LITMIR.BIZ

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the man knew her more intimately than anyone else living. He would be able to tell. “Yes.”

      “Because?”

      “Does it really matter?”

      “Oddly enough, it does. You see, we are in something of a predicament.” He dropped a newspaper onto the open seat beside her. “If you are unhappy at the thought of never seeing me again, all may not be lost. If you’re simply feeling baby fever, that’s another thing. Although it could work to our advantage, too.”

      “What in the world are you talking about?”

      He indicated the paper with a nod of his head. “Read that.”

      “More of the Cinderfella romance between Tahira and her palace aid husband?”

      “Not exactly.”

      With a huff, Liyah started reading, hope and despair twisting together in a knot inside her with each new paragraph. Not Cinderfella, but a modern-day Cinderella fairy tale. Where Liyah played the role of servant elevated to princess by the love of her prince.

      Only Sayed didn’t love her and he had to be furious about this. “Oh, my gosh...what are we going to do? How did they learn my name? Can we get a retraction printed?”

      “And what are they to retract? The picture of us in obvious afterglow, or the speculation that Tahira and my stars did not cross because we both had different destinies?”

      “Um, well...how furious are your parents about this?”

      “Father is surprisingly prosaic and Mother is thrilled all her plans for a royal wedding won’t be wasted.”

      Liyah jumped up like there was a spring under her behind. “Married?” she screeched.

      Sayed winced, but then he smiled. “Under that buttoned-down exterior, you’re an emotional firecracker, aren’t you?”

      “Don’t tease me. This is too serious.”

      An arrested expression came over his face. “Yes, you’re right. It is.”

      “What do you mean?” Had he changed his mind already?

      He pulled her to him and leaned down to kiss her softly. “Think about it, will you do that for me?”

      “Marriage?” she asked, afraid to believe.

      “Yes.” He kissed her again, as if he couldn’t help himself. “Until tonight.”

      “What’s happening tonight?”

      “We’re having dinner.”

      “Don’t we have dinner every night?” He smiled indulgently like she’d said something sweetly funny. “Tonight’s dinner will be special.”

      “Why?”

      “I’m going to ask you a question and if you give me the right answer I’ll show you the secret passage and the hidden room my great-great-grandfather built for trysts with his wife.”

      “Don’t you mean his mistress?”

      “No. He was a romantic and wanted to give her a very special wedding gift.”

      “So, he built a hidden room.”

      “Yes.”

      “No wonder.”

      “What?” Sayed asked.

      “You’re so incredible.” She smiled up at him. “It’s in the genes.”

      “I tried to tell you.”

      “So, you’re going to ask me a question tonight?”

      “Yes.”

      “Even though I’m not a princess?”

      “I have told you many times, I esteem you highly. If I mistook what was required of me and that hurt you, I am truly sorry, but I have not wanted you out of my sight since the first time my gaze fell on you.”

      “You don’t mean that.”

      “I do.”

      Man, he really wanted her. Like, a lot.

      “You promise?”

      “You have my word as emir of Zeena Sahra and your man.”

      “Sayed...” She reached up and kissed him with every bit of pent-up emotion inside her.

      He picked her up with an arm under her bottom and another against her back for stability, carrying her into the bedroom without breaking their locked lips.

      He loomed over her on the bed. “We are not supposed to do this here.”

      “You’re better at breaking rules than you give yourself credit for.” His mother had been right. Sayed did have a wide streak of impetuousness.

      He gave her that smile again. “It’s you, you’re very good at tempting me to break them, habibti.”

      “Well, I may have gone to a little extra trouble with my appearance today.”

      He laughed, the sound so free and happy it filled her own heart with joy. “No need, you are always gorgeous to me. But I do like this dress on you.”

      “It’s a dishdasha,” she teased.

      “Oh, is it? Pardon me.”

      She grinned. “It might be just as pretty off.”

      “Doubtful. You, on the other hand, will be infinitely more accessible naked and nothing is more beautiful to me than your body.”

      “Don’t say things like that.”

      “Why not?”

      “I’ll believe them.”

      He cupped her face in his big hands. “I will never lie to you, on my honor.”

      Too choked to speak, she nodded.

      They spent the next minutes undressing between drugging kisses.

      She made a sound of victory when he was down to his sexy black silk knit boxers.

      He laughed, his hands already busy on her skin.

      “You wear more layers than me,” she told him. “I think there’s something wrong with that.”

      “The challenge will prevent you from becoming bored.”

      “Right, because you aren’t challenging enough.”

      He proved just how challenging he could be...to her self-control, drawing forth the response her body would only ever give to this man. For the first time, there was no bitter in the sweet of that knowledge, either.

      He made love to her with passion that felt as driven by the sense of reprieve as her own. Could that be possible?

      He certainly hadn’t seemed to be upset about the idea of marriage. Though they’d barely talked about it.

      Rational thought fled as he drove her arousal higher. Unwilling to be outdone, she did her best to touch him in all the ways she knew drove him crazy.

      Their coupling was powerful and intensely intimate, their bodies so in tune for the moments leading up to and during her climax, she felt like they were sharing the same soul.

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      HAVING LEARNED OF Sayed’s intention to take Liyah out to dinner, Queen Durrah showed up with an ornate crimson dishdasha for Liyah to wear.

      “But this is the color of the royal family.”

      “Yes, my dear, it is. It is also the gown I wore for the formal announcement of my own upcoming nuptials.”

      Liyah

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