CHAPTER NINE
Eliana arrived at the embassy to find it curiously quiet. She'd expected to be rushed back into the embassy building and up to the safety of her room.
But there was no-one around. There was no sudden bustle of activity on her arrival. The embassy lights were still on. It was as if she had never left.
She thanked Kadeem's driver and made her way into the embassy. Pausing in the hallway, she heard voices from the room on the right. The one she'd escaped from with Kadeem. Eliana recognized the voices. Her mother and father were talking. And the conversation didn't sound too friendly.
Eliana opened the door and went into the room. She paused at the open door. Her father and mother whirled around at the sound of her entrance.
"Eliana!" her mother exclaimed. Gretchen hurried toward Eliana and hugged her. "We were so worried about you."
"I'm fine, mother," Eliana replied.
Eliana peered over her mother's shoulder. Her father didn't look pleased to see her. His brows were furrowed. His lips were tight, disapproving lines. He glared at Eliana as if she was already a disgraced daughter. It was just as well her father didn't know what had really happened at Kadeem's, Eliana told herself.
Gretchen released Eliana and guided her over toward her father. "What did I tell you, Azem. Everything's fine. Nothing to worry about."
Her father's eyes narrowed. "Why did you leave the palace without taking your guard?" he demanded.
"I wanted to go out," Eliana stated. "I just had a sudden impulse to go out. That's all."
"Unaccompanied?" he snapped.
Eliana looked to her mother for some support, but saw that none was forthcoming. Her mother's features were set in a blank, but patient expression. A marked contrast to her father.
"I did have company," she stated. "I wasn't exactly alone."
"You were with him," her father said sourly.
"Kadeem? Yes," Eliana replied.
"That was unwise," Azem declared, shaking his head.
"I think I can trust him," Eliana retorted. "Kadeem and I have known each other long enough for that."
"I will be the judge of that," her father said.
"Azem," Gretchen interrupted. "There's no need to be like this with Eliana. She's young. Don't you remember what it was like to be young? What we were like when we met?"
Azem shook his head and turned away. He rested his hand against the corner of the ornate fireplace mantel. "That was different."
Gretchen smiled. "Not so different. I seem to recall you could be pretty impulsive yourself."
Azem's eyes widened at Gretchen as if he couldn't believe what she'd just said. He looked back at Eliana. "What you did was reckless, Eliana. May I remind you were are guests in this country. We cannot allow even a hint of scandal to find its way into our family."
"Scandal? What do you mean, father?" Eliana asked. "There was nothing scandalous about myself and Kadeem leaving the embassy for a while."
Azem lifted a brow. For a moment, he gazed at her with a steadiness she found unsettling. Eliana could see he had opinions of his own about what might have happened while she was with Kadeem. If only he knew, she told herself.
She wondered if there was any visible remnant of her time with Kadeem. A lingering trace of their passion. Perhaps her face was flushed. Or maybe there was a certain look in her eye that she just couldn't disguise, no matter what she did.
Azem sighed and looked sternly at Eliana. "You must promise me that this will not happen again," he demanded.
"That I won't choose how to spend my own free time?" Eliana replied. "Why would you want me to do that? I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"You are a princess. You cannot make your own decisions in anything," he stated. "There are other considerations beyond your selfish desires."
For a moment, she was astonished that he would say such a thing to her. She gasped. "You're right. I am a princess. And I will have a life of my own," she exclaimed. "And on my own terms."
Azem came toward her. He shook his head. "We will see what tomorrow brings."
She squinted at him. "Why?"
"As far as I am concerned, this Qazhar sheikh is not fit to be your husband," he said.
Eliana's mother let out a cry. "Azem! You cannot say such a thing."
He lifted his chin proudly and peered at his wife. "I can and I do. I have had my doubts about this Kadeem Al Kharif ever since I met him. He does not conduct himself in a proper manner. There is a roughness about him. Something uncouth."
Eliana smiled sardonically at her father. "But, it isn't up to you, father. Not while you're here in Qazhar."
He peered quizzically at Eliana. "What do you mean?"
"Royal protocol, and the four generation rule, allows the proposed bridegroom completely free choice over whether he decides to take a bride. And we are not in Zahram," she said.
Azem drew in a harsh, deep breath. His face turned red and his brows furrowed. "You do not mean to say you think this lowly sheikh will deign to offer his hand to you," Azem said. "I have heard all the reports of how he treats you in public. His conduct has been disgraceful. He is not fit to be your husband."
