Chapter Five
Annabel had to admit that Adil was as good as his word. The moment they were in the shelter of her lobby, he pulled out that wallet and handed her a wad of bill. She thought that it was perhaps even larger than the amount he had given her before, but there was still a shred of pride remaining to her that did not want to be seen counting it. Instead, she stuffed it into her purse and led him up to her apartment.
As they went, she could see his eyes taking in everything from the ragged carpet to the peeling wallpaper. She wanted to protest that it was a good deal for the neighborhood, and that more importantly there would be close to a school that Marissa would really benefit from when she got older. There were better apartments she could have afforded, but the truth of the matter was that Marissa was always going to be her first priority, and that meant that some things were going to be left behind.
To his credit, however, Adil did not say anything. Instead, he only followed her into her apartment. The babysitter met her at the door and took her leave, and when Adil and Annabel were both inside with the door shut, Annabel sighed.
"Awww, sweetheart, you didn't have to wait out here..."
Marissa was in the kitchen, her feet swinging under her chair as she colored carefully.
"I wanted to color a picture for you, and I wanted to get it to you as soon as I could," she said practically.
She glanced curiously at Adil, who gazed back with frank curiosity as well.
"Who is this?" she asked, and Annabel sighed.
"This is an acquaintance of mine. His name is Adil and we have some grown-up stuff to discuss. Do you mind taking your things to your room?"
Marissa made a face that was both cross and tired, something that looked far too old on her.
"If I go to my room, I'm just going to get sleepy and tired again and fall asleep," she complained, but she gathered up her things.
Before she retreated into her room, however, she walked up to Adil, as fearless as a well-fed kitten.
"I'm Marissa Lister," she said, offering her hand.
Bemused Adil took her small hand in his large one. For some reason, Annabel bit her lip at this exchange. It made her nervous to see a man so large next to her diminutive daughter, but Marissa showed no nervousness at all.
"I'm Adil al Mahsi," he said gravely, and Annabel could have sighed with relief. Marissa could never stand not being taken seriously.
"Pleased to meet you," she recited with satisfaction, and then she trotted back to her own room.
Annabel listened until she had heard her daughter close her door, and then she took a breath.
"Thank you for not making fun of her," she said, and for some reason, Adil looked slightly shocked at that.
"I would never," he said. "She seems like a smart and determined girl, nothing to mock there."
"She is all of that," Annabel agreed. She took a seat at the kitchen table, and she gestured for Adil to do the same. She knew with painful certainty that he was used to far, far better, but she also knew that this was the best she had to offer.
"Now, you didn't come here to tell me what you think about my raising my child," she said. "Why don't you tell me what you are here for, Mr. al Mahsi?"
"The proper term of address is Sheikh Adil," he said patiently, and in a way, you are wrong."
She wondered if she saw a flicker of discomfort cross his face, but then it was gone. It was replaced by a determined look that felt strangely new to him, and he looked at her seriously.
"I am here to ask you to be the mother of my child," he said, and she stared at him.
It felt as if his simple words had unleashed a flood of thoughts into her brain. First and foremost was disbelief. Normal men did not ask women to do this. It was like something out of an ancient fable or myth. What in the world was he thinking? The second thing was irritation. Dear god, did he think that that was something that you could just ask people? As far as she understood it, this wouldn't have been acceptable anywhere in the world. Third... well, perhaps the third thing that she was thinking didn't really get a say. It was startled but curious, and she was not sure that she trusted that curiosity.
"All right, it feels as if you are playing some kind of ridiculous joke on me," she said holding up her hands. "Are you serious at all? Is there a good reason that I shouldn't just throw you out right now?"
He sighed a little, and for some reason, that small gesture simply emphasized how handsome he was. She could get very irritated with how good looking this man was if she were not careful, Annabel realized.
"This is not an offer that is meant to offend you, I swear this on my life," he said. "I understand how it might seem... unorthodox, but very little of my life has been ordinary, so I feel as if I am doomed to continue the trend. Annabel Lister, will you listen to my proposal in its entirety before you ask me questions? You can say no and kick me out right now, but you can still do that when I am done. It seems to me that the best thing you can do is listen."
"You're standing in the United States right now, mister," she said sharply, "and let me tell you that I can kick you out of my house whenever I please... but yes, I think I do want to hear this."
He ignored her sharp tone, and when she said yes, his face lit up like Christmas. He took her breath away when he smiled, and she could tell that sooner or later, that was going to be trouble.
"All right, to begin at the beginning, I am a sheikh. It has a few things in common with being a king and a few things in common with being a president. I rule my people, my word is not law but it can become law, and the position is habitually passed from eldest son to eldest son."
A faint and rueful smile crossed his face.
"By the time my father was my age, I was already a young man. If fate had been kind, he would be ruling still, but unfortunately, an auto accident killed him and my mother."
