Dear Reader,

I love writing sheikh romances, so I was thrilled to be asked to write the first in a duo with the lovely Amalie Berlin.

My hero, Zahir Al Rahal, is the eldest of two brothers. Both are royal and both are doctors, yet they have very different personalities. Zahir is rather more formal and austere than his younger brother, Dakan, and I rather like that about him. So too does my heroine, Adele.

Of course Zahir is completely unattainable, and he really doesn’t even seem to notice Adele, yet he is the go-to place in her head—a lovely daydream that has helped her through some very difficult times. No matter how she fights it and tries to move on, he remains her secret crush. Or perhaps it’s not such a secret after all!

Happy reading,

Carol x

CAROL MARINELLI recently filled in a form asking for her job title. Thrilled to be able to put down her answer, she put ‘writer’. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation and she put down the truth—‘writing’. The third question asked for her hobbies. Well, not wanting to look obsessed, she crossed her fingers and answered ‘swimming’—but, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!

Seduced by the Sheikh Surgeon
Carol Marinelli

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Praise for Carol Marinelli

‘It had me in tears at the beginning, and then again at the end, and I could hardly put it down. A brilliant emotional read by Carol Marinelli!’

—Goodreads on The Baby of Their Dreams

Contents

COVER

Dear Reader

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TITLE PAGE

Praise for Carol Marinelli

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

EPILOGUE

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

IT WASN’T BECAUSE of lack of opportunity for there had been plenty of them.

In fact, here was one now!

A late spring storm had come from nowhere and lit up the London sky.

Adele stood at the bus stop across the road from the Accident and Emergency department, where she had just finished working a late shift. The rain battered the shelter and she would probably be better off standing behind it. Her white dress, which was not designed to get wet, clung to her and had shrunk to mid-thigh and her shoulder-length blond hair was plastered to her head.

She wore no mascara so she was safe there—Adele wouldn’t be greeting Zahir with panda eyes.

It was ten at night and she could see the blinkers on his silver sports car as he drove out of the hospital, turned right and drove towards her.

Surely now? Adele thought, as she stepped out from the supposed shelter just to make sure that she could be seen.

Surely any decent human being who saw a colleague standing shivering and wet at a bus stop, caught in a sudden storm, would slow down and offer them a lift home.

And when he did Adele would smile and say, ‘Thank you,’ and get into the car. Zahir would see her clinging dress and wonder how the hell he had not noticed the junior nurse in that way before.

And she would forgive him for a year of rudely ignoring her. Finally alone, they would make conversation and as they pulled up at her flat...

Adele hadn’t quite worked out that part. She loathed her flat and flatmates and couldn’t really see Zahir in there.

Maybe he would suggest a drink back at his place, Adele thought as finally, finally, her moment came and the silver car slowed down.

She actually started to walk towards it, so certain was she that their moment had come.

But then he picked up speed and drove on.

No, his car didn’t splash her with water, but she felt the drenching of his repeated rejection, just as if it had.

He must have just slowed down to turn on his radio or something, Adele soon realised, for Zahir drove straight past her.

How could she fancy someone as unfeeling as him? she wondered.

It was a conundrum she regularly wrangled with.

She couldn’t console herself that he didn’t like women.

Zahir dated.

A lot.

On too many occasions Adele had sat at the nurses’ station or in the staffroom as he’d taken a call from whoever his latest perturbed girlfriend had been.

Perturbed because it was Saturday night and they were supposed to be out and Zahir was at work. Perturbed because it was Sunday afternoon and he had said several hours ago that he was only popping in to work.

Work was his priority. That much was clear.

During Adele’s last set of night shifts he had been called in when he hadn’t been rostered on. Wherever he had come from had required him to wear a tux. He had looked divine. For once he had been utterly clean shaven and his thick black hair had been slicked back. Adele had tried to stammer out the problem with the patient that she and Janet, the nurse unit manager, had been concerned about.

It had proved to be a hard ask.

‘He was seen here this afternoon and discharged with antibiotics,’ Adele said. ‘His mother’s still concerned and has brought him back tonight. The paediatrician has seen him again and explained it’s too soon for the antibiotics to take effect.’

‘What is your concern?’ Zahir asked.

His cologne was heavy yet it could not douse the testosterone and sexual energy that was almost a visible aura to Adele. His deep, gravelly voice asked pertinent questions about the patient. She loved his rich accent and each stroke of a vowel he delivered went straight to her thighs.

‘Adele,’ he asked again, ‘what is the main reason for your concern?’

‘The mother’s very worried,’ Adele said, and closed her eyes because mothers were always very worried. ‘And so am I.’

Zahir had gone in to examine the patient when a stunning woman had walked into the department. Her long brown hair and make-up were perfect despite the late hour. Dressed in silver, she had marched up to Janet and asked in a very bossy voice exactly how long Zahir would be.

‘Bella, I said to wait in the car.’ Zahir’s curt response had made the beauty jump. Clearly she only spoke like this out of his earshot.

Janet smothered a smile as Bella stalked off. ‘Gone by morning,’ she said to Adele.

Zahir had asked that Janet send in Helene to assist him.

More experience was required.

Adele had none.

Well, not with men but it seriously irked her that even after a year of working in Accident and Emergency he seemed to treat her as if she had just started.

And she had been right to be worried about the child.

Zahir performed a lumbar puncture and viral meningitis was later confirmed. The little boy was admitted and ended up staying in hospital for five days.

Not that Zahir told her.

There was never any follow-up for Adele.

And yet, for all his faults in the communication department, Zahir was the highlight of her working day.

Of all her days.

Well, no more, she decided as his car glided past.

He was arrogant and dismissive and it had been outright mean of him not to stop and offer her a lift—she refused to fancy him any longer.

Adele’s world was small, too small, she knew that and was determined to do something about it.

The bus finally arrived.

Actually, two of them did. The one that was late and the one that was due.

Spoiled for choice, Adele thought as she climbed onto the emptier one and said hello to the driver.

There were some of the regulars on board and there were a few others.