Eliana thought about her and Kadeem's grand scheme. It seemed to have worked better than they had planned. Everyone believed they hated one another. After tonight, that would never be the case.
'That isn't for you to decide," Gretchen said. "Eliana is correct. It is Kadeem's choice tomorrow. And there's nothing we can do. When we agreed to come here, we made a commitment to see this process through to its end. We are honor bound to do so."
Azem whirled around angrily and strode to the double doors which led out to the terrace. The same ones Eliana and Kadeem had used to escape from the embassy. That seemed like an eternity ago now, she told herself.
"Gretchen, you told me yourself, that Eliana and Kadeem had been arguing all the time. Did you not?"
Gretchen smiled at Eliana and shrugged. "It depends what you think it means when two young people are courting," she said. "Sometimes all those arguments don't always mean what you think they mean."
Eliana looked at her mother and thought about the way she had witnessed the disagreement between herself and Kadeem at the palace this morning. Her mother seemed to think that those arguments meant Eliana and Kadeem were falling for each other.
Azem shook his head. Eliana could see that his patience had been worn out. Maybe it was time to make a very diplomatic exit, she told herself.
She excused herself quickly, said goodnight, and left her mother and father to continue their conversation.
Eliana made her way upstairs to her room. Sayirah knocked on the door and offered to help Eliana. Despite her fatigue, Eliana declined the offer and said goodnight to Sayirah.
Left alone at last, Eliana prepared herself for bed and settled down for the night. As she lay in the darkness, she thought about Kadeem and what had happened at his apartment.
Parts of her body still ached from the pleasure she'd experienced with Kadeem. It was an exquisite ache, though. One she knew she'd still feel in the morning. And, perhaps in the morning, it would all seem like a dream.
But she knew it hadn't been a dream. It had been all too real.
So, why had she run like that when she'd been discovered? Because that was what it had felt like. Almost like her guilty secret had been revealed in a most shameful manner.
Sighing to herself, she realized that she didn't care about that. Didn't care about the approval or disapproval of others. There was something amazing about the way Kadeem had drawn out her rebellious nature.
It had hardly been the conduct of a royal princess, she told herself.
And that was what had made it so exciting, she told herself.
There had been so much to enjoy while she had been with Kadeem. He'd tempted her into an illicit act by escaping from the overprotective clutches of the embassy security. And, when she'd been in his private domain, he'd conquered her resistance with consummate ease.
Why had she submitted so easily to him? At first, she couldn't explain why. All she knew was that it had happened, and that it had been incredible.
She closed her eyes and images of Kadeem's naked body flickered into her awareness. She did nothing to push those images away. Instead, she savored them, recalling the way his body had felt; the heat of his skin; his powerful scent; how he'd felt while he'd been inside her.
Just thinking of that made her heartbeat quicken. Made her pulse race furiously.
What had she done!
Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?
What was going to happen now? Her father had made his disapproval of Kadeem perfectly clear. Eliana wondered if her father would ever come around to accepting Kadeem. What would it take for him to see the side of Kadeem she'd witnessed.
Of course, Kadeem could be arrogant, even ruthlessly selfish. But, she'd also seen another side of him. The private Kadeem. A man capable of so much more than what people saw in his public persona.
She turned over onto her side and scrunched up the pillow beneath her head. Tomorrow was going to be a huge day. She already knew how Kadeem felt. He'd laid it out in no uncertain terms back in his apartment.
He wanted her.
And she knew what he intended to do tomorrow. Just thinking about it made a bundle of nerves curl in her stomach.
He was going to announce a formal engagement. She'd seen the determination in his eyes. The cool, fixed resolve in his steady gaze.
Could she stop him? Did she even want to stop him? Right now, she didn't know the answers to those two questions.
Kadeem wasn't the kind of man to be denied. She'd found that out tonight. He was determined to claim her as his wife.
But, could she give herself completely to him? Especially when she knew how much resistance there would be from her father.
Could she really trust Kadeem? Had she seen enough of him to be able to take the step he wanted her to take? Was he the kind of man with whom she could even contemplate spending the rest of her life?
She wondered how he would adapt to her royal lifestyle. It was so different from his more humble version of that life. She wondered if he could ever truly become a part of her life.
Uncertainty flickered in her middle as she debated all of this with herself. Her mind was filled with a confusing jumble of thoughts. She couldn't make sense of any of it. Especially with the tender memory of their love-making so fresh in her mind.
She closed her eyes and tried to block all thought.
There would be plenty to think about tomorrow.
Not least of which, the most momentous decision she'd make in her life.