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Julia’s eyebrows arched. “Is that possible?”
Adina’s smile was amused. “Of course, cherie. The people of Naman are very welcoming of their royalty. Though you will never go anywhere without a team of security, they’re unlikely to prove necessary. However, if you are uneasy, I can have someone arrange for the restaurant to be closed to the public.”
“Of course not! I didn’t mean that,” Julia hastily explained. “This is all very new to me. I’m still trying to understand what my life will be like.”
“I take it Zayn swept you off your feet?” Adina asked drily, taking a sip of her tea.
“More like threw me into the path of his hurricane,” Julia returned with a wry smile.
“That sounds like Zayn. Once he has decided on a course of action, heaven help anyone who tries to stand in his way, or even attempts to slow him down.” She gave Julia what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I know how you feel, Julia. Though I was raised in Naman, and raised by a Sheikh to marry a Sheikh, I was not prepared for how life in the ruling family would be.”
“In what ways?” Julia leaned forward, wanting to benefit from this exotically beautiful woman’s experience.
“It is less intrusive than I had thought. The Al-melara family values their privacy. Fatimah, Amal and Zayn’s mother, had much to do with the strict separation between state life and personal life, and that is respected still today. Though I’m sure there is speculation as to why we have not produced an heir, it is not spoken of publicly. Something for which I am very grateful.”
“Of course. It’s no one’s business but yours,” Julia said sympathetically.
“That isn’t strictly true when you’re talking about the next ruler of a country. Though I like you for taking my side so readily,” she grinned across at the English woman.
“Absolutely!” Julia said with a nod of her head.
“I find it hard to see the way the pressure of rule takes a toll on Amal,” she said honestly, lowering her voice and leaning forwards. It was the first time Julia had even realized
that about five staff were dotted along the length of the balcony. It would appear she was already growing used to their presence. “He relies on Zayn a great deal, and that makes him feel guilty.”
“As you have said, no one could make Zayn do anything he was not happy to do.” Julia caught Adina’s eyes and flushed a little at what she was about to ask. But curiosity killed the cat, and she was no cat, willing to be suffocated by the weight of questions not asked. “Adina, what did you mean before? When you said Zayn had mentioned me to you?”
“Are you giving away state secrets, sister?”
Zayn’s deep voice made both women jump, and Julia’s eyes flew to his in surprise.
Adina was perfectly relaxed around Zayn. Julia watched, enviously, as her sister in law stood and crossed to where Zayn and Amal stood.
“You have not told your wife very much about our family, Zayn,” she chided, only half joking.
Zayn looked across at Julia, his expression drawn. “She agreed to marry me, not my family,” he said with his own brand of egotism that bordered on rudeness. “I hope you haven’t been scaring my young wife with stories of royal life.”
Julia tilted her chin defiantly. “You don’t give me enough credit, Zayn,” she said firmly. “I married you with both eyes open. I knew what I was getting myself into. You did a very good job of making the important facts clear to me.”
His eyes flared at her thinly veiled reference to the demands he’d laid out when he’d suggested the whole fiasco.
His smile was lacking in genuine warmth, but Julia suspected only she realized as much. “We both did. Isn’t mutual understanding the basis of an enduring marriage?”
Julia slowly stood from the ottoman and crossed to her husband’s side. She looked up at him, her eyes full of a seething annoyance that she was just keeping tamped down. “And honesty,” she added with a small smile at Adina.
“Oh, dear. I can see I’ve ruffled some feathers,” she said with an apologetic smile.
“Not at all,” Julia was quick to reassure the woman she had quickly come to like, and to think she could even be friends with. “I’m only teasing Zayn because it’s my duty, as his wife.” She winked at Amal. “Your brother needs to be kept in line sometimes, don’t you agree?”
Amal’s grin was boyish, and Julia got a sense of what Adina had been referring to. He might be lovely, and intelligent, and loyal, and kind, but he was not remotely kingly. But what did that matter? How much ruling did rulers really do these days? “I doubt he would agree with you.”
“Actually, in some ways, Julia is right.” Zayn surprised them all by saying earnestly. “And I don’t think there’s anyone on earth who could do it but you.”
Julia felt her heart thud painfully. Was he speaking the truth? Or was his compliment just a line, to ease over the awkwardness which Adina had sparked with her straight-talking ways?
“Let’s have lunch,” Zayn announced, signaling to one of the silent staff behind them. His nod was all it took for a hive of activity to take place, but Adina was quick to demur.
“We didn’t mean to intrude, Zayn, we simply wanted to meet your wife and welcome her to Naman, and into our family.”