Adele was a regular and knew she could zone out for the next half-hour. She rested her head against the window as the bus hissed and jolted its way through the rain, and as it did so she went to her favourite place in the world.

Zahir.

Her conundrum.

She had no choice in her attraction toward him, she had long since decided. She had fought it, tried to deny it, tried to do something about it and she had also tried to ignore it.

Yet it persisted.

It simply existed and she had to somehow learn to live alongside it.

Maybe it was because he was completely unobtainable, she considered as someone started to sing at the back of the bus.

Yes, she needed to get out more and she was starting to do so. On Friday night she had a first date with Paul—a paramedic who had made his interest in her clear.

Just say yes, everyone at work had told her.

Finally she had.

Except it wasn’t Paul that she wanted to go out with.

It was, and felt as if it always would be, Zahir.

His name badge read, ‘Zahir, Emergency Consultant.’

The patients did not need to know he was Crown Prince Sheikh Zahir Al Rahal, of Mamlakat Almas.

Her heart hadn’t needed to know that either. She had felt its rate quicken the moment she had seen him, before she had even known his name.

At first sight, even before their first introduction, this odd feeling had taken residence in Adele.

His hair was black and glossy, and his skin was the colour of caramel and just as enticing. The paper gown he’d worn had strained over wide shoulders. There had been an air of control in the resuscitation room even though it had been clear that the patient’s situation had been dire.

He had glanced up from the patient he’d been treating and for a second his silver-grey eyes had met Adele’s and she had felt her cheeks grow warm under his brief gaze.

‘I’m just showing Adele around the department.’ Janet, the nurse unit manager conducting the interview, had explained.

He had given just the briefest of nods and then he had got back to treating the critical patient.

‘As you can see, the resuscitation area has been updated since you were last here,’ Janet had said. ‘We’ve now got five beds and two cots.’

Yes, it had been updated but the basics had been the same.

Adele had stood for a moment, remembering a time, several years previously, when she had been wheeled in here and, given that Janet had been with her on that awful day, she had perhaps understood why Adele had been quiet.

Janet had made no reference to it, though; in fact, as they’d both walked back towards Janet’s office she’d spoken of other things.

‘That was Zahir, one of our emergency consultants,’ Janet said. ‘You’ll have come across him when you did your placement.’

‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘He wasn’t here then. I believe he was on leave.’

‘He’s been working here for a couple of years now but, yes, he is away quite a lot. Zahir has a lot of commitments back home so he works on temporary contracts,’ Janet explained. ‘We always cross our fingers that he’ll renew. He’s a huge asset to the department.

‘I’ve worked with his brother, Dakan,’ Adele said.

They both shared a smile.

Dakan had just completed his residency and was a bit wild and cheeky, and she knew from the hospital grapevine that Zahir was the more austere of the two.

Of course she had heard about his brooding dark looks and yet she had never expected him to be quite so attractive.

Adele hadn’t really found anyone that attractive before.

Not that it mattered.

There had been no room in her life for that sort of thing, not that Zahir would even give her a second glance.

‘So,’ Janet said as they headed back to her office, ‘are you still keen to work here?’

‘Very.’ Adele nodded. ‘I never thought I’d want to work in Emergency but during my placement I found that I loved it...’

‘And you’re very good at it. You shall have to work in Resus, though.’

‘I understand that.’

As a student nurse Adele had struggled through her Accident and Emergency placement. She had dreaded going into the room where, even though her mother hadn’t died, Adele had found out that she was lost to her.

Janet, knowing all that had gone on, had been very patient and had given Adele the minimum time in Resus and had looked out for her when she was there. Now, though, if Adele wanted to make Accident and Emergency her specialty, there could be no kid-glove treatment.

‘Are you sure it won’t be too much for you?’ Janet checked.

‘I’m sure.’ Adele nodded. She had given it a lot of thought and she explained what she had come to realise during her training.

‘Really, my mother was in Theatre, in Radiology and ICU. For some reason the Resus room hit me the hardest but I’ve come to understand that there are memories of that time all over the place.’

‘How is Lorna doing now?’ Janet asked carefully.

‘She’s still the same.’ Adele gave a strained smile. ‘She’s in a really lovely nursing home, the staff are just wonderful and I go in and see her at least once a day.’

‘That’s a lot of pressure.’

‘Not really.’ Adele shook her head. ‘I’m not sure if she knows I’m there but I’d hate her to think I’d forgotten her.’

Janet wanted to say something.

Years of visiting her mother at least once a day would take its toll, she knew.

But then Janet understood why it would be so hard for Adele to move on. After all, she knew the details of the accident.

Janet had been working that day.

They had been alerted that there had been a motor-vehicle accident and that there had been five people injured and in the process of being freed from the wreckage of the cars.

Lorna Jenson, a front-seat passenger, had been in critical condition with severe head and chest injuries.

The driver of the other car had abdominal and head injuries and had been brought into Resus too. His wife and daughter had escaped with minor injuries but they had been hysterical and their screams and tears had filled the department.

And finally, as Lorna had been about to be taken to Theatre for surgery to hopefully relieve the pressure on her brain, Janet had gone in to speak with her eighteen-year-old daughter who’d lain staring at the ceiling.

Adele’s blonde hair had been splattered with blood and her face had been as white as the pillow. Her china-blue eyes had not blinked, they’d just stared up at the ceiling and her lips too had been white.

‘Adele?’ Janet checked, and Adele attempted to give a small nod but she was wearing a hard cervical collar. ‘Can you tell me your full name?’ Janet asked as she checked the wristband. She had been busy dealing with the critically injured patient and had to be very sure to whom she was speaking.

‘Adele Jenson.’

‘Good.’ Having confirmed to whom she was speaking, Janet pressed on. ‘I believe that Phillip, the consultant, has been in and spoken with you about your mother.’

‘He has,’ Adele said.

Phillip had been in and had gently told her just how unwell her mother was and that there was a real possibility that she might not make it through the operation.

His glasses had fogged up as he’d looked down at Adele and told her the grim news.

Adele didn’t understand how the doctor had tears in his eyes and yet hers were dry.

Now Janet was looking down at her.

