Daughter Of Hassan

‘If that is your wish, but I cannot pretend that I am not disappointed. It would have been a good marriage. Jourdan will have to be told, of course…’

‘I’m sure he’ll soon find someone else,’ Danielle said grimly, remembering the girl Corinne had mentioned.

‘When it becomes known in our family that he is not to marry you, he will lose face,’ her stepfather said sombrely, ‘but the fault is perhaps mine. I forgot that for all I consider you to be my daughter, you are not, as your mother does well to remind me, a daughter of the East…’

He looked so cast down that Danielle was moved to comfort him. ‘I know you were trying to secure my future, but when I marry I want it to be to a man I can respect and share my life with, not a man who looks to me only to bear his children. Besides,’ she added firmly, ‘I’m not ready for marriage…’

For the second time in a very short span of hours her stepfather’s wryly encompassing scrutiny of her slender, determined form filled her with embarrassment.

‘Perhaps not yet,’ he agreed. ‘But the time is not far off… If you will not marry Jourdan, then will you at least visit my family as my emissary? As you know, I shall shortly have to go to America on business. Your mother will come with me, and it would please me greatly, Danielle, if you would use these weeks before you start college—if that is what you are determined to do—to show my family how beautiful and chaste a daughter I have.’

‘You mean fly out to Qu‘har?’ Danielle asked. ‘Oh, but I couldn’t…’ Couldn’t live with complete strangers, was what she meant, strangers who disapproved of her mother and her marriage to their relative; strangers who included the man she had just refused to marry!

It was later when she was preparing for bed that her mother entered her room, so quietly that at first Danielle didn’t hear her.

‘Danielle,’ her mother begged softly, sitting down on Danielle’s bed, and watching her daughter brush the gleaming cloud of darkened curls clustering on her shoulders, ‘please go to Qu‘Har. It means so much to Hassan—far more than he has told you. You have compassion and imagination, surely you can understand how bitter has been his own lack of children, especially in view of his position? To claim you as his daughter, albeit by marriage, is one of his greatest joys. Do not deny him the pleasure of showing you off to his family…’

‘A family who don’t want anything to do with us as long as Daddy continues to make money for them,’ Danielle protested rebelliously, putting down her brush and turning to face her mother. ‘I can’t do it. I can’t pretend the way I would have to…’

‘Not even for the sake of your father?’ her mother prodded gently. ‘It would be a compromise, Danny. I know Hassan mentioned that Jourdan will lose face over your refusal to marry him, but so will Hassan…’

Her sympathy aroused in spite of her own feelings, Danielle stared reluctantly at the floor, knowing what her mother was asking of her and yet unwilling to commit herself to visiting Qu‘Har.

‘I can understand Daddy,’ she said at last. ‘But you… surely you knew that I would never agree to such a marriage?’

‘I knew, but Hassan was so sure he was doing the right thing, so convinced that he was protecting you that only your own reaction could convince him. Having gained so much surely you can afford a little compromise now, darling?’

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.