didn’t answer, just kept his gaze for several long seconds filled with profundity she only hoped he felt, as well. Then Russell broke the spell, telling her he needed help with a measurement.
Feeling guilty for neglecting her work, Iris sprang to her feet to do so, but Asad grabbed her wrist.
She looked at him with question.
“I am glad you are here.”
“I am, too.” And she meant it from the very depth of her soul.
She only hoped she’d feel that way in a few weeks when it came time to leave. If he did not ask her to stay, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t beg him to let her anyway.
What was pride in the face of love and the hope of a family?
Asad’s phone rang and he picked it up from his desk. “Hello.”
He was enjoying a rare day working in his office; Iris and Russell were testing samples in their portable lab.
“Hey, cousin.”
“Hakim.”
“How is Project Iris going?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. You insisted she be the geologist for this study. You don’t think I was blind to your ulterior motives.”
“I wanted to help her move forward in her career.” And maybe he’d wanted her back in his bed, but now … he wanted more.
The certainty had grown with each passing day. They fit in a way he had never done with Badra, and Iris was so good with Nawar. She would be a fantastic stepmother because she understood what it meant to be rejected. Iris would never visit such a thing on a child, but particularly not a child she had shown so much genuine fondness for already.
“And?”
“Maybe more.”
“From the way the air sizzled between you even after six years’ separation, I’d say a lot more.”
Asad had told Hakim about his former relationship with Iris and expressed his guilt for hurting her when he ended it. The king had been one hundred percent behind Asad’s plan for some small restitution. Now he had to wonder if Hakim had not seen something all along that Asad had been blind to.
All he said however was, “Perhaps.”
“Have you convinced her yet?”
Into his bed, assuredly, not that he would say so to his cousin. But for the more?
“I do not know.” He only wished he did, but his aziz seemed to make it her goal in life to confuse him.
Hakim laughed. “Good.”
Asad verbally encouraged his cousin to do something with a camel that was not anatomically possible.
The king’s laughter sounded over the phone again, this time louder. “You deserve a woman who will keep you on your toes. I am glad you found Iris. I cannot even wish you had not screwed up so badly with her in the past—if you hadn’t you would not have Nawar and she is a delight.”
Asad could not argue with any of that. At one time, all he’d felt toward the very existence of Nawar was anger and disgust, though he’d been loath to admit it, even to himself. But the first time he’d held her, he’d known. He would love that child forever.
He thought it was possible he was in the same boat with Iris, though he wasn’t quite ready to admit it … again, even to himself. “I would stand on my head for this woman, but she seems oblivious to my every effort.”
“That’s quite an admission. Changed your mind about the whole love thing since the last time we talked?” Hakim asked in a tone that said he knew the answer already.
“What are you? A gossiping old woman? Wanting to know my feelings.”
Instead of getting offended, Hakim’s chuckle said he was mightily amused. “What has you so confused, cousin?”
“She will not allow me to call her aziz.” He’d made the mistake of letting it slip out the night before and he’d woken up to an empty bed, Iris’s pillow cold from her departure.
“Catherine wasn’t thrilled with me using endearments she didn’t think I meant, either.”
“But you meant them?” He had to have. Hakim loved his wife fiercely.
“Yes, though it took me a while to realize it. Have you figured it out yet?”
“I have never heard my grandfather tell my grandmother he loves her, but their marriage is as enduring as the mountains.” Personally, Asad could happily live the rest of his life without making himself that vulnerable.
So long as it didn’t mean losing Iris.
“You don’t know what he says in their private moments,” Hakim observed. “But more importantly, he has not given Aunt Genevieve cause to doubt him. My esteemed great-uncle treats his wife like she is the queen of his existence and always has.”
“I have done my utmost to treat Iris with great affection and care since she arrived in Kadar. I’ve given up working in my office, put off meetings with important business associates and politicians.”
“Does she know that?”
“Naturally not.” He did not wish to make her feel bad for the time he made for her.
“How is she supposed to know she’s become the queen of your world if you don’t tell her?”
“I did not say she was my queen. She will be my lady.”
“She’s going to be the Sha’b Al’najid’s lady. You want her to be your wife.”
“It is the same.”
“Don’t believe it.”
Asad grumbled, “Catherine ran you a merry chase.”