‘She’s going to be going to Theatre very soon.’

‘How’s the man...?’ Adele asked.

‘I’m sorry, Adele, I can’t give you that information.’

‘I can hear his family crying.’

‘I know you can.’

‘How badly are they hurt?’

‘I’m sorry, Adele. Again, I can’t give you that information, it’s to do with patient confidentiality.’

‘I know it is,’ Adele said. ‘I’m a nursing student. But I just need to know how he is, if he’s alive.’

‘It’s very hard for you.’ Janet gave her hand a little squeeze but gave her no information. ‘I wondered if you’d like me to take you in to see your mother before she goes up to Theatre.’

Adele tried to sit up.

‘Just lie there,’ Janet soothed. ‘We’ll wheel you over on the gurney. I can take that collar off you now, Phillip just checked your X-rays and says your neck is fine. It just had to be put on as a precaution.’

Gently she removed it.

‘How do you feel?’ Janet asked.

‘I’m fine,’ Adele said, though, in fact, she felt sick and had the most terrible headache, possibly from sitting in the car as the firefighters had used the Jaws of Life to peel back the roof. The noise had been deafening. The silence from her mother beside her had been far worse, though.

Janet could hear the sound of police radios outside the curtain and one of them asking if they could speak with Adele Jenson.

‘Just one moment,’ Janet said to Adele. She took the police to the far end of the corridor, well out of Adele’s earshot.

‘I’m just about to take her in to see her mother. Can this wait for a little while?’

‘Of course,’ the officer agreed. ‘But we really do need to speak with the other driver.’

‘Learner driver,’ Janet said, and with that one word she asked that they tread very carefully.

The officer nodded.

Janet left them then and wheeled Adele in to see her mother.

At the time Janet was quite sure Lorna wouldn’t make it through surgery.

But she did.

Now Lorna clung to life in a chronic vegetative state.

And her daughter, Janet rightly guessed, was still paying the price for that terrible day.

CHAPTER TWO

‘THAT WAS SOME storm last night,’ Janet said.

‘You’re telling me!’ Helene responded. ‘Hayden was driving and I had to get him to pull over.’

Adele was on another late shift and they were sitting at the nurses’ station. They had been discussing annual leave before the conversation had been sidetracked.

Adele really wasn’t in the mood to hear about Helene’s son’s driving lessons.

Again!

Helene had, a few months ago, come back to nursing after a long break away to raise her perfect family, and she spoke about them all the time.

‘Did you get home okay, Adele?’ Janet checked.

‘I did,’ Adele said, glancing over at Zahir, who had his back to her and was checking lab results on the computer. He was wearing navy scrubs and his long legs were stretched out. He was still taking up far too much space in her mind. ‘A lovely man stopped and gave me a lift.’

She watched as Zahir briefly stopped scrolling through results but then he resumed.

‘Who, Paul?’ Janet asked, because they all knew that Adele had a date with him tomorrow night.

‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘It was just some random man. As it turned out, he’d escaped from police guard in the psychiatric unit, but I didn’t feel threatened—he didn’t have his chainsaw with him.’

Janet laughed. She understood Adele’s slightly off-the-wall humour. ‘You got the bus, then.’

‘Yes, I got the bus.’

Chatter break over, they got back to business.

‘Adele, you really need to take some annual leave.’

Janet placed the annual leave roster in front of her and Adele frowned as Janet explained. ‘Admin don’t like us to hold too much over and further you haven’t taken any in the time you’ve been here.’

‘Nice problem to have!’ Helene said.

‘What about September?’ Adele suggested, because there were several slots there and Janet nodded and pencilled a fortnight in then. ‘You need to take two weeks before that, though.’

The trouble with that was it was now May. The upcoming summer months were all taken. In fact, a couple of months ago Adele had cancelled her leave when Helene had won a competition to take her perfect family on an overseas holiday.

‘How about the first two weeks of June?’ Janet suggested. ‘There’s a spot there.’

‘But that’s only three weeks away.’

‘That will give you time to book something last minute and cheap,’ Janet said. ‘I’ve been telling you to take some leave for ages, Adele.’

She had been.

‘What might you do?’ Helene asked once Janet had gone.

‘I have no idea,’ Adele admitted.

The truth was, even if she could afford to jet off to somewhere nice, she could not bear the thought of leaving behind her mum.

And a fortnight without the routine of work wasn’t something that Adele wanted either.

She didn’t like the flat where she lived, and, feeling guilty about acknowledging it to herself, neither did she want to spend even more time at the nursing home.

Perhaps she could do some agency work and try to get enough money together to start looking for her own place.

‘How is Mr Richards now, Adele?’ Zahir asked about the patient whose notes she had been catching up on when the subject of annual leave had arisen.

‘He’s comfortable.’

‘And how are his obs?’

‘Stable,’ Adele said.

Mr Richards was on half-hourly obs and they were due, oh, one and half minutes from now.

Basically, Zahir was prompting her to do them.

Well, she didn’t need him to remind her, as he so often did, but she said nothing and hopped down from her stool.

Mr Richards had unstable angina and as she did the observations Adele smiled down at the old man, who was all curled up under his blanket and grumbling as the blood-pressure cuff inflated.

‘I want to sleep.’

‘I know that you do,’ Adele said, ‘but we need to keep a close eye on you for now.’

His blood pressure had gone up and his heart rate was elevated. ‘Do you have any pain at the moment?’ Adele asked.

‘None, or I wouldn’t have, if you’d just let me sleep.’

Adele went to tell Zahir about the changes but was halted by a very elegant woman. She had a ripple of long black hair that trailed down her back and she was wearing a stunning, deep navy, floor-length robe that was intricately embroidered with flowers of gold. Around her throat was a gold choker and set in it was a huge ruby.

She was simply the most stunning woman Adele had ever seen.

‘I am to meet with Zahir...’ she said to Adele. ‘Can you tell him that I am here?’

Adele would usually ask who it was that wanted to speak with him but there was something so regal about her that she felt it would be rude to do so. As well as that, she had heard Zahir asking Phillip to cover him for a couple of hours as he and Dakan were taking their mother out for afternoon tea.

