Royal Doc's Secret Heir
Kariff nodded and drove the van toward the large plane that had dropped its rear door to make a ramp, ready to start unloading its precious cargo of medical supplies and doctors to aid them.
Kariff parked close and Maazin got out of the van. He opened the side doors and the back so that Kariff and a couple of the other men he’d brought with him could start loading up.
“Who should we be reporting to?” a female voice asked, which sent a shiver of recollection down his spine. He knew that voice. He knew it well because it was burned into every single neuron in his brain. Just the mere sound of her voice fired them off, bringing every bitter-sweet memory to the surface.
Maazin turned around and came face to face with someone he’d never thought he would see again.
His blood froze and everything around him stopped. He couldn’t quite believe his eyes and he wondered if he was dreaming. It was like she had walked right out of his dreams, like nothing had changed, like time had stood still. She hadn’t changed one bit. Her rich, dark brown hair was tied back in a braid, just like the first day he’d met her. Her skin was still a warm, rich tawny color.
Her deep brown eyes widened and her red lips, lips he remembered so well the taste of, dropped open for a moment and a subtle pop of coral colored her cheeks. She was just as shocked as he was.
Jeena.
In an instant he remembered when he’d first seen her. She’d looked so out of place and uncomfortable on the polo pitch.
She’d worn a long emerald dress and high heels as she’d teetered on the grass, trying to flip over a divot.
He’d been so entranced by her and had wondered who she was...
“You’ll fall over, trying to flip those divots in those heels.”
She looked up, embarrassed. “Pardon?”
Maazin knelt down and took her foot in his hands. “May I?”
She pursed her lips and nodded. He removed her shoe and pried off the large chunk of turf that had been impaled on the end of her stiletto heel. He replaced the shoe and then stood, steadying her in his arms, catching a scent of her perfume.
Jasmine and vanilla. It was intoxicating and he was instantly drawn to her.
“Thank you... Your Highness.”
“Ah, so you know who I am.”
“Everyone knows who you are,” she whispered, and wouldn’t look at him.
“Well, I am at a loss. I don’t know who you are. I have never seen you at one of these events before.”
She smiled. “My name is Jeena. I am here with my friend as her guest.”
“And who is your friend?”
“Aishraya Raj.” Jeena nodded in the direction of her friend. “Her husband is a diplomat, but I’ve known Aishraya for a long time.”
Maazin smiled and bowed at the waist. “Well, allow me to welcome you to our little match...”
Maazin tried to calm the pulse that was now thundering in his ears. She had been the only one to truly see him.
The world thought he was this playboy and he let everyone believe that. The tabloids, his parents all believed it and it had got him off the hook of so many responsibilities, but Jeena had seen past that.
He had been so in love with her. He’d wanted to marry her, even though he had always been afraid and not interested in marriage because he’d felt it would tie him down, just like his royal duty.
And he hadn’t wanted to drag Jeena into a life of protocol.
She had been free. Which was why he’d wanted her.
Jeena had left him. Left him without a word, and it was because of her leaving that he’d gone to that party to drown his sorrows and then called his brother Ali to get him.
And that had cost Ali his life, because after she’d left, Maazin had decided to take the bad boy road everyone thought he traveled. Ali came to sweep his indiscretions under the rug and died trying to cover up his mistakes.
It had destroyed him when Jeena had left. It was his own fault, though, because he knew he’d driven her away. He didn’t deserve her and he certainly didn’t deserve anything now. He knew that.
“Maa... Your Highness.” And she curtseyed.
He was angry that she had almost addressed him with familiarity, like he wanted, but had then changed it to a formal address and curtseyed in deference to his station, which he hated.
Were they such strangers?
Yes. They were now. She’d left. He’d never left Kalyana. He’d never left in the dead of night, not telling anyone where he was going. And when he’d tried to find her there’d been no trace of her. It was as if her whole life in Kalyana had been erased.
She’d cost him so much.
You were the selfish one. She cost you nothing.
“I’m surprised that you’ve returned to the country you abandoned with such ease,” he snapped.
Her expression hardened. “My apologies, Your Highness. I’m the lead surgeon on this relief mission. I’m representing Canada and I’m here to deliver your supplies and lend my services to your country.” She turned on her heel and walked away.
She was a doctor?
Maazin was shocked, but as she stormed away he couldn’t help but smile to himself. She still had that spirit he’d admired in her.
That fire.
That had been hidden under the surface, something she’d tried so hard to control, but he’d known what a strong woman had been under that demure exterior.
It’s what he’d loved so much about her then.
Now, to see her standing her ground, it surprised him, but pleasantly so.
It woke up a piece of him he’d thought was long gone and as he watched her walk away, giving out orders, he knew that working with her would be a challenge.
