Page 31 of Seduced By the Sheikh

“Because the woman is poisonous.” Zak turned to his vizier. “I will come. I will meet her in the office. If that’s not good enough, she can leave.”

His vizier bowed. “And Her Highness?”

“She will not come.”

“Of course I will come if it’s necessary,” said Soraiya. “But what’s going on? Who is this visitor?”

“Sheikha Alishaba. My mother,” Zak said grimly.

CHAPTER 15

“Your mother?” Of all the visitors, Soraiya hadn’t even imagined it would be his mother.

“Yes. And I don’t want you to meet her.”

“But why is she here?”

Zak’s face paled and then darkened as if turned into thunder. Never had she seen him so furious. So ice-cold angry. She turned to his vizier.

“Aabid, why is Her Royal Highness here? And at such a strange time?”

“She says she’s here to see you. She has something to talk with you about.”

Under her hand, Zak’s arm trembled with rage. “How dare she evade our security and enter my palace with demands!”

“Zak,” she breathed. “It’s fine. Let’s meet her. I’m sure if we talk calmly, we can sort this out. She must have a good reason to be here, and it’s best we know what it is so we can deal with it.”

Zak couldn’t very well deny her logic and gave a brief, unwilling nod before turning to his vizier with a sigh. “Very well, then. Show her to my office. We’ll be along in a few minutes.”

His vizier withdrew, just as the staff entered with dinner. Soraiya looked up in surprise, and told them to take it away again, that they wouldn’t be dining until later. It seemed an age ago that she’d asked for dinner to be served. An age when her hopes and thoughts were centered on something completely different. But that would have to wait. She needed to calm Zak down, and get him in more of a conciliatory mood if she were to mend bridges between him and his mother. Perhaps she’d been given the opportunity to heal their differences. She knew first-hand how poisonous a dysfunctional family could be.

“Zak?” she said, putting her arms around him. “I’m sure it will be all right.”

“Are you? I’m not.”

“But why would she have come if not to apologize, to extend an olive branch? You’re her son. She must miss you.”

He shook his head. “Soraiya, you don’t know her, and I’d hoped you never would. But it looks as if we have to meet her in order to make her leave. Quietly.”

“I would not have her ordered out of Sirun. It wouldn’t be respectful.”

“My mother respects no one, so it wouldn’t bother me. However, if you’re ready, let’s meet her. Get this over with.”

They walked quickly in silence the short distance to the office where they’d meet the Sheikha Alishaba. Soraiya sensed Zak was lost in thought, no doubt attempting to figure out what had brought the mother he hated back into his world so unexpectedly. And she didn’t want to say anything in case he changed his mind and they’d return to their rooms without seeing the sheikha.

Soraiya knew the sheikha had done wrong, but couldn’t believe that the mother of two sons would put riches above love. And she thought she could have a role to play in brokering a peace between them. Instinctively, she caressed her flat stomach at the thought of her son being brought up with a grandmother who was welcomed into their family, not shunned and despised. She didn’t want any child of hers to be raised in hatred: family against family.

At last they arrived and Zak strode straight in with Soraiya by his side. They were greeted with the sight of Sheikha Alishaba airily waving a framed photograph in one hand in some kind of greeting, while taking a sip of champagne with the other. A newly opened bottle stood in an ornate silver ice bucket. Drinking alcohol was permitted for visitors but rarely occurred. That the king’s mother drank in the palace shocked her.

“Mother,” he said.

“Darling,” she said, turning on a broad smile. Her full dark red lips stayed smiling, as if she were delighted at finding herself confronted by a patently aggressive son. She replaced the photograph and picked up a lit cigarette.

“Don’t ‘darling’ me! I want to know what you’re doing here. I expressly forbade you to come here, and yet you’ve had the gall to return.”

She narrowed her eyes as she sucked on her cigarette in a holder before blowing the smoke out at him. “I’m your mother. This is my country. Of course I can come and go as I like.”

He ignored her reply. “How did you get in? How did border control allow you access?”

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