Читать книгу Midnight in the Desert Collection - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 15

‘WAJID said that adopting an Ashuri child would be a fantastic PR exercise,’ Raja revealed with a look of distaste mid-morning the following day as they travelled to the airport for their flight. ‘The orphanage director is pleased about our decision because she hopes that our example will encourage people to consider the other children available for adoption.’

‘My goodness, you’ve been busy,’ Ruby commented a tad guiltily at his obvious industry with regard to her hopes concerning the little girl. Having woken soon after dawn when Raja always got up, she had felt distinctly nauseous and had returned to bed only to sleep in late and have a rushed breakfast. A stomach upset, she was wondering now that she felt perfectly fine again, or a symptom of a more challenging condition? Could she be pregnant? How soon would she be able to find out? And how could she check discreetly without anyone finding out?

She was startled when the limousine turned in the orphanage gates.

‘I think it’s time that I met Leyla properly,’ Raja announced, recognising her surprise at that change to their itinerary. ‘And I believe that you would be glad of the opportunity to see her again before we leave.’

The Baldwins met them on the doorstep to express voluble thanks for the sizeable donation that Raja had made to the orphanage. He had not shared that fact with Ruby and was clearly uncomfortable with the couple’s gratitude. They were ushered into an office and Leyla was brought to them there. Her little face lit up when she saw Ruby and she ran in her eagerness to greet her, only to fall to a halt when she saw Raja. He crouched down to a less intimidating height and produced a ball from his pocket. Leyla clutched the ball in a tiny fist while surveying Raja with great suspicion. But Raja was perfectly at home with her, talking to her, smiling and teasing until the child began to giggle and hide her face.

Witnessing that surprising show, Ruby was learning something she hadn’t known. ‘You’re used to kids.’

‘I ought to be. My sisters have five children between them and my cousins must have about thirty,’ he volunteered, finally standing up with Leyla content to be held in his arms, her thumb stuck in her mouth, her eyes bright.

The effort he was making, the kindness he displayed, Ruby reflected on a tide of quiet appreciation, just made her love him all the more. Suddenly the fact he had taken advantage of her susceptibility to him in the desert no longer mattered and her resentment melted away. Hadn’t she encouraged him and taken the final decision? As she had good reason to know he was a very practical and dutiful guy, loyal to his country, his family, faithful to his promises and keen to meet every expectation no matter how unreasonable it might be. And at its most basic, all Raja had ever wanted from her was the willingness to make their marriage work. But the man whom she had resented for that no-nonsense aspiration was also the same one holding the little girl she had come to care for and he was willing for both their sakes to consider making her a part of his illustrious family. And no man Ruby had ever met had been willing to expend even a tenth of Raja’s effort and thoughtfulness into making her happy.

Arriving in the country of Najar was not remotely like flying into Ashur. For a start there was a proper airport that was very large and sophisticated. In fact, as Ruby looked out open-mouthed at the busy streets through which they were being driven with a police escort and motorcycle outriders, Najar seemed to have nothing at all in common with Ashur. Towering office blocks, apartment buildings, fancy shopping malls and exotically domed mosques all blended together in a well-designed city with wide, clean streets. She saw at once why Raja had looked at her in disbelief when she had accused him of wanting the throne of Ashur. Her birth country was very much the poor relation, decades behind its rich neighbour in technology and development.

In contrast, the royal palace was still housed in an ancient citadel separated from the aggressively modern city by the huge green public park that stretched outside its extensive walls.

And the palace might be ancient on the outside but, from the inside, Ruby soon appreciated that Raja’s family home bore a closer resemblance to a glossy spread from an exclusive design magazine. The interior was so grand and opulent that she was stunned by the eye-watering expanse of marble flooring and the glimpses of fabulously gilded and furnished rooms. Her steps had slowed and she was fingering the plain dark dress she had chosen to wear with her nervous tension rising to gigantic heights when a door opened and a group of women appeared. And, oh, my goodness, Ruby’s sense of being intimidated went into overdrive as shrieks of excitement sounded and high heels clattered across the incredible floor. Ruby and Raja were engulfed by an enthusiastic welcome.

