“But that’s not the most interesting part,” Victoria said. “What I find intriguing is that Prince Qadir of El Deharia, who could admittedly have nearly any woman he wanted, has chosen you.”

Maggie straightened. “What?”

“He picked you to play the game for a lot of reasons. You’re pretty, he thought he could spend time in your company without going crazy, that sort of thing. But it was a deal. A monetary transaction. Yet suddenly, it’s more than that. When faced with trouble, instead of running, he’s standing by you.”

“He’s just that kind of person.”

Victoria laughed. “I promise you, if Nadim and I had the same kind of arrangement and I had turned up pregnant, he would have kicked me to the curb so fast there would be skid marks.”

“Then why would you want to marry a man like that?”

Victoria sighed. “Good question. I had these big plans to marry for money and spend the rest of my life totally secure. But apparently I picked the wrong prince. The more I look at how Qadir is with you, the less I like Nadim. I’ve been working with him for two years and he hasn’t noticed me. What kind of idiot is he?”

“One you should forget about. Do you really need to marry for money? What about love?”

“Love is for fools,” Victoria said firmly. “I will never be a fool for love. But you’re right about me forgetting Nadim. He may be a prince, but he’s a boring twit of a man and I’m so over him.”

Maggie grinned. “That would be a more impressive statement if you’d ever actually cared about him.”

“I know.” Victoria drank more of her tea. “Maybe I can find a nice diplomat in the foreign office. Someone who comes from money.”

“Would you get off the money thing?”

“I can’t. You don’t know what it’s like to be afraid you’re going to lose everything. That’s how I grew up. There were plenty of nights I watched my mother go hungry because there was only food for one. I vowed that I would never be like her-never give my heart to a jerk who walked on it and used her, thinking only of himself.”

Maggie didn’t know about her friend’s past. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

“Me, too.” Victoria sighed. “Wow-talk about getting carried away. I didn’t mean to shift the conversation that way. We were talking about you. Have you considered that he defended you because he doesn’t want you to leave?”

Maggie blinked several times. Victoria’s words floated through her brain, forming images, then fading, but never disappearing completely.

“It can’t be that,” she said at last.

“Why not?”

Because…Because…

“He’s just being kind.”

Victoria wrinkled her nose. “He’s a sheik, honey. Kind isn’t one of the descriptors. Arrogant, powerful, determined. Those all work. But kind? No way.”

Maggie knew her friend was right, which did leave that interesting question on the table. Why hadn’t Qadir just dumped her when he’d found out about the baby?

“He wants his car finished.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect when it comes to your skills,” Victoria said, “but couldn’t he just hire someone else? You’re good and all, but do you have a totally unique talent?”

Maggie wanted to defend herself, but she understood the other woman’s point.

“Then I can’t explain it,” she admitted.

“Oh, I can,” Victoria told her. “I would say you have a sheik who’s interested.”

“I don’t think so,” Maggie said automatically, even as she found herself almost wishing it were true. Qadir? Interested?

She knew there was a powerful attraction between them, but that was just one of those weird, unexplained things. He might want to sleep with her, but getting emotionally involved was very different. There had to be another reason.

“Trust me,” Victoria told her. “I’ve seen male indifference. He’s not showing it.”

“I can’t believe he wants anything from me but the deal we’d arranged.”

“I don’t know where he’s going with this, either,” Victoria told her. “But I do know one thing. If he wanted you gone, you would be. The fact that you’re still here tells me he wants something more from you. The trick is going to be figuring out what.”

Chapter Nine

Maggie worked carefully to pry the door panel from the door. The fit was perfect, which made her job more difficult but would allow the end results to be spectacular.

After a day of confusion and worry and not knowing what all she was going to do with her life, it felt good to be back with the car. Here the world was clear and everything made sense. She knew what to do and how to do it.

She turned back to the body of the vehicle and ran her hands along the sides.

“You’re going to be stunning,” she murmured. “Men will want you, other cars will want to be you.”

