Cinderella's Desert Baby Bombshell by Lynne Graham, Louise Fuller

CHAPTER NINE

TATISTUDIED SAIFover breakfast in the sun-dappled courtyard, around which their wing of the old palace was built. Her surroundings were beautiful, and she was very much at peace there. Colourful mosaic tiles covered the ground around the softly playing fountain that kept the air fresh and cool. Palm trees and mature shrubs provided shade from the hot sun above while a riot of exotic flowers tumbled round the edges of the dining area.

Saif was checking the business news on a tablet, black hair flopping over his brow, lustrous black lashes shading his spectacular eyes.

‘I need to talk to you this evening,’ she mustered the courage to announce, because if she mentioned that necessity in advance she couldn’t then weaken and back out of it again.

‘What about?’ Saif sent her an enquiring glance from glittering light green eyes that riveted her where she sat and sent entire flocks of butterflies fluttering inside her.

‘Just something important that we need to discuss,’ Tati extended uneasily.

Saif did not like to be kept in suspense. ‘What’s wrong with right now?’

Like the answer to a prayer, Dalil Khouri appeared in the doorway opposite, bowing his head deferentially as he greeted them and addressed Saif. Saif rose with a determined smile to greet the older man. His unfailing courtesy in the face of the constant demands on his time never failed to impress Tati. He was very tolerant. She hoped he brought that tolerance to the fore when she admitted that she was carrying his baby. But she needed the rest of the day to work out the right words with which to frame that admission and that was why Dalil’s interruption had been timely.

Tati had learned that the royal palace was always a frantically busy place. Everyone had a role and a schedule, even her. She was currently attending language classes every morning while also enjoying the benefits of a tutor employed to give her a crash course on Alharia’s history and culture.

‘You cannot be left so ignorant of our country that you will be embarrassed,’ Saif had told her. ‘People ask questions at the events we attend. I hope you won’t object to being effectively sent back to school.’

And she had merely chuckled and shaken her head while wondering what the point of such lessons was intended to be when she wasn’t likely to be Saif’s wife for longer than a year at most. But at a dinner she had attended with him at an embassy earlier that week, she had been grateful for the ability to join in on a discussion relating to Alharia’s current dealings with one of its neighbours.

Only two weeks had passed since her mother’s funeral. Her uncle and aunt had not put in an appearance, which had very much shocked Saif’s sense of propriety. That evening while she was packing, Saif had gone out for a couple of hours and when he had reappeared he had handed her two worn jewellery boxes that were familiar to her. In wonder she had studied the pearl set and the swan brooch that had belonged to her late mother and she had looked at Saif and asked, ‘How on earth did you manage to get hold of them?’

‘I simply told your uncle that your mother’s possessions should be returned to you. He apologised and blamed your aunt for taking the items. He said she was like a magpie with jewels. I believe that your relatives were so used to taking advantage of your good nature that they assumed they could get away with their behaviour... Now they know different,’ he had completed with satisfaction.

‘Thank you... Thank you so much,’ Tati had told him, relieved that he had understood how precious her mother’s former possessions now were to her.

Back then, on the brink of a return to Alharia, it hadn’t occurred to her that she might struggle to find the optimum moment in which to tell Saif that she was pregnant. Unfortunately, work had engulfed him in long working hours when they had first come back, and he had been very much preoccupied. They were only ever reliably alone in bed, but she had shrunk from destroying those brief moments of trust and relaxation with a shock announcement. Only now, after almost two weeks of procrastination, was it finally dawning on her that there was no right moment for such a revelation. As if the timing were likely to influence his attitude!

Thoroughly exasperated by her apprehensions, Tati thrust away her plate impatiently and leapt up, stepping away from her chair. Her head swam sickly and she tried to grab the stone table as everything swam out of focus, but the darkness rushed in on her and she folded down onto the ground in a heap.

She surfaced groggily to discover that she was lying on her bed with an older man gazing down at her. ‘I’m Dr Abaza, Your Highness, the Emir’s personal physician. May I have your permission to examine you?’

