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Sienna replaced the phone and stood staring at it for long, countless moments After Saturday it would all be over

And suddenly she couldn’t wait

Clunking up the grand drive in her battered old car, Sienna arrived at Bolland Hall just after teatime and let herself in

‘Hello!’ she called, but there was no response She walked through the arched hallway into the dining room and saw the table laid for dinner She was unable to resist a smile of satisfaction It was perfect

Beside Georgian silver and priceless crystal, crisp dales and tall candles were ready to be lit

Everything was as it should be

There was a stunning floral centrepiece Fragrant flowers of pink and ivory, dotted with the occasional yellow rose—chosen especially because they were the Sheikh’s colours The colours his jockeys wore The colour of the Qudaold in one corner She breathed in their scent appreciatively

Siements of floere dotted around the place, and Siennawhere all the staff had disappeared to—but they were probably having a well-earned break, since they had clearly been busy

In the vast kitchen, berry-dark and luscious individual su with ht on a tray next to a bunch of perfect grapes and a dish of white peaches Several bottles of claret had already been decorked, ready to be carefully poured into the eighteenth-century crystal decanters

Sienna sain Let Sheikh Hashiements!

She heard the crunch of gravel on the drive and wondered if the staff were back She glanced at her watch Probably But as she glanced out of theshe saw a low and screa to a halt Well, if that was one of the staff then she needed to switch career—and sharpish!

She clip-clopped her way into the hall as the doorbell rang and pulled open the door, her face and her body freezing as she saw Hashi the corners of his lips

Sienna sed She had somehow expected to see him clad in an impeccable dinner jacket, with black tie and snohite shirt, and dark, tapered trousers which would s look endless The Western style he seemed to favour the majority of the time