The Defiant Princess (18 page)

The introductions continued until she came face-to-face with a strikingly beautiful woman at the end of the receiving line.

“Princess Sabihah, may I present Dr Aanya Namir. Dr Namir is the head of the Paediatric Cancer Unit and will be our guide through the ward.”

Dr Namir behaved as all the others in the receiving line had. She bowed prior to accepting Sabrina's handshake. However, her bow seemed to be a token gesture.

“It's a pleasure to welcome you to our ward, Princess,” the doctor told her. But her tone was cool rather than welcoming, and there was a hint of resentment in her eyes as she continued. “Princess Barika was a frequent visitor to our patients. The children are hoping you'll find time to visit them as frequently as she did.”

Oh, yes. A definite challenge in those words before the doctor's expression changed and she all but ate Khalid up with her eyes. The esteemed doctor was flirting with Khalid while Sabrina was right by his side.

A quick glance up at Khalid and the warmth in his gaze made Sabrina wonder just how well the two of them knew each other.

Dr Namir's voice deepened slightly as she said in honeyed tones, “Of course, Prince Khalid, you're welcome to visit any time.”

There was no mistaking just who he was meant to visit and it wasn't the children in the ward. The damned cheek of the woman!

The doctor turned to Sabrina. “Prince Khalid's probably told you that our families are close friends. We share many happy memories from playing together as children … and some from even more recently.”

The pause and the intimate glance Dr Namir sent to Khalid clearly conveyed that the recent memories were nothing like those they shared from their innocent childhood play.

The corrosive acid of jealousy pulsed through Sabrina's veins. Pinning a smile on her face, she placed a possessive hand on Khalid's arm. Quite intentionally, she positioned her hand so the blazing brilliance of the sapphire and diamond engagement ring she wore caught Dr Namir's eye. Despite the pretence of their engagement, Sabrina had felt strangely short-changed the previous night when the ring had been delivered to her suite by an aide with instructions that it was to be worn immediately. Now, she was grateful to have it. It felt like a talisman against the doctor and the negative vibes she gave off.

“I would like to visit the children whenever possible, Dr Namir. Prince Khalid and I will be dividing our time between Turastan and Rhajia, so unfortunately our visits won't be frequent. However, I'm sure we will find time in our schedules to visit here
together
from time to time.”

The doctor's brows drew closer together revealing her displeasure. “I'd forgotten momentarily that you are the Crown Princess of Rhajia. That is, of course, the reason for your betrothal.”

As a put-down it was first class and Sabrina reeled.

Sabrina wasn't used to receiving such bitchy comments and had to clamp her teeth together so her jaw didn't drop open in surprise. When all was said and done, she told herself, she didn't even want to marry Khalid, but still … she found there was no way she could let the comment go. She tried frantically to think of a comeback to put the woman in her place but wasn't fast enough. The brazen insult in the woman's audacious words had floored her.

“I'm looking forward to seeing the upgraded facilities and reopening this ward in honour of my late sister-in-law,” Khalid broke in. “Please lead the way, Aanya.”

Aanya indeed.

Sabrina seethed. Khalid's interruption had allowed Dr Namir to have the last word. She caught his eye and shot him a quick glare.

The corners of his mouth tilted upward in smug response. She got the distinct impression he was enjoying the tension between the two women.

“You'll keep,” she warned him quietly as the doctor led the way.

“I'm counting on it,” he murmured.

While Khalid delivered his speech and officially opened the new ward, Sabrina fumed. Dr Namir continued to stand way too close to him and touched him on the arm proprietarily on several occasions. Then, when doctor spoke to Khalid in hushed tones—excluding Sabrina from their discussion—Sabrina fought the urge to get out of her seat and push the other woman off the edge of the dais.

