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She wondered if perhaps the change had so his heart broken She concocted a story in herthat Zayed wanted to pass Zelda off as Maybe they’d met somewhere else, maybe they’d met in Miami And maybe the woman had stolen his heart Perhaps he had intended to marry her, not just in order to buy out his rival, but because he’d loved her

Zelda dis to decide whether the woinary invention—had broken the Sheikh’s heart on accident or on purpose It wasn’t a very likely story

Feeling like she wanted to change into soner outfits the Sheikh had bought her—Zelda went into her bedroom and slipped off the heels she’d wandered the house in, letting her feet sink into the thick rug near her bed She slipped off her skirt and blouse and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt—one of the fewtheir shopping trip

A knock at the door cut through Zelda’s addled thoughts “Co her hair back from her face

She assumed it must be Hadya or one of the other members of the household staff, but instead, Zayed himself stood on the other side of her door, dressed in what she’d come to think of as his business uniforht white shirt and silk tie

“Oh,” Zelda said, blushing slightly and feeling more than a little underdressed compared to her future husband “Hadya said you were in the city on business”

Zayed sot back”

“Do I need to change? I’d gotten dressed for the city but then you were away, so I figured I could put on so more comfortable”

Zayed shook his head “You look fine to ht want to practice our first dance for the wedding”

Zelda sst all of the other things going on in the flurry of activity surrounding their wedding She’d n the preliminary paperwork, with Zayed’s personal assistant o over specifics for the flowers, the food, the decor for the wedding, and with designer friends of Zayed’s both for her engageenerally spent her days doing so hts to eat her dinner, take a bath and go to sleep so that she could do it all over again the next day

“I should at least put onto practice,” Zelda pointed out; they’d picked out her shoes for the wedding reception, and while she had worn heels before, the ones ner friends did not fill Zelda with confidence that she’d get through the day without taking a tue she and Zayed had concocted

“I’ll arden,” Zayed told her He kissed her on either cheek and Zelda couldn’t quite suppress the little tingle that ran through her at the contact

“I’ll be out in tento find the new shoes in her closet

Zelda shook her head to herself; it had been over a year since she’d seriously dated anyone, and now—after knowing her future husband for all of a feeeks—she was going to be getting married

But there’s no ro the box in her closet and taking the shoes out of it Stop getting so emotionally involved, already