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Fascinated, Sally crossed her legs, a gesture that drew his attention – briefly – away from her face. “Learning is a funny thing. You can be endlessly trained for something, and still not know until the crucial moment whether you have the abilities required.” She swallowed her sigh. “I don’t doubt Tasha would have made an excellent Sheikha. She was brave and beautiful and kind and clever.” The wobble in her voice angered her. She took a pause to control her rioting emotions. “And their marriage would have had as good a chance as mine to bring about the beginning of peace. If Tasha lived, she would have married your Sheikh and I …”
He leaned even further forward. “Yes.” It was a hiss. “What would you have done, had this not been thrust upon you?”
Her smile was perfunctory. “I don’t know.”
“I find it hard to believe that, at twenty one, you didn’t have a plan in place for the life you wanted to lead.”
She matched his posture, leaning forward in her seat. “It’s not that I didn’t have a plan for my life. It’s that dwelling on it now serves no purpose.”
He watched as she arranged her dainty features into a mask of defiance. There was something hauntingly lovely in her face, though initially he’d dismissed her as plain-looking. He had been wrong. Her eyes weren’t a mousey brown, they seemed to glow with the warmth of chocolate and gold. Her nose had a little lift at its tip, and her lips were generous and pale pink in colour. But would she be a suitable Sheikha?
“You do not believe in love, like so many women of your culture?”
“My culture?” She queried with a ringing clarity to her voice. “My culture is your culture, and yes I believe in love. I think it would be a sad, empty soul indeed which didn’t admit the existence of such a profound emotion.”
Old wounds burned in his soul. “And yet you would marry a stranger despite this.”
“I marry because of this,” she retorted with a ferociousness that completely surprised him. Under his dark watchfulness, she made a visible effort to regain her equilibrium. “Love comes in all shapes and sizes. I love my family and I love my country. This war must stop.” She furrowed her brow. “I’m not simplifying the problem. I know that one marriage alone will not have the power to erase decades of hate.”
“So why do it?”
She blinked at him as though he was mad. “Because someone has to do something.”
He nodded slowly.
“The Sheikh came up with this idea. And Tasha was brave enough to agree to it.”
“So you are honouring her memory, in taking her place in the marriage?”
“Yes.” She jutted her chin. “And I hope I don’t detect mockery in your tone.”
He didn’t respond, leaving her wondering exactly how he viewed her decision.
“What is it that worries you?” She asked quietly. “That I’ll fall in love with the Sheikh? Or that I’ll crave the love he won’t give me?”
She’d surprised him. He was, momentarily, lost for words. “Both.”
She drained her lukewarm tea and placed the cup down on the table. She’d been sitting for much of the day. From the flight to the car and now here. She stood, crossing to the edge of the balcony. Grass ran far beneath them, spreading into the distance until it met desert sands. The sun was low in the sky now, a shimmering ball against an azure blue backdrop.
“You needn’t worry, on either score,” she said finally.
“You are so certain you won’t come to love him?”
She angled her face towards Kaman. “Nothing is certain,” she shrugged. “But I know this marriage is little more than a business transaction. Or a peace treaty, if you will. I’m being bartered – willingly – in the hope of bringing some unity to our people.”
He settled back in his chair. She was petite and doll-like. Her long brown hair had been braided and wrapped around her head, forming a crown. She wore only a simple pair of diamond earrings and the engagement ring Kaman’s servant had delivered to her family. She toyed with it now.
“An heir will be required. And sooner, rather than later.”
The hint of colour that crept from her neck and into her cheeks fascinated him.
“I anticipated as much.” The tip of her tongue darted out and traced her lower lip. Something heavy shifted in his chest. She was brave. The description exploded in his brain, and it was unwelcome.
“And even this does not offend you?” He moved to her side, aware that their size difference must have made her uncomfortable.
“I …” She lifted her clear eyes to his face and blinked away again almost immediately. “I would prefer to discuss that with the Sheikh.”
His lips lifted in a tight smile. “And the Sheikh wishes me to discuss it with you now. You are young. And I presume inexperienced?”
