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“Yes,” said Kadar, standing up and glowering at his vizier. “Youarewrong, because you do not know Sarah.”
“I do notneedto know her. She is a woman who will be your wife—the answer to our problems.”
“Not anymore. If she’s gone to the consulate, she’s discovered that it’s not them who are withholding her passport. It’sus.” He practically spat the last word out. He felt sick to his stomach that he’d agreed to the plan. He jumped up and paced away from his vizier. He shouldneverhave listened to him. But he knew why he had. Because he’d been driven by duty to his country and he hadn’t yet fallen completely and utterly in love with Sarah. But he had now. And he deeply regretted the subterfuge and hadn’t a clue how to extricate himself from it without losing her. And he couldn’t risk that. She was more important than anything now.
“I have to see her.”
Nabil picked up a phone. “I’ll have her collected from the consulate and brought to your office.”
“No. That’s the last thing I want. Ordering her about will only confirm her suspicions that we wish to control her. No”—he turned and looked out the window—“let her return in her own time and I’ll be here, waiting for her. Then we’ll talk.”
“What are you going to say?”
“Whatever I have to.”
The vizier frowned, and Kadar turned to face him, knowing the unspoken question the vizier wanted an answer to.
“Whatever I have to, to ensure she marries me.” Because he couldn’t live without her now. He needed her, but not in the way his vizier imagined.
Nabil’s frown lifted. “Good. The plan must proceed. It’s clearly the best way forward for everyone concerned.”
Kadar just hoped that Sarah would see it in the same way. If she didn’t? Then it would be his vizier who would be angry, but he’d deal with that.
When the consulatedriver dropped Sarah off at the palace gates, she looked up at the palace facade—all ancient turrets and imposing stone—and wondered how she could ever have imagined that Kadar, king of all that she was looking at, could ever have been interested in her for herself. Ridiculous! Why would he? No one else had ever been. Not that she’d given anyone much chance. She’d always been on the outside. But here in Sirun, from the moment she’d stepped foot inside the country, she’d felt as if she had belonged. But Kadar had only been using her, keeping her here under the pretense of waiting for a passport. A passport which, if she hadn’t gone to the consulate, would never have eventuated. She didn’t have a clue why. Butshe was going to find out. And there was only one person who could tell her.
She greeted the guards, who let her into the compound without a question. She was known now and could move freely. She walked directly toward the main palace area and was surprised to see Kadar walking towards her.
“Sarah,” he said with a nod of the head. “Do you have a moment?”
“Of course,” she said. Her mind raced. He must have been waiting for her, which meant he probably knew where she’d been. She’d been naïve to imagine she could go to the consulate unobserved. No doubt he had people watching her, especially if she was considered some kind of political risk. What kind of risk, she was determined to find out.
The doors swung open for them both and they walked past the offices.
“We are we going?”
“I wanted to talk with you, but not in the administrative buildings.”
“But not in the private quarters, either? What does that mean?”
They reached a door which wasn’t manned, and he opened it for her. “It means, Sarah, that this is neither public nor private. Somewhere in between.” He caught her gaze.
And she understood in that moment that she wasn’t the only one who was unsure. He swept open the doors to reveal an intimate garden, surrounded by a wilderness of other gardens.
“You were certain of me coming with you then,” she said, noting the drinks and food laid out, ready for them.
“Of course. You had nowhere else to go, and no one else you needed to see.”
She swallowed hard. He was correct. And she hated that.
“Would you care for a drink?” he asked, as if they were chatting at a party.
She shrugged. “Yes,” she said, “I suppose so.”
He nodded to a server who poured drinks and then withdrew quietly out of sight.
“So,” he said, indicating she should take a seat. She continued to stand.
Grim-faced, he sat back on the cushions and looked up at her, his eyes searching hers. He looked resigned, sad, somehow, she thought. “Tell me first, why did you go to the British Consulate?”
