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CHAPTER ONE

IN THE END it was surprisingly easy to escape Abdul, the royal bodyguard posted by the hotel suite’s door, dozed off around ten o’clock, his head nodding onto his chest, and Halina Amari, Princess of Abkar, slipped by hi her breath

She’d never done anything like this before, never once tried to escape whatever narrow confines she’d been put in—although she’d certainly tested the boundaries and stretched her wings as ht she wanted to fly

Thissmaller and smaller thanks to her father—and Prince Zayed al bin Nur, her fiancé The realisation of how close she’d co even more of a prisoner than she already was made her heart leap into her throat And as for Olivia

But she couldn’t think about Olivia, not now, during her one bid for an evening’s freedoant luxury hotel in Roainst the wall She could hardly believe it had been so easy, but why not? The door to their suite had been locked frouard posted outside as ato keep people out, not in No one had expected her to escape She could barely believe it herself

The doors whooshed open and Halina stepped into the lift, her heart pounding, her pal? She’d spent every one of her twenty-two years hidden behind high walls—the palace, the convent school in Italy and then the palace again Waiting, alaiting, for the fiancé she’d neverfor her life to begin, or at least so to happen

Three days ago, Zayed al bin Nur had overness and her school friend, thinking she was Halina herself

Rumour was he’d rievous error Zayed had sent ahim that he had not in any way harmed Olivia, for which Halina was heartily relieved But the whole episode had made her realise how precarious her own position was How limited her own freedom And it had infuriated her father, Sultan Hassan, who had sent Halina to Italy with her mother, away from Zayed’s clutches

Halina was glad for the escape; she’d never wanted to marry Zayed, a man she’d never even h she doubted her fiancé was fool enough to try the sa in

After this, her father would uarded, than she already was And that was so Halina could not stand After twenty-two years of waiting, she wanted to liveeven if just for a night

The lift doors opened and fro sound of piano music and crystal, the