Raja drew her forward in her little black chainstore dress. ‘This is Ruby …’ and she wanted to kick him for not warning her that the women in his family wore haute couture even in the afternoon. Indeed one look at Raja’s female relatives and she felt like the ugly duckling before the swan transformation. All of them were dressed as if they were attending a cocktail party. They sported elaborate hairdos, full make-up, jewel-coloured silks and satins and fantastic jewellery.

They entered the room the women had just vacated on a tide of welcoming chatter and questions. Fortunately everybody seemed to speak at least some English. Children joined their mothers in the crowd surrounding Ruby. There was an incredible amount of noise. Most of the men standing around in the big room attempted to act as though they were not as curious about Raja’s bride as their womenfolk were. One tall young man made no such attempt at concealment and he strode across the room to seize her hand and shake it with a formality at odds with his wide grin and assessing eyes. ‘Raja said you were even more gorgeous than you looked in your photo and he was right. I’m his brother, Haroun,’ he told her cheerfully.

Ruby thought that it was heartening to know that Raja paid her compliments behind her back that he would never have dreamt of making to her face. Was he afraid she might get big-headed? Or did compliments fall under the dubious heading of romance? Or did a woman in a platonic relationship just not qualify for such ego-boosting frills? Haroun looked like a smaller, slighter, younger version of his big brother and he was rather more light-hearted, for he was cracking politically incorrect jokes about Ashur within seconds. Drinks and snacks were served by uniformed staff and Raja’s sisters, Amineh and Hadeel, were quick to come and speak to her.

‘You are very beautiful,’ Hadeel, a tall, shapely woman in her mid-twenties, told her with an admiring smile. ‘And a much more suitable match for my brother than your unfortunate cousin.’

‘Am I?’ Ruby studied her sister-in-law hopefully. ‘I never met my cousin so I know nothing about her.’

‘Bariah was thirty-seven years old and a widow,’ Amineh told her wryly.

‘But she was also a very good and well-respected woman,’ Hadeel hastened to add, clearly afraid that her sister might have caused offence.

Ruby, however, was just revelling in the promise of such indiscreet gossip. She had missed that aspect of female companionship and felt that when Raja’s sisters were willing to be so frank with her it boded well for her future relationship with them. Learning that Bariah had been eight years older than Raja and had also been married before was something Ruby could have found out for herself from Wajid, but she had been too proud to reveal her curiosity and ask more questions. She met Amineh’s and Hadeel’s husbands and a whole gaggle of children followed by a long parade of more distant relatives. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and she was thoroughly relaxed by the time that Raja came to find her. He explained that his father found large family gatherings very tiring and that he was waiting in the next room to meet her in private.

King Ahmed was in a wheelchair and frail in appearance. He had Raja’s eyes and white hair and, although he spoke only a few words of English, his quiet smile and the warm clasp of his hand were sufficient to express his acceptance of Ruby as the latest member of his extensive family. Ruby was surprised to learn that Raja had already told his father about Leyla and their plans. The older man was warmly supportive of their intentions and talked at some length about his sadness over the suffering and disruption inflicted on families during the war.

‘I didn’t realise that you were so close to your father that you would already have told him about Leyla,’ Ruby commented on the way back into the party at the end of their audience with the king.

Raja laughed. ‘No matter where I am in the world we talk on the phone every day. I think he would have been very shocked to hear the news about Leyla from anyone else!’

‘I wish I’d known my father,’ Ruby confided, feeling a slight nauseous lurch in her stomach and tensing slightly, for she had assumed her tummy upset at the start of the day had gone away and she didn’t want it revisiting her while she was in company.

Raja paused to look down at her with his dramatic, dark, deep-set eyes. ‘The loss was his, Ruby. I fear that you suffered because he and your mother parted on bad terms.’

‘Well, after what he did to Mum, naturally they did.’

