heartbeat.”
His expression softened. “So soon?”
“We can try,” the technician told him.
“I would like to stay and listen.”
Maggie thought about fighting him, but what was the point?
She lay back down and was hooked up to the monitor. A few minutes later, a soft, steady beating filled the room.
It was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard and it terrified her to the bone. There really was a baby. She was going to be a mother and responsible for the life growing inside her.
What if she wasn’t any good? What if she messed everything up? Then she remembered her father and how much he’d loved her. She wanted that for herself and her child.
She turned to look at Qadir, to see if he understood the wonder of the moment and was crushed to find he had slipped out when she wasn’t paying attention. Apparently he hadn’t cared as much as he claimed.
“It was the sound,” Qadir said as he once again paced, but this time in his brother’s quarters.
“A heartbeat?” Kateb sounded unimpressed.
“Yes, but more than that. I cannot explain what it was like. There in the room. Proof of life.”
“You know this isn’t your child,” Kateb said.
Qadir dismissed the information. “Not the child of my body, but we are still connected. I will forbid her to leave. It is within my power.”
“Not without reason,” his brother reminded him. “You could always drag her into the desert. I know places where you will never be found.”
“Maggie would not enjoy the desert,” Qadir said, wondering why she had to be so difficult and how he could convince her she had to stay. “There must be something I am not saying to her. Something she wants to hear.”
His brother looked at him. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“What?”
“You really don’t understand why she’s not happy with you?”
“And you do?”
Kateb stood and faced him. “She’s a woman. She wants to be loved.”
Qadir stiffened. “No. I will not.”
“Because you loved Whitney and she walked away?”
Qadir ignored the question. He would not speak of her with his brother. The pain was too-
He paused. There was no pain. Whitney had been many years ago. Perhaps she was the reason he was reluctant to fully engage his heart, but he no longer cared for her in any way. But to risk loving again…
“Whitney didn’t stay because she couldn’t face what being your wife meant,” Kateb said. “Is that Maggie’s problem?”
“No. She is fearless.” Feisty and determined. She challenged him. He enjoyed her challenges, especially in bed.
“So the problem seems to be you.”
Qadir glared. “I have proposed. She has refused. The problem is hers.”
“Did you tell her you love her?”
“No.”
“Did it ever occur to you that you should?”
He started to explain to his brother that the problem was he didn’t love Maggie, but he couldn’t seem to speak the words. Why was that?
“I do love her,” he announced. “I love Maggie.”
Kateb smirked. “Then you should probably go and tell her.”
Maggie left the palace in a cab. She supposed she could have gotten one of the limo drivers to take her, but somehow that didn’t seem right.
She had the driver wait for a few minutes, hoping Victoria would show up to say goodbye, but she did not. Her friend had disappeared, leaving only a note saying her father had unexpectedly arrived and that she would try to stop by if she could.
Finally Maggie got in the cab and they drove away.
She stared out at the passing city, trying to take in the beauty of it all. Anything to keep her mind off her sadness. She’d come to El Deharia with high hopes and was leaving with a broken heart. She would miss her friend. Even more, she would miss the man she loved.
Alone, near tears, she admitted to herself that she had hoped he would at least try to talk her into staying. She’d hoped for one more annoying conversation where he told her what to do and she refused. At least then she could see him one more time. But he hadn’t bothered.
She told herself she would get over him, even as a part of her knew that she was going to love him forever. Eventually she might be able to find a man she could like a lot, but the arrogant prince would always have her heart. Unfortunately he was too stupid to appreciate that.
Once at the busy airport, she paid the driver and walked into the terminal. She stood in line to check in. When it was her turn, the clerk took her electronic ticket and her passport and typed into the computer. The young woman frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked.
“There seems to be a problem, Ms. Collins. I’m going to have to ask you to speak with one of our security officers.”
“What?”
Before she could find out what was going on, she was whisked into a small room with a single desk, two chairs and no windows. An official-looking little man stacked her luggage in the corner before facing her.
“Ms. Collins, I’m very sorry, but I’m going to have to arrest you.”
This couldn’t be happening, Maggie thought. It was a joke. It had to be.
“For what?”
“Violating El Deharian law. You are pregnant?”
“That has nothing to do with anything.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. It is illegal to remove a royal child from the country without permission from the king. You have no such permission.”
She sank into the chair. Disbelief warred with despair. Wasn’t her life sucky enough without this happening?
“The baby isn’t Qadir’s,” she said, not looking at the little man. “I know what the papers said, but they’re wrong. If you would just call him, he’ll tell you that and you can let me go.”
“That is the one thing I cannot do.”
That voice!
Maggie stood and saw Qadir had entered the small room. He walked to her and took her hands in his as the security agent left.
She didn’t know what to think. “Why are you here?”
“Because you left before I could speak with you. Because if you leave, I will only follow and that will make us both look foolish.”
His dark gaze burned down to her soul. “Maggie, I have realized what is wrong. Why you won’t stay and marry me.”
“I doubt that.”
He smiled. “You are difficult and stubborn and I never wish to tame you.”
“I’m fairly untamable.”
“Even for the man who loves you?”
Time froze. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, could only stare into Qadir’s face.
“I love you,” he said firmly. “I want you to stay so we can be together. I want you to stay so I can be a father
