LITMIR.BIZ

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and steel-hard determination.

      “You know I did and that I had little choice in it.”

      “Regardless, she is your guest and you have shamefully neglected her the past two days. You were not raised to display such a lack of consideration.”

      “This is hardly a normal circumstance.”

      “Circumstances are rarely normal in the life of a royal, Sayed, as you well know.”

      “And if we are seen together?” he challenged. This was not a good idea. She had to see that.

      “What if you are? I am certain it will not be in a compromising position. It would do your image some good to be seen with such a lovely companion after Tahira’s defection.”

      “But the media will speculate as to her identity.”

      “I would recommend taking an unmarked car on the tour,” his mother said dryly. “And offering no one Aaliyah’s name.”

      “My keeping company with a hotel maid will cause a scandal and we do not need another one of those.” He’d spent the past two days working nonstop to put a lid on the one they were facing already.

      “It was my understanding that she was a floor supervisor?”

      “On the housekeeping staff.” How could his mother not see what a disaster waiting to happen this outing was?

      “Do not be a snob, Sayed. It is unbecoming.”

      He wasn’t sure which bothered him more, his mother’s words or the fact that Aaliyah had dropped her hand from his arm and taken several steps away from him.

      “I am not.” He turned to Aaliyah, uncaring for the moment if his mother understood his thoughts.

      Aaliyah’s feelings were uppermost in his mind right then.

      She’d made an effort to school her features into an emotionless mask. However, it did not hide the hurt deep in her emerald eyes. Not from him, anyway.

      He moved toward her, drawn by an irresistible need to wipe that pain from her gaze. “Aaliyah—”

      “Don’t.” She put her hand up. “Whatever you think you need to say, don’t. While I appreciate Queen Durrah’s concern for my entertainment, I am not your guest.”

      Aaliyah sidestepped, managing to put more space between them and move closer to the door. “I am not your friend. You have absolutely no obligation to spend time with me. There is no reason for you to give up your afternoon.”

      “My son is a better host than that,” his mother inserted firmly.

      Aaliyah shook her head, giving his mother a sad little smile that made him want to swear. “While I appreciate your earlier offer of a car and driver and this latest attempt to provide me with a tour guide, in three days we’ll do the blood test and discover I’m not pregnant.”

      Regardless of words that sounded heartless as his own mind replayed them, Sayed wanted to protest. He was fighting what felt like a hopeless rearguard action to emotions he could not allow himself to feel.

      Oblivious to his conflicted thoughts, Aaliyah continued, “Then I will move to a hotel and explore my mother’s homeland to my heart’s content. Until then, I am fine with not leaving the palace and making as little impact here as possible.”

      “There is no reason for you to be sequestered in the palace, much less the harem.”

      “I mean no offense, but I’m afraid I must disagree, Queen Durrah. Sayed is right. There is every reason. If you don’t mind, I’ll go back to my room now. I downloaded a new book on the reader Sayed gave me.”

      “How generous of my son to provide you with books to read,” his mother said, sarcasm making her usually soft tones clipped.

      Aaliyah just shrugged and left without waiting for either he or his mother to dismiss her from their presence.

       CHAPTER TWELVE

      “WELL DONE, SAYED,” his mother mocked.

      He turned quickly to face her, angry in a way he never was with his beloved parent. “Why would you suggest something so fraught with risk? And if you were going to do so, you could have at least given us both the courtesy to approach me without Aaliyah present.”

      His mother stood up, her expression filled with censure and unmuted disappointment. “Because it never occurred to me that you would lack any courtesy whatsoever and make it so obvious you did not want to spend time with that poor girl. She is here because of you, or had you forgotten that salient fact?”

      “It was a one-night stand.”

      “Was it?”

      “Of course, what else could it be?”

      “A gift of fate?”

      “How can you say that?” He spun away, his emotions in turmoil he did not want even his mother to see. Especially when she was voicing thoughts he’d done his best to suppress in his own mind. “There can be nothing between Aaliyah and me.”

      But the words rang hollow, even to his own ears.

      “Because she doesn’t come with a breeding certificate and border treaty as Tahira would have done?”

      Shocked by his mother’s attitude, he blurted, “I am an emir.”

      Though that mattered less and less with each passing day. Aaliyah had connected to Sayed the man and respected the prince. What more could he want from his emira?

      His practical brain had no answer.

      “I thought sending you to school in the States would curb some of that elitist mentality.”

      “I am no elitist.” He didn’t like the sensation of having the same argument with his mother as he’d had with Aaliyah.

      “Perhaps not, though evidence would suggest otherwise. You are, however, undoubtedly an idiot.” Affection in her tone dulled some of the sting of her denouncement.

      He turned back to face her, only to watch as his mother left the room, throwing both doors wide.

      “She always was good at the grand exit.” His father stood near the door leading to an adjoining room.

      Sayed dry-washed his face with his hand. “Yes.”

      “She has also always been very intuitive. If she is pressing you to spend time with Miss Amari, perhaps that is what you should be doing.” Was it possible his father agreed with Sayed’s mother?

      Maybe the melech didn’t realize how close to gone on Aaliyah his son, the emir, was. “Why? So I can get into yet another weeklong wait to discover my fate?”

      “You are that attracted to her?”

      “I wanted to snatch the birth control pill from her hand and throw it in the garbage rather than let her take it,” Sayed admitted.

      He’d wanted to just let destiny take its course, but a prince could not deny his responsibilities. Sayed thought Yusuf might have realized it, too, but like a true friend, he’d said nothing.

      “I am surprised,” his father admitted, sounding it.

      “No more so than I.”

      “Your mother and I were betrothed in the cradle.”

      “I know.”

      “But I was in love with her before our wedding ever took place.”

      “You were?” Sayed could not stifle his shock. “You married so young.”

      “From the moment I began to notice the opposite sex, Durrah was the one I wanted. Discovering on our wedding night that she shared

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