One he hadn’t expected.
CHAPTER TWO
JEENA DIDN’T KNOW what she had been expecting. She knew one thing, she hadn’t planned on seeing him. Actually, she hadn’t expected to see him at all. What was a prince of Kalyana doing at the airport, collecting medical supplies?
Not your concern.
And she had to keep telling herself that.
She was stronger now. She could handle seeing Maazin.
Can you?
She’d changed, but had she really expected a bad boy rebel prince to have changed in the last ten years?
No. Well, maybe? One could hope. Other than his engagement to Lady Meleena, Maazin hadn’t really been in the papers. Perhaps he had changed? She’d always wondered if that image he’d projected before she’d met him had been an act. She knew one thing was for sure, his appearance hadn’t changed at all.
It was like time hadn’t even touched him at all.
When she’d seen him there, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was like all those years ago when he had knelt down in front of her on the polo field and stopped her from embarrassing herself in front of a social class that she had not been comfortable being around at all.
His ebony hair was shorter than it had been. Gone were the long curls that had framed his face when they’d first met and he was now clean shaven. He’d lost the neatly trimmed beard she’d loved so much. His skin was deep, lustrous gold and warmed by the heat and sun from Kalyana. And he’d lost some of that baby fat that came with youth, but those green-gray eyes were still the same as they’d bored deep into hers, totally riveting her to the spot.
Making her quiver with desire. Even after all these years apart her body still reacted to him. She remembered the feeling of those strong hands on her, the taste of his lips as he’d brushed kisses lightly on hers.
How safe he’d made her feel when his arms had been wrapped around her.
He turned his back on you and Syman, remember...?
“He knows,” Meleena said in a scathing tone.
“He knows?” Jeena asked, stunned.
“Yes.”
“How do you know that he knows?”
Meleena rolled her eyes. “My father is very close to the royal family. That’s how I know. Prince Maazin can’t commit to you.”
“I don’t believe that.”
Meleena fished out a check and held it out to her. “Here. Compensation for your...situation.”
It was like a slap in the face and her heart clenched as she stared at it.
This was all she was worth?
The fact he knew about her pregnancy and had turned his back on her made her firm her resolve. She wouldn’t be duped again by anyone.
She was no longer that foolish innocent who could be swept off her feet by a dashing Prince Charming.
He hadn’t been there when her family had sold off everything to start a new life in Canada.
Neither had he been there when Syman was born.
Syman, who had those same eyes as his father.
Syman.
Her heart sank. He always was curious about his father and as he got older she knew it was something she would not be able to keep from him. Not when he could go online and look Maazin up.
He’d learn his father was a prince and a playboy. How his father had turned his back on her. His father’s whole private romantic life had been splashed across tabloids around the world. The only romance not there and not known was hers. Lady Meleena’s parents had paid people off to keep that secret.
“Dr. Harrak!”
She turned and saw Maazin coming toward her and her heart skipped a beat again.
Stand firm.
She crossed her arms and narrowed her resolve. How many people had tried to push her around when she’d been a resident and learning to become a surgeon because she was short at only five feet four? Too many and Jeena had had to rise above all of that and make sure that her voice had been heard above the others in a competitive medical program.
And on top of all of that she’d raised Syman.
She was stronger than some spoiled and pampered prince who was coddled by parents who gave him everything and ruled a country.
She could handle him. She wasn’t going to let a prince sweep her off her feet again. She didn’t need saving or a knight in shining armor.
And she wasn’t going to be sent back to Canada because he and his fiancée were uncomfortable with her presence in Kalyana.
“I have every right to be here,” she snapped when Maazin caught up with her.
“What?” he asked, frowning.
“I have a visa and clearance from the consulate to represent Canada and assist in this humanitarian and relief aid effort. Kalyana may not be my home any longer...”
“I’m aware of that,” he answered stiffly. “What I came over to say was sorry. I’m sorry for embarrassing you like that.”
Jeena was shocked, but she didn’t let him know that. That was different. The Maazin she remembered had been a bit arrogant with people he’d felt deserved it, but he had always been kind and gentle to her. She’d often wondered why he hadn’t shown that side of himself to the public.
Of course he’d turned his back on her. She wasn’t going to be fooled again.
It had been a painful lesson to learn that she didn’t need a prince to come and save her and that she was more than capable of saving herself.
“No apology needed, Your Highness. I forgot myself for a moment, you are absolutely right, I left Kalyana for another country, because it was right for me. Now I’m here on behalf of Canada. I’m home now and I’m here to help.” She curtseyed again.
“Jeena, stop that.” He was annoyed. She remembered how much he hated protocol. She knew she was getting to him.
Good.
“Stop what, Your Highness?”