‘Is that necessary?’

‘It’s necessary,’ Saif asserted, stepping forward out of the shadows to make her aware of his presence. ‘I would prefer you to have an examination. You passed out. It’s possible that you have caught an illness.’

Registering the gravity stamped on his lean, dark features, Tati subsided, quietly responding to the doctor’s polite questions and realising too late the direction in which those questions were travelling. Bearing in mind that she was on the very brink of telling Saif the truth, she could not lie, and as she answered she could not work up the courage to look at him. Dr Abaza completed a brief physical examination and smiled at her. ‘I will carry out a test later to be sure, but I am almost certain that you are pregnant. Certain distinct signs characterise a first pregnancy. Low blood pressure most probably caused you to faint. It is a common issue in the first trimester but, naturally, you must guard against it lest you injure yourself in a fall.’

The silence seemed to stretch into every corner of the room and back again and Tati could hardly bring herself to draw breath. She heard Saif thank the doctor. Ice trickled through her veins as he closed the door again.

‘How long have you known?’ The simplicity of that first question startled Tati.

‘I...I—’

‘When the doctor told you, it was obvious that you were not surprised. You were already aware of your condition,’ Saif conjectured with disturbing discernment. ‘For how long have you known?’

‘Well, I suspected weeks ago but I sort of...sort of chose to ignore my suspicions.’

‘You ignored?’ Saif emphasised in open disbelief.

‘I didn’t think it was very likely and I was coping with Mum’s illness. I didn’t do a test until just before you arrived in England,’ she recited breathlessly as she dug in her elbows and sat up.

‘But that was over two weeks ago!’ Saif exclaimed.

‘I was planning to tell you this evening.’

‘You should have told me the instant you had grounds for concern,’ Saif grated, striding away from her only to swing back, green eyes iridescently bright with anger in his lean bronzed face. ‘You have been less than honest with me.’

In receipt of that condemnation, Tati lost colour and slid her legs off the side of the bed. At least he hadn’t outright labelled her a liar, she thought ruefully. But she also wondered if his own mother’s desertion had made him so wary of women and pregnancy that he expected the very worst of her.

Saif made a commanding staying motion with one hand. ‘Don’t stand up until you’re quite sure that you’re not dizzy.’

‘Telling you sooner than this that I was pregnant wouldn’t have changed anything.’ Tati argued her case tautly, still perched on the side of the bed.

‘Regrettably, nothing you have yet shared tells me how this happened,’ Saif framed grimly. ‘I believed we had taken every possible precaution.’

‘I know that I told you it was safe that first night in Paris. I was on the pill, but then I had to pack in a hurry to fly to Alharia for the wedding and I forgot to bring the pills with me. So, I wasn’t lying when I said there wasn’t a risk... I just hadn’t thought the situation through properly,’ she explained uncomfortably. ‘It was only afterwards that I realised I’d left the pills behind in England and that I’d already been off them a couple of days before we...er...got together...and that that was dangerous. It was a genuine oversight, but just then it didn’t seem like much of a risk.’

‘How did unprotected sex fail to strike you as a risk?’ Saif shot at her with raw incredulity.

Tati reddened at his tone and then she shrugged. ‘It was only the once and I assumed I would still be semi-protected by the pills I had already taken that month. You were very careful after that, so I thought we would be all right. I didn’t see any reason to worry you when there was probably going to be nothing to worry about.’

‘You should have told me. I had a right to know,’ Saif breathed in a driven undertone as he paced in front of the doors that led out to a balcony.

‘Yes, but the only option at that point would have been me taking a morning-after pill and I didn’t feel comfortable with that option,’ Tati admitted bluntly.

‘I would not have suggested that, but I dislike the fact that you chose to keep me in the dark when I am equally affected by this development!’ Saif shot back at her crushingly.

It was a fair point and she didn’t argue. ‘Well, at least you know now,’ she pointed out, feeling forced into the role of Job’s comforter.

