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Nur-Aman people had taken to her. And her belligerent anger over the neglect his kingdom had suffered pointed to a care and concern that wasn’t a disguise.
On top of that, she wasn’t distracted by fairy-tale stories of profound love and loss the way some women were. Allegra Di Sione was practical, her breeding and intelligence grounding forces which would be nothing but a huge benefit for Dar-Aman. For him.
Slowly, he pulled the ultrasound scan from his pocket. He examined each pixel of the frame, then started over again, passing his thumb several times over the smooth surface.
As for the fierce pounding of his heart, he thought as his thumb caressed the glossy image one last time, it was adequate concern for the well-being of his child. A natural reaction to the frailty Allegra had exhibited.
What had happened to his mother wouldn’t happen to Allegra. Or their child.
All will be well. Insh’allah.
* * *
‘You brought Alessandro with you?’
Bianca grimaced and carefully avoided Allegra’s eyes in the mirror. Her other siblings had called over the past six days in answer to the news of her impending marriage. Each call had expressed their woefully disguised surprise at her uncharacteristic decision. Alessandro had been particularly sceptical, but Allegra had dealt with her lone-wolf brother for long enough to know the right words to say to him to curb any suspicions he might have.
She’d thought she’d succeeded. Alessandro’s presence here indicated otherwise.
Bianca shrugged and adjusted the heavy gold necklace adorning Allegra’s neck a careful fraction. ‘He just gave me a ride on his jet. He was...in the area.’
‘Bianca...’
‘What? Ally, come on, give me a break. You’ve always been the practical, head-screwed-on-straight one out of all of us. And yet you’ve known this guy for, what, five minutes? And you’re marrying him? Something’s obviously up, but I know better than to judge.’
Something was definitely up. For one thing, Rahim had been avoiding her since she reached Dar-Aman. She didn’t understand why, nor could she deal with the almost physical pain not seeing him brought her. ‘So you brought Alessandro to do it for you?’ she demanded.
Her sister shrugged again. ‘He’s just giving him a quick once-over.’
Allegra disguised the shaking in her hand by unnecessarily tweaking her headdress. ‘Rahim’s the sheikh of Dar-Aman, not a racehorse.’
Bianca tutted. ‘He’s also scary, in a drop-dead hot sort of way. I needed backup in case you were being strong-armed into doing this. How well do you know him anyway?’
It was Allegra’s turn to avoid her sister’s gaze. ‘I’m not being strong-armed.’ Not much anyway. She feared her unknown future as a wife, a queen and a mother. But the first step—marrying Rahim—was now an inevitability she couldn’t alter. The ceremony itself was daunting enough without borrowing future trouble.
Like answering how well she knew her future husband.
Her heart lurched as she silently answered—not very well. She’d barely spoken to or seen him between his abrupt departure on the evening of her conference and her subsequent arrival in Dar-Aman two days ago. The Marriage and Coronation Council, as they’d called themselves, had flown to New York when Allegra had told them there was no way she could drop everything and return to Dar-Aman on one day’s notice. They’d invaded her office, throwing a normally calm and efficient Zara into bewildered chaos, until Allegra had had no choice but to send her assistant home.
With Di Sione Foundation matters temporarily passed to her second-in-command, Allegra had been whisked back to Dar-Aman and thrown into a protocol initiation that had made her head spin.
But even mentally exhausted, Allegra had been able to see the further changes which had occurred since her visit two months ago. More building works had sprung up in Shar-el-Aman. The squares were less crowded with disgruntled citizens who now had jobs to fulfil them. And when the motorcade carrying Allegra to and from her whirlwind appointments with women’s organisations went past, both young and old cheered, despite not knowing who rode within the blacked-out confines of the limo.
The further extensive changes Rahim had made in the short time since she’d mistakenly condemned him were truly impressive.
But there was one matter she wasn’t pleased about. One thing that needed addressing before she married the ruler of Dar-Aman. And with her sister lingering she couldn’t make the call.
‘This is my decision, Bianca. I’m at peace with it. That’s all you need to know, okay?’ The gravity of her reply had the effect she wanted.
Bianca exhaled and nodded. ‘I’ll see you at the ceremony, then.’
Allegra kept the smile on her face until Bianca shut the door behind her. Then she lifted her gaze to the mirror once more.
She barely recognised herself beneath the heavy make-up and the royal gold-and-blue headdress pinned into place by the dozen women who’d dressed her an hour ago. Her blue eyes shone wide and exotic, rimmed with delicate kohl and gold eyeshadow. Her mouth was painted with a special lip balm said to have been harvested from a sacred tree that bloomed once a year in the Dar-Aman desert. Carefully licking her lower lip, Allegra tasted the exotic spice of the balm. The same precious leaves had been crushed into a pulp and used to henna her hands and feet.
In fact, from head to toe, she’d been transformed into a bejewelled creature she didn’t recognise. No wonder Bianca was concerned.
But while Allegra was uncertain about what the future held, she knew one thing she absolutely couldn’t tolerate. Lifting the phone on the dresser, she dialled.
‘The office of Sheikh Al-Hadi. How many I help you?’ came a voice quite different from her future husband’s.
The depth of her disappointment was keen and sharp. ‘Hi...’ She floundered. ‘This is Allegra... Di Sione. Can I speak to Rahim?’ she asked of Rahim’s personal aide.
‘Excuse me one moment, please.’
Her hand tightened on the phone as voices murmured in the background. A full minute passed before the personal aide self-consciously cleared his throat. ‘I’m very sorry, Miss Di Sione, but His Highness is indisposed at present. He expresses his apologies.’
Pain lanced her, along with jagged anger. ‘Are you sure he expresses his apologies, or are you expressing it on his behalf?’ she shot back, very much aware she was shooting the messenger, but unable to stem the dread and bewilderment tightening into a hard knot in her chest.
‘I... Yes...of course...’
‘Oh, never mind.’ She hung up before she could make a further fool of herself.
She wished she could get up and walk out of the palatial suite that was every princess’s dream come true. Out of this fairy-tale palace. Out of Dar-Aman. But Allegra knew she wouldn’t. For the sake of her baby, she had to do this.
She had to marry a man who kept a harem right under her very nose!
A sob caught in her throat, but she swallowed it quickly as a soft knock sounded on the door and jerked her further into a reality filled with trepidation.
‘Mistress, the procession is ready for you,’ Nura announced, her smile stretched wide as she hurried to Allegra.
‘Thank you, Nura,’ she struggled to reply.
Allegra rose from the centuries-old ‘betrothal stool’ she’d been placed on and waited quietly as Nura arranged the heavy fall of the blue silk behind her, before slipping her feet into flat, ruby-encrusted golden slippers. The royal-blue gown threaded with gold matched her headdress. With wide sleeves and a fitted bodice, it flared in a stiff skirt to stop a few inches above the floor, so the jewels adorning her ankles and feet could be seen when she moved.
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