Читать книгу Modern Romance May 2017 Books 5 – 8 - Bella Frances, Louise Fuller - Страница 24

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

GABI NEVER FORGOT.

Even as she sat in her tiny flat, consoling poor Sophie, Alim was not far from her mind.

For nearly a week, Sophie had been around every day bemoaning the loss of her job and the man who had caused it—Bastiano Conti.

‘I would never steal,’ Sophie said. ‘But if I did, I would not steal some stupid emerald and pearl ring. It would be diamonds.’

She made Gabi laugh, and in the second that the world felt lighter, Alim invaded, for her phone rang and the fragile peace was shattered.

‘Why,’ Alim asked, ‘are you still living in that flat, when there is an apartment at the Grande Lucia at your disposal?’

She gave an apologetic smile to Sophie and went through to her bedroom to take the call.

Lucia was asleep in her crib and Gabi kept her voice down so as not to disturb her, and also because she did not want Sophie to hear.

‘Because I refuse to be kept by you.’

‘Your daughter has a father who will provide for her.’ Alim gave in, he refused to argue on the phone when he would see Gabi soon, but there was something he badly needed to know.

‘How is Lucia?’

‘She slept through last night for the first time.’

‘That is good. I am in Rome and I would like to meet her.’

Gabi screwed her eyes closed.

She had been dreading this, had been preparing herself for this moment. He had told her that nothing would stop him from seeing his child, and yet again Alim was a step ahead for she had at least thought there would be time to prepare for their meeting.

‘When?’

‘This afternoon. Is that a problem for you?’

‘No,’ Gabi admitted. ‘I’ve got a couple of days off.’

‘Really?’

‘Bernadetta told me not to come in this weekend,’ Gabi said. ‘I’m not sure if I’ve been fired. I asked Bernadetta for a partnership...’

Alim, it would seem, had lost interest in her career plans for he spoke over Gabi. ‘Can you bring Lucia to me at the Grande Lucia at one?’

She looked around her home; no, she could not imagine him here.

‘For how long?’

‘The afternoon,’ Alim answered calmly. ‘Say, until five?’

No, that was the part she dreaded, for Gabi knew she would have to get over him all over again.

Sophie was terribly hard to get rid of, but Gabi pulled out an excuse and, sounding like Bernadetta, told her friend that she had a migraine.

‘That came on quickly,’ Sophie said.

‘Yes, they tend to.’

Thankfully Sophie soon left and, wishing she could lie down in a darkened room and hide from the world for a while, Gabi bathed her slippery baby and washed her hair and then she fed her.

‘You’re going to meet your daddy,’ Gabi told her.

And though Gabi was worried for herself, and her absolute drop-knickers reaction to Alim, at least today she had the shield of her daughter. Alim would be far too besotted with Lucia to worry about other things.

And, more importantly, she was so happy for Lucia.

No, history was not repeating itself—this little girl would have a dad.

Of sorts.

And so, just before one, Gabi walked into the foyer of the Grande Lucia, as she had done many, many times, but then she stopped in her tracks.

The pillar display in the middle of the foyer was no longer its trademark red. Instead, there was a stunning display of sweet peas.

Pinks, lilacs and creams, they were absolutely stunning and she stood for a moment, enjoying the wonderful change.

‘They’re for you,’ Gabi said to her daughter. ‘He did this for you!’

Her happiness soon evaporated, though. She was met by Violetta, and it would seem that both baby and mother required preparation to enter the Sultan’s world.

Pride had ensured that Gabi had dressed as well as she could for today, and little Lucia was wearing a gorgeous outfit and was wrapped in a new muslin square.

It wasn’t enough.

And it wasn’t just Lucia who had to be prepared.

There was a silver robe laid out for Gabi and, she quickly realised, Violetta had an assistant to do her make-up and hair.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ Gabi said. ‘I’m here so that Alim can see his baby.’

‘The Sultan—’ Violetta started, but Gabi would not hear it.

‘He didn’t tell me he was a sultan when he took me to bed,’ Gabi interrupted. ‘And I am not here as his mistress. I am here as the mother of his child.’

Violetta blinked, clearly more used to people bending over backwards to please the Sultan. Well, no bending over would be happening today.

‘This is Hannan,’ Violetta introduced them. ‘She is a royal nanny of considerable standing and will help get the baby ready to meet Sultan Alim.’

‘Her name is Lucia,’ Gabi said. ‘And she is ready.’

This time Violetta paid no attention.

The muslin was replaced with a cashmere wrap and Gabi bit her lip as Hannan dared check that her baby was clean enough for the Sultan’s eyes.

It incensed Gabi but for now she stayed quiet.

Lucia did not.

She let out a cry of protest as her face was wiped.

‘Perhaps we will wait till after she is fed so that she is content when she sees the Sultan,’ Hannan suggested.

‘She isn’t due to be fed for another three hours.’ Gabi said. ‘And, given I’m due to leave at five, it would make it a very short first visit with her father.’

‘Perhaps just a small feed,’ Hannan suggested. ‘The Sultan is not yet here.’

Gabi clutched her daughter, and already ached for her, unable to believe that Alim could be late for his first meeting with his daughter.