This was surely his mother—the Queen.

‘I’ll just let him know.’

There was only Zahir in the nurses’ station now. He was still on the computer but just signing off. ‘Zahir,’ Adele said.

‘Yes?’ He didn’t turn around.

‘There’s a lady here to see you. I think that it might be your mother.’

‘Thank you,’ he stood. ‘I shall take her around to my office. When Dakan comes, would you tell him where we are?’

‘Actually...’ Adele halted him. ‘I was just coming in to tell you that Mr Richards’s blood pressure and heart rate are raised.’

‘Does he have pain?’

‘He says not, he just wants to sleep.’

‘Okay.’ Zahir glanced at the chart she held out to him. ‘Could you take my mother to my office and have her wait there?’

‘Of course,’ Adele said. ‘What do I call her?’

‘I answer to Leila!’

Adele turned and saw that Zahir’s mother had followed her into the nurses’ station. ‘I apologise.’ Adele smiled. ‘Let me take you through...’

They walked through the department. Leila said how lovely it felt to be in London and to be able to go out with her sons for tea. ‘Things are far less formal here than they are back home,’ she explained. ‘I prefer not to use my title when I am here as people tend to stare.’

They would stare anyway, Adele thought. Leila was seriously beautiful and it was as if she glided rather than walked alongside her.

‘I thought you’d have bodyguards,’ Adele said, and Leila gave a little laugh.

‘My driver is trained as one but he is waiting outside. I don’t need bodyguards when I have my sons close by.’

‘Zahir’s office is a little tucked away...’ Adele explained as they walked through the observation ward, but then she frowned as she realised that the Queen was no longer walking beside her.

She turned around and saw that she was standing and had her fingers pressed into her forehead.

‘Are you okay?’ Adele checked.

‘I’m just a bit...’ Leila didn’t finish. Instead she drew in a deep breath and Adele could see that she was terribly pale. ‘Could you show me where the restroom is?’

‘It’s there,’ Adele said, and pointed her to the staff restroom. ‘I’ll just wait here for you, shall I?’

Leila nodded and walked off and Adele waited for her to come out.

And waited.

Perhaps she was topping up her make-up, Adele decided, but then she thought about how pale Leila had suddenly gone and Adele was certain that she had been feeling dizzy.

She was loath to interrupt her. After all, Leila was Zahir’s mother and she was also a queen.

But, at the end of the day, she was a woman and Adele a nurse and she was starting to become concerned.

Nursing instinct won.

She pushed open the door and stepped in but there was no Leila at the sink washing her hands or doing her make-up. ‘Leila?’ Adele called into the silence.

‘Please help me...’ Leila’s voice came from behind the cubicle door.

‘It’s okay, I’m here.’ Adele took out the coin that she kept in her pocket for such times. She turned it in the slot and pushed open the door, relieved that it gave and that Leila wasn’t leaning against it, as had happened to Adele in the past.

‘Don’t let my sons see me bleed,’ Leila begged.

‘I shan’t.’

She was bleeding and on the edge of passing out.

‘Put your head down,’ Adele told her. ‘Has this happened before?’

‘A couple of times. I am seeing a doctor on Harley Street.’

Adele didn’t want to leave her sitting up in case she passed out, but neither did she want to lie her on the floor. She opened the main door to the rest room, at the same time as keeping an eye on her. She saw Janet bringing a patient into the obs ward.

‘Janet!’ Adele called out in a voice that made the other woman turn around immediately. As she did so Adele ducked straight back into the cubicle, knowing that Janet would follow her in.

‘Just take some nice big breaths,’ Adele said to Leila.

As Janet entered, Adele brought her up to speed.

‘This is Leila, Zahir’s mother. She’s bleeding PV.’

‘I’ll go and get a gurney.’

‘Janet,’ Adele added, before she dashed off, ‘she doesn’t want Zahir to see.’

It was all swiftly dealt with. Leila was put onto a gurney and oxygen given. Adele put some blankets over her to make sure that she was covered before they wheeled her through.

Of course Zahir had finished with Mr Richards and was making his way to his office as they passed by.

‘What happened?’ he asked and then he gave a look at Adele as if to say, I left her with you for five minutes!

‘Your mother fainted,’ Adele told him as they walked quickly into the department.

‘Maria,’ Janet called out to the female registrar who was on duty today.

‘I will take care of my mother,’ Zahir said as they arrived at the cubicle.

He started to walk in but Adele blocked his path.

Well, she hardly blocked it, because she was very slight and he could easily have moved her aside or stepped around her, but there was something in her stance that was a challenge. ‘Zahir!’ Adele said, and she looked up at him and, for only the second time in twelve months of their history, their eyes met properly.

‘Adele, let me past.’

‘No,’ she said, and stood her ground. ‘Zahir, there are some things a mother would prefer her son didn’t see.’

As realisation hit he gave a small nod. ‘Very well.’

‘We’ve got this,’ Adele reassured him.

He was like a cat put out in the rain but reluctantly he stepped back. ‘Could you keep me informed?’

She nodded.

Poor Leila, Adele thought as she got her into a gown and did some obs. Leila point blank refused to allow Adele to remove her jewellery.

Janet inserted an IV and Maria ordered some IV fluids. In a short space of time Zahir’s mother was starting to look better.

‘I’ve been unwell for a while,’ she explained. ‘I came over last month to have some time with my sons but I also had some tests done. I’m supposed to be having a hysterectomy tomorrow. I don’t want my husband to know.’ She took a breath. ‘As awkward as it might be, I was going to tell my sons today at afternoon tea.’

Maria went through her medical history but at first Leila was very vague in her responses.

‘How many pregnancies have you had?’ Maria asked.

‘I have two children.’

‘How many pregnancies?’ Maria asked again.

‘Three,’ Leila said, and Adele saw a tear slip from her eyes and into her hair. ‘I don’t like to speak of that time.’

Maria looked at Adele, whose hand Leila was holding, in the hope Adele could get more out of her. ‘The doctor needs to know your history, Leila. She needs to know about your pregnancies and labours and any problems you have had.’