‘The story of your background that I heard suggested that your mother was aware that your father might well take another wife after they were married. It was a lifestyle practised by several of your ancestors over the past hundred years,’ Raja told her quietly. ‘Perhaps your mother didn’t understand what she was getting into when she agreed to marry him.’

‘That’s very possible …’ Ruby focused wide brown eyes on him that were suddenly full of dismay. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t ask you but—’

Raja laughed and rested a silencing forefinger against her parted lips. ‘No, do not ask me that question, habibi. I would be mortally offended. One wife has always been sufficient for the men in my family and the thought of more than one of you is actually quite unnerving.’

‘Unnerving? How?’ Ruby demanded and just at that moment her fractious insides clenched and went to war with her dignity again. Forced to hurry off to the nearest cloakroom, Ruby was so embarrassed by her digestive weakness that her eyes flooded with tears. Her mood was not improved when Raja’s sisters insisted on waiting outside the door for her to ensure that she was all right, for she would rather have suffered the sickness without a concerned audience close by.

When the emergency was over, she was ushered into the building that acted as Raja’s secluded home within the rambling fortress. He had his own staff, one of whom showed her up a flight of stairs to a superbly decorated bedroom suite. It was a relief to slip off her shoes there and lie down on top of the bed. A drink reputed to soothe a troubled stomach was brought to her and a little while after that as her tension eased and she relaxed she began feeling fine and eventually and surprisingly rather hungry.

A pair of Saluki hounds trotting at his heels, Raja walked in to study her from the foot of the bed. Hermione had accompanied them and the little dog jumped up at the side of the bed to nuzzle her cold nose against Ruby’s hand, the Salukis following to make her acquaintance. ‘Oh, they’re beautiful, Raja!’ Ruby exclaimed, leaning out of bed to pat their silky heads. ‘Do they belong to you?’

‘Yes. Hermione seems to like them well enough. How are you feeling?’ Raja asked

‘Great now, believe it or not,’ she told him with a hesitant smile. ‘I’m going to have a shower and then I’d like something to eat. I’m sorry about all the fuss.’

‘Are you sure that you’re feeling well enough to get up?’

Ruby slid easily off the bed and scolded Hermione for trying to jump up on it. She could not help noticing that Raja’s dogs, who had retreated to sit by the door, seemed to be very well trained. ‘Very sure.’

‘I’ll order a meal.’

‘Haven’t you eaten either?’

‘I wanted to see how you were first.’

Ruby checked out the dressing room in search of her wrap and found the closets and drawers were already packed with unfamiliar clothes in her sizes. ‘That’s some new wardrobe you’ve bought me!’ she called to Raja.

‘It won’t matter what you wear. You will still outshine every outfit,’ Raja responded huskily.

Ruby was surprised by that tribute. A flowing blue negligee set draped over one arm, she emerged from the dressing room to study him, the colour of awareness lighting up her face. Having discarded his traditional robe, he was in the act of changing into designer jeans and a shirt. The fluid grace and strength of that muscular physique of his still had enough impact to take her breath away. It didn’t matter how much exposure she had to Raja al-Somari, he still had the power to trip her heartbeat inside her and make her mouth run dry with excitement.

‘Shower,’ she reminded herself a little awkwardly.

The bathroom was as palatial as the bedroom and the invigorating beat of the water from multi-jets restored her energy levels. She wondered how Raja had tolerated the weak water flow of the old-fashioned shower in their suite of rooms in Ashur. Since her arrival in Najar she had come to realise that he was accustomed to a lifestyle in which every possible modern convenience and luxury was available to ensure the last word in comfort. She admired him for not having uttered a single complaint while he was forced to stay in the palace in Ashur.

When she returned to the bedroom Raja was talking on the phone in Arabic. He glanced up and then stilled to stare, lustrous dark eyes flaming gold at the sight of her. A wealth of blonde hair falling round her lovely face, her slim shapely figure framed by the flowing blue nightwear, she was a picture. With an abstracted final word he concluded his call and pushed the phone into his pocket.