‘I should think that half the palace is now aware of Dr Abaza’s diagnosis!’ Saif retorted drily. ‘He will have reported straight back to my father and I would imagine others will have overheard sufficient to comprehend.’

‘For goodness’ sake...’ Tati groaned in embarrassment.

‘Why? It’s not as though it is something that you could keep a secret for much longer.’ Saif subjected her to a long intense appraisal. ‘You’re carrying my child. That is very big news in Alharia so we could not hope to keep it to ourselves. I very much doubt that you currently appreciate how much this development will impact our situation, which is naturally why I tried to ensure that it didn’t occur.’

Tati stood up and lifted her head high, rumpled blond hair rippling round her shoulders, blue eyes mutinous. ‘Oh, do stop talking in that deadly tone, as though it’s the end of the world. It’s a baby...and I love babies! I mean, we didn’t plan this, and I know you like to plan stuff in advance, but how much difference can one little baby make to our situation, as you call it?’

Saif dealt her a bleak appraisal. ‘A huge difference. I would never have chosen to conceive a child in a marriage that is not intended to last. I know what that situation is like from my own childhood. It is unfair to our child and will likely affect his or her emotional well-being and sense of security.’

‘Don’t talk to me as though I’m stupid, Saif,’ Tati countered angrily, her eyes flaring with temper. ‘Neither of us planned this. Both of us tried to be careful. Yes, I agree it’s not perfect, but neither of us had perfect when it came to parents and we survived!’

‘It’s clear to me that you have still not thought through the ramifications of this development and the effect it will have on your freedom,’ Saif grated, raking lean brown fingers through his black hair in a gesture of unconcealed frustration. ‘My mother didn’t want this sort of life in Alharia and she walked away from it. How will you be any different? The main point I would make is that although you grew up without a father and I grew up without a mother, neither of us was torn between two opposing households and cultures.’

‘Parents do successfully work together to raise children after a divorce,’ Tati protested. ‘We’re not enemies. We’re both rational, reasonable people.’

‘If you give birth to a boy he will be an heir to the Alharian throne and he will have to spend the majority of his time in this country, which will naturally have an influence on where you choose to live,’ Saif spelt out.

‘Why would he have to spend the majority of his time here?’ Tati demanded with a frown.

‘How else could he prepare for his future role? He must grow up amongst our people, with the language and the culture. His education and future training would be of the utmost importance and could not be achieved if his main home were to be in another country. And if you have a girl, she may well be the next ruler because I have every intention of changing the constitution when I ascend the throne. It is what our people want and expect in these days of equality,’ Saif completed, his darkly handsome features troubled and taut. ‘I would not want to see my child, girl or boy, only occasionally or for visits. That would bother me.’

Tati was tense. ‘It would bother me as well. So, you’re saying that to share a child I would have to make a home for myself in Alharia.’

‘Yes. Becoming parents will make a clean break impossible,’ Saif delivered heavily. ‘I appreciate how much that would detract from your independence.’

Tati was almost paralysed by the pain of hearing Saif refer to the option of ‘a clean break.’ In that scenario, after a divorce he would never have had to see her again and obviously that would have been his preference. Yet the same concept devastated her even as she finally grasped the obvious truth that the birth of a child would entangle their lives for a long time and that, self-evidently by his tone, was not what Saif wanted. He didn’t want to share a child with an ex who lived elsewhere. How could she hold such honesty against him? But why did he have to be such a pessimist about the future? Why couldn’t he make the best of things as she was striving to do?

‘Your attitude annoys me,’ Tati told him honestly. ‘I tend to believe that the mixing of two cultures and lifestyles is more likely to enrich our child.’

‘In an ideal world,’ Saif slotted in grimly. ‘But we don’t live in one. If this were an ideal world, I would be able to openly acknowledge to my father that I have a close relationship with my half-brother, Angelino Diamandis.’

