NOVEL: CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Pride and Audacity (Complete)Part 22— The End

A stranger — a secret agreement — a changed destiny

He was the last man on earth she wanted, but she was the only woman on earth he’d have…From the skyscrapers of New York City to the ancient sands of Ahalamin, two untamed hearts war for supremacy.

The first few steps were torture. The music filling the air took on the cadence of a funeral march. The expansive room shrank, inducing a claustrophobic panic that constricted Victoria’s muscles. She began to shake. If she didn’t get control, she wasn’t going to make it to Rashid.

Locking her eyes on his back, she forced her reluctant feet to move forward. After a few steps, people began to take notice and back up, giving her and the children a corridor through the room.

She glanced at the children. They formed a queue behind her with Emily holding tightly to Aaron’s hand. The girls focused on their feet, and Aaron studied the row of faces above him.

A significant hush began to crawl across the sea of people. By the time she reached the gap between the gathered crowd and Rashid’s small group, an expectant stillness hung in the air.

She watched as Rashid scanned the crowd for an explanation for the sudden cessation of sound. She knew the instant he recognized her. His whole body went taut. He seemed to grow six inches taller in a second. His long fingers curled into fists and his eyes took on the likeness of black diamonds. He took two quick steps toward her and then stopped.

Sure she was going to choke or faint before she could complete her plan, she blocked his scowling disapproval from her mind. Instead, she swiped a growing number of inescapable tears from her cheek. Love gave her the strength and motivation to force her feet to move the last ten feet toward him.

In the shadowed periphery of her mind, she knew the children followed. Were there only ten feet left to go? Why did it seem like a mile?

With her eyes lowered, she could no longer gauge Rashid’s expression. No matter, his anger was a tangible force. She didn’t have to see his eyes. She knew the black fury they held.

The air around her became even more unforgiving in its condemning silence. Inches in front of him, she lowered her body to rest on her knees. Like a condemned prisoner before her judge, she bent over and placed her forehead to the polished ebony sheen of his shoe.

The collective gasp of two hundred onlookers punctuated her humiliation. Keeping her head lowered to hide the profusion of tears dripping onto her lap; she rose to her knees and held her position in silence.

“Toria, Toria,” Aaron screamed and broke from Emily’s grasp. Emily ran after him and picked him up from behind.

“Aaron, hush,” chided his sister.

Victoria sensed the sudden jerk in Rashid’s body. She turned and spoke to Aaron. “It’s all right, Aaron…”

“Silence, woman,” Rashid growled the command at her.

Victoria clamped her teeth together. She wanted to scream in her impotence. Then a chill ran up her spine as she heard Breeze’s voice.

“Please, Sir Prince. Don’t be mad. Aaron didn’t mean to misbehave. He’s just too little to understand.”

Rashid stepped away from Victoria and moved toward her children. She turned on her knees to watch the exchange while using every ounce of trust to keep still. Rashid towered over her daughter who was staring straight into his angry face.

In a gentle voice that contradicted his posture, Rashid addressed Breeze. “What is the boy’s name?”

“Aaron. He’s my brother. And that’s Emily and Talli.”

“And what is your name?”

“Breeze Chantal Davar.”

Victoria knew Breeze had forgotten all her training. She gave Rashid the full impact of her mud-puddle eyes and quivering smile.

“What does this woman have to do with all of you,” Rashid asked with a sweep of his imperious hand?

“She’s our mother. Victoria adopted us and made us a family. She loved us when no one else wanted to.” Breeze motioned for Emily and Talli to come closer. With her head up and her chin jutted in firm control, she delivered their conciliatory decision to Rashid. “We have all agreed that if you will not be mad at our mother anymore…” Her voice broke with a sob. “If you will let her stay with you…we will go back to the orphanage.”

Victoria’s heart broke in raw emotion. She started to move toward her children. “Stay where you are,” commanded Rashid.

Victoria shot him a mutinous glare, fire dancing in her blue eyes. Rashid, read the message she sent and returned one of his own. Black flame and blue fire clashed across the space separating them until the blue flame banked its heat and slowly cooled to a flickering ember. Her husband’s lip curled in satisfaction and he returned his attention to the children.