As she met that intense appraisal Ruby’s face flushed, her nipples tightening into prominence while a melting sensation of warmth pulsed between her thighs. As he crossed the room, his eyes holding her gaze with a stormy sensuality that filled her with yearning, she was welded to the spot.

Without a word, Raja pushed the tumble of silky blonde hair back from her cheekbone and lowered his head to trace the seam of her closed mouth with his tongue and then pry her lips apart. Fingers stroking her slender neck, he plundered her mouth with a hungry ferocity that blew Ruby away. Staggered by the passion he made no attempt to contain, she angled her head back, snatching in a ragged breath as she looked up at him through her lashes and collided with the smouldering urgency in his stunning eyes. Her tummy flipped. One kiss and she felt as if he had switched a light on inside her, bathing her in warmth and dazzling brilliance.

‘I am already so hot and ready for you,’ Raja breathed thickly.

Ruby trembled, insanely aware of the surging dampness and the ache at the heart of her body. She was so wound up she couldn’t make her throat produce a recognisable sound. But it was also one of those moments when she knew not a shred of doubt about what she wanted to happen next. Her hands lifted of their own volition to unbutton his shirt.

A wolfish smile tilted Raja’s handsome mouth. He bent his head to kiss her again with lingering eroticism. ‘I will make it so good for you, aziz,’ he husked in a tone of anticipation that slivered through her like a depth charge of promise.

And the breath rattled in Ruby’s tight throat and her knees went weak because she had every faith in his ability to deliver on that score. He would drive her out of her mind with pleasure and she was way past the stage where she could deny either of them what they both needed. She wasn’t quite sure when wanting had become a much more demanding need and self-denial an impossible challenge. Mesmerised by Raja’s raw sensuality, she stretched up to touch his face with delicate fingertips, tracing those slashing angular cheekbones, and those beautiful sculpted lips. She gasped beneath that carnal mouth as it captured hers with delicious masculine savagery. Suddenly, as if her caress had unlocked his self-control to free his elemental passion, he trailed off the peignoir with impatient hands and pushed her back on the bed. Throwing off his shirt, he came down beside her bare-chested.

Breathing shallowly, the level of his hunger for her unhidden, Raja stared down at her. ‘I don’t know how I’ve kept my hands off you for so long. It was pure torment.’

As she pushed up on her elbows, feeling marvellously irresistible, Ruby’s eyes brightened and she stretched closer to unzip his jeans. The bulge of his arousal made that exercise a challenge and she laughed when he had to help her and then stopped laughing altogether when he drew her hand down to the long, hard length of his erection in an expression of need that was a huge turn-on for her.

She bent her head and took him in her mouth, silky blonde hair brushing his hair-roughened thighs. Watching her, Raja groaned with intense pleasure, knotting his hands in her hair and then finally pulling away at the peak and surprising her.

‘Raja … ?’

‘I want to come inside you,’ he told her raggedly. ‘And once isn’t going to be enough …’

Shivering in reaction to the coiled-tight ache of need in her, Ruby let him move her. Her body was eager and ready, charged by a hunger so strong it made her tremble. He filled her with a single thrust, sinking into her with a power and energy that almost made her pass out with pleasure. She cried out as he lifted her legs onto his shoulders and rose over her to plunge down into her honeyed sheath again and again. Uncontrollable excitement gripped her as he drove her slowly, surely to a delirious climax. At the apex of delight she came apart under him, writhing and sobbing with mindless satisfaction as the wild spasms of pleasure ripped through her in wave after wave. Afterwards he cradled her close, murmuring in his own language, stroking her cheek with caressing fingers while his lustrous eyes studied her with unashamed appreciation.

It was the middle of the night before they ate.

Ruby wakened feeling sick again at dawn and Raja was very insistent on the point that in his opinion it was time for her to see a doctor. He was worried that she had contracted food poisoning. While Ruby lay as still as she could and fought the debilitating waves of nausea Raja made arrangements for a doctor’s visit and got dressed.

