“Come on. We should get there before the heat fully sets in for the day.”
The tension in Khaled’s shoulders eased as he drove. He began telling her more about the work at the research center. In addition to his doctoral students and colleagues from the museum, they took a number of Saqati researchers, training them on the job. Khaled explained his plans to establish a university in Saqat City.
“With marine biology as its specialty?”
“It will be taught, of course, but my country needs more than that. Accountants, business people, lawyers, teachers. Engineers,” he said with a brief glance at Olivia. “Historians, artists, writers.”
“You must have some trained people already.”
He grimaced. “Some. But those who can afford to study overseas often choose to stay there, and it is hard to persuade others to make their home here without…” His voice trailed off, but Olivia knew exactly what he wasn’t saying.
“Without the money that oil brings with it.”
Khaled didn’t reply. He didn’t need to.
“It’s not a bad thing to want the best for your people, Khaled.”
“Is it a bad thing to want to protect my country?”
She could sense the frustration he felt filling the Jeep and was grateful that no other vehicles were within striking distance.
“It would be a good thing to try to do both.”
He raised an eyebrow and gave her a sardonic look. “In the ideal world, no doubt. But this is the real world and choices have to be made.”
“You are a good man, Khaled. You’ve made the right choice.”
His lips tightened. “How can I be sure of that when…”
She had never seen him so unsure of himself. Unfinished sentences were not Khaled’s style. Olivia longed to put her arms around him and reassure him.
“When what?” she asked gently.
He glared at her. “When you make me forget everything I ever knew about right and wrong.”
She froze. Then she closed her mouth, and opened it again to speak but no words came.
A minute later, Khaled brought the Jeep to a halt. He swung open his door and jumped out. Olivia stared around her and suddenly realized that they had arrived. She got out of the car and landed on slightly unsteady feet.
“Here.” Khaled grasped her elbow. “You need to get out of this heat.”
He took her into the research center, fetched cool water, and then a cup of tea. All the while, various members of the staff wandered in and out, chatting easily to Khaled and welcoming Olivia in a friendly way. One or two of the female researchers looked at her curiously, but no one asked any awkward questions about her visit, for which she was profoundly grateful.
“Will you be all right for a few minutes?”
Olivia looked at Khaled’s concerned face. “Yes, of course. Do whatever you need to.”
He nodded and turned back to follow one of the younger researchers into the lab, leaving Olivia to sip her tea and contemplate the bombshell he had thrown at her.
Khaled Saqat was the most deeply principled man she had ever known. He had devoted his whole life to working for the things he felt were important. Now, when his father and his country needed him, he had come back to do his duty. He was not the kind of man who threw all that over for the sake of a woman. He was not the kind of man who couldn’t tell right from wrong.
The businesslike thing to do would be to exploit his weakness. Her father would tell her that she had a lever to use against Saqat, and she should not hesitate to push as far as it could take her. They’d shaken hands, but he hadn’t yet signed the contract. She still had time to press for more.
Olivia instantly ruled out that possibility. She had shown him her weakness back in Scotland, and Khaled had been careful not to take advantage of her. She owed him at least the same courtesy in return.
Besides which, she didn’t want to make him compromise any more than absolutely necessary. The man Olivia had fallen for was so passionate about the wildlife of the Persian Gulf that he had devoted his life to protecting it. The man she loved was prepared to give up the life he’d built for himself to serve his people. He was a good man. He would be a good ruler. There was no way Olivia was letting him become less than that man simply to make herself happy.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she realized what she had just thought.
The man she loved.
Well, it was true. It wasn’t the easy, wonderful, joyous revelation she had always supposed. Love turned out to be complicated and painful. Love was going to be the hardest thing she had ever had to do. Because she loved Khaled, she was going to have to give him up. And she was going to have to give up her dreams along with him. It was the right thing to do.
It was the only thing to do.
Chapter Eight