“Curtseying and calling me Your Highness. Jeena, we know each other intimately.”
“That’s Dr. Harrak to you, Your Highness.” She crossed her arms and leaned forward. “Perhaps we knew each other once, but a lot has changed. I prefer the formality, Your Highness.”
His eyes narrowed. “Fine.”
She nodded and felt a bit of satisfaction knowing that she had won that battle. It felt good.
Did it?
“Well, Dr. Harrak,” he said, exaggerating her name. “My driver Kariff and I are to take you to the southeastern region, which was hardest hit by the cyclone. Our doctors have been working non-stop since the cyclone hit four days ago and they could use a break.”
Jeena smiled. “Of course, Your Highness.”
He stood there. “Well?”
“Well, what?” she asked.
“We have to leave.”
“I’m waiting for you to lead the way, Your Highness. It’s only proper.”
He rolled his eyes and turned around and started marching stiffly toward the van, the tail of his blue kurta billowing out behind him.
If she really wanted to bite back at him, now would be the time to tell him that he reminded her of his father, which had always used to annoy him as well.
She chuckled softly and kept that to herself.
Right now, there were patients waiting for help and that was all that mattered to her, but it was nice to have a little victory over the man who’d broken her heart.
A man who had ruined her for all others.
A man who still had a piece of her heart, whether she liked it or not.
* * *
The ride in the van was uncomfortable and tense. Maazin sat in the front next to Kariff while she and her team were crammed in beside medical equipment and gear. There would be another van coming soon to take the rest of the supplies and gear into Huban, but right now they were transporting what was most needed to the hardest hit region. That had been her plan. Get to work, help out and keep out of sight.
She might not really care about her father’s promise to Lady Meleena but she didn’t want the drama that would come with it.
The press didn’t know about Syman or her romance with Maazin and she preferred it that way.
The only reason she was here was to save lives.
As the van navigated the damaged streets of Huban, Jeena’s heart sank to see the destruction. The little wooden shacks of the poorest hadn’t fared as well as the colonial buildings that had been built by the British over a century ago.
There were downed power lines, crumbled stone and debris everywhere.
“Hold on,” Maazin said over his shoulder. “This part of Huban was flooded quite badly. The water has receded enough to allow passage, but it will be a bumpy ride.”
Jeena bit her lip. Her head began to spin and her pulse thundered in her ears. A panic attack was coming on and she needed to center herself. She needed to gain control, but it was hard. She didn’t like water too much. She was fine if she was on a large boat or had her feet firmly planted on the ground, but in a van going over a washed-out road, this she didn’t like.
And she closed her eyes and tried to not think about that time when she had been a young girl and she’d wandered too far from her parents’ home and down to the small creek that ran adjacent to the plantation.
She’d been playing in the water when it had begun to rain, but since there had been no lightning and it had been so hot and dry, Jeena had just stayed where she was and enjoyed not being hot for once.
It was then that a flash flood had ripped down the mountainside. She would have been swept away if she hadn’t gripped that low-growing palm. She’d held onto the trunk of that tree for what had felt like an eternity as the water had rushed past her, trying to snatch her away and wash her out to sea.
And she remembered the terror of it all.
The water that had rushed over her while she’d clung to life, while she’d tried to breathe and not take water into her lungs. The weariness of trying to stay afloat had begun to set in.
And then she remembered the strong arms of her father reaching down to pluck her from the swollen creek and into the safety of his arms.
She’d gotten into trouble, but not too much as her father had felt that she’d learned her lesson about doing dangerous things and not listening to them, but really she hadn’t learned her lesson. Not really.
And how had she repaid her parents?
She’d become involved with a prince of Kalyana, even though it was forbidden because he’d been destined to marry someone of his father’s choosing.
Her parents had got her out of the country to protect her. Lady Meleena had helped before’d she got engaged to Maazin a few years later. Her parents had lost everything.
They love Syman, though.
Still, she should’ve learned to curb her reckless ways that day she’d almost drowned and maybe then her parents would still be in Kalyana and she could’ve been here with the cyclone had hit and she could’ve been helping right from the start.
But you wouldn’t have Syman.
No. She wouldn’t have had Syman and for that she couldn’t regret her past mistakes. Even though she regretted everything about falling in love with a prince, there had been one bright spot to the whole thing and that was her son. And that thought made her feel guilty for wishing her mistakes away.
He was her world and she missed him. Especially at this moment when she could do with a smile and a hug. She really missed her son.
The van rocked, jolting thoughts of Syman out of her head. She gripped her seat as the van made its way through another washed-out section of the road. The rushing water caused the van to sway, but it wasn’t deep.
It was deep enough for Jeena’s pulse to thunder even more loudly in her ears and for beads of sweat to break across her brow. Her hands felt clammy as she dug her fingers into the upholstery of the seat.