An hour and a half later, Ruby received the answer to the big question she had been asking herself for more than a week.

‘Congratulations,’ Dr Sema Mansour pronounced with a wide smile. ‘I am honoured to be the doctor to give you such important news.’

Ruby smiled back so hard her facial muscles ached under the strain. ‘Please don’t tell anyone else,’ she urged, although even as she said that she appreciated that it was not a secret that she could hope to keep for long.

‘Of course not. It is a confidential matter.’ Lifting her doctor’s bag, the young female medic, recommended by Princess Hadeel, took her leave.

A light breakfast was served to Ruby in bed and the maid plumped up her pillows first to ensure her comfort. Indeed all the staff involved in her care in the magnificent bedroom displayed a heart-warming level of concern for her welfare. Munching on a piece of roll without much appetite, Ruby stared into space and wondered how Raja would feel once she made her announcement. Last night they had made love and she had felt buoyant at the knowledge that her husband desired her so much.

But starting a family wasn’t something they had ever discussed or planned, although he had proved keen to encourage her desire to adopt Leyla.

Ruby had always assumed that some day she would want children. But until she had met Leyla and Mother Nature had turned her broody, she had believed that the family she might ultimately have lay somewhere far into her future. Leyla, however, had stolen into Ruby’s heart and she had experienced such a strong longing to be Leyla’s new mum that she had been amazed at herself. And now she was carrying Raja’s baby. That hadn’t taken long, although it was true that they had been very active in that line in the desert. Ruby flushed hotly at the recollection of a night when she had barely slept, indeed had behaved like a sex addict wonderfully well matched with another sex addict. Wretchedly virile fertile man, she thought ruefully and in shock, for there was no denying that a royal baby in the offing would change everything.

In the short term Ruby had been willing to ditch the concept of divorce and future freedom if it meant she could qualify to adopt little Leyla and raise her as her daughter. In spite of that, though, she had still believed somewhere in the back of her mind that there remained a slight possibility that ten years or more down the line she and Raja might be able to separate from each other and lead their own lives without causing too much of a furore within their respective countries. Now with the needs of a second child entering the equation she felt that she had to be a good deal more practical. She had to ask herself if she was willing to subject possibly Leyla and her future child to the rigours of a broken home solely because she wanted a husband who loved her the way she already loved him. Children got attached to their parents living together as a couple. She had seen the heartbreak among school friends when their parents broke up and one parent moved out. Although in many cases there was no alternative to a separation, Ruby felt that she was in a position where she was still lucky enough to have choices to make.

Raja appeared in the doorway, brilliant dark eyes alive with concern, the taut line of his handsome mouth easing with relief when he saw that she was eating. ‘It was a stomach upset, probably the result of you being given so much unfamiliar food,’ he reasoned. ‘Perhaps we should ask one of the chefs to cook English meals for you.’

‘No, what we needed was better birth control,’ Ruby contradicted, taking tiny sips of tea to moisten her dry mouth while she stared mournfully back at her husband. ‘And I’m afraid that ship has sailed.’

Raja was staring fixedly at her, shapely ebony brows quirked, bewilderment stamped in the angles of his strong face. ‘Better birth control?’

‘We didn’t use any in the desert—didn’t have any to use,’ she conceded heavily for so far being pregnant, between the nausea and the sore breasts, was not proving to be a lot of fun. ‘And … you’ve knocked me up.’

Raja had never bothered to try and imagine how he might hear that he was to become a father for the first time, but had he done so he was certain that not once would the colloquial British phrase ‘knocked up’ have featured on his dream wife’s lips. ‘You’re …’ Shaken by the concept, he had to clear his throat to continue. ‘You’re pregnant?’

‘Yes, congratulations, you’re a real stud.’ Ruby sighed in a tone that would not have encouraged him to celebrate. ‘But it’s such a shock.’

