Modern Romance May 2015 Books 1-8. Кейт Хьюит

the end of Chrissie’s account, Sophie sighed. ‘It’s a sad thing to accept that even had I got to know my son as an adult I don’t think I would’ve liked him. Your husband’s grandfather Tarif twisted Lut against me. There was never any hope of my son listening to my side of the story. Indeed Lut accused me of being a liar but I am not a liar. I married Tarif when I was nineteen.’

      ‘You were only a teenager?’ Chrissie gasped, suddenly comprehending the outlandish décor of the London mansion. It had been furnished by a teenager working with an unlimited budget.

      The old lady smiled. ‘Yes, but I considered myself to be very mature. What teenager does not? My family was very much against the marriage but I was head over heels in love and Tarif seemed so westernised and liberal. He swore that I would be his only wife and I believed that I had nothing else to worry about. Unfortunately, excellent English and European dress aren’t a sufficient guide to a man’s character.’

      Chrissie simply listened.

      ‘I was already pregnant by the time we returned from our honeymoon to Marwan.’ Lady Sophie paused, her thoughts clearly back in the distant past. ‘That’s when everything changed. My husband suddenly became unavailable and we no longer shared a bedroom...’

      ‘Had you had an argument?’

      ‘No. I found out that my husband had a harem full of concubines.’

      Chrissie’s eyes flew wide in shock. ‘Concubines?’

      ‘Tarif saw no reason why he should give up the lifestyle of his ancestors,’ the old lady told her quietly. ‘He could not understand why I could not accept his having other women because I was his wife and his queen and soon to deliver the royal heir. He considered my status the greatest honour and believed I should be content with it.’

      ‘Good grief,’ Chrissie mumbled with stricken sympathy, barely able to imagine the distress that nineteen-year-old girl must have endured when she found herself living alone and unsupported in such a situation. ‘What did you do?’

      ‘I begged him to give his other women up and he refused. He was a very stubborn man. For months we shared the same wing of the palace while living as strangers. I gave birth to Lut. Afterwards, Tarif urged me to accept him as he was. He argued that it was enough of a sacrifice that he had promised not to take another wife.’ Jaul’s grandmother pursed her lips. ‘Naturally I said no. A few weeks later my father died very suddenly and I flew home for the funeral. Tarif refused to let me take Lut with me. While I was away he phoned me and told me not to return to Marwan unless I had changed my mind about what I was willing to live with.’

      ‘Obviously you never had a choice,’ Chrissie commented quietly. ‘That was cruel.’

      ‘When I wouldn’t give way and return to Marwan on his terms, Tarif refused to let me see my son. I didn’t see Lut again until he was in his twenties and although he let me tell him my story, he wouldn’t accept it. Lut was an enormous prude. The very word concubine set him off in a rage and he harangued me, accusing me of telling foul lies to besmirch his father’s memory.’

      Chrissie sighed. ‘I’ll discuss this with Jaul. He’s not remotely like his father.’

      ‘Are you absolutely sure of that?’ Lady Sophie prompted with a worried look on her face. ‘I can tell you that in terms of looks, Jaul is the living image of his grandfather and such sensitive issues as concubines are not discussed here where the King is omnipotent.’

      Chrissie thanked her hostess for the tea before she departed with her thoughts in turmoil. She was convinced by the old lady’s story, she acknowledged uneasily. But how did she know for sure that there were no longer concubines in the vastness of the royal palace complex? Was it even possible that she herself should need to fear such a situation? Could Jaul have honed his superb talents in the bedroom with nameless women in some hidden, never-discussed harem? Could it even provide an explanation for his marked lack of interest in making love to his wife? Or was she being insane in nourishing such a fantastic suspicion?

      The question that she was determined not to ask Jaul grew and grew on the drive back to the palace. How likely was it that Jaul kept concubines like his not so very westernised grandfather? In this day and age not very likely, her rational mind assured her as she mounted the stairs to their private wing and went straight to see the twins.

      Thirty minutes later, she glanced up to see Jaul lodged in the doorway, stunning eyes dark as coal and steady in the taut lines of his lean, darkly handsome face as he studied her.

      ‘You know where I’ve been.’ Chrissie sighed as she scrambled upright to follow Jaul into the room next door.

      ‘You went against my wishes. Naturally I am annoyed,’ Jaul spelled out flatly, his perfect white teeth grinding together with the strain of suppressing his temper as he stared down at her.

      Of course he didn’t want his wife connecting with a bitter old woman he had heard described as a fantasist! Of course he didn’t want his grandmother trying to poison Chrissie with her undying hatred of his family! Chrissie already had all too many reasons to think badly of him. Furthermore, with his long-awaited meeting with Yusuf due to take place that very afternoon, Jaul was ready to confront the last of the devils that had haunted him since his receipt of Yusuf’s note of apology, but quite understandably on edge at the prospect. Only when he was convinced that he knew everything could he talk honestly to Chrissie. There would be no more secrets between them, no unanswered questions or doubts. His wife deserved that from him at the very least.

      ‘I visited Sophie because I hoped that in some way...goodness knows how...I might be able to heal the family rift,’ Chrissie told him ruefully.

      ‘A compassionate thought,’ Jaul conceded grittily. ‘What did she tell you about my family?’

      Chrissie breathed in deep, mustering her courage. ‘That your grandfather had concubines while he was married to her.’

      Jaul looked at her in wonderment. ‘She told you...that? Seriously?’

      Chagrined by his patent disbelief, Chrissie murmured quietly, ‘And I believed her.’

      Jaul threw back his broad shoulders, his anger as instant and shattering as a sudden clap of thunder on a hot, humid day. ‘That’s a most offensive untruth...an outrageous calumny!’

      ‘Is it?’ Chrissie almost whispered because the atmosphere was so explosive it was as if all the oxygen were being sucked into a void. ‘Because, naturally, after being told that I have to ask you if you—’

      ‘Don’t you dare ask that of me!’ Jaul roared back at her, shocking her into sudden silence. Outright fury had charged his lean, hard-muscled frame. His dark eyes were blazing like golden arrows aimed at a target.

      Chrissie had lost colour. She hadn’t even got the actual question voiced but he knew exactly what she had been about to ask him and he was outraged to a degree that went beyond anything she had ever seen in him before.

      ‘You have just proved my father’s contention that his mother was an appalling liar.’

      ‘If that is true, possibly he inherited that talent from his mother,’ Chrissie challenged without hesitation. ‘Your father was no great fan of the truth himself.’

      Jaul paled beneath his bronzed skin and his hands closed into tight fists, for he could not defend his late father and he would not lie in his defence either. His father had been an irredeemable liar and in that moment he could quite understand why Chrissie had refused to accept Lut’s view of Lady Sophie and had preferred to make up her own mind.

      ‘There have not been concubines in the palace for over a century,’ Jaul informed her curtly. ‘To suggest that that lifestyle was still in existence in the nineteen thirties is incredible, but if it makes you feel any happier I will check those facts with Yusuf this afternoon. In Marwan, he is still the acknowledged authority on the history of the royal family. Indeed, he wrote a much-admired book on the subject.’