“What makes you think she wishes to stay with me?” he asked Breeze.

Talli stepped forward. Her face puckered in near tears. “Cause, she told us so. She said you broked up her heart. That was very mean. You should say you’re sorry.” Her reproachful look left no doubt as to her loyalties.

Emily stepped forward next, pulling Aaron along with her. “Victoria loves you very much. We want her to be happy again, and we will do whatever it takes.”

“Yes,” added Breeze. “Sometimes we sit outside her bedroom at night, when she doesn’t know, and listen to her cry. You don’t have to take us, but please, please take our mother and her baby to live with you.”

Rashid whirled toward Victoria and searched her open eyes. The unguarded truth stared back at him. He stood and stared at her for what seemed like hours. Then his words sealed her fate.

“Rise, Victoria.” Turning to the children, he crouched down to their eye level. “I will always be in your debt. You are very brave, and because of your unselfish love, you’ve restored the heart of my kingdom. Now, go to your mother; she is concerned for you.”

Sudden, mood-altering applause arose from the Western and European guests alike. From Ahalamin’s loyal subjects, nods of poised approval sealed the momentous occasion. Rashid looked startled as though he’d forgotten their public forum.

Califar appeared at his side. “Can I be of assistance, my Lord?”

“If I were to guess, I would say you have already assisted me.” With this statement, he clasped Califar’s arm. “I need you to take my place as host. I seem to have a family to get acquainted with.”

Rashid gestured to Victoria. “We are leaving. Gather the children.”

Not a small task as the children were engaged in an early victory dance. She was still trying to get Aaron to stand still while Rashid advanced several feet ahead. Mortified at her less-than-perfect mothering skills, she endeavored to get all her children in the right position to follow him out of the crowded hall. Her spirits plummeted when Rashid turned and retraced his steps. Without a word, he reached down and lifted a speechless Aaron into his arms. The girls quieted immediately.

Just like the arrogant man, thought Victoria, already her children were his obedient subjects. He turned and retraced his steps. She and the girls fell in behind him. Then, without warning, he halted his stride. She wondered what was wrong when his voice gave a clear, direct command.

“Victoria, come here please.”

Confused, she did as he asked. When she reached his side, he spoke again in a voice clearly raised so all could hear. A resolve, the strength of which surprised her, engraved his words upon the air, etching them permanently for all time.

“Always, you will walk at my side. As the keeper of my heart, the mother of my children, and Ahalamin’s Princess of Fire, this is your right.”

Speechless, she accompanied him through the amazed throng of onlookers. When they entered the privacy of the Princess Garden, Rashid turned and wrapped his free arm around her in one soul-bonding movement. He lifted her completely off the ground to meld his mouth to hers. She twined a leg around one of his and let the friction of his kiss set her on fire. Parting her lips for him, she held nothing back.

Her heart beat frantically against her chest as his fingers dug into her back, drawing her tighter to his body. She poured herself into the kiss until his body shuddered, like her own, in the realization they both held what they most desired. They’d risen above the odds. With love, they’d forged two opposing lives into one yielding heart.

A squishy wet smack brought both of them back to time and place. Aaron, still in Rashid’s other arm, joined the kissing game, adding his kiss to Victoria’s cheek. Drugged from the power of Rashid’s embrace, Victoria flushed with embarrassment. Their audience of three little girls looked as if they were about to swoon from their own brand of ecstasy. Aaron wasn’t through. With a mischievous grin, he also planted a squishy smack on Rashid’s cheek. Her husband’s heart-healing gift of laughter rang throughout the palace, forging their family bond.

Epilogue

~ Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame ~ Henry David Thoreau

Marveling at the changes the last seven months had brought to her life, Victoria hardly recognized herself. One man anchored her entire existence. At the center of her life, he was the nucleus around which her every dream, hope, and desire revolved. She loved him more than life itself and knew his love for her was the same.

