Dana shook her head. 'It caused the final rift.

She quarrelled bitterly with our father

and refused to have anything more to do with him. By this time she was running a
very
successful decorating business and that became her only love.'
'What happened to Khalid?' asked Lorna.
'She sent him to Kuwait. She had no time for him and wouldn't even have him to stay
with her for the holidays. That's why he has a hang-up about Western career women.'
'His mother certainly sounds a horror,' Lorna agreed. 'But he shouldn't judge all of
us by the same yardstick.'
'You should tell him that! Then sit back and wait for the explosion.'
Lorna could well imagine it. 'Where's his mother now?'
'In New York. Khalid never sees her, but I've kept up with her career through the
decorator magazines. She's top in her field, so she's often quoted and photographed.'
Dana stared thoughtfully at Lorna. 'Don't judge my brother too harshly. At heart he is
good and kind.'
'By his own standards, perhaps.'
'They are the standards of our race. That is something you should try to understand.'
'Do you understand them?' Lorna asked. 'If you were a Westerner you wouldn't be
forced to remain with a man you don't love. You wouldn't have had to marry him in
the
first place.'
She bit back the rest of what she wanted to say, knowing she dared not encourage
Dana to rebel. If she did, it might rebound on Allan.