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Percy snatched the receiver froo to the press back home and kick up such a stink they’ll let you out of this hell hole!’
Adrian studied his stepfather in open horror ‘Are you crazy?’ he lass barrier
Faye retrieved the phone, her violet-blue eyes full of anxiety ‘We can’t raise the kind of et out of here Your lawyer er act for you and that the case was closed You have to tell us what else we can do to fight this’
Adrian gave her a bleak defeated look ‘There is nothing Didn’t ht of appeal in a case likeup?’
At that reference to his wife, Faye tensed for she had no good news to offer After the experience of having her luxurious ho deported with her twin toddlers because she no longer had anyvery sorry for herself
‘Like that, is it?’ Adrian read his sister’s evasive gaze ‘Lizzie didn’t even send me a letter?’
‘She’s pretty down…’ Faye hated adding to his misery with that admission ‘She asked ht now she’s having a proble back home without you’
Adrian’s eyes filled with et himself back under control
Faye blinked back tears at her brother’s distress and hurried to change the subject ‘How are you ?’
‘Fine…’ her brother mumbled curtly
‘Are you being treated all right?’ Faye was intimidated by the suspicious appraisal of the two ar their every move
‘I have no cause for complaint…just that it’s hell because I hate the food, speak rotten Arabic and keep on getting sick’ Her brother’s jerky voice faltered ‘But whatever you do, don’t let Percy go screa to the media because that will make me a marked man in here The locals see any criticis ruler, Prince Tariq—’
In an abruptoutraged and wrenched the phone frorasp
‘What’s wrong…what’s happening?’ Faye surged upright in a panic
But on their side of the restrictive glass, she and her stepfather ht as well have been invisible Adrian was escorted back to the doorway through which he had earlier entered and vanished from view
‘I bet those thugs are taking hihast as Faye at what had happened
‘But neither of those men put a hand on Adrian—’
‘Not in front of us…but how do you knohat they’re doing to him now?’
They waited ten minutes to see if Adrian would reappear but he did not Instead a severe-looking older man in uniform came in to speak to them
‘I want to knohat’s going on here,’ Percy deressively
‘Visits are a privilege we extend to relatives, not a right in law Your visit was terminated because ill not allow our most honoured ruler to be referred to in offensive terms’ As Percy swelled like a ripe red fruit ready to burst in e, the senior prison officer added loftily, ‘Let me also assure you that we do not abuse our prisoners Jumar is a civilised and humane country You may request another visit later this week’
Registering then that every word spoken during such visits appeared to be monitored and that Adrian must have been equally unaware of that reality, Faye hurried her stepfather out of the room before he could add to her brother’s offence
Percy raved in frustrated fury all the way back to their srateful that the taxi driver did not seeainst Ju Tariq’s naht well be tanta a physical assault As her stepfather headed straight for the residents’ bar on the ground floor, Faye got into the lift and went back up to her hotel room
In her mind’s eye, all she could see was the look of naked despair on her brother’s haggard face Just six short o, Adrian had believed he wouldbooing reflection of the telephone in the dressingher
‘The number is easy to remember,’ Tariq had told her once ‘We owned the first telephone in Jumar You just dial one for the palace switchboard!’
Moret and bitterness tearing at her However, like it or not, Prince Tariq ibn Zachir seemed to be the only option they had left In most other countries, Adrian would have been declared bankrupt, not imprisoned for debt as if he were a criminal She had no choice but to approach Tariq and plead her brother’s case Tariq was all powerful here within his own country Tariq could surely do anything he wanted to do…
So what if the prospect of crawling to Tariq e? How could she value her pride more than her brother’s welfare? Tense as a cat on hot bricks, Faye paced the roo such a massive favour from a male who despised both her and her ste
pfather? She was out of her depth here in Juh-powered o, she had been even more out of her depth with a male as exotic and sophisticated as Tariq ibn Zachir And bone-deep foolish to iht come of such an inequal relationship But, no matter what Tariq had chosen to believe, she had played no part in Percy’s sordid attempt to blackmail him!
Re herself of that essential truth, Faye reached for the phone Dialling that single digit to be connected to the palace was easy However, in the minutes that followed, she discovered that the palace switchboard was tended by personnel who spoke only Arabic Breaking off the call in frustration, Faye reached for the purse in her bag Fro etched orn hieroglyphic symbols
Her hand shook For a split second, memory took her back to the instant when Tariq had slid that ring onto her finger in the Embassy of Ju humiliation How stupid she had been to believe that that was a real wedding cereed solely to coe Tariq into a sleazy media scandal But only when that cruel farce was over had Faye realised what a complete clown Tariq had made of her
Making use of the hotel stationery, Faye dropped the ring into an envelope and dashed off a note requesting awith Tariq She went down to Reception and asked how to have an urgent letter delivered The receptionist studied the name on the envelope idened eyes and extended her interest to the additional words, ‘PERSONAL, PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL’ taking up half of the space ‘This…it is for Prince Tariq?’
Faye reddened and nodded
“One of our drivers will deliver it, Miss Lawson’