He’d introduced her and the children to the people of Ahalamin with great pride and ceremony. They had traveled from one end of Ahalamin to the other, enjoying the luxurious hospitality of the very elite, and the simple graciousness of the Bedouin tribes.

When she’d rounded heavily with child, custom dictated she limit her public appearances. After so much travel, she enjoyed lingering in the palace, lavished with care and attention. Pictures of her five children played across her mind. The girls were enamored with their princess status. Rashid wanted his daughters to appreciate their new culture, so he spent many hours with them, answering questions, explaining customs, and showering them with affection. He made the girls’ transition into a culture more restrictive than their own much easier than Victoria had thought possible. He’d won their hearts and trust.

On the other hand, Aaron, who had always been surrounded by doting women and who dabbled in constant misadventure, was finding having a father not altogether a pleasant experience. His fondness for sneaking away to wander and explore on his own had put the whole household in an uproar more than once.

In amusement, she remembered his last escapade. He’d disappeared again. This time, having searched in vain for over two hours, his father was called from a meeting. Rashid assured her he knew all the best hiding places from his own childhood and she would soon have her errant son returned to her. True to his word, Rashid returned her son, teary-eyed and apologetic. She wasn’t sure what transpired between father and son, but Aaron started confining his adventures to acceptable limits.

Little Aziz, with his father’s tawny skin, black hair, and her own azure eyes, was everyone’s delight. Her pregnancy had not been difficult; however, Rashid’s watchful care more than once moved her to scream with frustration. Giving in to him, she learned to accept his solicitous restrictions and even found she rather enjoyed his constant attention. His insistence on being present at the birth of their son surprised her. The reverence in his voice when he thanked her for the gift of his child would stay in her heart forever.

She took a seat on the marble bench at the center of the Princess Garden and basked in the light spilling from the terrace. Its warm, golden hues cast an intimate softness over the night. Seduction laced the jasmine-scented breeze dancing through the tendrils of her hair. Next to her, the pool’s mirror-like surface reflected the moon’s crescent image. Shimmering arcs of ruby light refracted off the tiny sequins covering her dress and bejeweled the moon’s reflection.

The sparkle in her own eyes marked her as a woman in love. All she needed was the object of her desire to appear. She waited for her husband. More often than not, she mused, that very task appeared to be her primary contribution to Ahalamin’s prosperity.

Females generally didn’t attend most business and some social functions, a custom which sharply limited her time with Rashid. Since he was so good about setting aside blocks of time to spend exclusively with his family, she tried hard to endure his absences with graciousness.

Besides, she enjoyed having time to spend on the work she did for him behind the scenes. Her financial background gave her the skills needed to help plan the many innovative civil programs her husband planned for Ahalamin. He’d completely surprised her with the opportunity. She had her own office within their private quarters, and since most of her work was done over the computer, it did not interfere with Rashid’s primary requirement. Fulfilling that requirement was not a hardship. In fact, she loved being first and foremost his wife. It took some ingenious planning to fit her schedule to his, but his happiness was reward enough.

Working in her home office also gave her time to spend with their children. Although she had a full staff of tutors and attendants for the children, she loved being fully involved in their activities. She was slowly winning over their tutors to the idea that recess, outings, field trips, and old-fashioned picnics were a very important part of their educational curriculum.

Jessica’s recent visit was a surprise and a joy. She’d played with the children, spoiled six-week-old Aziz, amused Rashid, and engaged Califar in a constant state of conflict. She had left for home that afternoon, but not before leaving Victoria with an audacious gift. The card simply read, ‘Girl Power.’

The gift was perfectly timed since, on this night, Victoria didn’t want to be a mother; she wanted to be a wife. Her hand glided along the hem of her sequined-covered, red-hot, spandex dress. The hem cupped just under her bottom and the top barely covered her breasts, leaving an ample amount of cleavage to entice her husband.

