Girl in the Bedouin Tent by Annie West Page B

kidding!’
    Amir shook his head. ‘He relied on his older brother to bail him out of strife and cover up for him. And he was right—the old Sheikh would have done anything to ensure he didn’t face imprisonment. That would have brought shame on the family. In the end my father lived on a very generous stipend provided by his brother.’
    ‘So he could afford the resorts?’
    ‘And more. He was a womanizer, a party animal. The only reason he married my mother was because she was pregnant with his baby.’
    ‘At least he married her.’
    Amir watched something flicker in Cassie’s eyes andremembered what she’d said about her parents not being married. About her father living with his other family.
    It sounded hard, but if her father had been like his perhaps her experience was the better option.
    Slowly he nodded. ‘It was the one responsible thing he did in his life. To his family’s horror, though, he married a lingerie model with a slum upbringing and a reputation for kiss-and-tell affairs.’ His smile was a tight twist of the lips.
‘Not
what the Tarakhan royal family had hoped for.’
    ‘I’ll bet not.’ Cassie sat back, the chessboard forgotten.
    ‘The fact that they died together from an overdose of illegal drugs at an out-of-control party only made things worse.’
    ‘Oh, Amir! I’m so sorry.’
    He leaned across to take another of her pieces. He didn’t need sympathy. He’d barely known his parents and hadn’t missed them. If anything, the move to Tarakhar had been a blessed relief, despite his uncle’s rules and regimen.
    ‘It was a long time ago. But the point is when I arrived everyone looked sideways at me. My uncle expected me to turn out like my father—unstable and irresponsible. Everyone else followed his lead.’
    ‘That’s
so
unfair!’
    ‘Who said life was fair?’ He paused. ‘Maybe knowing everyone expected me to fail was what gave me to strength to keep trying. To succeed.’
    Amir kept his voice light, but memories reinforced the promise he’d long ago made to himself. No children of his would suffer as he’d done, because of his parents’ scandalous behaviour. They wouldn’t wear the badge of shame for something they couldn’t change.
    He would protect them as he’d never been protected. He had it all mapped out. Nothing would be left to chance.
    He watched Cassie’s slim fingers move a chess piece rather than let himself seek out her gaze.
    ‘Surely your uncle could have given you the benefit of the doubt? You were just a kid.’
    ‘My uncle was a decent man, but after a lifetime bailing his brother out of trouble his patience had worn thin. He spent years waiting for me to show the same traits as my father.’
    ‘But you didn’t.’
    She said it with such certainty that Amir lifted his gaze to her still face. Something gleamed in the depths of her eyes. Something warm and reassuring. Something that, crazily, for this moment, he wanted to hang on to.
    ‘I’m no saint, Cassie. I haven’t always stuck to the straight and narrow.’
    Cassie looked away from his dark eyes. They discussed him, yet she felt he saw too much of what she usually kept to herself.
    Like the shiver of excitement inside when their eyes met. Like the feeling of connection to this man who was still virtually a stranger.
    Yet, hearing about his childhood, she couldn’t help but notice the similarities between them. Neither had been wanted as children—definitely in her case, and reading between the lines she’d guess in Amir’s as well. Both were children of parents intent on their own pleasure. Both shadowed by the shame of their parents’ behaviour. Both ostracised by others because of that.
    Both alone.
    ‘I’m not surprised you rebelled. It’s a natural response.’ She watched him move again, closing the trap around her king.
    His movements were mesmerising. Or was it that she’d fallen under his spell? She hung on his words, addicted to the deep timbre of his voice. She watched