He spoke casually enough, but there was an old and buried pain there that struck Annabel right through the heart. Without thinking of what she was doing, she reached her hand out to squeeze his. He looked so startled that she drew back, but she thought that the look he cast at her was strangely grateful.
"I stepped up to the throne. I was lucky and good counselors and no jealous would-be rivals. I learned to rule, and I hazard that I even do a good job of it. Thanks to the work of my parents and grandparents, I have inherited a country that has allowed me to build and expand even farther."
He took a breath, and she wondered if he what he was going to say next was difficult.
"I was a model ruler in law and in statesmanship, but I am afraid that my personal life left a little bit to be desired."
"You were... inappropriate?" she guessed, and he laughed.
"Thank you for the euphemism," he chuckled. "I think a better thing to say would be that I was and have been until very recently, a bit of a nightmare for my staff. Away from the duties that I consider sacred, I liked nothing more than fast cars and faster women."
She must have made a little sound of surprise, because this time, he was the one who had reached over to take her hand.
"There was nothing dark or even illegal," he promised her, and whether it was a good idea or not, she believed him. "The only problem is that as far as some are concerned, that meant that I was falling down on my one true duty, which is to ensure that the line of my people stretches out unto eternity."
She blinked.
"That means... it's your most important duty to create an heir?"
"Exactly."
He sighed, and for a moment, he looked downcast.
"You were there when my world tilted on its axis."
"When you..."
She touched her heart where she had seem him stabbed, and he nodded. She wondered if he was relieved that he didn't have to say it.
"Yes. Suddenly, and most viciously, I was reminded that I was not immortal, and that the line of my family, an ancient royalty that had been in existence for almost five hundred years, could be ended in a moment of rash heedlessness."
Adil was quiet, and somehow, Annabel could feel that pressure coming down on him, the weight of hundreds of relatives and ancestors, looking at him, wanting their due. She had a moment to be grateful that her family had never been anything but common.
"And so we come to you."
"Me?" She had almost forgotten his mad offer as she got caught up in his story.
"Yes, you. I have considered my options. I can find a suitable bride, and hope that we are compatible, and hope that she will prove to be as good a mother as she is a suitable wife. I find that that is unlikely and risky. I know my fair share of noblewomen, and all the ones who would be good mothers are already mothers."
He paused, and Annabel wondered suddenly what it was he saw in her. She was a single mother in her thirties with a little girl, for God's sake...
"And then my thoughts went back to the night we met and all that happened then. I want a mother for my child that will rush into battle, who will be brave. I want a woman who will stand up to me when I am wrong and who will teach our child that they should trust their hearts. Of all the women that I have met, I want you, Annabel, to carry my child."
"But... but... you hardly know me," she said, and he waved her concern away.
"I know you well enough."
"But my health... genetics..."
"All things that can investigated."
My daughter Marissa..."
"Will be treated with the courtesy shown a princess," he said firmly. "Even if she cannot inherit herself, she will be noble in her own right. She will share blood with the heir to the throne."
He paused, and when he continued, there was a slight note of hesitation in his voice.
"She... did not look altogether well..."
Annabel lifted her chin defiantly.
"She's not," she said, her voice terse. "She's tired all the time, and the doctors aren't sure what's going on with her. The tests are expensive."
She bit back more, but Adil was nodding.
"She would be provided for in every way," he said, his voice soft, and she felt her heart squeeze.
"You put me in a very difficult place," she said finally. "There is no mother who would not promise everything for even the chance that her daughter could be made well."
He inclined his head in her direction.
"Begging your pardon, but there are many mothers who would not," he said. "Because you would, that is why I want you."
She felt like a rabbit watching the bars of a trap slam down around her. They were moving slowly, but for some reason, she could not find it in herself to escape. There was no escape, not if Marissa could be cured.
"So... your arrangement. What would it entail?"
Even though he must have known that he had won, Adil's voice stayed level and grave.
"You will come to Sakhi, my homeland. You will bear me an heir there. Upon agreeing, you will receive 500,000 dollars. Upon the delivery of an heir, you will receive 1,500,000 dollars."
She stared at him.
"Two... million dollar?"
"Yes. And of course, as long as you stay in Sakhi, and if you deliver me a child, every need will be granted. You and Marissa will receive the best of everything, including medical care."
"And then... what? You'll whisk my child off when he is born like some kind of bad fairy?"
"Well, the sight of me in tights and wings sounds hilarious, but no. I want a mother for my child, and that means in every way possible. You are, of course, free to leave when the child is delivered, but for an additional million every year, perhaps you will stay and raise the child. There is an estate that is even traditional for this, for women who are the mothers of future sheikhs and yet not sheikhas themselves."
