LITMIR.BIZ

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lowered her lids in disdain, but his next words were a teasing throb of promise.

      ‘Don’t tempt me to try, Alyssa, or you’ll miss your first sight of our palace.’

      He spoke in a low, slow combination of notes that played over her body like fingertips. She turned her head away. It was one thing for her body to be preoccupied with Lysander, but she wanted to keep her mind her own. She needed distraction. Glancing out of the window, she got it.

      ‘What’s the matter?’ Lysander tensed again at her gasp.

      ‘I knew somewhere called the Rose Palace had to be beautiful … but I hadn’t realised how big it would be!’ she breathed.

      ‘Do you like it?’

      She didn’t need to answer. Her amazed silence was enough.

      The Kahani palace had been the home of Lysander’s family for centuries. It stood on the site of the best oasis in that vast, ochre landscape. The afternoon sun was already drawing gossamer shades of apricot and salmon across the sky and sand. Against this exotic colour scheme, Lysander’s home stood out like a fairy tale castle spun from sugar. An enormous range of buildings glowed as white as a wedding cake against the tawny desert. Nothing Alyssa had read or seen could have prepared her for this.

      It was impossible to believe that such a lovely place could exist in this sea of sand, with its brutal reefs of rock.

      As they drew up at the grand south front of the palace Alyssa thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Lysander’s huge home was built around a vast central courtyard. It had been enlarged and extended over the centuries around the site of the original desert spring, which had been captured in a series of formal pools. Around them, fig and apricot trees cast lots of deep shade. This oasis of calm was overlooked on one side by offices and on the other by a residential wing. Cool, paved corridors and shady courtyard gardens running away from this living heart were the perfect place to spend hot summer days. There were all sorts of places to hide or wander undisturbed. Each large, graceful room inside the palace was more stunning than the next. Delicate traceries of pierced stonework and gold leaf were everywhere. Smiling, bowing servants in flowing traditional dress gave the whole place a fairy-tale feel. It was a completely new world for Alyssa, and she loved it.

      Lysander went straight to his office, leaving Alyssa to be shown around her new home by one of the resident housekeeping team. She was given the pick of several apartments in the nursery wing and chose one overlooking a small, quiet courtyard. Her living room had a little balcony draped with wisteria where she could sit down and relax, when she had a moment to herself. In practice, that might never happen. There were plenty of staff, but in England she had already found she could never rest while Ra’id was up and about. She didn’t like to let him out of her sight during the day, and always popped in to check on him during the night, too. Each time she had run her hand over his cool, dry forehead she thought of little Georgie. That had been a rare tragedy, and with Lysander giving her total control over Ra’id’s health and welfare she knew the same thing would never happen again, but the worry was always there. She knew everyone else would think she was being irrational, but it didn’t feel like that to her. I’d rather care too much than not enough, she kept telling herself. Except when it comes to Lysander … Ra’id was so exhausted after all the excitement of their journey home, he wanted to go to bed straight after his supper. Alyssa couldn’t believe her luck. Once the nursery was straight, she had a long indulgent bath, got ready for bed, then allowed herself the luxury of a really early night. She was almost as tired as Ra’id, and dropped off to sleep straight away.

      Alyssa had been told the nursery wing was fitted with the best alarm system money could buy, but nothing could override her years of training. Her ears were tuned to hear the slightest night-time noise. When music wafted in through her open windows, she was awake instantly. The faint, distant sound of wheels on tarmac told her exactly what was going on. Lysander was having a party. A big affair, judging by the number of vehicles arriving.

      She tried to get back to sleep rather than worry about what might be going on, or how much noise there would be. From the sound of it, the party was a long way away. It must be on the other side of the palace complex. Although there was no way a nanny could have expected an invitation to one of Lysander’s parties, a part of her couldn’t help wishing she were there—while knowing it would be a bad idea. She had seen enough photographs of Lysander partying to know what would be going on. Half-naked starlets would be draping themselves all over the place, hoping for something more permanent than a simple photo opportunity. The more she thought about some other woman making a fool of herself over a philanderer like Lysander Kahani, the harder it was to get to sleep. In the end, she pulled the sheet over her head and stuck her fingers in her ears to block out the distant rise and fall of sound.

      A loud knocking at the door to her suite was harder to ignore. Scrambling out of bed and padding over to open it, she found a footman outside. He was carrying a silver salver, and on it was a single sheet of handmade paper. It had been folded in half to hide the message. When she opened it out, she found a simple message written in a bold, flowing hand.

      ‘Dear Alyssa, please bring Ra’id straight down to the state banqueting hall. I’d like to introduce him to the company.’

      It was signed simply ‘L’, with a little ‘x’ beside the initial letter.

      Alyssa felt the unwanted stirrings of arousal within her body. A personal invitation from Lysander to visit his party, and with a kiss after his initial … She pursed her lips. It was a dream that, professionally, she had to treat as a nightmare. He was asking her to treat his nephew like some performing animal on display!

      She checked her watch, which only made things worse. It was ten past ten—hours after Ra’id’s bedtime. Infuriated, she told the footman there was no reply and sent him back to the party. When he had gone, she realised a simple message would never stop a man like Lysander. He would carry on sending for her until she did as he commanded.

      Fingering the mobile nursery alarm hanging from its loop at her waist, she wondered what to do. Ra’id was fine—she had checked on him the moment the party woke her, only a few minutes before. The security system was switched on, and there was no one else around. She hesitated between taking a chance, and doing nothing in case Lysander took ‘no’ for an answer. Assuming that wasn’t very likely, she decided to take direct action. She would head towards the noise of the party, and give the first member of staff she saw another message for their prince. This time she would send a proper explanation. Slipping his letter into the pocket of her dressing gown, she marched off through the shadowy palace. I’m not going to wake Ra’id so he can be paraded in front of Lysander’s feckless friends as some sort of novelty act! she thought angrily.

      Her plan to pass on a better message didn’t work. She didn’t meet anyone who could relay it. All the corridors were deserted. It was only when she reached a landing above the great state banqueting hall that she saw someone. A footman in uniform stood beside a pair of wide open double doors. She hesitated, but when he noticed her and smiled she knew there was no escape. Creeping downstairs, she hoped no one would wander out from the party until she had passed on her message. Despite her dressing gown and slippers, the footman listened gravely as Alyssa tried to explain that Ra’id was asleep and wasn’t to be disturbed. As she spoke she caught sight of the glittering party going on beyond the open doors and knew she had made a mistake. It wasn’t the celebrity drinking contest she had expected. Expensively dressed, respectable couples were being treated to silver service at a formal banquet. The music came from an orchestra that was playing in an adjoining quadrangle while the diners chatted and laughed. Candlelight and the fragrance of good food made her want to linger, but she couldn’t risk anyone inside the room spotting her. Ducking out of sight as soon as she had left her message with the doorman, she made a run for it. Her slippers slowed her down so she had barely reached the first landing when she heard someone thundering up the stairs behind her. They were taking the steps three at a time. Only one person would follow her with such silent intent.

      ‘Lysander!’ He caught her arm before she could escape. ‘Why are you running away?’

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