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“What happened to the humble servant to your people?”
“The two are not mutually exclusive.”
“Not in your world, anyway, right?”
“My world is your world.”
“It is now.”
“I could wish you were happier about that fact.”
“It is what it is,” she said, using the American vernacular for one of his favorite Arabic proverbs.
His jaw went taut, though nothing else gave away the fact her reply had not made him happy. “There was a time when you were nothing but pleased to be my intended.”
“It’s going to sound trite, but I grew up.” She smiled, hoping to take any sting the words might have for him.
She wasn’t trying to slight him, merely tell him the truth.
“Those words should be bitter, but from your mouth they are not.”
Good. She was determined to live by her decision to accept her fate and stop whining, even internally. “I’m not bitter.”
“Then there is great hope for our future.”
“Yes, I suppose there is.” They would never have the happy families fantasy she’d always dreamed of, but they could have a solid marriage and good life together.
She could do nothing but hope.
CHAPTER NINE
ANGELE’S HOPE FOR THE future seemed to prove true over the following weeks.
Often running interference with her family and his, Zahir willingly stayed in the States with Angele long enough for her to finalize preparations for her permanent move to Zohra. While she had to give up her apartment, he promised to buy a home with proper security for their trips back to U.S. in the future.
Announcement of their forthcoming wedding and the advent of their first child was met with a surprisingly positive response in both Zohra and Jawhar. The scandal rags didn’t have much to report because the legitimate press had been given all the details along with photos of the “happy” couple together in both the United States and Zohra after she had officially relocated.
Zahir offered to handle the official press conference with his father, but Angele insisted on standing by his side. Begin as you mean to go on. That’s what Lou-Belia had taught her and Angele had no intention of being a shrinking violet who spent her time hiding in the royal palace. They gave an interview to a leading personality reporter and Zahir made it very clear that he considered the “miscommunications” during their “courtship” to be his fault entirely.
His hero status was growing by the minute and not just with the public. Angele found herself falling more deeply in love with the man she was about marry than she’d ever been.
Crown Sheikh Zahir bin Faruq al Zohra was everything she had ever wanted in a husband and his behavior over the weeks leading to the wedding only reinforced that truth. He continued with what she privately termed his unnecessary courtship. After all, they were already headed for the altar with no chance at either of them backing out.
Nevertheless, he’d taken her to dinner both in Zohra’s capital and such romantic hotspots like Paris—a high speed helicopter was an amazing form of transportation. Apparently it was good to be sheikh.
In addition to his attention, he showered her with gifts and more flowers, warning her he would be less than pleased to discover she’d been giving them away to the domestic staff as she had his first offerings.
She’d kept them all, pressing the loveliest for safekeeping. More the fool her.
It grew increasingly difficult to maintain her emotional distance, but she wasn’t about to wear her heart on her sleeve like she had her whole life. Not when his was still so firmly encased behind a brick wall.
Angele saw no evidence that Zahir’s feelings toward her had grown romantically. She didn’t consider his courtship in that light. It was a politically expedient tactic that might be working, but wasn’t fooling her where it counted.
In regard to his feelings.
In fact, with his absolute refusal to touch her with anything more than the briefest buss of his lips over hers in greeting or parting, she was fairly certain even the passion he’d briefly exhibited for her was long gone. While he’d shared her bed at the apartment, he always went to sleep long after her and was up before she opened her eyes in the morning.
Sure as certain, he never touched her intimately.