‘You have a brother?’ Tati exclaimed in complete surprise, disconcerted by that sudden revelation from a man who could, at the very least, be described as reticent.

‘He is two years younger than I, born from my mother’s second marriage. I sought him out years ago, but I think initially I wanted to meet him to see what he had that I didn’t because my mother stuck around to raise him,’ he pointed out curtly, the darkening of his bright eyes the proof of how emotive that topic was for him. ‘Instead I discovered that my half-brother had enjoyed little more mothering than I had and I was surprised at the depth of the bond that developed between us. That relationship, however, had to remain a secret because I did not want to upset my father. He was devastated by my mother’s desertion and the wound never really healed because after her second marriage she was rarely out of the newspapers. She was a great beauty and she revelled in publicity,’ Saif explained ruefully. ‘Children born across the divide of divorce are often placed in difficult positions out of loyalty to their respective parents. Step-families are created and other children follow. The experience may strengthen some, but it injures others.’

‘That relative of yours who owns the house in Paris. Is that your brother?’ Tati prompted with sudden comprehension.

‘Yes, that house belongs to Angel. He also attended my wedding incognito and I got to spend some time with him before he had to leave again,’ Saif told her. ‘I value my relationship with my younger brother although it shames me to keep it a secret from my father. However, I cannot mention my mother or her second family to him without causing him great distress, which I obviously don’t want to do when his health is poor.’

‘He must really have loved her to still be so sensitive... Or is he just bitter?’ Tati questioned with open curiosity.

‘No, she was truly the love of my father’s life, but the marriage was always destined to fail,’ Saif opined fatalistically. ‘She was too young and worldly, and he was too old and traditional. When you consider the very public social whirl she embarked on after deserting her husband and son in Alharia and her complete lack of regret for what she had done, you realise that they were ill-suited from the start. Whatever else he may be, my father is a most compassionate man. Had she given him the opportunity he would have given her a divorce and there would not have been a huge scandal. But the Emir was not the only one to suffer her loss... I did as well and spent many years wondering why she couldn’t have stayed for my benefit.’

‘That’s very sad,’ Tati acknowledged reflectively. ‘But not really relevant to us. I’m not planning on deserting anyone, least of all my child, nor am I the sort of person attracted to the idea of publicity.’

‘Who can tell what you will be enjoying in a few years’ time?’ Saif said with sardonic bite, his sheer cynicism infuriating her.

‘You are such a pessimist!’ Tati exclaimed. ‘Do you always expect the very worst of people?’

‘I’m a realist, not a pessimist. I would be foolish to ignore the truth that you will be a young and very wealthy divorcee and that inevitably you will remarry, have other children and change from the woman you are now,’ Saif breathed, untouched by her criticism.

‘I bet that, right now, you are really, really regretting that you consummated our marriage!’ Tati accused tempestuously.

‘My only regret is that I wanted you so much that I went along with that “friends with benefits” idea even though I knew from the outsetthat it was absolute madness!’ Saif flung back at her in a raw-edged tone of self-loathing.

Tati froze as though she had been slapped and lost colour. It was clear that Saif could not get onboard with her conviction that they should make the best of her pregnancy. He hadn’t planned the conception; he hadn’t agreed to it and he seemed unlikely to move on from that position. But it was even worse to be confronted with the truth that he now regretted their relationship in its entirety.

‘Madness,’ she repeated through taut, dry lips with distaste, feeling totally rejected.

‘What else could it be in our circumstances? This relationship of ours is insane and you know it!’ Saif condemned harshly. ‘Once we had both acknowledged that we didn’t want to be married, we should have abstained from sex.’

Tati reddened. ‘You weren’t a great fan of abstinence either,’ she reminded him accusingly.

‘I am not solely blaming you,’ Saif countered grittily. ‘I was also tempted, and I gave way to that temptation, but it is exactly that self-indulgence that has landed us both into this predicament. A divorce is out of the question for the foreseeable future.’

‘But why?’ Tati prompted in stark disconcertion at that statement.

