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He put his arm around her. It was a breach of protocol, but to hell with protocol. Rachel was what mattered.
“You can,” he said softly.
She leaned against him as if to draw on his strength for one brief second. Then she stood erect.
He was right.
She could do this.
I can do this, Rachel thought.
She could do anything for Karim. It was only that his titles—sheikh, prince, heir to the throne—had, until now, been nothing but words—and that she could not possibly be the perfect wife he wanted because she was a world-class liar.
Okay.
That was over.
If she could do anything for the man she loved, then she could tell him the truth.
He loved her. He understood her.
He’d understand that lying had been her only option.
The decision gave her the last bit of courage she needed.
She forced a smile as he led her down the steps, kept smiling when he paused and saluted the captain of the honor guard. She kept her hand on his arm and wondered if he could feel her trembling.
“All right, sweetheart?” he said softly once they were in the lead car, Roberta and the baby in the second.
“Yes,” she whispered.
And thought what a really fine liar she was.
They drove along a palm-fringed road, through a town that looked modern and prosperous, toward an ivory and gold palace that rose against a cloudless blue sky, then made their way through a golden gate, down another tree-lined road and stopped in an enormous courtyard, with the dome of the palace looming above them.
A man in a white keffiyeh opened the door of their car and snapped to attention.
Karim stepped out, offered his hand to Rachel. She put her icy fingers in his.
“Everything will be fine,” he told her softly. “You’ll see.”
Everything was fine as they walked up the palace steps, Roberta just behind them with Ethan in her arms.
Everything was still fine as they went through its massive gold doors, down a long marble corridor that led not to the throne room but to the King’s private chambers.
That surprised Karim. Was it a good sign that his father chose to receive them here, or was it a bad one?
He stopped wondering once they were ushered into his father’s enormous sitting room.