Finally it was time to move on. The heated words Sabrina had planned to let fly at Khalid as soon as they were alone emptied from her mind when she entered the children's cancer ward. Compassion flowed through her as she met the six children who were battling various forms of cancer. Listening to the struggles they faced, she dug her fingernails into her palms to stop her eyes from misting up. Their strength and bravery touched her deeply.

One frail little girl was particularly ill. Her mother looked as wrung out and exhausted as her daughter.

“How long since you've had a decent sleep?” Sabrina asked the mother.

A tremulous smile accompanied the woman's response. “I cannot remember. I doze off, but I want to be awake by her side in case she needs me.”

“You know the nurses will take care of her while you sleep,” Dr Namir said gently.

The soft compassion in the doctor's tone surprised Sabrina. It seemed the other woman was at least kind to her patients and their parents.

Sabrina sat on the edge of the little girl's bed. “Do you have some favourite story books?”

The small girl nodded and pointed to her bedside cupboard.

“Your Mummy needs a sleep. How would it be if I stayed here to read some stories to you while Mummy has some rest?”

“Princess Sabihah—” Dr Namir began to protest.

“Would that be okay with you?” Sabrina asked the mother.

Tears filled the mother's eyes. She looked stunned at the suggestion and overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Perhaps all the children could gather closer and I could read to them,” Sabrina continued. “I'll stay with your daughter until you return.”

“You honour us, Your Highness,” the mother bowed.

“Not at all. It's I who would be honoured to do this.” Sabrina looked at Khalid. “Please extend our visit.”

Khalid only hesitated a moment before he addressed his chief of security. “Her Royal Highness wishes to delay our departure. Please make the necessary adjustments.”

As Sabrina reached toward the cupboard and grabbed a bundle of the girl's books, she heard Dr Namir suggest silkily, “Khalid, I can give you a tour of other facilities in the hospital while the princess stays here.”

“Princess Sabihah and I will tour the rest of the hospital together another time,” Khalid told her with firm politeness as he placed a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. “I prefer to stay with my fiancée.”

His message was crystal clear and Sabrina was more than a little relieved that he had finally put Dr Namir in her place. Holding on tightly to the storybook, she fought the urge to punch the air and cheer as she watched the expression on the doctor's face sour. It was only a second before the professional mask was firmly back in place, but the good doctor was definitely not happy.

“Please excuse me as I have important work to attend to.” The doctor's words were clipped. As she made a perfunctory bow and took her leave, Sabrina felt some of the tension drain from her body.

Khalid removed his hand and turned to the children and their families. “You may not know this, but Princess Sabihah has been a teacher in Australia.” His whole demeanour was relaxed. Sabrina hadn't seen him look so at ease. “I didn't get the opportunity to hear her read to her class. Do you think I could stay and listen too?”

There was a resounding chorus of agreement from the children, parents and staff, but Sabrina felt uneasy. What was Khalid playing at? She was surprised he'd acquiesced so readily to her announcement that she wanted to stay longer at the hospital. He probably saw this as a good opportunity for publicity.

Whatever. Sabrina wanted to do this. She was glad she was being given the opportunity. While she gave the mother's hand a quick squeeze of reassurance and told her to go and get some rest, Khalid organised the staff to move the other five children so they were closer to Sabrina.

Khalid took off his suit coat and tie and propped himself up on one of the beds that had been shifted forward. A huge knot of awareness coiled deep within Sabrina as she drank in his potent masculinity. Even though he was separated from her by several people, the arc of attraction between them made her throb with desire for him. The fabric of his shirt hugged his shoulders lovingly, the same way she'd bet every female in the room would love to. Herself included.

Unselfconsciously, and apparently unaware of all the female eyes trained on him, he undid the top few buttons of his shirt and exposed the tanned vee at the base of his neck.

Sabrina's breathing shallowed as her eyes were drawn to the spot. It took all her willpower to fight the need to edge closer to him. Any physical contact at all would be good. Alarm bells rang a loud warning in her head because she craved his touch like a drug addict craved narcotics.