Raja shifted his proud dark head in agreement. In receipt of her announcement, which had rocked him on his feet, he felt a little light-headed. ‘I feel rather foolish,’ he admitted wryly. ‘This possibility didn’t once cross my mind.’

‘Me neither—until afterwards. I worried after we were rescued,’ Ruby told him ruefully.

‘You should have told me that you were concerned. I can’t believe it but in the excitement of the situation I overlooked the risk of such a development,’ Raja declared gravely.

‘That’s not like you,’ Ruby remarked helplessly, for she always got the feeling that Raja worked everything out to the nth degree and rarely got taken by surprise. ‘At the beginning I even suspected that conceiving a child might have been part of the seduction plan. After all, once you got me pregnant it would be harder for me to walk away from our marriage.’

‘But not impossible and I wouldn’t wish an unwilling mother on any child of mine.’ Raja scored impatient fingers through his cropped black hair, his clear, dark golden gaze melding to hers in reproach. ‘I am not a Machiavelli. My desire for you was very strong and I acted on it for the most natural of reasons.’

It disturbed Ruby that she could not work out how he felt about her revelation that she was pregnant. She had originally assumed that he would be pleased, which was why she had announced it in that quirky fashion, striving to be cool. But now she was no longer so certain of his reaction because his innate reserve concealed his true reaction from her. ‘I bet you that Wajid turns wheelies when he finds out—it’s another piece of good PR, isn’t it? Three weeks of marriage and I’m pregnant?’

‘And you feel even more trapped than you did already,’ Raja assumed, his stubborn jaw line clenching, a muscle pulling taut at the edge of his handsome mouth. ‘I know you had already decided that you wanted to offer a home to Leyla, but you are very young to take on the responsibility of parenthood—’

‘Raja … girls of fourteen were falling pregnant when I was at secondary school. At twenty-one I’m mature enough or I wouldn’t have been talking about trying to adopt Leyla,’ Ruby argued, feeling insulted and wondering if he considered her immature.

Raja strolled over to the window and looked out at the lush tranquil garden in the courtyard. His lean classic profile was taut. ‘I do understand how you must feel. Such massive changes in your life are a challenge to cope with. Be honest with yourself and with me—’

Tension made Ruby sit up a little straighter in the bed. ‘Honest about what? And how do you feel?’

‘I felt incredibly trapped when I knew I had to get married as part of the peace accord,’ he admitted without warning, the words escaping him in a low-pitched driven surge. ‘I didn’t want a wife I didn’t choose for myself. My father reminded me that he didn’t even meet my mother before he married her but, as I pointed out to him, he was raised in a different world with exactly that expectation. I never dreamt that I would be asked to make an arranged marriage. I had to man up.’

With that confession, which Ruby was quite unprepared to receive at that moment, she felt as though he had driven a knife into her. It shook her that she had been happy to feel like a victim while ignoring the reality that he might have felt equally powerless on his own behalf. I didn’t want a wife I didn’t choose for myself. That one sentence really said all she needed to know. At heart they had always had much more in common than she was prepared to accept. No doubt he had not shared his feelings on the score of their marriage when they first met for fear of influencing her into a negative response. She could understand that. Yet even so, regardless of how she had felt at the beginning, she had adapted, a little voice pointed out in her head—adapted, without even appreciating the fact, to her new position and responsibilities to live a life that was a great deal more demanding but also more interesting than the life she had left behind her in England.

Paradoxically it had wounded Ruby to hear her husband admit that he too had felt trapped when he had learned that he had to marry her. It was a case of very bad timing to learn that truth at the same time as she told him she had already conceived his child. But perhaps once again she was being unfair to him, Ruby reasoned uncertainly, reluctant to come over all dramatic like his first love. After all, how much enthusiasm could she reasonably expect from him? A baby with a woman he didn’t love could only feel like another chain to bind him even though he had already agreed to take on Leyla.

Raja sank down on the side of the bed and reached for her hand. ‘We will have two children. We will be a family before we have learned how to be a couple.’