‘My womb causes me many problems. I got pregnant very quickly with Zahir but he was born prematurely. It was a very difficult labour.’

They waited for her to elaborate but she didn’t.

‘And the next pregnancy?’ Adele prompted.

‘It took five more years to get pregnant and then I had Dakan. Again it was very difficult, he had very large shoulders. Two years later, I was lucky and I fell pregnant but my body did not do well... I had the best healer and a specialist attar but there was little they could do for me.’

‘Attar?’ Adele checked.

‘He makes up the herbs the healer advises. I took the potion every day yet I still felt very unwell, and I started to vomit.’

‘At what stage of the pregnancy?’ Maria asked.

‘He said I had four months left to go,’ Leila answered. ‘I was getting worse and I insisted that I be flown to a medical facility overseas. My husband and the healer were very opposed to the idea but I demanded it. In Dubai they said that I had to deliver the baby and that my blood pressure was very high. I called my husband and he said the healer had told him it was too soon and that the baby would die and that I needed to come home. Fatiq flew to Dubai to come and bring me back home...’

Leila started to cry in earnest then. ‘But by then I had delivered and the healer was right. A few hours after my husband arrived our son died.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Adele said.

‘I have a picture of him.’

Adele got Leila’s bag and watched as she took out her purse and showed them the tiniest most beautiful baby. ‘We named him Aafaq, it means the place where the earth and sky meet.’

‘It’s a beautiful name,’ Adele said, and she looked at a younger Leila and a man who looked very much like Zahir and was probably around the age his son was now.

They were both holding their tiny baby and he was off machines.

‘What a beautiful baby,’ Adele said.

They were a beautiful family, Adele thought, despite the pain. The King’s arm was around his wife and he was gazing down at his son and you could see the love and sorrow in his expression.

‘We cannot even speak of Aafaq,’ Leila sighed. ‘There is too much hurt there to even discuss that time. I think that my husband blames me for turning my back on the healer and yet he loves me also. I want for us to be able to speak about the son we lost but we can’t. Aafaq would have been twenty-five years old next month and time still hasn’t healed it. I miss him every day.’

It was so sad, Adele thought, and she continued to hold the older woman’s hand as Maria examined her. A while later an ultrasound confirmed fibroids and Maria went through the options.

‘We have a private wing here and I can speak with the consultant gynaecologist, Mr Oman. Or you can be transferred to the hospital you’re already booked into, though I doubt they’d operate tomorrow. You might need a few days to rest and recover from this bleeding.’

‘I think I would rather stay here but I shall discuss it with my son. Will you speak with him, please?’ Leila asked Maria. ‘He will be so worried and I am so embarrassed.’

‘Stop thinking like that,’ Adele told her. ‘Zahir is a doctor, he deals with this sort of thing all the time.’

‘Adele’s right,’ Maria said. ‘Can I tell Zahir that you were already planning to have surgery?’

‘Yes.’ Leila nodded. ‘But please don’t mention what I said about Aafaq.’

‘I shan’t. Do you want him to come in when I’ve finished speaking with him?’

‘Please.’

‘Check first, though,’ Adele called, as Maria left. ‘I’m just going to help Leila freshen up.’

Adele left to make preparations so that she could give Leila a wash and change of sheets. When she came back into the cubicle Leila was staring at the photo but then she placed it back in her bag.

It must be so hard for her, Adele thought, not to be able to speak of her son. She wondered if Zahir even knew about the baby his mother had lost.

‘Were you going to tell your husband after the operation?’ Adele asked as she washed her.

‘Yes,’ Leila said. ‘I might even have told him before or got one of my sons to. I know it is hard to understand our ways,’ Leila said. ‘Most of the time I am very grateful for the care I receive. There are times, though, that more is needed.’

Aafaq had been one of those times, Adele guessed.

Soon she was washed and changed.

‘Thank you for caring for me,’ Leila said.

‘It’s my pleasure. I’m just going to take your blood pressure again.’

She was doing just that when Maria checked that Leila was ready to receive visitors and a concerned-looking Zahir and Dakan came in.

They came over and Zahir gave his mother a warm embrace and spoke kindly to her in Arabic.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘You could have told me that you have not been well.’

‘I have been trying to deal with it myself.’

‘Well, you don’t have to. You have two sons who are doctors.’

‘The healer seems to think...’

What was being said, Adele did not know but she watched as Zahir’s jaw gritted.

‘Zahir, don’t just dismiss it out of hand. The potion helped at first but in the end was not working. It was the same when...’ She didn’t finish.

Zahir looked down at his mother’s swollen eyes and he knew that she would have been asked about previous pregnancies.

And he knew that subject must not be raised by him.

‘When things were getting no better, the healer suggested that when I was in London perhaps I could see someone.’

Zahir frowned. ‘He suggested it?’

‘Yes,’ Leila said, ‘but please don’t tell your father that. I don’t want the healer to get in trouble.’

It was a long afternoon that stretched into the evening. Dakan got paged to go to the ward and Zahir saw patients while keeping an eye on his mother.

Mr Oman came and saw Leila. It was decided that she would be admitted to the private wing and that surgery would take place on Monday.

‘For now we’ll have you moved somewhere more comfortable and you can get some rest.’

He spoke with Zahir on his way out. ‘You know that I shall take the very best care of her.’

‘I do. Thank you.’

‘Try not to worry. It will be a laparoscopic procedure and there will be minimal downtime.’ Mr Oman said.

Zahir knew that.

It was a straightforward operation that his mother had had to travel for ten hours to get access to.

Dakan came in to visit again and they persuaded their mother that Fatiq, the King, needed to be informed as to all that had happened today, and finally she agreed.

‘Go easy on him, Zahir,’ Leila said, for she knew how they clashed, especially on topics such as this. ‘He will be so worried and scared for me.’

Zahir nodded.

And at the beginning of the call, knowing how deeply his parents loved each other and the shock this would be, he was gentle. He sat in his office, explaining as best he could what had happened and that his mother would have surgery on Monday.

