once told me that Catherine had regretted it,” Asad said, carefully.
What if Iris came to regret her time with him? She’d made it pretty clear in the beginning that she’d regretted their time together six years ago. Though he knew that was his fault and no one else’s.
“It’s true. Catherine almost left me once,” Hakim agreed, old horror at the thought tingeing his voice. “Do you want to lose Iris again?”
“No.” That was one thing he had no doubts about.
“Then you have to convince her to stay.”
“I am doing my best.” Asad made no effort to hide his exasperation. “She is more than receptive to my lovemaking. She adores my daughter and my grandparents.”
“But you are not sure if she still loves you?” Hakim asked perceptively.
Asad frowned, though his cousin could not see it and then sighed. “Does it matter?”
“You tell me.”
“What do I do?”
“Tell her the truth, that you brought her to Kadar to woo her into staying.”
But even he hadn’t known that was what he was doing at the time. Just as he’d been unaware of naming his daughter after Iris. Self-aware he was not, he thought cynically. “She’s already figured out that I was instrumental in her arrival here.”
“Does she know that most of the land she’s surveying is owned by your family?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should tell her.”
“Badra’s only interest was in my possessions.” He never wanted to see the light of avarice in Iris’s eyes.
Not that he would. Intellectually, he knew that, but there it was.
“Iris isn’t like that. Catherine and I only saw her for two days, but we worked that out immediately. The geologist will make you a much better wife than your late princess ever did.”
“Badra was never mine, no matter that she spoke vows.”
“And you were never hers.”
The truth of that would have taken Asad’s legs out from under him if he had not been sitting at his desk. “I love her,” he said with wonder and no small amount of trepidation. His heart and soul belonged to the introverted scientist irrevocably. “I always did.”
“Did you really just figure that out?” Hakim asked with disbelief.
“It’s not something I thought about.” Not until he’d had no choice but to do so.
“Catherine would say that’s something you should be telling Iris, not your cousin.”
“That I didn’t want to label my feelings for her?”
“That you have those feelings for her. I love you like a brother, I really do, but for all your brains, you can be dense, Asad.”
“You’re right.” It wasn’t easy admitting, but he had been beyond blind when it came to his feelings for Iris. If he’d had an ounce more self-awareness, he would never have left her in the States the first time. And that was something Iris needed to know. She deserved the words. “Your wife, on the other hand, is a brilliant woman.”
“She is that. She picked me, didn’t she?”
“Iris calls me arrogant. I think it’s a family trait.”
“Catherine is certain of it and is convinced I’ve already passed it on to our son.”
“Not your daughter?”
“My dear wife is convinced that men are arrogant, but women are merely assertive.”
Both men shared a laugh at that.
If Asad’s was filled a bit with gallows humor, Hakim did not mention it. Blinded by his pride and stubbornness, Asad had ejected the woman he loved from his life—and paid for that choice every day since.
It was all well and good for Hakim to say Asad should tell Iris of his love, but what if she no longer loved him?
She hadn’t said the words since coming to Kadar, not once. No matter how amazing their lovemaking. She had opened up to him in the past weeks, but remained adamant he not call her beloved.
Iris never hesitated to spend time with Nawar, but she changed the topic of conversation every time his daughter, or he, brought up the possibility of him marrying again and giving his daughter a mother.
Iris was close to being finished with her survey. And then she would leave Kadar. She never spoke in a way that indicated she planned anything else.
Her joy in her job was apparent, and from what the man who looked and acted more like a brother than an assistant said, Iris was very good at it. What right did Asad have to ask her to give it up?
If he did not, what kind of mother would she make for Nawar and their future children, gone so many months out of the year? Asad had been looking into other options for her that would give Iris the opportunity to use her education, but would not take her so frequently from his side.
What if none of them appealed to her?
What did he have to offer? His daughter, his family, his tribe … if she did not love them as he did, it would not be enough.
Had his grandfather felt this fear when asking for his grandmother’s hand?
To ask a woman not of their people to share their world was no simple matter. After his experience with Badra especially, Asad had realized his grandmother was the exception, not the rule.
But then that should give him hope, because Iris was a special and unique woman in every way, as well.
Iris finished one of the final tests that would confirm the presence of a semi-precious metal in the area near where she and Asad had made love outdoors. The thought of mining happening in the pristine environment made her stomach twist.
That was the least of her findings, though. Preliminary tests, measurements and observations indicated the existence of rhodium, a rare and very precious metal. It also demonstrated the probable existence of aluminum oxide with chromium—or rubies, in lay terms—buried in the mountains of Kadar.
She said as much to Russell and he frowned. “Your boyfriend is not going to be happy to hear that.”
“Why? Do you think he was hoping for diamonds?” There were some indicators for the stone, but not as strongly as for corundum.
“I think he was hoping for no strong indicators at all. Haven’t you two talked about this?” Russell asked, sounding a lot more concerned than she thought he should be.
“No.” They’d talked about his work and her career, but not the work she was doing now. “I’ve avoided discussing my findings because first reports
