A Marriage of Convenience (Married to a Prince) (12 page)

Yousef spent the morning in the workout room, pushing his body through a series of
exercises that he normally had no problem finishing in less than an hour. It had been a while and he was paying for his procrastination. Not that he hadn’t gotten some great workouts with his very passionate wife, he thought with a grin.

Sami and his father entered the gym.

“Long time, no see,” Sami said. He dropped his bag on a bench and pulled off his t-shirt.

His father
eyed the elliptical machine then moved past it to the hot tub. “He has a wife and son now. It’s time you find yourself a Nadiarian woman and settle down.”

Yousef laughed.
This was one gripe from his parents he never had to hear again.

Sami rolled his eyes.
“Hey, he couldn’t find a Nadiarian woman. He had to import one from America.” His phone rang and looked relieved to have an out of the conversation.

Yousef lowered the speed on
the treadmill to cool down.

Sami shot him a questioning glance. “What happened to your phone?”

“I gave it to Honor. Hers doesn’t work here. Why?”

“It’s the security office. She never arrived at the mall.”

“What?” He jumped from the machine and grabbed the phone. “Are you sure they never arrived? Did you page her?”

After being assure
d they checked security video on all entrances and paged both Honor and her companion, he disconnected and tried to dial her. The phone went straight to voice mail. The battery died, she turned it off, or someone disabled it. The first two seemed unlikely.

“So
mething’s wrong.” Speaking the words aloud sounded even worse. Damn it he knew he shouldn’t have let her go this morning.

“It could be as simple as a flat tire or a detour,” Sami said.

“For two hours?” Yousef asked.

His father exited the bubbling wat
er and threw on a robe. “The girl she is with. Ms. Hassan. Do we have a phone number for her?”

“Probably in the office somewhere.”

The three of them ran the gym half dressed, and headed toward the east wing. Yousef’s gut wrenched. His heart pounded in his chest like a maniacal clock ticking off lost time. This new and alien emotion of fear blocked out any sense of reason.

This was
his fault. For the past year he had dismissed Honor’s anxieties as excuses to push him away. He threatened her and manipulated her into staying. Karma came around to bite him in the ass. If he got his family back… when he got his family back he would allow her to return to her home where she felt safe.

Once in the
palace security office, he scanned through the computer, looking for contact numbers from the American Alliance. His father called up the Special Forces while Sami combed through reports concerning any national security threats. Each call led to a dead end.

The on-duty agents had opened a command station and gathered information from all security cameras around the city, trying to get a location on the car.
The cell phone on the desk rang. Sami looked at the caller ID and handed it to Yousef. “It’s your number calling.”

“Get a location on it.”
He snapped the phone open and put it on speaker. “Where are you?”

“Yousef?” Honor’s voice, soft and uncertain made him take pause.

“Yes,” he said in a lower voice. “Are you and Joey all right?”

“
We’re fine. We need you to come pick us up.”

“
From where?”

“I don’t know exactly.
In the desert somewhere.”

Ninety percent of
Nadiar was desert. She could be anywhere. “Is anyone there with you?”

“
Riya and her grandfather.”

His father and brother stared at him with questioning ex
pressions. “At the Bedouin camp,” he said.

It should have been a relief. As a rule, the tribes did not involve themselves in political matters and cared nothing about monetary gains. They were pacifists until the oil companies began fencing off the land. Had they taken Honor as an American bargaining chip?

He needed to see her. Her voice seemed level but he couldn’t be sure. “What do they want?”

“
Mr. Hassan wants to talk to you.”

“
Put him on the phone.”

“He
will only talk to you in person.”

A fact he knew from past dealing with the tribe. They didn’t trust modern technology.
Not even a cell phone. “I’m leaving right now, Honor. Just stay calm and everything will be fine.”

“
I am calm. You concentrate on your driving and please don’t overreact.”

He disconnected the call.

Sami joined him the desk. “They should have the exact location in a few minutes.”

“I know
the location.” Until Honor’s arrival he had made daily trips to the camp for meetings. He had even made headway in getting concessions from the oil companies. He just hadn’t gotten back out to the camp.

The Amir expelled a sign of relief. “
Well I can have the security forces and the air force stand down.”

Yousef wasn’t in a generous or forgiving mood. “Leave them on standby.”

His father shook his head. “You will not attack a tribe of defenseless Bedouins because they forced a negotiation with you.”

“I don’t know that yet
.” Until he had his wife and son safely back home, he wouldn’t trust the word of anyone. “I’ll call in when I get there.”

“Don’t
you want to change first?” Sami asked.

“No.”
He didn’t give a damn about his workout clothes. His family had been kidnapped. Despite Honor’s valiant attempt to sound composed she had to be scared.

Less than five minutes later, h
e took one of the Land Rovers from the parking garage. He’d driven this route enough to know one short sandstorm could make the roads impassable by car. He would have preferred a chopper but landing it at the camp would stir up more than just the sand. A police escort got him out of the city limits but they left him at the desert road.

