Chapter 6
The king was sound asleep, and Alex crossed each arm in turn over her chest and stretched her tired neck and shoulder muscles. Simone had had a great first day of school in Mubaira, and was now fast asleep as well. Alex took her tablet and sat in the armchair by the window. She would sit up a while longer, just to make sure the king was down for the count, and then she would go to bed. She tried to read, but found herself yawning widely. Giving up, she closed her eyes, promising herself that she would get up and go to sleep soon.
At first, her thoughts were full of the dreams that had been waking her in the middle of the night for the last few nights. The first time it happened, she had apparently called out in her sleep, because Simone had been disturbed, waking up crying, and she had had to soothe the child back to sleep before trying to get some rest herself. She had been wet, and the explosive climax she had been on the verge of having still made her tremble as she remembered it. Prince Amir starred in all those dreams, and she had been more than glad that he had not been around during the days following. She didn’t know how she would have handled seeing him in the flesh, after the erotic scenes that her fevered imagination had conjured up between them in her sleep. If dreams represented some kind of wish fulfillment, then she was in a whole lot of trouble, because the prince could never fulfill any of those dreams. It had been another week since the last time she had seen him, and she realized with some trepidation that she missed him something fierce.
She had been without the attentions of a man for four years, and she had not had anything like the reaction she was having to this man. It frightened her, in a way, because it suggested that she hadn’t gotten over her childlike fantasy of a prince of her own. She thought that she had long ago given up dreaming of a man who would be her prince, giving her everything she needed, loving her above all others, and fulfilling her every sexual need. Apparently, though, that dream man still lurked in her subconscious, and he had taken on the visage of her new employer. She needed to get a grip before she embarrassed him, or worse, herself, and got her ass fired for inappropriate behavior.
A gentle touch woke her from her nap, and she found herself looking into a pair of dark eyes. She sat up self-consciously, ready to apologize for sleeping on the job.
“Why aren’t you in bed?” the prince asked her.
He was crouching before her again, and she had an overwhelming urge to reach out and touch his face, and the beard that graced his chin. His beautifully full lips were curved up in a smile.
“I hope you do not think I expect you to be awake all day every day,” he added. “That is why I bought the monitor.”
“I like to make sure that your father is properly asleep before I go to bed,” she said, feeling uncomfortable with the prince at her feet. Especially when she knew that where she really seemed to want him was between her legs, deep inside her. The thought made her blush, and she lowered her eyes.
He stood up, and extended a hand. She looked up into his face, but could see very little as the room was dark aside from the night light. Taking the hand he held out to her, she stood up and found herself very much in his personal space. But there was nowhere to go, so she stayed still, willing her body not to give away just how much she was enjoying being this close to him.
“How was he today?” he asked, turning to look at his father, but remaining where he was.
Alex cleared her throat. “He was a little grumpy, but he complained of body aches, so he might be coming down with something. I made arrangements for him to be given a warm bath, and it seemed to settle him better. I also took the liberty of giving him some medication for the aches. The instructions that the last nurse left for me says they can be given with his other meds.”
Something that she was curious about came back to her. “How is it that in a Muslim country such as yours, your father allows a woman to tend to him? Why isn’t that forbidden?”
The prince turned his eyes back to her, focusing on her as though she were a specimen under his microscope.
“My father has mellowed over the years, and in these last years, he has recognized the need for round-the-clock help. Women in our culture are mostly forbidden to mix with men outside of their families in such a way, but because we need him to be cared for constantly, it was easier to hire one person to do the bulk of the work. And because you are not of our faith, your traditions allow you to treat and care for him as he needs to be, without breaking any of your laws.”
He reached out and touched her cheek gently. “Thank you for coming here,” he said. “It took a lot of courage for you to leave everything you are familiar with to live in a foreign country, even if it will only be for a short time.”
Alex resisted the urge to lean into his touch. “You’re welcome,” she said simply. Knowing that she needed to step away from him before the urge became overpowering, she added, “I’ll just go to bed now.”
She looked at him expectantly, willing him to move away enough for her to pass by him, and when he did she moved to step away from him. He took her elbow, however, and led her out of his father’s bedroom, escorting her to her door, across the living room. And once there, he did not release her, but turned her to face him and said,
“I have never been one to put off doing the things that need to be done, Ms. Downing. Nor have I ever been one to deny the truth when there is overwhelming evidence to support it. I just wanted to warn you beforehand, so you will not be surprised.”
Alex turned puzzled eyes to his face, which she could see more clearly in the dim light left on in the room. What had he found out about her? He didn’t sound angry, but she couldn’t be sure he didn’t know about Simon. She held herself stiffly, and said,
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Your Highness.”
Her voice trembled slightly, and she swallowed to stop the tremor. He stared at her mouth, and the desire she saw in them when he raised his eyes to look into hers again started her trembling all over again.
“Did you find Malik’s arrangements for Simone satisfactory?” he asked, surprising her.