The gift excited Victoria, infusing her with a playful audacity. Tonight, for her husband, she wanted to be alluring and sensual. Thanks to her friend, she was dressed for the occasion. Her mouth curved in a grin. Imagining Rashid’s reaction to Jessica’s little gift heightened her impatience. She dipped her fingers into the pool. Ripples slid across her reflected image, lending the picture an aura of enchanting mystery. The night’s enthralling aura would be her ally as she played with her Desert Prince.

Playing with Rashid was never a relaxing pastime though. With a glance or touch, he could turn playtime into seduction. She never knew what her uninhibited husband would do; he shocked and thrilled her in turn. She adjusted the strap on her silver and rhinestone shoe. In her note, Jessica insisted the five-inch heels would give Victoria a tactical advantage she was sorely lacking.

“Victoria, are you in the garden?”

Rashid’s voice startled her out of her musings. Standing in the light of the open archway, dressed in his formal robes, he was a vision of exotic masculinity. The mere sight of him caused her heart rhythm to accelerate. She clenched her thighs and rubbed her dewy palms together.

“I’m by the pool.”

“You should come in. The hour is late; you need your rest.”

“I don’t want to rest, and I’m not coming in.”

She could tell by the way his shoulders stiffened he was taken aback by her defiant tone. He would not ignore such a response. In fact, she was counting on it. He strode forward. Stopping a few feet from her, he peered through tightened lids as his eyes adjusted to the shadowed light. She knew exactly when his vision cleared. Burning black eyes snapped open in disbelief.

His voice rasped. “Victoria, this is not appropriate attire.”

“Are you sure?” A naughty giggle surfaced as her excitement grew. “Look again, Husband.”

Easing up from the bench, she gave herself time to adjust to the height of her heels. Then, moving as seductively as she could without toppling over, she approached him and pressed her soft curves to his enticing hardness. Encircling his neck with her bare arms, she lifted herself on tiptoe and ran the tip of her tongue across his bottom lip. His guttural moan, and the speed with which he wrapped his arms around her, satisfied her need for his complete attention.

His hands slid down her back and rested on her hips. Pulling her tighter against his body, he nuzzled her ear and whispered. “I have missed you these weeks since the birth of our child. I love our son, but abstinence and patience are a burdensome price to pay for such a small package.” Rashid gave her one of his boyish grins.

“My lord, you are grievously burdened.” She chuckled.

“But, no longer, I think.” His eyes lowered, lingering on the curve of her breasts.

“Do you love me?” asked Victoria.

“You are my desert…my sky,” he quickly replied.

Victoria pulled back slightly and gazed into his face. “But, do you love me?”

“Woman, have I not just said so?”

“Not exactly. Could you just say it in plain English to satisfy my Americanized mind?” She wanted the words as well as the man.

Running his hands up her body, he framed her face and placed soft, wet kisses along her cheek while he spoke. “Never had I met a woman I could not walk away from…until you. You made me hunger for more than a woman’s body. I wanted your warrior’s soul and your uncompromising heart. You have owned me since the first time your eyes challenged mine. Without you, I am but an image with no substance. I will love you all my life, and if Allah so wishes, all of eternity — and still — I will love you more.”

A silver-tongued, desert pirate for sure, thought Victoria. Smiling, she gave herself up to his embrace. Running her hand behind his head, she brought his mouth to hers, reveling in the dominant pressure of his marauding lips. He was both selfish and generous in his passion, driving her forward as the desert storms drove the sand…relentlessly. There was no turning back. But, then, turning back was the last thing she wanted to do.

Rashid dragged his mouth from hers. His steely arms lifted her and he strode purposefully toward their bedroom’s open doorway. Warm, desert air intimately caressed her back and thighs as if she were naked. In bemusement, she realized she was. Glancing over Rashid’s shoulder, she saw the shimmer of red sequins where they lay on the tawny, garden tiles. Her audacious accomplice winked at her with mischievous red flickers.

THE END

If you’ve enjoyed Victoria and Rashid’s story, please consider recommending it to your friends and sharing it on social media. ~ I thank you, Lynda

SEQUEL

If you’re wondering what became of Califar and Jessica, Their story is entitled: CROSSING THE CHASM. You can find the tab at the top of the homepage.

Read from the beginning…