‘It is far too soon for us to separate and I refuse to seek a divorce from a pregnant wife. I should be with you during your pregnancy, offering whatever support I can. I feel equally strongly that for the first crucial years of our child’s life we should remain together, trying to be the best parents we can be for our child’s benefit,’ Saif explained heavily. ‘It would be selfish to only consider our own wants and needs. I wouldn’t ever want our child to know the pain of not being wanted by a parent.’

His outlook made Tati feel wretched and like the most selfish woman in the world. She stood up to move towards the door, saying, ‘I have a language lesson in ten minutes, and I don’t want to miss it. We can talk later, and it might help a lot if you could come up with something positive rather than negative.’

Saif swore under his breath as she left the room. So fierce was his frustration that he was tempted to punch the wall, but bruises and a loss of temper would not change anything, he reflected with grim resignation. His wife was planning to leave him just as his mother had left his father and her son. Saif, however, was determined not to lose either of them. There was also a very real risk of his losing his child because Tatiana was, he surmised, a great deal more maternal than his mother had been.

In a different scenario he would have been overjoyed at the news that he was to become a father and he was angry at being deprived of that natural response, but it was, sadly, an issue clouded by his own experiences. Being abandoned by his mother soon after birth had hurt and changed his attitude to childbirth and parenthood because he already knew that he could never leave his child as his mother had done.

Yet how could he celebrate the birth of a child in a marriage that was a fake? A marriage that had been deemed over before it even properly began? Tatiana had never given him a fair chance, not one single chance. She had not budged an iota in her attitude since their first day together. She expected and wanted a divorce as her recompense for agreeing to a marriage that she had been blackmailed into accepting. And during the weeks they had been together she had frequently alluded to the prospect of that divorce and was obviously perfectly content with that outcome. And, even more revealing, she had refused Saif’s support when her own mother was dying. She had in every possible way treated Saif as though he was superfluous, merely a casual sexual partner in a fling without a future. What she had never done, he thought painfully, was treat him like a friend.

And how much could he blame her for her attitude when he had become her first lover? Tatiana had had a difficult life with little liberty, even less money and few choices, he reminded himself. Furthermore, although she had yet to find it out, she had been ruthlessly used, abused and defrauded by relatives who should have cherished her, most especially after her mother fell ill. Saif frowned, wondering if he should tell her the truth about her grandmother’s will and her uncle’s wicked greed, but he had withheld what he knew on the basis that the police were in charge of the investigation now and the truth would come out soon enough when arrests were made. Saif had no desire to be the person who broke that bad news and hurt her.

Naturally, that revelation would adversely affect Tatiana because she remained blindly, ridiculously attached to those relatives of hers. From her teenaged years she had depended on them, and they had been all she had once her grandmother died and her mother sank into dementia. She had even excused their greed to Saif by explaining that her uncle had always been hopeless with money and had married an ambitious woman with grand expectations. How would she feel when she appreciated that they had lied and cheated to deprive her of her inheritance and had been busy ever since overspending her money as fast as they could?

When that grievous knowledge was unveiled, his bride would be even keener to enjoy the freedom she had never had. The freedom he didn’t want her to have, Saif reflected bitterly. Was it any wonder that he was such a cynic?

Tati struggled through the language lesson with tears burning the backs of her eyes while she fought to relocate some seed of concentration. She struggled to dwell on the positives rather than the negatives of her plight. Saif wanted their baby and was already anxiously considering the potential effect of a divorce on their child. Why didn’t he thread her into that problem and realise that if he stayed married to her, he wouldn’t have to worry about their child’s security? Obviously because he didn’t want to stay married to her, Tati reflected miserably. Why was she set on beating her head up against a brick wall?

And what would it be like to continue living with Saif for another four or five years? Wouldn’t that simply make the whole process of breaking up more agonising? It would drag it out and place her under heavier stress. She would always be waiting for the moment when he decided they had stayed together long enough and were in a position to separate. How could a future like that appeal to her?

