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‘The drea?’ he prompted blankly

‘Because you didn’t want us to attract too much attention I wore a plain black dress at the embassy do,’ she reownand, oh, yes, I want my sister to come over for it’

‘That could all be arranged Western wedding gowns are very popular here’

‘Seriously?’ Chrissie looked up at him with surprised turquoise eyes

The sudden charisotten flashed across his lean dark features ‘Seriouslybut it will have to be a rush job My advisers are hoping we can stage this the day after tomorrow—’

‘The day after to free of him to scramble out of bed naked ‘I need to phone Lizzie and warn her!’

Pleasantly surprised at the ease hich she had given her agreehed as he listened to Chrissie chattering to her sister on the phone line in the next room and even paused for thirty seconds to appreciate the picture his wife ure glea porcelain pale and pink in the sunlit rooht enter without offering sufficient warning, he fetched a towelling robe fro her ar snet He strode back into the bedroo his mobile phone out of his jacket to call Yusuf

But his father’s former aide was unavailable Yusuf’s manservant inforhter and that it would be teeks before he was ho it would be inappropriate to try and tackle such a controversial subject with Yusuf over the phone He had no choice but to await the older man’s return And while he waited, more and more questions and inconsistencies would pile up in the back of his ri the truth without exaggeration on all counts, he would suddenly be the guilty party, who had virtually destroyed her life, and how could he ever live with that conclusion?

Chrissie put the phone down and breathed in deep, astonished to recognise that she had been gabbling to her sister like an overexcited teenager As she asked herself what had coed by the hich was bounded by a stone balcony and a glorious view of the trees flourishing in the garden below Was she a total idiot? she was suddenly de of herself She was still in love with Jaul and she wanted to give their e the best possible chance to thrive that she couldbut

And it was a very large ‘but’; she had to be realistic and stop behaving like a dizzy adolescent She needed to view their situation as it was and not wrap it up in fancy trappings, for the surest way to a failed h expectations only to be rewarded with a slow, steady process of disenchantment

Jaul wasn’t in love with her Sexual cheh the powerful attraction that had first drawn theether was still red hot Other facts spoke too loud to be ignored, however, she reflected unhappily Jaul had come to London to see her in the first place because he’d wanted a divorce and he had only changed his mind about that after he’d realised that he was a father

He only wanted to stay married to Chrissie now because she was the mother of his children and Tarif was the heir to his throne Love and affection had nothing to do with that decision Jaul was prepared to behave as a husband and father, not only to meet the conservative expectations of his people, but also to provide the tith a stable and respectable horound It was a praiseworthy motivation but it did notChrissie as his wife and queen or that he would willingly have selected her for that role now

After all, what choice had Jaul had? His passionate te He was a wildly passionate male but, at heart, he was ruled by cool intellect and practicality The e he had chosen to put behind him and dismiss had come back to haunt him in the worst way and noas trapped with a wife he couldn’t divorce without shocking and disappointing his people Fate could well be forcing him to make the best of a bad situation Her skin turned cla theory but she knew that it would be stupid to ignore that wounding analysis of theirJaul’s bedof sexual need Sobered by those reflections, Chrissie tightened the sash on the oversized robe and went back into the bedroom, relieved to appreciate that there were two en suites attached to it Just at that moment she needed her own space and peace in which to rebuild her poise Hoht reluctantly, were necessary to keep her feet on the ground but, oodness, they could hurt