‘No,’ his father said and Zahir could hear the fear in his voice. ‘I want her here. Last time she went into hospital...’ He didn’t finish.

They never did.

That topic was closed for ever.

‘Zahir, if anything should happen to her—’

‘She needs surgery,’ Zahir interrupted, but they went around in circles for a while, with Fatiq insisting that surgery was unnecessary and that the healer could sort this.

Zahir bit back the temptation to tell his father that the healer had been the one who had suggested it.

That had surprised Zahir, yet it pleased him also.

Perhaps some progress could finally be made.

‘She is seeing one of the top surgeons in London,’ Zahir said. ‘I will ensure that she gets the very best of care and shall keep you informed.’

The call ended and Zahir replaced the receiver. He squeezed the bridge of his nose between finger and thumb and took a deep breath to steady himself. He was so angry with his father about the health care back home and it was a battle they had fought for way more than a decade.

It was the reason he was here.

CHAPTER THREE

‘ARE YOU OKAY?’

Her voice was soothing.

Pleasant.

He opened his eyes and there, standing at the office door, was Adele.

Zahir thought he had closed it and was uncomfortable that she’d caught him in an unguarded moment.

‘I’m not about to have my second Al Rahal faint on me today?’ Adele checked, and Zahir gave a reluctant smile.

‘No.’

‘We’re just about to move your mother to the private wing.’

‘Good,’ Zahir said, and then glanced at the time. ‘You must be finishing up. Thank you for all your help with her today.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘Who’s taking her up to the ward?’

‘I am,’ Adele said.

His mother had insisted on keeping Adele around and, because queens were something of a rarity, the rules had been relaxed.

‘She wants to know if you’ve spoken with her husband.’

‘Tell my mother that he knows. I’ll come and speak with her on the ward. I just have a couple more patients to see.’

It took ages to settle Leila into the private wing. She was lovely but extremely demanding and by the time Adele had everything to the Queen’s liking and had handed over it was way past the end of her shift and she was exhausted.

‘I shall see you in the morning,’ Leila checked as Adele wished her goodnight.

Zahir had come in to check that his mother was settled too.

‘No.’ Adele shook her head.

‘But you said you started tomorrow at seven.’

‘Yes, but I work in Emergency.’

There was an exchange in Arabic between mother and son. A rather long one and finally Zahir translated what was being said.

‘She wants to know if you can nurse her. I’ve just explained that that is not how things work.’

Leila spoke now in English. ‘I want Adele to be my nurse.’

‘She’s very used to getting her own way.’ Zahir gave a wry smile and then went back to speaking in Arabic.

His mother was adamant and, seeing that she was getting upset, Adele intervened.

‘Leila, I would love to care for you but it isn’t my specialty and I’m already rostered on to work in Accident and Emergency tomorrow. They’re very short of staff. I can come and visit you, though.’

‘You’ll visit me?’

‘I’d love to.’ Adele nodded. She often caught up with patients once they were moved to other wards and few were more interesting than Leila. ‘I can come in during my lunch break tomorrow. For now, though, you need to get some rest. It’s been an exhausting day for you.’

Adele headed down and changed out of her scrubs and into jeans and a T-shirt. It was well after ten and she had missed her bus and would have to wait for ages for the next one.

It wasn’t the first time it had happened and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

It was, however, the first time that the silver sports car that usually glided past pulled in at the bus stop.

The window slid down and Zahir called out to her.

‘The least I can do is give you a lift home.’

Even though Adele was still sulking about last night, she knew it would be petty to refuse.

Finally she sat in the passenger seat.

‘You don’t drive?’ Zahir asked.

‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘There’s no real need to in London.’

She gave her regular excuse, but the truth was that since that awful day even the thought of getting behind the wheel made her feel ill.

‘Surely it’s better than getting a bus late at night?’

‘Maybe.’ Adele gave a shrug.

Perhaps she couldn’t afford a car, Zahir thought. He had heard that she was saving up to move out of her flat.

He would buy her a car, Zahir decided.

It was as if cultures had just clashed in his brain.

That was what his family would say—buy her a car, repay the debt, return the favour tenfold—and yet he knew that she would find such a move offensive.

Today was not a debt that needed to be repaid to Adele.

It was her job. Nursing was what she did.

And she did it very well.

It wasn’t her fault that he was terse with her at times.

It was necessary for him to function.

She entranced him.

She was funny and open and yet private and deep.

Adele was the woman he kept a distance from because she was the one person he would really like to get to know.

And no good could come from that.

‘I really am grateful for all your help today,’ he said.

‘I was just doing my job.’

‘I know, but you helped my mother a lot. I know that she would have been scared, given that she is so far from home, and that she would have needed someone to talk to.’ Zahir hesitated. He thought of his mother’s eyelids, swollen from crying. He hoped she had given her full history to the doctors. ‘Did she mention that she lost a baby?’

Adele frowned as Zahir glanced at her. From the way Leila had asked that it not be mentioned, Adele had assumed Zahir didn’t know about his brother. She thought about it some more and realised he would have been about seven when it had happened.

When she didn’t answer the question, Zahir elaborated.

‘I don’t really know the details,’ he admitted. ‘It’s a forbidden subject in the palace. I just know she was having a baby and that she flew to Dubai. Then my father left and they all returned. Aafaq is buried in the desert but to this day...’ He glanced at her again, hoping he might glean something.

Anything.

‘You need to discuss that with your mother,’ Adele said, though there was regret in her voice. She knew how it felt to be kept in the dark. She could still clearly remember trying to get information out of Janet. It was awful knowing someone held facts that were vital to you but could not be shared. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I know,’ Zahir admitted. ‘And I’m sorry to have put you in that situation. I just hope she has been frank with Mr Oman.’

Adele didn’t answer.

Zahir respected her for that.

‘Just here,’ Adele said, and they pulled up at a large building with heavy gates.

‘Again—thank you again for your help with my mother today.’

‘No problem. Thank you for the lift.’

‘Any time.’ Zahir gave an automatic response.

She let out a short, incredulous laugh. For a year he had driven past her; last night she had been drenched and he’d utterly ignored her. And, yes, it might seem petty but she would not leave it unsaid. ‘Any time you feel obliged to, you mean.’