It would freeze her life and prevent her from moving on. How could she truly move on if she were to be forced to live in Alharia for her son or daughter’s sake? The prospect of standing on the sidelines watching Saif with other women, having to share her child with those same women, made her shudder. No, that wouldn’t work for her. He would have to come up with a better, more bearable solution. When her mother was ill, she had accepted that being bullied, being forced into a position she didn’t want, was a situation she could not escape. But life had changed for her and she herself had changed, she reflected ruefully. Ironically, Saif had made her realise that she was much stronger than she had ever appreciated. With regard to future arrangements between them for their child, she was prepared to be reasonable, but she wasn’t a martyr. She would get over him at some stage, but how was she to achieve that if she was still forced to live with him?

Saif spent an hour that afternoon listening to his father wax lyrical about the joys of fatherhood. Thinking of the disappointments the older man had suffered in the wife department convinced Saif that Tatiana had been right to denounce his pessimistic outlook. Somehow, it would all work out, if they both made an effort, if he controlled the urge to lock her up and throw away the key, not because he was a controlling creep, but because, try as he might, he kept on thinking of the way his mother had just abandoned ship and run for greener pastures. Might not Tatiana also choose to bolt if he put too much pressure on her? She was pregnant and she couldn’t be feeling well when she was fainting, he reasoned worriedly.

A man famed for his cool, logical approach to problems, he wondered how it was that in a moment of crisis he had said and done everything wrong. He had told Tatiana that they would have to stay married for years longer. He had told her that she would have to live in Alharia. How could he have been that clumsy, domineering and stupid? And he hadn’t once mentioned how excited he was about the baby they had conceived.

It was at that point in his ruminations that Dalil Khouri joined Saif to announce that his wife’s cousin, Ana Hamilton, had arrived at the airport and intended to visit them. It was normal for an alert to be sent to the palace when a prospective guest arrived, but Saif frowned at that news, questioning why the woman had chosen to fly to Alharia when only months earlier she had run away as fast as she could sooner than marry him. Was it possible that Ana’s parents had already been arrested? Could their daughter be here to plead their case? What else could she be doing in Alharia?

Saif appreciated that it was his task to tell his wife what he had learned several weeks earlier because he could not let her meet with her cousin while still in ignorance of his recent discoveries.

‘Have her brought to the palace,’ he told Dalil. ‘But drive her around for a while—take her to see some tourist sight, or something... I don’t want my wife to be taken by surprise or upset and I need some time to prepare her for her cousin’s arrival.’

‘Of course,’ Dalil agreed earnestly. ‘The Princess must be protected at all costs from anyone who might seek to take advantage of her.’

Tati was enjoying mint tea and a savoury snack in the courtyard when Saif strode down the stairs into the courtyard to join her. He was breathtakingly handsome in an Italian wool-and-silk-mix suit that was exquisitely tailored to his lean, powerful frame. Her wide blue gaze clung to him and then pulled free of him again, her soft mouth tightening as she told herself off for being so susceptible. That kind of nonsense, that mooning over him like a silly sentimental schoolgirl, couldn’t continue.

‘First of all, I bought these for you in Paris, but after your mother fell ill there didn’t seem to be a right time to give them to you,’ Saif intoned, setting a jewellery box down on the table. ‘This seems the appropriate moment to express my happiness about the child you are carrying and present you with this small gift to mark a special occasion.’

‘You must’ve had to dig deep to find that happiness,’ Tati opined tartly.

‘You took me by surprise, but once the news sank in, I was thrilled,’ Saif asserted defiantly in the face of her dubious look. ‘Everything changed for me when you told me that you were pregnant. When my mother walked away from me when I was a baby, it made the whole topic very emotional for me. I tried not to dwell on her abandonment. I suppressed the sadness that that awareness inflicted because I believed that that is what a man must do to be a man...’

