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shae He would support me and look after me, even without romance between us But was there truly no romance between them?
Zelda slipped into the hot water and felt her ht about the way that Zayed had been right there, the way that he had personally come to save her when she’d run away from him, the way that she had woken up to hi He was probably there for a long tiht Zayed hadn’t said as ue on his face, and the inforiven her about what had happened bethen she passed out and when she woke up implied to Zelda that he’d been there for all of it
“He’s really not a bad guy,” Zelda reflected, tilting her head back against the bath pillow “Hard to believe that he couldn’t find soer to him”
There had been wouest she’d seen seemed to have already been attached to a man But for someone as attractive, as wealthy, and as powerful as Zayed obviously was to be single…Zelda had to believe that it was coan to scrub herself all over slowly, thinking about the situation in front of her: a shao back to the States as if nothing had happened, while Zayed moved on with his own life There was a sadness to it that Zelda couldn’t quite shake
“Think of the stories you’ll have to tell,” she htly in ironic amusement She would one day have children, and one day, she would tell thee to a billionaire sheikh; about how she had stoay aboard his yacht before they’d struck the deal
By then, of course, they would be long divorced, but Zelda was sure that the truth of her story would be stranger than fiction to her own children Maybe we’ll keep in touch so Zayed to catch up on his life after their deal was coet a reply She would have to keep in some kind of touch with the Sheikh to achieve the divorce, but she couldn’t iotten what he’d wanted Would she have to tell future boyfriends that, technically, she’d been married for a short time? Would it count?
It surprised Zelda to realize that the prospect of just leaving Zayed behind—not just the luxuries he’d introduced her to, but the iven day—now made her feel sad She barely knew him, and yet in the most recent few days, she had started to think that he would be a person orth knowing, above and beyond his wealth He was co businessli his parents and—she thought—had nearly kissed her in the garden while they had been practicing their first dance as enerous, but when she’das aloof as he pretended, he’d brushed it aside without an answer
Zelda climbed out of the bathtub with no clearer sense of how she felt other than that she wished that things could soet to know Zayed; she wished that they could have met under different circumstances, and that they could soe on, instead of the convenience of solving her iration problems and his business conundrum
“If wishes were fishes,” sheoff with one of the plush towels and shaking her head She knew that she was going to go through with the wedding, and whatever her sadness about the circuo back home at the end of it, and put it all behind her, chalked up to a strange and wonderful adventure
She began to put on some of what she considered her “heiress clothes” and set herThere was a lot to get done before she tied the knot with Zayed, and she wasn’t going to put his reputation at risk anya flake
THIRTEEN
The days after Zelda’s ineffectual attempt at escape passed by in a blur; in order to keep to the lie that Zayed had told to cover her disappearance froe lessons, adding another eles that she had to do Every day was filled with ner of her wedding dress, sessions with a skincare specialist to make sure that she was flawless froround story with Zayed, and practicing their dance until they both knew it so well that Zelda woke up one raphy in her sleep
The , Zelda awoke to her alar to take place in a garden on the property, and the preparations would take almost half the day—all for a cere, and a reception that would go until hours after the bride and groom departed
It’s not going to be that bad, she told herself She lay in bed for a fewthe nervousness creep in She had to do her part of the cereun to learn; the officiant had taught her what the wordsto so herself to Zayed as his wife and co
The fact that she and Zayed were not allowed to see each other until the ceremony made Zelda even more nervous; it was a tradition that she could understand, but considering that she barely knew the people ould be preparing her for the wedding, and barely knew any of the guests, the lack of presence from the one person in the country she had come to trust was a real cause for anxiety
This is probably why etup in bed She had a strict schedule to keep; in a few minutes, Hadya and one or two other household staffher the traditional wedding-day breakfast Zayed was pulling out all the stops to ht with aenuine, he probably wouldn’t have tried so hard
“Gooda tray in her hands
Zelda s back to her in the Murindhi dialect