For Duty's Sake Read Online Free Page A

of her life married to a man who did not love her and never would? Who did not even like her enough to spend any time with her not dictated by their roles and responsibilities?
    To watch Zahir find joy in the arms of other women as her father had done over and over again? Angele wasn’t about to go that route.
    Even after receiving the packet of pictures, funnily enough it had been the announcement of Amir’smarriage that had settled the issue for her. Amir had been meant to marry another member of a powerful sheikh’s family, but Lina had refused the match and Amir had ended up married today to the woman who held his heart instead.
    As Angele had told her mother, Amir and Grace’s very real love had made the wedding ceremony beautiful.
    What she had not told her mother was that she had seen the envy in Zahir’s expression when he had looked at Amir as he stood up with him. No one else had noticed, of course, but Angele had spent a lifetime watching Zahir with more attention than research scientists gave their life’s work.
    Lina’s courage had given Angele the courage to come up with her plan. And Amir’s happiness today had cemented her determination to follow through with it. If there was any chance Zahir could know his brother’s happiness, he deserved to have it.
    She could do no less for the man she loved with her whole heart.
    And she would accept nothing less than that, either, even if it meant spending the rest of her life alone.
    â€œZahir, I have always found you to be honest. A man of deep integrity.” His liaison with Elsa had not changed that.
    As he’d pointed out, Angele and Zahir were not actually engaged. And he had never once lied about it. She’d simply never thought to ask point-blank if he had sex with other women. However, she was no longer rock-solid in her belief he would not take mistresses after their marriage. In fact, that certainty had died a pretty painful death.
    No matter what he’d said today.
    â€œI am.”
    â€œAre you in love with me?” One of those point-blank questions she could not avoid asking. Not now.
    He did not even blink, his handsome features set in an emotionless mask. “Our association is not a matter of love.”
    â€œNo, I know it isn’t, but please, this once, just answer my question with a simple yes or no.”
    His jaw tightened.
    â€œPlease.”
    â€œI do not see why you would ask.”
    â€œI’m not asking you to understand, simply to answer.”
    â€œNo.”
    She almost asked if his negative was a refusal to answer, but then she looked into his gray eyes and saw the smallest glimmer of pity. He knew she had feelings for him he did not return.
    The pain his answer caused wasn’t mitigated by the fact she’d been expecting it. Though she really wished it had worked like that. Knowing he did not love her and hearing it from his lips were apparently in totally different realms of experience.
    She managed to nod. “That is what I thought.”
    â€œLove is not necessary in a marriage such as ours.”
    â€œI don’t agree. I will not marry a man who has no hope of loving me.”
    â€œI—”
    â€œHave not found something worthy of love in my person in ten years—you are not likely to find it now.” In fact, she was so certain of that impossibility, she was ready to take desperate action.
    â€œYou are all that is admirable in a future princess and eventual queen.”
    But not as a woman he could love. She left the words unsaid as he did. “You deserve the happiness your brothers have found.”
    â€œIt is not in my stars.” His tacit agreement sent another javelin of pain straight through her, but she refused to buckle under the fresh wound.
    She had a plan and in the end, it would be best for both of them. “It can be.”
    â€œI will not turn my back on my duty.” And his tone censured her for suggesting he