‘Oh, Saif,’ she whispered, her body stiffening as she fought the pressing need to go to him, to comfort him, to soothe the hurt he had felt that he had to deny as an adult man. But that was no longer her role, she reasoned. Furthermore, it was becoming ever more clear to her as he talked that Saif was not driven by love to wish to remain married to her for their child’s sake but by fear for their child’s hurt in the future. She couldn’t fault him for that, she decided heavily, but that he should only want to be with her to be a father for their baby pierced her deeply.

Brushing off those emotional responses, Tati flipped open the box on a superb pair of emerald earrings in the same design as the magnificent pendant she wore. ‘Wow,’ she whispered without being prompted because it was yet another exciting gift that no sane woman could fail to appreciate. ‘They’re beautiful—’

‘Perhaps you could wear them for dinner tonight,’ Saif proposed. ‘We have a surprise guest joining us.’

‘Oh...and who would that be?’ Tati gazed at him enquiringly as she twirled the emerald earrings in the sunlight. She put them on with the kind of defiance that denied that there was anything special about the occasion while reminding herself that she ought at least to enjoy the frills while she still could.

‘Your cousin, Ana, is about to arrive here,’ Saif imparted. ‘Of course, you may be grateful for the company of a female friend at the moment.’

Utterly taken aback by the idea of Ana visiting Alharia, Tati stiffened, wondering if it was crazy to suspect that her cousin might be turning up to give Saif a belated opportunity to see what he had missed out on on his wedding day. When Ana got an idea into her head, it was hard to shift, although even Tati was a touch disconcerted by her cousin’s lack of embarrassment at visiting the home of the same man she had refused to marry only weeks earlier. ‘Why would I be grateful?’

Saif breathed in deep. ‘Because of the discovery you have recently made and the complications—’

‘I’m not going to share any of that with Ana!’ Tati protested. ‘That’s our business and much too private.’

‘I think that is for the best, but before she arrives there is information about your family which I have to share with you,’ Saif proffered heavily.

Tati became tense, noting the grave expression he wore. ‘What information and about whom?’

‘Your uncle and aunt. I’m afraid I genuinely do not know if your cousin was aware of what’s been going on for the past few years.’

‘Going on?’ Tati interrupted. ‘What do you mean by “going on”?’

‘Three years ago, after your grandmother died, your uncle and her solicitor worked together to deprive you of your inheritance. Your grandmother not only set up a trust to cover the cost of your late mother’s care, but she also left the Fosters Manor estate to you.’

‘That’s impossible,’ Tati broke in afresh. ‘I wasn’t left anything! My uncle told me that.’

Saif ignored the interruption. ‘You were to inherit the estate when you reached twenty-one, but you were supposed to enjoy the income from it immediately. In effect your uncle was disinherited in your favour. Your uncle had made continual financial demands on your grandparents during their lifetime and your grandmother apparently believed that he had had his fair share before her death. Unfortunately, she appointed both your uncle and the solicitor, Roger Sallow, as executors of the will. The solicitor was corrupt. Your uncle bribed Sallow to remain silent and at the official reading Sallow read an invalid will that had been written years earlier. Your uncle has since made regular very large payments to the solicitor. The size of those payments probably explains his continuing financial troubles because Sallow became increasingly greedy.’

‘I can’t believe this...’ Tati massaged her pounding forehead with her fingers. ‘Granny Milly actually chose to leave it all to me?’ she exclaimed in disbelief. ‘How did you find all this out?’

‘The day I married you, I asked a private investigation agency to do a report on you,’ Saif revealed tautly. ‘At that stage, I knew nothing about you and I wanted the facts. The investigator met with an old friend of your grandmother’s who had witnessed the will without actually seeing the contents and she chose to share her concerns with him.’

Tati frowned. ‘Her concerns?’

‘She knew what your grandmother had originally planned and was very surprised when she saw that nothing changed at the manor after her friend’s death, but she didn’t come forward because she decided that it was none of her business and she didn’t wish to offend anyone. She could, of course, have asked to see the will, which was on public record, but she didn’t know that,’ Saif recounted wryly. ‘Basically, she is an elderly woman who didn’t want to risk getting involved in what she suspected could be a crime.’

