Page 19 of His Wicked Embrace
Her begging tore at his heart. “I would, but it’s not up to me. Avery is in a position of power, and his people are trying to avoid an incident with your country. If he insists that you go, then I can’t stop him from taking you. I have convinced him to give us aweek.”
“A week…” She clenched his hands tighter, and he encouraged her to rise. He never wanted this woman to prostrate herself before him or anyman.
“I have seven days to see to your happiness, Zehra, in whatever way I can. I’ve already failed to keep my word on everything else and…” He swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. When he looked upon her now, he knew it wasn’t simple lust he felt as he’d originally thought. She made him want to be a better man, a manworthyof her. “As I said, my brother’s people are doing all they can to make sure you will be safe. You can trusthim.”
“Seven days will be enough,” she whispered, and then she did something he never could have expected. She leaned into him and kissed his startled lips. The meeting was brief yet full of heated hope. A kiss had never been like this, never so real, so eternal, yet over too soon. When she pulled back, he stared at her,stunned.
“Zehra, you mustn’t think that you need to dothat.”
Her shy smile now held a hint of boldness. “I do not wish to make you beholden unto me, or to win your favor. I believe you when you say your brother has captured those who enslaved me and that his people will do what they can to return me safely home. But if I must leave, then I wish to have some joy before I go. Withyou.”
He understood what she was telling him. This still might have been borne from her desperate desire to stay, but if their time together was to be so brief, then why shouldn’t they enjoyit?
“As you wish,” he promised, gazing deep into her eyes. If he’d ever had a moment of doubt that she was a princess, those doubts were banished now. No matter what Avery said, she wasroyalty.
I will give you one week of joy before you go, myprincess.
Chapter Six
Lord George Lyon, the Earl of Denbruck, sat in his comfortable leather armchair in the drawing room, watching his son and daughter with their spouses and children play snapdragon. His eyes drank in the sight of his happy family. At the age of seventy-two, he was getting on in years, but staying young was easy when he spent time around hisgrandchildren.
“Father?” His son, Archibald, came over, holding out a letter. “This came for you. The footman left it on the table, but I believe you missedit.”
“Thank you, Archie.” George took the letter, studying the seal upon the parchment, and his heart jolted. It was a seal he had not seen in almost two months, yet he’d longed to see it every day. He struggled to open the letter hastily but without damaging it. As he began to read, the world around him seemed to fade into a grayrecess.
Lord Denbruck,
It is with a heavy heart that I must share the fate of your daughter, Joan, and her husband, Rafay. They were killed in a raid by a rival power in the region who now claims his lands. Your granddaughter, Zehra, is among the missing. Our men have searched through the bodies and could not find her. We believe she has been taken, as many of the females in the palace were, to be sold into slavery. I will make it my mission to find her, or, that failing, at least to learn what happened toher.
Yoursfaithfully,
MichaelSoutherby
George letthe note drop from his fingers as his eyes blurred withtears.
“Papa?” His daughter Elizabeth joined Archie at his side. “What’s thematter?”
“Take the little ones. I…” He choked. “I need to speak with you bothalone.”
Archie’s wife and Elizabeth’s husband collected their children and took them away. Once they were alone, George begged his children to sit. He pointed to the parchment on the floor, which Archie bent toretrieve.
“Read it.” George could only whisper thewords.
Archie scanned the letter, his eyes widening. Without a word he handed it to hissister.
“Joan is dead?” Elizabeth gasped. Archie put a comforting arm aroundher.
“Father, what happened?” Archie’s voice grew rough withpain.
It took every bit of George’s strength to speak to his two remaining children and tell themeverything.
“Ever since your sister married Rafay Darzi, I’ve been keeping an eye on them. An old friend’s son, Michael Southerby, has been stationed in Persia close to their home. He has been watching over Joan and Rafay whenever timeallowed.”
“For all these years?” Elizabeth asked. “You told us you had disowned her for marryingRafay.”
He had, to his shame and regret, not been comfortable with his eldest child marrying a foreigner, even if he had been a shah of the territory. Joan had married Rafay and walked away from her English life. It had broken George’s heart as well as his wife’s. She had died two years later, Joan’s name upon her lips as she breathed herlast.
“I had said I would…but I could not let her go, not without knowing she and her daughter weresafe.”