For a split-second, their eyes met. A tide of heat started at her chest and flamed through her as she worried that he had read her thoughts. He must have as he wordlessly conveyed a promise that simply told her;
Soon
.

“Please start, Princess Sabihah,” he said and the tension between them broke.

Sabrina swallowed hard and busied herself opening the first book that had been placed on a pile on the bed beside her.

Soon
would be too soon, and yet it would not be soon enough.

She must focus on her task. This was about the children. She would not think about Khalid. She'd ignore his presence and engross herself and the children in the stories.

***

For almost two hours, Sabihah entertained the children with stories. Her expression brought the characters to life. Sometimes her funny asides would have the children rocking with laughter. At one point she had nearly all of them singing, while the medical staff went about their tasks with minimum disruption to her activities.

Khalid watched her in amazement. With each second that ticked by he fell deeper under her spell. It was obvious she was in her element. Her face and voice were animated. Everyone in the room was captivated by her, including him. If someone had told him he'd listen to children's stories for so long and with such rapt attention he would've thought they were crazy, but her voice had a musical lilt which was a balm to soothe his senses.

He puzzled over her quick readiness to stay with the little girl while her mother rested. The empathy she'd shown was new to him. None of the women of his acquaintance would've been prepared to spend the afternoon reading stories to children. Inaya may have agreed if asked to read a single story, but he couldn't imagine her ever suggesting it. He'd always pictured her as a perfect queen because he could see her on his arm at formal occasions, being the perfect hostess. Sabihah, however, was interacting with his subjects in a way that was simply … enchanting.

The senior member of the security team had looked worried that their schedule was being disrupted. Khalid had approached him and asked whether there were any additional risks he should be aware of but the man had admitted that this extra time at the hospital was acceptable.

When the mother returned from her sleep looking a little more rested, Khalid almost regretted the session of storytelling was over. Almost, but not completely. His heart skipped as he recalled the look of pure yearning he'd seen blazing from Sabihah's eyes as he'd caught her watching him. Fierce, elemental desire had surged through him and everything else had faded from their surroundings in those few seconds. The sharp edge of his need to possess her threatened to break through the walls of self-possession he'd worked so hard to erect.

She was a sweet, perfect, yielding temptation—like a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked from the tree.

At the same time she was an infuriatingly distant and prickly desert cactus, denying him even when everything in her responses told him she wanted him with the same degree of insane, carnal intensity. No woman had ever denied him, yet Sabihah had pricked him with her thorns on several occasions. Still, a few thorns were inconsequential. When the desert cactus was in flower, there was nothing quite as beautiful in the entire nation.

Raw, untrammelled hunger pounded through him and he wanted to grab her hand and race her away from here to somewhere they'd be alone and undisturbed.

The words from the senior nurse pulled him back to his surroundings with a jolt. “Thank you, Princess Sabihah. You've brought a great deal of happiness to everyone this afternoon. I hope you and Prince Khalid are blessed with many children. You'll be a wonderful mother.”

Khalid's heart contracted then swelled in his chest as he realised the truth of the words. “Yes, Princess Sabihah will make a good mother,” he agreed as he watched his fiancée move a little jerkily, as though the concept of becoming a mother flustered her.

Children needed their mothers, and having witnessed Sabihah with these children, he believed she would excel at the task.

He could already see that Sabihah was vastly different from his own mother.

Queen Renaha had never been a warm person. She loved her husband, but for some reason her love had never transferred to Hazim or Khalid. King Hassan had cherished his sons, but the only female affection the princes received had been transient and from a passing string of nannies. Every time the boys began to bond with one of their nannies, Queen Renaha seemed to sense and resent it. Though she'd made no effort to be a close and loving mother, she would take exception to any closeness they formed with other females.

Khalid's children would never be subjected to that form of upbringing.

Satisfaction continued to roll through him. Sabihah lusted for him rather than loved him, which suited him down to the ground. He didn't need the complications of love.