The question did not address either the flash of desire she had seen, or her comment, but she was fine with that. At least he wasn’t asking about Simone’s father. She hastened to answer him.
“Yes, thank you, Your Highness. There is a nursery school in the town, where expatriate children go, and he took me there with her after His Majesty was settled in for his afternoon nap. Because mornings are busier than afternoons, I registered her for the afternoon session. I will go with her at noon, unless there is an emergency here, and Malik will bring her back at the end of each session. I’ve explained that to her, and she understands why I can’t pick her up as well.”
“And what of the mornings? How is she to be dealt with when you are busy?”
“Malik will take her to the nursery here,” she said. “There are four other children who play there each day. We went there when we returned from the school yesterday. She has met the children, three girls and a boy. The boy is her age, and the girls are younger…one of them is a baby, and I think she is going to be very happy helping with the baby.”
She smiled as she remembered how fascinated Simone had been with the woman who had been changing the baby when they got there.
“They are the children of two of your other workers,” she explained.
He nodded, and smiled at her. “I am happy that you are satisfied. The less you have to worry about, the more focused you will be on your job.”
He hesitated, and she wondered what else he had on his mind. It was clear there was something going on behind those dark eyes of his, and her intuition told her it had something to do with her.
“Is there something else, Your Highness?” she prompted him, wishing it was something to do with wanting to kiss her the way she was suddenly needing him to do.
HIs lips were so temptingly close, but she was his father’s caregiver, an employee, nothing more. She was free to dream about those lips, those hands, those long legs, but that was all that she could hope for. Moreover, he was a prince, soon to be a king. She was out of his league.
“If you continue to look at me like that, I will be forced to act.”
His words penetrated the haze of her thoughts, and she blinked. Wait, what? How was she looking at him? Horrified, she dipped her chin and turned to open her door.
“Don’t hide from me, habibti,” he whispered huskily, and she looked up sharply, unsure of what he had called her, and confused by the tone of his words. There was such longing in it, and she didn’t understand why.
“What did you call me?” she asked, forgetting to call him by his title, and refusing to address the comment.
“‘Habibti’,” he said. “It is an endearment. I have been thinking of you a great deal.”
He tipped her chin up and looked into her eyes. She could not drag her gaze away, even though she desperately wanted to. He would not release her, and she waited breathlessly to hear what he would say next.
“There is something I want that only you can give me,” he said. “Something priceless. Will you give it to me willingly?”
She smiled, trying to appear cool. “Doesn’t that depend on what it is, Your Highness? I mean, I’m not likely to agree to giving up my freedom, for example.”
She clamped her mouth shut. What she thought she was doing, bandying words with the prince, she didn’t know, and now was not the time to find out. She was suffering from a serious case of lust where he was concerned, and they didn’t even know each other well enough for a…
“All I want is a kiss,” he said, as though he had been riding her train of thought, but arrived at the destination before she did.
She choked on her breath, and he smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones. That did not help, making her even more breathless. She panted, trying to catch her breath to respond, and he said,
“Would that be too much too soon, habibti?”
Bemused by his use of the endearment again, she could hardly think as she shook her head no, and watched his own descend to taste her lips. It was a sweet, exploring, I-want-to-know-you kind of kiss, and as it fully expressed how she had been feeling since she had first laid eyes on him, she returned it eagerly, giving her stamp of approval to the sentiment. But then he pulled her closer, and she felt the hardness of his body everywhere, and suddenly sweet became sensual, became sexual, became hungry, and she was lost. He ravished her mouth with his kiss, and she let him do as he pleased, because she was too weak to step away from the tempting passion he was unleashing, because she wanted his kisses as much as he wanted to give them to her.
Finally, he seemed to come to his senses. Alex remained lost in sensations as he dragged his mouth away from hers, leaning his forehead against hers and panting softly. She gathered her scattered wits about her and pulled away from him enough to say, in a befuddled kind of way,
“Um…wow!”
He chuckled, his lips kicking up into the sides of his mustache, his teeth gleaming in the light.
“Yes, wow indeed!”
He smoothed his thumbs, which she noted were trembling slightly, over her lips, pulling the bottom one away from her teeth, and then, as though he couldn’t help himself, he leaned in and kissed her again, replacing his thumbs with his tongue, licking her lips slowly and sensuously, but not going into the tempting warmth beyond them. And then he let her go, and stepped away from her, as though he had finally come to his senses.
“I would like to get to know you better,” he said. “If you will let me. Think about it. We will speak again soon.” He sketched her a brief salute, turned on his heel, and said, over his shoulder, “Sleep well.”
Alex very much doubted that she would ever sleep again, but she went in and quietly closed her bedroom door. Simone was still sound asleep when she checked on her, and as she undressed, she wondered how she would handle being pursued by a prince whose father she was caring for. It could become very awkward. And what about Simone? How would it work with her little girl? She couldn’t deny that she was just as interested in getting to know him as he was in getting to know her, but she was a practical woman, and her situation was fraught with difficulties, not the least of which was the fact that she had a rather big and important secret that she had failed to tell him.