“She’s going to get a big head,” Qadir said as he walked into the garage. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Maggie smiled at him, trying not to notice the funny feeling in her stomach or the way her heartbeat suddenly tripled. “I think you’ll be able to handle her even if she gets conceited.”

“Perhaps.”

“I’m taking the doors apart. We’ll be able to see if there’s any interior damage. Then they can get repaired, replace any missing little parts, sand, prime and paint.”

“Are you sure you should be doing all this?” he asked.

Huh? “It’s part of my job. Not fixing the doors will make the rest of the car look funny.”

“I was referring to your pregnancy. Is it safe for you to work here now?”

Oh. That. “I’m still the same person I was yesterday,” she told him firmly. “I’ll be careful about chemicals. I wasn’t going to paint the car, anyway. I’ll want to do some of the sanding by hand, but I’ll wear a protective mask so I don’t breathe in the particles. I’ll avoid solvents. Otherwise, I should be fine. I’m just pregnant-I haven’t morphed into an alien.”

“If you are sure.”

“I am.” The last thing she needed was him having second thoughts about her doing the job. She desperately needed the money.

“Now you see why it is so much easier to hire a man,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes. “If you weren’t royal and my boss, I swear, I’d sock you for saying that.”

He grinned. “Is it true.”

“It’s not true. Men have issues. They come in drunk, aren’t responsible, pick fights.”

“A lot of generalizations.”

She smiled. “You mean like assuming a pregnancy is going to get in the way?”

“Point taken.”

She leaned against the car. “So is yours. My dad would never have admitted it, but I know he would have agreed with you. We used to argue about treating men and women equally. He kept saying they were different halves of the same whole. Yet he didn’t mind my being in a nontraditional job. I think he was even proud of it.”

“I’m sorry I could not meet him.”

“Me, too. You would have liked him.” She smiled as she remembered her father meeting various clients. He never cared about how rich they were or how important. To him, everyone was the same. “I still miss him.”

“You have a lifetime of memories to draw upon.”

“I know. That helps.”

“Would he have enjoyed knowing he would be a grandfather?”

“I hope so,” she admitted. “I know he would have been disappointed by the circumstances. I’m hardly proud of them myself. But he would have been there for me and in the end he would have been happy about the baby. He liked kids a lot. He would have been a great grandpa.”

“Did he like Jon?”

“Yes. They were close. He always thought we’d be a good match. I think that’s part of the reason we stayed together through his illness. Even when things weren’t great between us, we didn’t want to disappoint him.” And Jon hadn’t wanted to leave her alone.

She’d sensed that perhaps even before he’d been able to articulate the problem.

“Jon stood by me through the end and at the funeral. His parents also helped with so much.”

The two families had been connected. That had been part of the problem, too. She and Jon had been walking away from more than just each other.

“When will you tell him?” Qadir asked.

Maggie folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t know.”

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. She could give herself the lecture well enough for both of them.

Jon was the father of her child. He deserved to know there was a baby. He was a good man and he hadn’t done anything wrong. She owed him the truth. But…

“I don’t want to mess up his life,” she admitted slowly. “Knowing about the baby is going to change everything. He’s happy with Elaine. This is the last thing either of them need.”

He continued to study her. She sighed.

“I know, I know. I’ll tell him.”

“What do you think he’ll say?” he asked.

“I have no idea. He’s big on family. I don’t think he can just walk away.”

“Is that what you want?”

“It would be easier for all of us if he would.”

“Life is rarely easy.”

“Agreed. It’s just…a baby will connect us forever. How are we supposed to get on with our lives while we’re so closely tied together?”

“Because you are still in love with him?”

“No. I’m not. I’m long over him.” She’d been over him before that last night together. She just hadn’t realized it yet. “But it creates tension and pressure. No matter who he marries, there will always be this child between them. She may be the first wife, but she won’t have the first child. That will be forever taken from her.”

“Does that matter?”

“I don’t know. I think, for a man, his first child is very important. There’s the whole pride thing. Telling the world he procreated. It’s different for women.”

“Having a child with someone else would still be significant for you?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps it will be so for Jon, as well.”