She looked up and saw that Maazin was watching her in the rearview mirror. He looked concerned and she tried to shake it all off. The last thing she wanted was for Maazin to feel bad for her.
Or, worse, think that she couldn’t handle this, because she could.
Jeena looked away and the van carefully made its way through the water and back onto dry road as they made their way out of the capital city of Huban. Jeena took a deep breath of relief and glanced out of the window. She could see the palace rising in the distance. It had sustained some damage, but it still stood there, like a rock, reminding all the people of Kalyana that the country was still strong.
And a blowhard loud-mouthed king ruling them.
Well, not really. King Uttam might not be her favorite person in the world, but he wasn’t a terrible king. He was a fair ruler.
And she saw a lot of his stubbornness in Syman. When Syman set his mind to something, there was no convincing him otherwise. It made her laugh from time to time. At least Syman was strong.
He had a strong personality. One she hadn’t had until she’d had him and had worked her way through medical school.
“We’re nearly at the hospital,” Maazin announced.
Jeena didn’t respond. She just looked out the window toward the Indian Ocean, remembering precious days gone by and how it was all her fault that her son couldn’t enjoy this with her.
* * *
Maazin watched Jeena as she and her team had a quick meeting and then started to move around the makeshift hospital that was set up in an old shanty town, or what was left of a shanty town now that it had been leveled.
Something had bothered Jeena in the van when they’d crossed through that water and he couldn’t help but wonder what.
It’s not your concern.
And it wasn’t. She wasn’t his and could never be his.
Still, he was drawn to her and he was worried that something had happened to her and he felt responsible.
“You all right?”
Maazin turned to see Farhan standing beside him. Farhan looked exhausted and Maazin couldn’t blame him. He and Sara had been working hard to help since the storm had started. Farhan hadn’t been here when Maazin and Jeena had had their torrid and short love affair.
So there was no need to explain it all now.
It was over.
And it wasn’t Farhan’s business.
It was Maazin’s pain to bear.
“Nothing, just...” Maazin scrubbed a hand across his face. “Tired and relieved that help is here.”
Farhan nodded. “So am I. Sara has been working herself to the bone and she needs her rest.”
“Take her back to Huban and get rest. I’m going to stay and help the Canadians and help Kariff unload the medical supplies.”
“You should rest too,” Farhan suggested. “You’ve been working non-stop since even before the cyclone hit.”
“What for? I have no wife and I like to keep busy.”
“You’re going to work yourself into an early grave, brother.” Farhan turned and left and Maazin let out a breath that he hadn’t even known that he was holding.
He glanced back over his shoulder to see Jeena sitting next to a patient’s bed and talking with the elderly woman, who seemed to recognize her.
Why had Jeena left?
“She’s left,” his mother said with finality.
“What?” Maazin asked, stunned.
“Your paramour. She is gone. Now you can do the duty we all must, and marry someone of the lineage to be your bride.”
“I don’t believe you,” Maazin said hotly. “Jeena would never do that.”
His mother walked calmly over to her desk and pulled out a letter, handing it to him. It looked like Jeena’s handwriting.
His mother held it out to him between two fingers. “Read it.”
Maazin snatched the letter from his mother and quickly read the letter. It didn’t sound like Jeena, but it was her writing.
“Where did you get this?”
“Meleena found it.”
“Why would Meleena find it?” he asked.
“Her father has invested in the Harrak plantation and she’s trying to prevent a scandal for a family her father supports.”
Maazin read the letter again and couldn’t believe it.
It stated that she was leaving him because she couldn’t stand being linked to a prince who had a checkered past full of women and gambling. Even though she knew those things weren’t true...even though he had never been unfaithful to her. He’d wanted to marry her.
Maazin crumpled up the paper. “She would never leave her parents. I’m going to find her.”
He turned to leave but his mother cleared his throat and Maazin turned back.
“Her parents are gone too. They left Kalyana with her. This morning, in fact. They should already be in Dubai.”
“Where are they going?”
His mother shrugged. “Who knows? They didn’t tell me. Kalyanese people are free to come and go out of their country as they please.”
Maazin had gone to her parents’ vanilla plantation, which was on the westerly side of the main island. And his mother had been right. They had left and their plantation had been for sale. It had made no sense.
And he’d felt betrayed.
So he couldn’t help but wonder why they’d left and why she was now back. She’d fled in the middle of the night like she’d been afraid. So why had she come back?
At least now he knew where she had gone and what she had done with her life these past ten years. She’d become a surgeon!
He hadn’t expected that.
Why not? You became one too.
“You okay?”
Maazin turned around to see Jeena standing next to him.
“Perfectly,” he said.
She cocked an eyebrow. “You sure?”