For Duty's Sake Read Online Free Page B

try.
    â€œI will.”

CHAPTER TWO
    Z AHIR felt those two small words like they were blows from the strongest of sparring partners. Part of him had always expected some kind of betrayal from Elsa Bosch, though not to the extent she had gone to. He had never been able to give her what she craved: commitment for the future.
    However, he had believed Angele a woman of supreme honor and understanding of her duty.
    â€œYou are not serious.” He looked closely, trying to see evidence of too much champagne, but her pupils were not dilated.
    Her cheeks were flushed, but the topic of their conversation could easily account for that.
    â€œI am.” She looked down at the Bedouin figure and reached out to touch it almost wistfully. “I will not allow you to be locked into a marriage with a woman you cannot love.”
    â€œAnd you expect to be loved by your husband.” Where had she gotten her romantic notions of marriage? Certainly not from her parents.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou appear to forget the importance of duty and family obligation.”
    A deep, burning anger flickered briefly in Angele’s dark eyes. “My mother’s adherence to duty is one of the primary reasons I am so determined not to follow through on this farce of a marriage.”
    â€œThere is no farce in joining the royal houses of Zohra and Jawhar.”
    â€œI am not of the royal house of Jawhar, no matter how indulgent King Malik is toward me and my father.”
    It was true. From one of the most influential families in Jawhar, Cemal had been fostered in the royal household when his parents died. He’d been raised like a brother to Malik, but they shared no blood relation. Which had actually played in favor to the agreement drawn up ten years before as Zahir and Angele had no blood common between them.
    â€œI did not think this bothered you.”
    â€œIt doesn’t.”
    â€œYou cite it as reason for not keeping your commitment.”
    â€œI never made a commitment. When I was thirteen I was informed that one day we would marry.”
    A mere girl. He had felt compassion for her. “But you never complained. Why now?”
    â€œI spun fairy castles in the air, dreams that took me too long to realize they had no basis in reality.”
    Dreams of love. Didn’t she know? That commodity was not for such as them. “You need to consider this more carefully.”
    â€œZahir, I’m giving you your freedom.” Exasperation and a tinge of anger laced her tone. “Instead of trying to talk me out of it, you could simply say thank you.”
    Did she really believe she was doing him a favor? He did not think so. “Our families will be shamed.”
    â€œOh, please. Nothing official has ever been announced.”
    â€œNevertheless, the expectation exists.”
    â€œSo?” She shrugged, as if really, this did not matter. “Those who have expectations will have to be disappointed.”
    â€œLike my father. Like the man you call uncle. They will be humiliated.”
    The look she gave Zahir said she did not buy his calamity scenario. “Disappointed maybe but, in that regard, not as much as they would be by a divorce.”
    â€œWhy divorce?” Though he admitted he did not know her as well as he could, he had never considered her a pessimist. “You are not making any sense.”
    â€œZahir, can you honestly tell me that you are not feeling even a little niggle of hope right now? That relief isn’t warring with your need to talk me out of doing what you know you want?”
    Shock held him silent. Her words implied that she actually believed she was doing him some sort of favor; that somehow he would and even should thank her for threatening to break her word. He tried to think of what could have caused her to draw such a ridiculous conclusion, but despite his superior intellect he came up with nothing.
    No possible reason for her outlandish ideas.
    She