Free Wild Desert Princess by Debbie Deering Page A

thought Chia might just be the one to do the job, once she was well.
    “I must see her. If she can’t be released by the end of the week, I have to tell her of my meetings and why I will be gone. ” Jahan fully expected the doctor to capitulate and allow him to visit Chia whenever he wished.
    “I’m sorry. Unless Chiandra wants to see you, you will be denied access to her room. Right now she needs peace and quiet so she can recover.” Dr. Khan was surprised to find he found a certain satisfaction in the chagrined look that crossed Jahan’s face.
    “But I must see her,” he protested, unused to anyone denying him his way.
    “Jahan, not right now. Let her be for the day and perhaps on the morrow she will feel like letting us visit.” Malek counseled, his own heart heavy at the pain he had inadvertently been responsible for with his daughter. Amanda had tried repeatedly to get him to tell Chia before she found out on her own. In his arrogance, he hadn’t thought it would be necessary. He had known she had loved Jahan and had foolishly thought that would be enough for her to forget everything else.
    “I suggest you all go home and get some rest. It’s been a long morning. Chia will be out for the rest of the day.” Khan watched the indecision of Jahan’s face.
    “Very well. I’ll go for now, doctor. Tomorrow I will call before I come by.” Jahan stiffly inclined his regal head and stomped out of the room.
    “His pride is stung,” Amanda observed.
    “None of you have any right to feel anything but shame for the way you have manipulated Chiandra,” Khan them coldly.
    “You forget yourself, Doctor,” Malek began huffily.
    “Oh just shut up, Malek. Dr. Khan is right. We’ve messed this situation up beyond belief and we’ll be lucky if we can salvage enough out of it that our daughter won’t hate us forever. In her position, I wouldn’t give in too easily.”
    Malek took a deep breath, all his bravado collapsing at her truthful words. “You’re right. We can only go home and hope Chia can bring herself to forgive us.”
    “Go home. Rest. If anything happens, I will call you.” Khan shooed them out, wondering how two people who so obviously loved their only child had taken such a wrong turn. Shaking his head, he went back to check on Chia, somewhat comforted at the presence of the two guards. At least Jahan’s enemies could not be able to harm her.
    Chapter Twelve
    Chia floated in a haze of blurred images. Hurt and betrayal pulled at her. She struggled to push the hurtful thoughts away. She had to relax, to let her body calm down to protect her son. Somehow she knew she carried Jahan’s son.
    The sedatives she had been given were not terribly strong. They helped her relax without knocking her completely out. She wondered how they would affect her son. She’d have to remember to ask the doctor.
    She tried to find a way out of the mess her li fe had become. She could always run. She didn’t think it would do her much good. Jahan had chased her down when she had run before. Now that he was her husband, it would be a hundred times worse. She couldn’t trust him, the man she had loved most of her life. The man she had dreamed of spending the rest of her life with. God! How could she have been so gullible? She’d actually saved her purity for him. How archaic that sounded now. She wondered if he even appreciated the gift or if he just thought of it as his right.
    Just thinking about it gave her a headache. She moaned and the nurse moved nearer, clucking with concern. “Now dear, just stop fretting over it. Things will work out. Let yourself sleep. In the morning everything will seem brighter.”
    Chia willed her body to relax. With ruthless determination she pushed all thoughts of Jahan and her parents out of her mind. Instead she imagined what her child would look like. She hoped he looked like his father, dark haired with midnight black eyes. A miniature of Jahan without all his bad