Zahir stared ahead but he was gripping the steering-wheel rather tightly.

He knew that Adele was referring to last night.

Of course he had seen her.

It had taken all he had not to stop.

‘Goodnight, Zahir.’

She got out and opened the gates.

Zahir knew he hadn’t dropped her at her flat. This was a nursing home. He knew that Adele’s mother was very ill and that she visited her often.

He had never delved.

Zahir had wanted to, though.

He wanted to explore his feelings for Adele. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anyone.

But he had been born to be king, which meant at all times he kept his head. His emotions he owned and his heart had to remain closed until marriage.

And he would marry soon hopefully.

It was the last bargaining tool he had with his father.

King Fatiq wanted a selection ceremony to take place and for Zahir to choose his future bride.

There were several possibilities and the union must be the one to best benefit the country, yet Zahir had refused to commit himself so far.

Only when he had free rein to rebuild the health system in his own country would Zahir choose a bride. His father had resisted but Zahir was now thirty-two and the King wanted his son married and home.

And so Zahir chose to remain aloof in relationships, knowing, hoping, that at any given time his father might relent and summon him home and the work on the health system in his country could truly begin.

There was nothing aloof about his feelings for Adele, though.

It could only prove perilous to get involved with her.

The last time he had been home he had sat in the desert and asked for a solution.

Always he asked for help regarding Aafaq and the clash with his father, and always he asked how best to serve his people. Lately, he had asked about Adele.

There could be no solution there, Zahir knew.

Yet he had asked for guidance and in the quiet of deep meditation the answer had been the same.

Have patience.

In time the answers will unfold.

Do what is essential.

Zahir’s patience was running out.

He watched as Adele pressed the buzzer and then she turned around and frowned.

She was surprised that the man who left her standing in the dark night after night seemed to want to see her safely inside.

Within a matter of moments she was walking into the nursing home and towards her mother’s room.

‘Hi, Adele.’ Annie, one of the nurses, had just finished turning her mother and smiled at Adele as she came in.

‘I know that it’s late but I couldn’t get here this morning and...’

Adele stopped herself. They always told her that she didn’t need to give a reason if she couldn’t come in. Tomorrow she wouldn’t be able to—she was on an early shift and, even though the nursing home was close by, she was going out on that date with Paul.

The trouble was she wasn’t particularly looking forward to it.

‘Hi, Mum,’ Adele said, and took a seat and held one of her mother’s hands.

Lorna’s nails were painted a lovely shade of coral.Adele did her mother’s finger-and toenails each week. Her once brown hair was now a silver grey. Adele had used to faithfully do her roots but in the end she had stopped that.

Oh, she knew she had to get a life and yet it was so hard not to come in and visit.

And people simply didn’t understand.

Lorna had been so vibrant and outgoing. A single mum, she had juggled work and her daughter, along with an active social life. She’d had a large group of friends and at first they, along with relatives, had filled the ICU waiting rooms and then later they had come by to visit when Lorna had been on the ward.

Over the years those visits had all but petered out.

Now the occasional card or letter came and Adele would read it out then add it to the string on her mother’s wall. Lorna’s sister, Adele’s aunt, came and visited maybe once or twice a year. Another friend dropped in on occasion but apart from that it was just Adele.

And so she brought her mother, who lay with her eyes closed, up to date on what was happening in her life.

‘I finally my got my lift from him,’ Adele told her mum. ‘It was very underwhelming.’ It really had been, she thought. ‘Anyway, I’m over Zahir. I really do mean it this time. I’m going out with Paul tomorrow night. He’s one of the paramedics,’ Adele explained to the silence. ‘He’s asked me out a few times and I decided maybe I should give him a chance after all. I guess I’m not going to like everyone in the same way I do Zahir.’

It really was time to get a life.

But then she told her mother the real reason she had stopped by after work.

It wasn’t just that she might not be in tomorrow, there were bigger reasons than that for her being here tonight.

If her mother would just squeeze her hand or blink or do one thing to acknowledge that she knew Adele was here, it would help.

This was agony, it truly was, sitting here day in, day out, and yet she was all her mother had.

But Adele made herself say it out loud.

‘Mum, I’ve got some annual leave that I need to take and I’m thinking of going on holiday.’

It was a huge thing for her to say.

Yet she knew she couldn’t live this life for ever.

To pay for the nursing home and the legal fees when the other family involved in the accident had sued, the family home had been sold and Adele now shared a small flat with Helga and James.

Adele had deferred her studies for two years, but they had been spent dealing with the aftermath of the accident. She hadn’t had a holiday in years. Any weekends or leave had always been taken up with other things, such as university, work, visiting her mother, getting the house ready for the market or dealing with lawyers, doctors and real estate agents.

Finally, when her mum had been placed in this home and things had started to settle, Adele had started her role in Accident and Emergency.

Now she felt as if she was coming up for air and she simply wanted to get away and maybe just grieve for her mother.

Of course she would still visit, Adele thought as she walked the small distance home to her flat.

But she had to work out some sort of balance.

Helga was in the kitchen, making an enormous fry-up for herself and James, and she had her music up loud.

Adele was so tired but she lay on her bed, trying not to think of what she had just told her mother and trying to consider where to go on holiday.

Greece perhaps?

She woke to that thought.

Adele took out her laptop and looked at several destinations and then saw a wonderful package deal for the South of France.

Oh!

It was more expensive than she had planned for.

Then again, she hadn’t really planned to be going away.

Walking towards the bus stop, she saw that a one-bedroom flat nearby had just come up for rent.

Perhaps the money would be better spent moving out than on two weeks overseas.

Arriving at work, she smiled at Janet, who was waiting for the rest of the early-shift staff to arrive before they had handover, which wouldn’t take long, given that the place appeared dead.

Zahir was sitting on hold on the phone and not looking in the sunniest of moods.

‘How’s the holiday planning going?’ Janet asked as Adele came over.

‘I’ve seen something nice for the South of France.’

‘Ooh, la la,’ Helene said as she joined the group. ‘Will you go topless?’