The wait was awful.

But finally the words were said. ‘The Sultan is ready for you.’

The real question was, was she ready to face Alim?

His offer that she be his mistress had been met with the contempt it deserved.

Yet talking to herself was easy when Alim wasn’t close.

She picked up little Lucia and held her close and when Hannan came over to check again that her baby was sweet and clean enough to meet her father for the first time, Gabi shot her a look.

Wisely, Hannan stepped back.

The small entourage walked along the long carpeted corridor and Gabi did her best not to think of the last time she had been here—being kissed up against these walls, falling together through the door that Violetta now knocked on.

Making love.

She walked in, holding Lucia to her chest, with Violetta and Hannan by her side.

Alim stood by a window in his immaculate reception room. The fire that had blazed as he’d stripped her naked was now devoid of flames and filled with an autumnal floral display.

A tamed version of itself.

Just like Alim.

He was wearing a suit and was clean shaven, and though he looked somewhat less formidable out of traditional robes, not for a moment would she forget his power.

‘I apologise for keeping you waiting,’ he said by way of introduction, but offered no explanation for the reason he had done so. He looked over at Violetta and Hannan. ‘Excuse us, please.’ Polite, in all dealings outside the bedroom, Alim dismissed his staff and Gabi stood, a little awkwardly, as Alim’s eyes flicked down to the baby she held in her arms, though he did not approach.

‘She’s just been fed,’ Gabi said with a distinct edge to her voice, ‘to ensure that she’s no trouble for you.’

‘Did they feed you too?’ Alim asked, implying he knew full well that it was the mother who was trouble, and he saw that she resisted a smile.

‘No,’ Gabi said.

‘Then I had better watch out.’

Indeed he had, for Gabi made her own rules, and that, his father had pointed out, might make her an unwise choice for a sultan’s bride.

He walked over and peered at the bundle that she held—their tiny baby hidden in a swathe of cashmere.

Gabi watched as his hand moved back the fabric. She heard the slight hitch in his breath as, for the first time, he met his daughter.

She had dark hair, like her parents’, and her dark lashes swept over round cheeks. Her little rosebud mouth was pink and her skin as pale as Gabi’s.

And she was beautiful.

Alim had been raised knowing he would one day be Sultan of Sultans, yet he met true responsibility now, for he would move mountains for his daughter and she had not even opened her eyes to look at him.

He looked up to Gabi and saw that her eyes were angry.

Though she held Lucia tenderly, Gabi’s stance was almost confrontational, and he loved that she would do anything to protect not just her daughter but herself.

She was a wise choice indeed.

And for Gabi he had moved mountains.

Though Alim would tell her that later, right now he was overwhelmed to see Lucia.

‘Can I hold her?’

Gabi handed him their child and it was the first awkward move she had ever seen him make.

Indeed, it was awkward at first, for Lucia was so light and she moved and stirred as she went into her father’s arms, and he held her perhaps a little too firmly.

Gabi said nothing; she did not tell him to watch her head and she did not move to hush her daughter, who was starting to wakeup; instead, she walked over and took a seat.

She was close to tears, watching him hold their daughter so tenderly and witnessing the obvious love he had for Lucia.

It didn’t feel fair that they could never be a family. She wanted to go over to where he took a seat, she wanted to be with the two people she loved.

His part-time lover.

The desert still tempted her. Alim always would.

Then Lucia opened her eyes.

Alim had never doubted that Lucia was his—had he, though, he would have been proved a fool, for her eyes were navy, turning to grey, and there were the same silver flecks that greeted him in the mirror each morning.

He hoped she might cry so that he could hand her back to her mother, for he had never felt more moved than now; there was guilt too for the months Gabi had dealt with this alone, and fear about how tiny Lucia was, even though she was more than three months old.

But Lucia did not cry or whimper. She looked straight at her daddy and smiled and completely won his heart.

‘I could have lived my entire life not knowing about her.’

‘No,’ Gabi said. ‘I lived my life without knowing my father so I would never do that to my child. I was going to wait till I felt a little better, and then tell you.’

‘Better?’ He frowned, worried that she had been ill.

‘Stronger.’

‘Stronger?’ Alim checked.

‘To say no to you.’

His eyes raised just a fraction, as if doubting she could.

‘I meant what I said—I shan’t be your mistress, Alim. I will always let you see your daughter whenever you come here to Rome but there will be no trips to the desert.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’

She must be stronger because she almost believed that she could say no to him.

‘So you are going to be single and—’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Gabi corrected. ‘You will marry the bride of the Sultan of Sultans’s choosing and I will get on with my life. I won’t be like Fleur, living a lonely life with you as my occasional, discreet lover.’

‘Oh, so you hope to meet someone else?’

‘Yes.’

He stared at her and she tried not to meet his gaze because she just could not imagine being with another man.

Ever.

She could not imagine anyone after him, yet she had to believe it, for she would not be his mistress, neither would she be alone.

The minutes passed so slowly they were half an hour in with three more to go.

He picked up a phone and soon Hannan appeared; Gabi’s lips tightened as she scooped up Lucia and took her away, and soon it was just the two of them.