‘Not how you would have planned it?’ Ruby prompted.

‘When it comes to us nothing seems to go as planned and who is to say that what we have now is not all the better for that?’ Expression reflective, he sounded more as if he was trying to convince her of that possibility than himself. ‘I’m accustomed to change and I will handle this, but you have already had so many challenges to overcome in so short a space of time. This is a tough time for you to fall pregnant.’

Ruby was bewildered. ‘I—’

‘Naturally I feel guilty. I should have been more careful with you,’ Raja breathed curtly. ‘You have enough to deal with right now without this added responsibility.’

‘You still haven’t told me how you feel about the baby. Don’t you want it?’ Ruby queried anxiously.

Raja dealt her an astonished appraisal. ‘Of course I want my own child, but not at the cost of your health and emotional well-being.’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Ruby was disappointed that he had said nothing more personal. ‘But most of those fancy clothes you bought me aren’t likely to fit in a few months.’

‘Not a problem. I like buying you things,’ Raja volunteered, his thumb rubbing gently over the pulse in her narrow wrist. ‘I want you to spend the next couple of days just acclimatising and catching up on your rest.’

Ruby gave him an impish grin. ‘No more all-night sex sessions, then?’

Dark colour highlighted his superb bone structure and his eloquent mouth quirked in reluctant appreciation of that sally. ‘Oh, Ruby …’ he breathed, his hands gathering her slight body up so that he could kiss her with all the devastating expertise that sent her defensive barriers crashing flat like a domino run.

Feeling daring, Ruby pushed the sheet back. ‘You could rest with me,’ she muttered in an intuitive invitation.

‘I have only fifteen minutes to make a meeting on the far side of the city,’ Raja groaned, pausing to extract a second driving kiss, his breathing fracturing as he stared down at her with unalloyed hunger before finally springing up again, adjusting the fit of his trousers to accommodate his response to her. ‘You’re a constant temptation. I’ll see you mid-afternoon and we’ll go over the adoption papers we need to lodge to apply for Leyla.’

He found her very attractive, Ruby told herself consolingly.

It wasn’t love, it was lust, but marriages had survived on less. He was taking the advent of an unplanned baby very much in his stride, but then Raja was the sort of guy who typically rose to every challenge. The very worst thing she could do was brood about what they didn’t have as opposed to what they did. In time he might almost come to love her out of habit. What was wrong with that? Did she need the poetry and the hand-holding? It would have been much worse had she fallen in love with a man she couldn’t have. A man, for example, who belonged to another woman. Here she was safely married to a very handsome, sexy and exciting man and she was still feeling sorry for herself. Why was that? Was she one of those perennially dissatisfied personalities who always wanted more than she could have?

Ruby was dozing when she heard a mobile phone going off somewhere very close to her ear. With a sound of exasperation she lifted her head and focused in surprise on the slim cell phone flashing lights and lying semi-concealed in a fold of the bedding. It was Raja’s phone. It must have fallen out of his pocket while he was kissing her. She closed a hand round it and immediately noticed the photo of the gorgeous blonde.

And that was that. Ruby suffered not one moral pang rifling through Raja’s phone and discovering that someone called Chloe had sent him a series of suggestive texts in English. Obviously a woman who was a lover, a woman who had shared a bed with him, enjoying all the intimacies and no doubt many more than Ruby had ever had with him. In shock Ruby read the texts again.

The skank, she thought furiously, appalled by the sexy little comments calculated to titillate the average male. Raja’s healthy libido did not require stimulation yet he had been receiving those texts ever since they got married. She went through his phone. If he had sent any texts back to Chloe he had clearly had the wit to delete them.

So, who was Chloe and what was Ruby going to do about her? Was she his most recent girlfriend? Why hadn’t he told Chloe to leave him alone? Why hadn’t he told her that his relationship with her was over? He had promised Ruby that he would be faithful and that there would be no other woman in his life while he was with her. Suddenly the cocoon of shock that had kept Ruby unnaturally calm was cracking right down the middle …