A place for concubines and mistresses to bear children, she thought, and no matter how kind or clinical his language, she knew that that was what she would be.
"I hope you know," Annabel said, clinging to whatever scraps of dignity she could,"that I will not abandon my child once he is born. I will love him just as I do Marissa, and I will fight for him just the same, no matter who you are or how much power you have."
Adil looked completely undaunted in the face of her veiled threat.
"I would expect nothing less," he said softly. "It is what tells me that I have chosen correctly. Have you made your choice yet, Annabel?"
There was a small part of her that was screaming. It was all happening so fast. She didn't know this man from Adam, and yet he was offering to change her world. He was offering to save Marissa, to give her more money than she would make in a lifetime.
"I think it is no choice at all," she started to say, but then she was shocked into silence as he took her hand. There was a pressure there, but what shocked her more was the electricity that lept between them. It made her eyes open wide, and in that moment, she could see that he felt it too.
"No," he said softly, and there was a soft purring sound in his voice. It made some part of her hind brain want to run or perhaps to roll over and show its throat, she wasn't entirely certain.
"No?"
"No, that is not what I want to ear. Tell me yes or no. I want you to understand, Annabel, this choice is yours. I will not have you say that I forced your hand, ever. Yes... or no?"
"Yes..."
The word was out of her mouth before she had time to think about it. Later, Annabel would wonder if she had to agree before her common sense got the better of her.
"Yes what?" he asked, his voice dropping a little lower, and Annabel swallowed hard.
"Yes, I will come to Sakhi. I will be the mother of your heir."
There was a fierce triumph in his eyes as he stood. She wondered if, after securing her agreement, he would leave, but instead he tugged her up into his arms. He was a large man, topping her by a head and a half, and she had never felt more small or delicate than when he tilted her head back for a deep and claiming kiss.
Annabel would never say that she was a passionate woman. She wasn't. She was a woman who was responsible. She was dependable. She was a mother, she was a hard worker, and she would call herself rather clever if pushed.
Passion had never been one of her strong points, but now she could feel it flood her. Everywhere her body touched Adil's, she felt as if she were lighting on fire. It was as if she had turned into a fire, and every touch only made her burn brighter. She found her fingers tangled in the soft expensive fabric of his shirt, clinging to him and willing this pleasure to keep on going forever. She didn't think that she could stand it if it were to stop.
He kissed her with the expertise of a man who had been seeking the finest pleasures the world had to offer for two decades. His kiss was at once claiming and tender, and when he stroked her lower lip with his tongue, she opened her mouth and drank him in greedily.
There was really no telling how far things might have gone if she hadn't pulled away from him abruptly. He frowned, and he might have pulled her back, but then a small figure wandered into the kitchen.
"Can I have some juice, Mama?"
"I'm going to have dinner on in a little while, pumpkin. How about some water before then?"
That was deemed acceptable, and as Marissa made her way back to the bedroom, Adil looked at her with frank surprise.
"How did you hear her?" he said. "She walks as quietly as a cat..."
"Well, maybe that's something I can teach you in the time to come," she said with a small laugh. "If you have a little one, particularly a little one that is clever and curious and prone to learning how to get around early, you do start to develop more ears that you were necessarily born with."
She sighed, taking a step back. She had never felt the kind of passion that Adil brought out in her before. It felt awe-inspiring, like lightning reaching down to blow an old dead tree into pyrotechnic flame. However, she knew what lightning did to old wood, and she was not at all sure that there would be anything left of her if that flame was allowed to burn to completion.
"But I do need to get dinner started," she said.
Adil looked surprised.
"You are shortly going to be coming into at least 500,000 dollars. You are still going to make dinner?"
"Well, that money's not in my hand yet. In the United States, we have a saying about not counting your chickens before they are hatched. Besides, tonight's tuna casserole, Marissa's favorite, and I told her that I would make it for her."
Annabel hesitated. What she was going to do next was a bit risky. She might not have a lot to be proud of, but she hated being laughed at. It was all too easy to imagine this beautiful wealthy man laughing at her, but well, he hadn't yet.
"I've got more than enough to share, especially if, as you say, I'm actually going to be coming into some cash soon. Do you want to stay for dinner?"
For a moment, she thought that her intuition had steered her entirely wrong. He was a king in his own country, a man who spanned the globe as easily as others planned a trip downtown. He could eat at any of the most expensive restaurants in the city, and here she was asking him to sit down for an incredibly dull meal with a single mother and her sickly daughter...
"That sounds quite good," he said with a smile. "I've not eaten since midday, and I'm fairly hungry. Is there anything I can do to help?"
She shook her head and laughed a little. He wasn't used to making the offer, but it was sweet of him to do so.
"No, just keep me company. Watch closely, and maybe next time you can pitch in."
Well, you can always rely on things to change, I guess, she thought, and she started boiling some water.