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‘If you think I’h every rugby anthem you ever learned at school—’

‘Okay, no rugby songs,’ he agreed ‘I can see this is going to take quite a lot of forward planning’

And now she had to bury her face in the bedclothes just to hide her smile ‘No one said you had to turn all serious on me’

‘And no one said you had to turn all frigid on me’

‘But I’m—’

‘Not frigid?’ Raer over her lips ‘That’s for you to prove and ht, Mia—’

‘What?’ She sat up in bed, all thoughts of chastity and ?’

‘Toby the door, Raht of this sooner Tomorrow, Mia…’

‘You—’

Can’t leave me, she had been about to say

But he so obviously could

Chapter Eighteen

RAM could do courtly better than anyone she knew In fact, he had probably y at university, Mia reflected as they walked together down a tree-shaded avenue They were in thefollowed by around twenty female members of staff, who thankfully kept a discreet distance from their robe-clad leader and his business-suited co with an offer for ‘some stress relief before her next stint in front of the committee’ She should have knohat that entailed, Mia realised, wincing, as Ram bellowed, ‘“Awake!”’

‘What?’ She recoiled back

‘Don’t say what—say pardon,’ he said sternly ‘I’ the moment’

‘Apologies,’ she said, playing along—though how she was supposed to keep a straight face when aa theatric

al moment, she had no idea

On the serious side, each time she saw Rae, and there was no doubt that in Raht-dark blue silk robe he earing today hinted at hisit, while the wristbands studded with rubies and diamonds only served to e a jewelled belt with the biggest sword she had ever seen in her life hanging fro an execution today?’

‘We may well be if you don’t shut up’

‘Okay, I guess this is your ht caught them both in the face

She didn’t have to wait long

‘“Awake! Forthe stone that puts the stars to flight: And lo! the Hunter of the East has caught the Sultan’s turret in a noose of light”’

‘But you’re a maharaja,’ she observed flatly

‘For goodness’ sake,’ Ra it to one of theservants, ‘some people are never satisfied—’

‘And are never likely to be if you continue reading poetry,’ Mia muttered

‘And I thought a platonic courtship hat you wanted,’ Ra a hurt expression ‘Now let me see—what comes after poetry? Ah, yes, music’

‘If you start singing I really shall run back to the palace’

‘What if I call for my lute?’

‘Re the way you loved to torture my lute I’m more likely to hit you over the head with it’

‘I could get someone to play it for me’

‘I don’t think so, Ram’

‘You’re such a hard woman to please’

‘Since when?’

‘Since you vowed off sex and demanded a more traditional approach’

‘Ram, this approach isn’t traditional’

‘Didn’t I warn you I’d be setting my own traditions?’

‘You promised ed her off the main boulevard onto a narrow path made almost completely invisible to those not in the know thanks to an abundance of raspberry-scented blossom