An Inconvenient Marriage (Married to a Prince) (4 page)

At the sound of approaching footsteps she tried to wriggle free. 

“Sami.  Papa wants to know if everything is....” His sister let out a soft sigh.  Her cheeks turned a rosy shade of embarrassed.  “Oh, sorry.  I will tell him you are busy right now.”

“Mona, wait,” Delilah called out but the younger woman didn’t stick around.  “Why didn’t you stop her?”

Sami grinned.  “Why would I?”

“She probably thinks... she might tell them that we...”

“Kissed?  Married couples have been known to do that from time to time.”

“But we’re not... I mean we are, but we’re planning to end it.”

Sami’s good mood took an about-face. His body tensed and he backed away from her.  “I am not planning to end anything.  You do what you have to do. But ask yourself this.  If you are committed to this man you wish to divorce me for, why did you respond to my kiss like a woman hungry for love?”

His words stung like a slap to the face.  She wasn’t sure which bothered her more.  The fact that he was right or the fact that she hadn’t given Bob a thought from the moment she first laid eyes on Sami.

* * * *

Sami left Delilah at the door of her suite.  He didn’t trust himself to go inside.  Instead he decided to take a walk to clear his thoughts.  The woman was a torment, a curse on his head, and the fact that she was an innocent in their situation, didn’t make her any less guilty of ruining his solitary life.

From the moment his father had told him of the duty he was bound to honor, he had resentfully accepted his fate.  He had prejudged Delilah and assumed she had greedy motives for coming to Nadiar, and now he wished he had been right.  Because she wanted something, but it wasn’t his title or his money.  She wanted her freedom to marry another man and that was a bigger blow to his pride than a woman who wanted his wealth.

In one short day she had managed to accomplish what many had failed to do with years of trying.  She got under his skin, and he had sworn no woman would ever touch him in more than a physical way again.  He had gone that route once and he had no plans to lose his soul to another woman. Yet those beautiful green eyes of hers, so expressive, so inviting, had found a way to reach inside him and awaken desires he thought long buried.

He gazed into the starry night sky.  Perhaps tomorrow Delilah would find a way to use her charm and wide-eyed sweetness to talk her family into releasing him from the contract.  After twenty years, they were so grateful for her safe return they might be willing to grant her anything within their power to give.  However, that wasn’t likely to happen.  She planned to return to America when she settled the issue of her marriage.  He couldn’t see her uncles or her grandmother agreeing to anything that would take her away from them again.  Would she defy them and divorce him anyway?

* * * *

The following morning, dressed in a pale blue linen suit and a very thin veneer of bravado, Delilah was ready to face the day ahead of her.  Hanan had refused to allow Delilah to put her hair in that agooza bun.  Agooza, she learned, meant old lady.  They compromised on a French braid that still kept her hair off her neck in the heat.  Although she wasn’t used to this kind of attention, she couldn’t refuse the young maid’s help.   Apparently, she considered it an honor to be assigned to Delilah, and Hanan was determined to live up to the challenge.

She met Sami at his office on the opposite side of the palace from the living quarters and together they made a silent cross-city trip to her uncle’s family house. Apparently he was still angry, although for the life of her, she didn’t understand why.  She should he be upset.  He had kissed her senseless. 
And why?  Just to prove a point.  Maybe she wasn’t head-over-heels in love with Bob, but at least she would feel safe and secure. Her inexplicable attraction to Sami would only lead to heartache and pain. So why had she spent the night awake in her bed longing to relive his kiss?

As the sleek black limousine parked along a stone fence, she turned her thoughts from Sami to the situation at hand.  A fluttering sensation settled in her stomach.  Why was she nervous?  These people were her father’s family—her family. 

Sami offered his hand to help her from the car.  Once on the sidewalk she continued to hold onto his hand.  He didn’t object and she needed the small amount of comfort offered by human contact.  She tried to ignore the other, more basic pleasures of being near him, the tightening in her chest and the warmth settling in her belly.  Her body was reacting in a way she could neither understand, nor stop.  She reminded herself that the purpose of their visit was to convince her family to release Sami from the marriage contract.  She would hardly convince anyone she wanted her freedom if she panted after her husband like a simpering idiot.  

“Are you ready?” Sami asked, breaking into her thoughts.

She nodded and concentrated on the meeting ahead.  Behind a white stone wall, sat a large stucco house surrounded by palm trees and green tropical foliage. The well-manicured estate was larger than she expected.  She ran her tongue over her top lip nervously, tasting the salty remains of a Persian Gulf breeze.  With a weak smile that signified courage she didn’t feel, she passed through the wrought iron gates toward the house.

Two men and an older woman stood on the front landing, seeming to restrain the obvious excitement that showed on their faces.  As she got closer, the three people became somber and lowered their heads.  Delilah glanced at Sami, who looked embarrassed by the customary bowing to royalty.  She had been pleasantly surprised to learn that most of the royal family preferred not to be greeted in such a manner except on formal or State occasions.

With the awkward formalities behind them, Delilah and Sami were invited into the house.  Apparently both her uncles had met with Sami prior to her arrival.  They exchanged a few words in Arabic before Sami switched to English for the introductions. 

“This is your Uncle
Tamour and Uncle Wallid,” Sami said, pointing to each of the men in turn.  “And...”

“Nana,” her grandmother said before he could finish the introductions.  The older woman squeezed Delilah’s face between her hands and pressed kisses on each cheek.  Tears of joy streamed from her dark eyes and she chanted a kind of prayer in Arabic that was apparently a thank you to Allah.

