Lucy Gordon - The Sheikh’s Reward

‘Don’t jeer at me. I know he isn’t as powerful as you-’

‘He is nothing like me at all. And that’s why you’ve chosen him, isn’t it?’

‘What’s the point of talking about it?’ she said wearily. ‘Maybe I will marry Howard, maybe I won’t-’

‘Don’t tell me he’s hesitating?’ Ali’s face darkened and he turned away quickly. ‘He’s a fool,’ he said over his shoulder.

‘No, just a very cautious man.’

‘If he was a clever man he would seize you while he had the chance.’

‘Exactly,’ she said in despair. ‘Seize. That will always be the way you think.’

Suddenly she realised what a dangerous thing she’d done in coming here. This was Ali’s territory, where she could simply be taken prisoner again.

At that moment he turned and their eyes met. With a gasp Fran seized up her bag, ran for the door, pulled it open and hurried out into the hall.

The doorman on duty was the same one as last time. He’d learned his lesson by now, and stood in front of the front door, arms folded.

Ali came out behind her. Fran turned to look at him with a face full of accusation.

‘Let her go,’ he said.

The porter stared, not sure he’d heard properly.

‘Let her go!’

The door opened, and the next moment Fran was gone.

THE buzzer went on Howard Marks’s desk. ‘Someone to see you, Mr Marks,’ came his secretary’s voice.

‘You must forgive my arriving without an appointment,’ said the man in the doorway. ‘But my business is rather urgent.’

‘Your Highness,’ Howard said, rising hastily to his feet. ‘This is an unexpected honour.’

Ali regarded him askance. A voice was running through his head, making an ironic commentary on what was happening. It was unnerving because it was unfamiliar. In fact, it had never happened before he met Fran.

But the voice was there now, observing coolly, After the rumours this man has heard he should be wanting to sock me on the jaw, not declaring my company to be an honour.

But his smile gave no sign of this as he approached Howard’s desk and began to unload his briefcase.

‘Recent disturbing events have compelled me to make alterations in my financial arrangements,’ he said smoothly. ‘Men that I thought I could trust have turned out to be thieves. For this revelation I am greatly indebted to Miss Frances Callam, whose visit to my country has been most beneficial.’

‘I had heard that she’d been to Kamar,’ Howard said cautiously.

Ask me about it, damn you! said the voice. Threaten to break my neck if I laid a finger on her, as I would do with you.

When Howard said nothing Ali continued, ‘She persuaded me to break my normal rule and give her unprecedented access for her feature. I am now very glad that I did so. I have learned to trust her judgement.’

‘I have always admired Miss Callam’s business sense,’ Howard said gravely.

‘It was her recommendation that persuaded me to seek you out and suggest that you take on some of Kamar’s business.’

‘Indeed!’ Howard said.

Oh, Diamond, if you could see this man’s face now! At the mention of business his eyes light up as they never did at the sound of your name.

For an hour they went through papers together. When they had finished Ali said casually, ‘Miss Callam informs me that you are in line to become chief executive.’

‘It should be a certainty now,’ Howard observed with a grin, looking at the papers.

‘I hope so,’ Ali said formally. ‘It would please me to help to promote your marriage with Miss Callam, which I understand is imminent.’

‘Did she say so?’ Howard asked eagerly.

‘She spoke of you in the highest possible terms.’

‘I say! By Jove! Really? Always a bit hard to know what’s going on in Fran’s mind. She keeps her secrets, you know.’

‘Not from you, I feel sure,’ Ali said. ‘But I am emboldened to touch on a delicate matter, so that there may be no misunderstandings. I hope your mind is entirely without suspicion regarding Miss Callam. Her visit to my country was made solely in pursuit of her feature. She never forgot what was due to you, and she was treated at all times with respect.’

In saying this Ali was not conscious of uttering a falsehood. Respect had always been a part of his feelings for Fran, and it was when she had lain in his arms in the throes of passion that his respect for her had been deepest.

‘Well, naturally,’ Howard said, with an awkward laugh. ‘I never imagined anything else.’

Then you should have done. If such a beautiful woman were mine-as I once dreamed she was-I would suffer torments at the thought of her under the eyes of men.