‘I might.’ Adele said. ‘And I might find myself a nice French man...’

‘What about Paul?’ Janet checked.

‘Oh, yes.’ Adele said, her voice a touch deflated.

‘You’ve got your hot date tonight!’ Janet reminded her, and Adele rolled her eyes. ‘Where’s he taking you?’

‘No idea.’ Adele shrugged.

Zahir tried to ignore the conversation. Adele was going out on a date, well, of course she was.

She was beautiful, seriously so, and it had nothing to do with him what she did in her free time.

But this wasn’t her free time.

‘Is it appropriate,’ Zahir said tartly as he hung up the phone, ‘to be discussing topless bathing and dating in a corridor.’

‘Er, Zahir.’ Janet, who knew a thing or three, and had been enjoying winding him up, answered with her own version of tartness. ‘There are absolutely no patients around. I can handle my nursing staff, thank you.’

She smiled as Zahir stalked off.

Oh, yes.

She knew full well that he liked Adele.

CHAPTER FOUR

IT WAS A busy morning and lunchtime soon came around. Adele made good on her promise to visit Leila.

‘You are looking so much better.’ Adele was delighted to see the other woman sitting up and that she had some colour in her cheeks. Her hair was up and, despite wearing a hospital gown, she looked amazing.

‘I am feeling it,’ Leila agreed. ‘Thank you for all your help yesterday. Honestly, I shudder to think what might have happened. We could have been at afternoon tea!’

‘Don’t think like that.’ Adele smiled.

‘It’s hard not to,’ Leila sighed. ‘There’s not much else to do here. It is so nice to have you come and see me. I am used to being very busy. To just lie in bed is so frustrating. Zahir and Dakan have been in, of course, and the nurses here are very kind, but I am so bored.’

‘Will your husband come and visit you now that he knows you’re having surgery?’

‘No.’ Leila shook her head. ‘He does not like hospitals.’

It must be lonely for her, Adele thought.

‘He was going to send one of my handmaids but I have told him not to. I have asked Dakan to bring my embroidery from the hotel. That will take my mind off things.’

Leila was so easy to talk to. She was the complete opposite of Zahir, who, Adele guessed from the little she had gleaned, took after his father. Leila was more open and outgoing, rather like Dakan.

‘So you have days off this weekend?’ Leila asked.

‘I do.’ Adele nodded. ‘Then I’m on night duty for a fortnight.’

‘They must be tiring,’ Leila said, and then looked at Adele and saw the smudges under her eyes and her pale features. ‘Though you look tired now, even before you have started your night duty.’

‘I am tired,’ Adele admitted, and not just to Leila but to herself. It had been an exhausting few years and Janet was right to insist that she take her leave. ‘I’ve got a holiday coming up.’

‘That’s exciting. Are you going anywhere nice?’

‘I haven’t decided yet. I’ll have a think about it this weekend.’

As they chatted Adele revealed that she was going on a date that evening.

‘A first date.’ Leila beamed.

‘I’m actually not looking forward to it,’ Adele admitted. ‘I’m thinking of cancelling but I can’t come up with a good enough excuse.’

‘What do your parents think of him?’ Leila asked.

‘They...’ Adele paused. ‘I think your idea of a first date and mine are a little bit different, we’re just going out for dinner.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Leila nodded. ‘I sometimes forget. By the time I had my first date with Fatiq he was already my husband.’ She laughed.

‘Had you met him before you married?’

‘Yes, there was a selection ceremony two months before the wedding. I knew though that I would be chosen. Or rather I hoped. From when I was a little girl I always knew who I would marry. I told him that I came with conditions, though,’ Leila said, and tapped the ruby at her throat.

Adele guessed Leila meant she had told Fatiq that she must be kept in splendour.

‘Well, I can’t see myself ever marrying Paul,’ Adele admitted. ‘I can’t even picture getting through dinner.’

‘Your parents haven’t met him, then?’

‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘My parents divorced when I was very young and my father has never had anything to do with me.’

‘And your mother?’

‘She was in an accident,’ Adele said. ‘She’s very unwell and is in a nursing home. I see her every day.’

‘And you’re visiting me too!’

‘No, I like visiting you,’ she said, and then closed her eyes on the sudden threat of tears.

Adele never cried but she was suddenly close to it now as she had practically admitted the truth—she didn’t like visiting her mum.

Leila’s hand went over hers.

It was unexpected and also terribly kind, given what she had just said.

‘She can’t talk or react,’ Adele told Leila. ‘She’s just a shell of herself. I don’t even think she knows that I’m there.’

‘You know that you’re there for her, though,’ Leila said. ‘That’s the important thing.’

Finally, someone who understood, Adele thought.

Her family, friends and colleagues all encouraged her to step back. Even the nursing staff at the home gently implied that Adele didn’t need to visit quite so much.

Adele knew that she had to sort out her life—she didn’t need to be told that but it was so nice to have someone understand.

‘I’m worried about going on holiday,’ she admitted.

‘Can I tell you something?’ Leila offered. ‘I want to have a holiday. I love my country and my people but because of certain ways...’ She hesitated and then explained. ‘Always there must be a royal in residence. Fatiq was already a king when we married so I never even had a honeymoon. Now one of my sons steps in if we have to go away for formal occasions. Usually it is Zahir, but both of them have busy lives, so they only return when they must. I know that a holiday would be rejuvenating. I dream of having some time away with my husband to replenish myself, although I can’t see it ever happening. Take some time for yourself, Adele, and you will return refreshed and better able to take care of your mother.’

It helped to hear that.

The wise, gentle words made Adele feel better about taking a short break.

‘I must get back to work.’ It had been nice talking and before she went Adele wished Leila well for her operation on Monday.

‘I doubt you’ll be up to visitors on Monday night but I’ll come in after my shift on Tuesday morning.’

‘I shall look forward to it,’ Leila said. ‘Enjoy dinner tonight.’

Adele did.

Her date went well, in fact. Paul was nice, and perfectly fine, except she didn’t fancy him.

Not a bit.

And it neither started nor ended with a kiss.

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