‘I thought you wanted to see her.’

‘I don’t need to stare at her for the entire visit to love her. I will call for refreshments for you.’

They made small talk as they waited for afternoon tea to arrive.

‘Bernadetta is being weird,’ Gabi said. ‘She won’t take my calls.’

He just shrugged and then told her his news. ‘I have withdrawn the Grande Lucia from sale.’

‘I thought the contracts were signed.’

‘No. Bastiano returned to the Grande Lucia for a visit and apparently some jewellery was stolen from his suite—your friend apparently.’

Gabi wasn’t going to blush or apologise for Sophie. She just gave a shrug.

‘He’s withdrawn his offer.’

And now Gabi rolled her eyes because Alim would be here in Rome so much more.

Her desire was safer from a distance.

Arabian teas, coffees and pastries arrived and as the maid poured Alim declined.

‘Enjoy,’ Alim said to Gabi as the maid left.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Bed,’ Alim answered. ‘I read that you should try and sleep when the baby does.’

Her mouth twisted into an incredulous smile when she thought of the hours she had paced the floor with her baby and snatched twenty-minute naps on the sofa.

He had not a clue!

‘Half an hour of fatherhood and you’re already tired?’ Gabi accused.

‘Months of fatherhood, had I but known,’ Alim corrected. ‘And months of abstinence, apart from one night in the desert.’

And he took her back in her mind to where she had been trying to avoid going.

Gabi looked ahead and tried not to think of her time in his bed.

And Alim, as he stepped into the bedroom where he had had so much planned, instead was incensed by her words.

Pride perhaps was at fault, but there was also this need to know not that Lucia was his but that Gabi was his—that he was and always would be her one and only.

He started to undress and then remembered he should be dressed for the planned proposal and standing when Gabi inevitably walked in.

Surprise!

Yet she did not walk in.

Alim rarely got angry, he rarely cared enough to be so.

And he was also jealous.

Gabi had riled him.

On what should be the most romantic of days she spoke of other men!

Oh, Alim wanted to prove her wrong. There would never be others.

So, instead of the plans he had made, Alim opened the bedside drawer and there they lay his collection of diamonds; he selected the best, then he closed the drapes and turned off the lights.

He would not be brought to his knees until Gabi was.

And so he walked out.

She sat, drinking tea.

Her foot was tapping, Alim noticed, but apart from that she seemed calm, like a guest sitting in the foyer, waiting for her car to arrive, or to be told that her suite was now ready.

Gabi was not calm.

She had been fighting with herself not to follow him in.

To ‘Keep Calm and Drink Tea’, as suggested.

Yet her hands were shaking and her desire was fierce and she ached for these visiting hours to be over.

For an imaginary nurse to come in and ring a bell so that she could leave.

Then he walked out.

The jacket was off, the tie gone and his shirt half-undone, as if he had been undressing and had suddenly remembered something.

Indeed he had. ‘There will be others?’ Alim questioned, and even though his voice was dark it held a slightly mocking edge, for he was sure there could be no other.

And what was said now would define their future, Gabi knew.

She would not be Fleur, sitting in the foyer of this very hotel and ignored. She would not be his mistress and make love and then not make a fuss when he returned to his wife.

How bloody dare he?

And so she met his eyes and she played a very dangerous game with a sultan who was already not best pleased.

‘Maybe just one other,’ Gabi said. ‘Perhaps I will find the love of my life.’

‘What if you have already found him?’ Alim said.

‘How can I have,’ Gabi countered, ‘when he speaks of a future wife?’

And she found out then just how strong she was because now she could look him in the eye and tell him things she would once never have dared. Now she stood her ground and it felt firm beneath her feet, for she was resolute.

She watched as he reached into his pocket and beside her teacup he placed a stone.

A magnificent one.

‘You shall be kept in splendour,’ Alim said, and when every other woman would reach for the stone, she had the nerve to take a sip of her tea. ‘Never again speak of other men. Now,’ Alim said by way of parting, ‘come to bed.’

She would not succumb.

Gabi stood, walked across the lounge and looked out of the window.

A bridal car was pulling up outside the church further down the street and she watched as a bride was helped out and her dress arranged.

The little flower girl stood patiently as Gabi’s heart impatiently beat for the day that it might be her.

Never the bride.

She had never been able to envisage herself as one.

And now she knew why.

A mistress was all she would ever be.

No!

Gabi was torn for as she watched the bride walk into the church she told herself that a mistress was surely better than being a virtual spinster, holding onto just two perfect nights for the rest of her life.

That was all her love life would be.

For, despite brave words she might say to Alim, in truth, there would never be another man—Gabi had already found the love of her life.

Yet agreeing to be his mistress went against everything she believed in, and if even the thought of it was eating her up, living it would be unbearable.

Neither was she cut out to keep secrets, for she would want to sing their love to the world, and she was hardly of a size that faded neatly into the background.

No, Gabi would not be his mistress, but that did not stop the door to his bedroom calling her.

Set your limits.

Alim’s words now replayed to her.

Do only what you are prepared to do. What works for you...

And Gabi knew what did.

Alim.