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Wrong time. Wrong place. She knew it before his head went back and his eyes went black as if her words had physically assaulted him.
‘You love me? What a curious time to admit it. Do you think it’ll distract me from the fact that this news could rip apart the fragile foundations I’ve built in Ja’ahr?’
The tears choking her finally fell free. ‘I didn’t say it because of that. I said it because it’s true.’ She stopped, her heart bleeding. ‘I’m sorry.’
He rose from the lounger and paced away from her. ‘Sorry? A man lost his life because of your father’s greed! Several newspapers are poised to print that you and your father lured him in with lies and falsehoods, knowing all the time he was nothing but a pawn to you. My people have fallen in love with you. I...’ he stopped and gritted his jaw.
Her heart shredded into a tiny million pieces. She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her cold body. ‘I promise I didn’t know about what my father did to Bryan, Zaid, not until it was too late. But I should have known what my father was up to. I blame myself for bringing Bryan into my life.’
When he didn’t say anything, she ventured a glance. His face was an ashen landscape of anger and condemnation.
‘I’ve tried to become a better person. By doing whatever good I can wherever I can,’ she pleaded.
But he was gone.
He may have been physically on the deck with her but she’d lost her husband. The man she really shouldn’t have married in the first place. And when he turned and walked away without uttering another word to her, all she could do was bury her face in her arms and sob her heart out.
Needless to say, the honeymoon was over. Within a few hours the yacht was back in its moorings, their bags were packed and they were headed towards Nassau airport.
At first she was confused by the sight of two identical planes on the tarmac. When the penny dropped, her already shredded heart dropped along with it.
‘I’m going home alone, aren’t I?’ she asked Zaid the moment he stepped out of the SUV.
‘Yes, it’s for the best.’
The harsh laughter that escaped scraped her throat. ‘Is it?’ she asked, mostly self-mockingly.
To her surprise, he nodded. ‘It’s best if we don’t travel together.’
‘But why?’
‘It’s protocol when you’re carrying my future heir. We shouldn’t have travelled here together.’
‘Then why did we?’
‘I needed... I chose to bend the rules a little.’
‘And now you’re back to being Mr Responsible?’
His jaw flexed. ‘Your crew is waiting, Esmeralda. And I need to do what I can to prevent this from ruining everything.’ He strode off and boarded the first aircraft.
And when the pilot of the second jet summoned her, she walked with leaden legs, boarded the plane and flew to Ja’ahr alone.
Only to find out on her arrival at the palace that Zaid wasn’t in residence. According to the staff left manning his office when she visited each morning, they had no clue when His Highness would be available.
Esme discovered very quickly that she was being held prisoner in her own palace. Without Zaid she had no authorisation to leave the palace grounds, not even with an armed escort. But she discovered that whatever damage control he was exerting seemed to be working. At least on an international level. No news outlet carried the story.
But within Ja’ahr, protests that had started to die down rose up again, with one in particular staged close to the palace gates.
Three weeks after her return, she was standing at the viewing window that circled the palace’s giant dome when Nashwa approached her.
‘Am I imagining it or has the crowd grown since yesterday?’ Esme asked worriedly.
‘You’re not imagining it, Your Highness. Those are Ahmed Haruni’s people, protesting his arrest.’
She winced at the title, her heart tearing as it did each time she heard the reminder of who she was now.
She also knew that on some level Ahmed Haruni had spoken the truth. She would never be completely accepted here.