Telling herself that it hadn’t come up in any of their conversations didn’t make her feel any better about it. The knowledge that her child was the result of a one-night stand, and that most likely, even if Simon hadn’t died, she would not have married him, lay heavy on her mind as she got into bed. In the prince’s culture, loose women — among whom she was sure she was numbered — were probably stoned, if their transgressions and indiscretions were ever discovered. She couldn’t imagine the prince being at all understanding of her deliberate misleading of him in the matter of Simone’s father. He would see it as a lie, as would his father the king, and she knew she would lose her job if it were ever found out.
When she woke next morning, she was exhausted from tossing and turning all night, and her face, even after a long, hot shower and a steam treatment, was haggard. She applied makeup generously to hide the ravages of her sleepless night and went to deal with Simone. She woke the little girl, helped her wash her face and brush her teeth, and set her in front of the television while she dressed in clean scrubs. Then she took the child’s hand and walked with her out to the wide living room where a play area had been set up for her, at the king’s order, by Malik.
“I’ll be back in a bit. Play quietly, okay, honey?”
The little girl nodded and smiled at her, making a heart with her fingers. Alex’s heart warmed.
“I love you too, baby,” she whispered, kissing her forehead before going in to her charge. He was awake, which was not a surprise.
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said as brightly as she could manage. “Did you sleep well?”
He eyed her, unsmiling, for a minute, without answering. She turned from pulling aside the drapes to look at him.
“Is everything all right? Are you feeling poorly?”
Without waiting for an answer, she walked over and touched his temple. His temperature seemed to be normal. She unwrapped the stethoscope from her neck and listened to his heart. Normal. She took his pulse rate. Normal. She reached for the blood pressure cuff, but just before she pressed the button to inflate it, he said,
“I am fine, as you can see. Stop fussing and sit down.”
He spoke like the commander he was, and she did as he ordered, pulling the chair by the bed closer to it.
“You are not like the others who have tended to my needs, either male or female,” he began. “You care about my welfare, not because I am a king, but because I am a man. That is laudable.”
Alex felt herself blushing and fought to keep her color under control.
“But I sense that there is more to you than we know. And it concerns me.”
Her heart began to thump heavily in her chest. What did this man think he knew? Would he try to find out, if she denied having secrets? This was only the second day of her job, and the complications just seemed to be piling up. Not only would she need to discourage the prince from anything more than friendship — which meant she couldn’t allow him to kiss her again — but now she had to worry that his father might have her fully investigated. Swallowing the fear that was trying to rise up and choke her, she managed a smile and said,
“I can assure you, Your Majesty, that I have lived a very simple life.”
He grunted, and motioned for her to get back to checking his blood pressure. As she pressed the button and the cuff inflated, she hoped he would not ask her questions about her ‘husband’ that she could not answer. She knew that that could be the only possible reason he still harbored questions about her, and it seemed somehow significant that he should be wanting to know so soon after her own doubts about her silence resurfaced. She wished she had a friend she could talk to who would give her good advice about what to do.
He seemed to accept her response, for which she was grateful, and after getting him set up in his wheelchair, she wheeled him out to the sitting room, where he sat and watched Simone play while she went to order breakfast. Then she sat and played with Simone until the knock announced its arrival. She wheeled him over to the small table set up for his dining, and placed the food before him, with an empty plate and utensils so he could serve himself if he preferred. He asked her to serve him, which she did happily, but noted it. Perhaps she should have the prince bring in the doctor to check him over thoroughly. She would watch him closely for the rest of the day before making that call.
“Well? Are you going to just sit there, or are you going to see to the child?”
His sharp question brought Alex back to the moment, and she flushed as she realized she had not given Simone anything to eat. Her daughter sat quietly watching the king eat, his hands shaking, though he managed to keep most of the food in the plate or in his mouth. Knowing he would not long tolerate anyone scrutinizing him, even if it was just a child, she served Simone some scrambled eggs and one breakfast sausage, with two peach slices, and a glass of milk. Then she ate her own breakfast, and was just clearing things up to replace them on the cart when he asked,
“What kind of man was your husband?”
She barely managed not to drop the delicate china cup she was holding, and her heart hammered in her chest so hard, she was sure he would hear it. Deciding that telling the truth, except for the part where he had never been her husband, was her best bet, she said,
“His name was Simon, and he was in law school when he died. We had been friends for many years before he died. I loved him. He was with me in some very tough times, and he was a loyal friend.”
He studied her as she resumed the clearing away, and finally said,
“Do you miss him?”
This was a trickier question, but Alex answered it head on. “Not as much any more, Your Majesty.”
Another pregnant pause, and then he asked, “Are you looking for a man to replace him?”
Indignation reared its head as she turned to look fully at her inquisitor. It really was none of his business whether she was looking for a man or not, but she knew instinctively that he was asking a far more important question. And after the kiss she had shared with his son the night before, she knew she had to be careful in her response. She chose to keep it simple.
“No, Your Majesty, I am not.”