A rush of emotions welled up in Delilah at the warm greeting she received.  She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.

“
Ente gamilla.  Ahlan hatta min omek,” her grandmother said.

Delilah tried to recall her limited Rosetta Stone Arabic but she couldn’t quite grasp the full meaning.  She looked to Sami for translation.

“She said you are even more beautiful than your mother.”

She shook her head.  She’d lived in Marissa’s shadow long enough to know that wasn’t true.  Delilah admitted without self-pity or anger, that her mother garnered all the attention from men while she was almost invisible.  And she liked it that way. 

“You do not agree?” he asked. 

“It’s not a point worth arguing.”  She and Sami were offered the sofa while her uncles and grandmother took the chairs across from them.  He slipped his arm across her shoulder.  She wasn’t sure if the gesture was for show, or a genuine attempt to help her relax, but either way, she decided not to fight him.  His closeness acted as a balm for her frazzled nerves.

For a long moment no one spoke while they stared at Delilah.  When her grandmother finally did talk, she had to direct her questions to Sami, much to the sorrow of both women. 

“You grandmother asked if you want anything.”  

Delilah raised a small smile.  “Takalallami babai min fadlak.”

A surprised silence settled over the room. Sami’s eyebrow arched. “You know Arabic.”

“If I just asked my grandmother to tell me about my father then I speak very little. If I didn’t then I speak none at all.”

“The fact that you tried at all touches them very deeply.”

They needed to talk about her father as much as Delilah needed to hear about him.  She spent the next few hours learning her family history, so intertwined with that the country. How her father lived and how he died in service to the royal family.  She saw early childhood pictures of herself in a country far less modern than the Nadiar of today.  Her father was apparently very proud of her and she felt profoundly sad that she couldn’t remember him.

Considering the hurtful events of the past, her grandmother and her uncles spoke with understanding and forgiveness about her American mother, who had never acclimated herself to the customs and lifestyle so alien to her own.  Marissa had lived in
Nadiar because of the husband she adored, but she hated the starkness of the new and growing country.  When he died in service to the king, she was devastated and she swore that the royal family would not take her daughter too.  Delilah developed a new understanding of her mother. She might never know that kind of deep love, but she would never have to suffer that kind of painful loss either.

“In the end, I think she do the right thing, yes?” her uncle
Tamour asked. 

“How?” Delilah said.

“She not
go against her husband’s dying wishes and end your marriage.  Now you have a very fine husband to take care of you.”

She sucked in a deep breath for courage. 
“About that.”

“A handsome husband,” he added.
“Strong and healthy. And honorable.”

She refrained from quipping that Sami had all his teeth too, but that was no reason to remain married to a stranger.  She looked toward him for assistance but he enjoyed the flattery, and her predicament, far too much to come to her aid. 

“He is a very honorable man,” she agreed.  To the point of a martyr. 

“And handsome,” Sami reminded her with a grin.

She forced a smile for the benefit of her family.  “And handsome.  But you see the thing is...”

Her uncle
Wallid beamed with pride.  “And one day our little butta, my brother’s only child, will be queen of her people.”

“What?” Her shock was acute. 
Queen of her people.  The words echoed through her mind.   After spending her afternoon on an emotional roller coaster, this was the last kind of shock she needed.  No wonder Sami had been sure her family would not be persuaded to release him from the contract. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I assumed you knew.”

“No. I didn’t.”  How would she know?  She never asked his age.  She figured since his brother was married and had a son already that Sami was the younger of the two.  “What are we supposed to do now?”

His thick eyebrow arched in wry question and he whispered in her ear.  “What is the matter little
butta, don’t you have another contingency plan?”

If she wasn’t afraid of being arrested for assaulting a member of the royal family, she would have smacked the sardonic grin right off his face. He could have warned her. When he chuckled, she seriously considered risking the jail time.  What was she going to do now?

Chapter Four

Sami sat in the back of the limo and let out a belly laugh. Delilah was not amused. Neither was he. But crying was not an option. His in-laws behaved exactly as he expected. His wife had not.

Had he honestly believed she would hop the first plane out and go back to her safe little world? Her family would never accept a divorce. Why did she care? They were strangers to her. However she seemed to want a relationship with them even more than she wanted to free herself from him. Before leaving the house, she made plans for another visit.

“Nothing to say?” he asked.

“What do you want me to say?”

He wanted her to say, take me to the airport. Or even, tough luck pal. We’re married, deal with it. He wanted to know what was going on in her head. But he didn’t want to ask.

“Any plans for the rest of the day?”

She gazed at him as if he’d grown a third eye.

“I meant would you like to go anywhere in particular?”

“I’m sure you don’t want to spend the day entertaining me.”

He shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Why thank you.”

She managed to bring out the worst in him. He was black or white. Yes or no. Married or single. Certainly not these shades of gray he had to navigate. Confusion did not exist in his vocabulary.  So if he couldn’t define it how was he supposed to deal with it?

“We are going to take a tour of the city. The press will expect you to be familiar with your home country.”

She twisted her hands together until knuckles cracked. “What does the press have to do with anything?”

“You will be expected to meet with them in the near future.”

“And tell them what?”

“Well, Princess, that is the million
dollar question. Are you taking your place as my wife or abdicating your place in the royal family?”

* * * *

  Delilah folded her arms over her stomach, trying to quell the churning.  Normally she loved the security of guided tours despite her mother’s often mocking comments. But this was no Cook’s Tour and Sami was not her average guide. And Mama would definitely not approve of her companion. In fact, her mother begged Delilah not to leave the safety of American soil.