* * * *

Honor glanced around the oasis. Reddish brown sand ran the perimeter. A small spring-fed lake in the center seemed out of place in the otherwise arid surroundings. Fig and date trees grew semi-wild around the water’s edge. She inhaled deeply. Tiny white flowers with the most heavenly smell mingled with the strong musk of the camels. Joey found the bright reins and saddles fascinating and chuckled at the awful belching sounds emitted with amazing frequency.

A light breeze sent a cloud of sand swirling around her ankles.
The oasis would be a stunning sanctuary if they could just run an air conditioner. Sweat rolled down her back. She waded into the shallow lake and dipped the baby’s toes in. After a few minutes they retreated to the shade of a date tree.

Women dressed in colorful kaftans scurried around trying to prepare the afternoon meal. Their warm smiles offered translation to the words she didn’t understand. One toddler-toting mother offered Honor a handful of fresh picked figs. She had never tried the deep purple fruit, except in a Newton. They were surprisingly delicious. Despite the fact that she was here against her will, the Bedouins went out of their way to prepare for royal guests. The attention kept her son entertained but with every passing minute Honor became more anxious.

Could she count on Yousef remaining calm and levelheaded?
She wanted to believe so. While she sympathized with Riya and how far she went for her family, the woman must have considered the consequences of how far Yousef would go to protect his.

She leaned against the tree trunk with Joey
sitting in her lap. Out towards the horizon the sun reflected off the hood of a vehicle. Taking calming, breaths she tried to reflect an
all’s well with the world
façade.

Riya
join her and settled on a flat rock. “I told you he would come.”

“
I knew he would.” Her concern focused on what might be coming up behind him.

“You don’t look too pleased. You will
be on your way home in an hour.”

“
I hope so. I’m running out of diapers and there is no local market.”

Riya
rose and offered Honor and hand up. “Let’s go meet the car. If he doesn’t see you first there could be problems.”

She expected problems either way. How much interf
erence could she run?

Yousef exited the Land R
over and crossed the distance with rapid strides. The group of elders moved toward him. He held up his hand and muttered some angry Arabic words. She didn’t need to know the language to understand the context.

He joined her
in a shady alcove. Fury burned hot in his eyes. She ran a gaze over his appearance. In all the time she’d known his she had never seen him dressed in anything but freshly laundered clothing. She smiled uncertainly. “Is this a new grunge look for you?”

“Not funny.” He cupped his hand along her cheek. “Are you sure you are all right?”

“We are both fine.” She wanted to throw herself into his arms and kiss away his anger. Public displays of expression were frowned upon so she did no more than press her fingers against his heart.

“Did they threaten you or try to take the baby from you?”

She shook her head. “No, they were perfect hosts.”

“Where is the car seat?”

“With the diaper bag.”

“I’ll put them in the truck
so we can get out of here.” She’d never seen him out of control but he looked close to exploding at that moment. Still she couldn’t let him leave before meeting with the council. Their mindsets came from different centuries but their stubbornness was a national trait.

She grabbed his arm before he could move. “Talk to them first.”

“No.”

“You’re here already. Get it over with.”

He shook his head violently.
“And allow them to think they can take a hostage whenever it suits them?”

She laced her fingers thro
ugh his. Her thumb grazed over the pulse points at his wrist. “You’re right.”

He groaned. “When you say it like that,
I know you don’t mean it.”

Honor hated being the center of attention. She leaned in closer to Yousef to block sight of the curious onlooker.
“I don’t ever want to go through this again. You talk with them and it’s over. They move on and we put it behind us.”

She expected an argument. After a long pause, it never came.
“I will do it… for you.”

“Just one more little thing.”

“Do not tell me to be nice.”

“
Of course not.” She handed Joey to his father while she searched her purse. “Be as tough as you need to be.” She pulled out an elastic band to tie her hair and started to walk away.

“
Honor? The baby?”

“
He’s never too young to learn the art of negotiation from the best. I’ll be over here with the women.” With a back-handed wave she ignored his further protests. With his son in his arms he would maintain his temper. And she would deal with the brunt of it later.

Chapter
Ten

The ride home through the desert was long and silent. Yousef kept waiting for Honor to react. Yell, cry, smack him in the head. Anything. The day had been long and exhausting for both her and the baby but she didn’t complain.

Several time he tried to
apologize. She refused the first one. Grunted at his second attempt. Shot him a cold glare the third time. He gave up. Obviously she blamed him. Not any more than he blamed himself. He could promise her it would never happen again but the security measures needed to guarantee it were far from living the normal life she wanted.

Honor put Joey in b
ed for the night then joined Yousef in the bedroom. She sat on the bed and kicked off her shoes. “I’m ready for this day to end.”

“How is Joey?”

She rolled her shoulders. “He’s not even aware that anything unusual happened. He just thinks he got to meet his daddy’s friends and see funny looking animals.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Stop apologizing!” she snapped at him. “You didn’t do anything. And it makes me feel awful for screwing up.”

He sat down behind her and folded his arms around h
er shoulders. “You didn’t screw up.”

She leaned into him, accepting the comfort he offered.
“I met with the security people before I began my job. I knew palace cars were driven by trained bodyguards and I should have made my plans with that in mind. I keep forgetting that this is Nadiar and I am not in Boston anymore.”

“
Maybe you should be,” he said.