to get close?
‘How about you? Did your father teach you chess?’ She looked up at a point near his ear, then lowered her gaze. He found that almost-collision of eyes infuriating. Unsatisfactory. He wanted … what he couldn’t have.
‘Hardly.’ The word emerged more brusquely than he’d intended and she looked up sharply. ‘A palace servant taught me.’
‘Really? Like an old family retainer?’
‘Something like that. My uncle was horrified that I didn’t know the basics of the game when I came to live in Tarakhar. He ordered one of the staff to instruct me.’
‘You weren’t born in Tarakhar? How did you become Sheikh?’ She tilted her head in curiosity, then hurriedly turned to focus on the board.
‘The Council of Elders chose me as the most suitable leader from the members of my extended family.’ Amir’s lips twisted derisively.
How times had changed. Once they wouldn’t have givenhim the time of day, much less bestowed the nation into his safekeeping.
‘What is it?’ She peered up at him again, obviously seeing the emotion he usually kept to himself. Why did he find himself letting down his guard with her more and more?
‘Nothing. Just that when I came to Tarakhar I wasn’t well regarded. I would have been last on the list to be given a public role.’
‘Why? What had you done?’
She stirred, and Amir caught her skin’s warm fragrance, fresh and tempting. ‘I hadn’t done anything. I was only eleven.’ He watched her brows furrow in that tiny frown she wore when thinking, and repressed the impulse to stroke it away.
He sat straighter.
‘I don’t understand.’
Clearly Cassie didn’t read the gossip columns. Or perhaps it was such old news the press didn’t bother to dig up scandalous snippets any more. It had been years since he’d bothered to read what they printed about him.
Amir moved a piece, surprised to find she’d begun to turn the tables and attack.
‘My father was youngest brother to the old Sheikh, so I was a member of the ruling family. But we didn’t live in Tarakhar.’
‘You were raised with your mother’s family?’
‘Hardly!’ There’d been no family at all on his mother’s side. His mother hadn’t even known who her own father was. On her birth certificate ‘unknown’ had been inserted instead of a father’s name. His uncle had made sure Amir learned that, as well as a lot of other facts he’d have preferred never to know. ‘My parents moved around. They didn’t have a home but stayed in hotels and resorts. One day the Caribbean, the next, Morocco or the South of France.’
‘It sounds exotic.’
He shrugged, feeling a strange tautness in his shoulders. It reminded him of the tension that had gripped him as akid, when he’d borne the weight of others’ expectations—not their hopes, but their certainty he’d fail.
‘I suppose it
was
exotic.’ He moved a chess piece in a strategy to corner her. ‘To me it was just a blur of hotel rooms and unfamiliar faces.’ They’d never stayed in one place long enough for him to make friends, and his parents had had a habit of sacking the nannies hired to look after Amir just as he was beginning to know them.
Not that he’d seen much of his parents. They’d had no time for their son. They’d been too engrossed in pursuing the increasingly elusive ‘good times’ they had lived for.
‘Why weren’t you well regarded?’ Cassie’s soft voice tugged him back to the present.
Amir looked into searching eyes and felt a surprising urge to talk. His personal life was a topic he never discussed, even though much of it was on public record.
‘I was surrounded by scandal from the moment I was born. No, before I was born.’ He watched her move and pretended to survey the board when it was Cassie he wanted to watch. ‘My father was the black sheep of the family. You name it, he tried it, from squandering his fortune through gambling to embezzling public funds.’
‘You’re
‘How about you? Did your father teach you chess?’ She looked up at a point near his ear, then lowered her gaze. He found that almost-collision of eyes infuriating. Unsatisfactory. He wanted … what he couldn’t have.
‘Hardly.’ The word emerged more brusquely than he’d intended and she looked up sharply. ‘A palace servant taught me.’
‘Really? Like an old family retainer?’
‘Something like that. My uncle was horrified that I didn’t know the basics of the game when I came to live in Tarakhar. He ordered one of the staff to instruct me.’
‘You weren’t born in Tarakhar? How did you become Sheikh?’ She tilted her head in curiosity, then hurriedly turned to focus on the board.
‘The Council of Elders chose me as the most suitable leader from the members of my extended family.’ Amir’s lips twisted derisively.
How times had changed. Once they wouldn’t have givenhim the time of day, much less bestowed the nation into his safekeeping.
‘What is it?’ She peered up at him again, obviously seeing the emotion he usually kept to himself. Why did he find himself letting down his guard with her more and more?
‘Nothing. Just that when I came to Tarakhar I wasn’t well regarded. I would have been last on the list to be given a public role.’
‘Why? What had you done?’
She stirred, and Amir caught her skin’s warm fragrance, fresh and tempting. ‘I hadn’t done anything. I was only eleven.’ He watched her brows furrow in that tiny frown she wore when thinking, and repressed the impulse to stroke it away.
He sat straighter.
‘I don’t understand.’
Clearly Cassie didn’t read the gossip columns. Or perhaps it was such old news the press didn’t bother to dig up scandalous snippets any more. It had been years since he’d bothered to read what they printed about him.
Amir moved a piece, surprised to find she’d begun to turn the tables and attack.
‘My father was youngest brother to the old Sheikh, so I was a member of the ruling family. But we didn’t live in Tarakhar.’
‘You were raised with your mother’s family?’
‘Hardly!’ There’d been no family at all on his mother’s side. His mother hadn’t even known who her own father was. On her birth certificate ‘unknown’ had been inserted instead of a father’s name. His uncle had made sure Amir learned that, as well as a lot of other facts he’d have preferred never to know. ‘My parents moved around. They didn’t have a home but stayed in hotels and resorts. One day the Caribbean, the next, Morocco or the South of France.’
‘It sounds exotic.’
He shrugged, feeling a strange tautness in his shoulders. It reminded him of the tension that had gripped him as akid, when he’d borne the weight of others’ expectations—not their hopes, but their certainty he’d fail.
‘I suppose it
was
exotic.’ He moved a chess piece in a strategy to corner her. ‘To me it was just a blur of hotel rooms and unfamiliar faces.’ They’d never stayed in one place long enough for him to make friends, and his parents had had a habit of sacking the nannies hired to look after Amir just as he was beginning to know them.
Not that he’d seen much of his parents. They’d had no time for their son. They’d been too engrossed in pursuing the increasingly elusive ‘good times’ they had lived for.
‘Why weren’t you well regarded?’ Cassie’s soft voice tugged him back to the present.
Amir looked into searching eyes and felt a surprising urge to talk. His personal life was a topic he never discussed, even though much of it was on public record.
‘I was surrounded by scandal from the moment I was born. No, before I was born.’ He watched her move and pretended to survey the board when it was Cassie he wanted to watch. ‘My father was the black sheep of the family. You name it, he tried it, from squandering his fortune through gambling to embezzling public funds.’
‘You’re
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