Aloud Ali said, ‘Then all is well. I look forward to hearing of your marriage. I return to Kamar tonight, and you will be hearing from me soon.’

He inclined his head and left the room. Howard stared at the door for a moment, puzzled. At last he muttered, ‘Funny fellow!’

Fran’s flat was tiny by the side of her palatial apartment in Kamar, but now it felt like a refuge, and she loved it. It was on the ground floor, with French windows that opened onto a garden. On summer evenings she could sit with them open, looking out at the garden and listening to soft music.

That was what she was doing when Howard phoned her. But as she listened to what he had to say her relaxed mood was shattered.

‘He actually came to see you?’ she asked, dazed.

‘You should see the business he’s putting my way. Every bank in the world is after Kamari money and this should just about clinch it for me getting the job.’

He droned on about the job for a few minutes. Fran listened on automatic, trying to take in this astonishing new development.

‘You seem to have made a big impression on him,’ Howard said. ‘I didn’t follow everything but I gather this has something to do with you.’

‘I helped to show that he was being defrauded,’ Fran said, through stiff lips.

‘That’s it. When he talked about us handling some of his affairs, he almost made it sound like he was giving you a dowry.’

‘A-dowry?’

‘Yes, he said he hoped we’d be happy and all that. He seemed to think your reputation had been compromised, and he wanted to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood. Good of him, wasn’t it?’

‘Very good,’ Fran whispered.

‘So, all that remains now is to set the date. Why don’t we have lunch tomorrow?’

She answered mechanically and hung up as soon as she could.

It was over, and now she knew the truth. Ali had acted out of possessiveness, not love, and he was probably glad to be rid of her. He was certainly acting like a man who wanted to draw a line under the whole business. She had been right to leave him.

But the ache of regret in her heart, for what might have been, couldn’t be stilled.

It was getting late, and the light in the garden was beginning to fade. Fran switched on a small lamp and went to close the curtains. Then she started back with a gasp.

‘I came to say goodbye,’ Ali said.

‘You-’

‘Forgive me for not coming to the front door. I preferred to be discreet, having already caused you so much trouble. I also wanted to return these.’

He held out the files she’d left behind when she’d fled his house.

‘Thank you,’ she said blankly.

An awkward silence fell. This was the last time she would ever see him, and she didn’t know what to say.

‘Howard called me,’ she said at last.

‘Good. So now all is well.’

‘Is it?’

‘I finally understood what you’d been trying to tell me all this time. I thought I could give you everything, but all you wanted was to be free of me, and I wouldn’t see it. I can love you best by letting you go. So let this be the end.’

‘The end?’ she whispered.

‘I shall never trouble you again; you have my word on that. That’s why I had to seek this last meeting, and tell you what was in my heart. From you I have learned many things: that love is more than passion, and the freedom of the heart is beyond price. It is over, Scheherazade. And you have won.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ she cried, her eyes stinging with tears. She turned away so that he shouldn’t see.

‘It is how I shall always think of you, what I shall always call you in my heart. My Scheherazade, who set all my power at nothing, and outwitted me in the end. You have defeated me. Go in peace. Remember me kindly if you can. Forget me if you will. You, I shall never forget.’

She drew a deep shuddering breath at a strange note she heard in his voice, something that had never been there before. She forced herself to turn and face him.

But there was nobody there, only the curtains waving gently in the breeze.

On the flight home to Kamar, the prince sat in heavy silence, and nobody dared to approach him. When they landed he got into the back of the car without speaking, and was conveyed quickly to the palace.

‘You did right, my son,’ Elise said when she heard the whole story. ‘Doubtless this is the best thing for her.’

‘Will she be happy, Mother?’

‘How can I tell? Was she happy with you?’

‘I thought so-sometimes. But I was deluding myself. I saw what I wanted to see. I thought because I wanted her she must want me. I am wiser now.’

He spoke with a calm simplicity that might have fooled a casual onlooker. But Elise was not fooled. She saw the wretchedness in his eyes, heard the despair in his voice, and knew that this was a man whose life had ended.

‘I am feeling a little tired,’ she said with a sigh.

Instantly he was beside her. ‘Have you seen the doctor?’

‘Goodness, no. I’m not ill, merely tired.’

‘You must take care of yourself, Mother.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘You are all I have now.’