Tati parted bloodless lips. ‘A crime?’

‘You have been defrauded of your rightful inheritance and that is a crime,’ Saif pointed out grimly. ‘The investigation agency consulted me as soon as they uncovered the irregularities and I told them to find the evidence and put the whole matter in the hands of the police.’

If possible, Tati turned even paler. ‘The police?’ she whispered in horror.

‘Fraud has been committed, Tatiana,’ Saif asserted grimly. ‘How else may such wickedness be handled?’

Tati lifted her aching head high and looked back at him with icy blue eyes of condemnation. ‘I don’t know, Saif. You would need to tell me because, even though this concerns me, I wasn’t consulted.’

‘I imagine the police will seek some sort of statement from you, but they have all the evidence they require for a prosecution.’

Tati nodded, in so much shock that she was barely able to absorb what she had been told. She couldn’t quite credit her hearing. She had never liked her uncle, but that he could act so basely and deliberately defraud her, while still treating her like a despised poor relation who was a burden, took her breath away. As for the trust that Saif had mentioned, the trust set up to care for her poor mother’s needs, the knowledge that that information had been withheld filled her with nauseated rage on her late parent’s behalf. She had been controlled and threatened with lies when all along her uncle had had little choice but to keep on paying those care home bills because stopping payment could have drawn dangerous attention to him.

‘When did you find all this out?’ Tati prompted sickly.

‘The first week we were married...well, I didn’t know the whole story then, but I was informed that there was every sign that your uncle had committed fraud and that he was being blackmailed by the solicitor for his misdeeds.’ Saif studied her anxiously because she was very pale even if she was handling the whole business more quietly than he had somehow expected. ‘I didn’t want to make allegations against your relatives without adequate proof, which is why I remained silent about my suspicions.’

‘And why are you finally telling me now?’ Tati enquired stiffly, a glint in her unusually bright gaze, resentment and bitterness and anger all flaring at once inside her.

‘Only because your cousin is about to arrive and, if the police have made a move against her father, she could be visiting with a plea that you intervene...although, to be frank, I doubt that you have the power now that the police are involved and have the evidence of his crime.’

‘I gather you think that Ana must know about this!’ Tati commented stiffly.

‘I imagine she does,’ Saif said very drily.

‘I doubt that very much. Ana is spoiled, selfish and materialistic but she’s never been dishonest or cruel. There’s no way she’s involved!’ Tati told him with firm emphasis.

‘Since you are so fond of her, I can only hope that you are correct.’

‘No, my belief is that Ana is visiting to subject you to a charm offensive,’ Tati mused, grimacing a little at having to voice that opinion because it mortified her.

‘Me? A charm offensive?’ Saif repeated blankly. ‘What are you saying?’

‘The man Ana ran away from you to marry let her down and now she has regrets about not marrying you.’

‘A little late in the day,’ Saif remarked as dry as the desert sand.

‘As far as Ana’s concerned, I’m only a substitute for her and not a very good one at that,’ Tati explained as she rose from her seat. ‘You’re rich, generous and good-looking. She’s probably hoping you’ll be willing to consider a swap.’

‘A swap?’ Saif sliced back at her in sheer disbelief.

Tati gave him a long, considering appraisal, ticking all the mental boxes he occupied in her head. It was no wonder she had fallen for him like a ton of bricks when he was gorgeous and capable of immense charm when he wished to utilise it. ‘Ana isn’t particularly intelligent. But, you know, you would still have done much better with her than with me,’ she told him ruefully. ‘I doubt that my cousin would ever have become accidentally pregnant.’

‘I am pleased about our baby,’ Saif countered fiercely, displeased by the sarcastic tone of words that hinted that her cousin was welcome to him.

Tati flung up her head, blond strands rippling back from her troubled face, her eyes full of newly learned cynicism. ‘So you say...’