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Three days later, thoroughly rested, she travelled back to the palace in a limousine flying the Zenarian flag. She showered and dressed slowly, careful of the occasional twinge from the site of the incision and pleased to see that as her stomach receded a hint of a waist was already beginning to show again. The arrival of the twins in the nursery was a real event in the palace because it had been so many years since there had been babies in the royal family. The staff were very excited and flocked to see the little girls.
A week later there were many appreciative sighs over the picture Leila and Lucia made when they were dressed in white broderie-anglaise camera-ready outfits for the official family photograph session that was expected of them. Rafiq argued that it was too soon, and that Izzy needed more time to recover from the birth, but Izzy was well on the road to recovery by then and said she would sooner get the photo call over and done with.
After all, Izzy thought, little was expected of the Zenarian royal family in terms of public exposure and, after the years of scandalous headlines and rumours generated by Rafiq’s misbehaving father, the family had all chosen to follow a low-key lifestyle. They were expected to appear at ceremonial occasions and official events, but the private life of the royal family remained private and there were no paparazzi hunting them in the hope of digging up dirt. The birth of the twins, however, fell into the realm of public interest and the populace needed to see the children.
‘And their future Queen,’ Rafiq reminded Izzy gently as she gave her opinion to him. ‘You should put on some jewellery.’
‘I’m never going to be able to pull offregal,’ Izzy opined with a grimace, smoothing down her tailored cream dress while her maid was directed by Rafiq to lay out diamonds for her to put on.
‘Your beauty and our children are more than enough to impress,’ Rafiq assured her with amusement. ‘Leila and Lucia are the next generation of an unbroken line that our people never thought to see continued except through Zayn and that would have required a change in the law.’
The Regent awaited them in the same elegant reception room where their wedding ceremony had been staged. Izzy’s daughters delighted her by falling asleep for the session and the photographer was quick to take advantage. Within twenty minutes the photographs were complete, and the twins were being settled back into their cradles.
‘You know, you never did tell me what those other options concerning our marriage were,’ Izzy remarked as they walked into his bedroom, which had somehow becometheirbedroom, except when she was getting dressed because her wardrobe was stored in her room next door.
Rafiq froze where he stood. ‘Why are you asking about those options now?’
‘I’m just curious,’ she told him truthfully.
Rafiq nodded his proud dark head, his stunning dark golden eyes resting full on her face. ‘It’s a little late in the day to discuss those options now,’ he began tautly.
‘Only if you are already taking it for granted that our marriage is working and that I’m going to stay in Zenara for good,’ Izzy pointed out defensively.
‘You would hold me to ransom now that our children are born?’ Rafiq demanded, disconcerting anger flashing in his strained gaze, warning her that he had not been in any way prepared for such a dialogue.
Izzy straightened her slim shoulders. ‘It’s not a question of holding you to ransom,’ she framed with distaste. ‘Maybe I think it’s time for us to have a conversation about where we go from here. Not talking about it makes me feel like I’m still on trial in the wife stakes!’
Rafiq stared back at her in apparent disbelief. ‘How could you ever have thought for one moment that you wereon trialwith me?’ he demanded rawly.
‘Well, isn’t that the right label for the way we’ve been living for the past few months?’ Izzy prompted tartly, although she was trying hard not to lose her temper. ‘You made the deal. You set the rules. You said we’d see if weworkedas a couple and you’ve never mentioned the subject since!’
‘Evidently I’m no good at making deals or agreements with you!’ Rafiq retorted in a savage undertone. ‘I always get it wrong and now you’re asking about the options I referred to at the time. They were of a more short-term nature than long-term.’
‘I’d still like to know what they were,’ Izzy pressed, seriously unnerved by the storm she had unleashed with her awkward questions.
Rafiq stalked over to the window, his strong jaw line clenched hard. ‘I could have asked my uncle for permission to base myself in the UK for a few months while you followed your teacher-training course. I would’ve bought a house there, but I would have asked you to return to Zenara for the birth so that our daughters would be born here.’
‘OK. That was a...a considerate option,’ Izzy acknowledged, struggling to come up with the right words in response to that surprise possibility that he had chosen not to share with her at the time.
‘Another choice would have entailed you doing your studies here. As you know, we have classes at the university taught in English,’ he reminded her doggedly. ‘Both options, as I’m sure you have noted, involved us remaining together as a couple. Had the Regent and the executive council refused to agree to my spending so much time abroad, I would have joined you in the UK every weekend instead.’
‘So...’ Izzy mused thoughtfully, mulling over what he was telling her. ‘None of the options let me walk away free and clear.’
His bold, strong profile went rigid and he swung back to her, golden eyes blazing like flames. ‘No,’ he agreed without apology. ‘I wasn’t prepared to let you go free and if you’d run away, I would have followed you and endeavoured to persuade you into returning. There is nothing I would not have done to keep you.’
As she listened Izzy’s heart was hammering and ridiculous hope was suddenly blossoming inside her tight chest to such an extent that it was a challenge to breathe. ‘And why was that?’
‘I do not think I could live without you in my life,’ Rafiq grated between his teeth, as though the words were being torn from him under the pressure of the cruellest torture. ‘You have transformed my life and I will do just about anything not to return to the life I led before I met you. It was empty, joyless. My sole focus was becoming King, and my sole interest was this country. Now...wrong though it is in my position...youare my main focus!’
‘Well, I don’t see what’s wrong with that or why you should get so worked up about sharing that with me,’ Izzy told him softly. ‘I think what you’re saying is that you love me.’
‘You don’t love me when you can ask about those options all these months on!’ Rafiq shot at her rawly, his pain and vulnerability palpable to her.
‘No, I just wanted to know where I stood and now I know that I’m standing exactly where I want to be,’ Izzy murmured gently as she crossed the room to his side. ‘Because I love you too. I started falling for you the day we met but you walked away, and I would never have seen you again if I hadn’t traced you because I’d fallen pregnant.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Misguided and unwise though it was when I was being expected to take a wife again, I had your name and your address and sooner or later I would have used that information to see you again because I don’t believe that I could’ve stayed away!’ he confessed in an emotional surge. ‘I wanted you the moment I first saw you and I never stopped wanting you, not for a moment. I didn’t even look at another woman after being with you.’
Izzy stretched up tender hands to frame his lean, devastatingly handsome features. ‘It was pretty much the same for me. Is that why you said that you believed in fate?’
