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CHAPTER ONE

SAPPHIRES DRIFTED IN a shiht, the precious ge fifteen-year-old Millie Dillinger Seeing her mother cuddled up to the Sheikh had the opposite effect Toad-like and repellent, he was hardly the dashing hero Millie had iuests at a ement

Millie had just stepped on board the Sheikh’s superyacht after being brought straight from school in a limousine with diplo world Suns of money than she’d seen in her entire life, but, like the Sheikh, the interior of his vast, creaking superyacht was sinister, rather than enticing She kept glancing over her shoulder to check for escape routes, knowing it wouldn’t be easy to go anywhere with heavily ary trousers, standing on either side of her, with yet more posted around the room

Much in Millie’s life was uncertain, but this was frightening Her mother was unpredictable, and it was always up to Millie to try and keep things on an even keel Thatroorand salon, but when she’d seen pictures in ant, luxurious spaces, not dark and stale like this Heavy drapes had been closed to shut out the light, and it s her nose

The Sheikh and his guests were staring at her,her feel she was part of a show, and it was not a perfor her ht be royalty, and he ht be seated in the place of honour on a bank of silken cushions beneath a golden canopy, but he was repulsive This had to be their host, His Magnificence Sheikh Saif al Busra bin Khalifa Millie’sat his party, and had asked Millie to join her Why? Millie wondered

‘Hello, little girl’ The Sheikh spoke in a wheedling tone that made Millie shudder ‘You areher closer

She refused to e whisper, ‘Her name is Millie’

As if naain, and more i her to make her excuses so that they could leave Her mother refused to take the hint She was still so beautiful, but sad for much of the time, as if she knew her days in the sun were over Millie wanted to protect her, and quivered with indignation when soer behind their hands Sorown up and her mother the child

‘See, Millie,’ her ne down an evening dress that had seen better days ‘This is the type of life you can have if you follow e’

Millie shrank at the thought Her dreais Night than a theatrical perforathered to carouse and feast at the feet of the devil Candlelight flickered eerily over the faces of the guests, and an air of expectation gripped the for? Millie wondered She didn’t belong here, and neither did herit would be worse A careless approach to her health had ruined Roxy Dillinger’s renowned singing voice She had squeezed herself into a shoddy and revealing floor-length gown, but Millie knew that the best she would be

able to s for people who didn’t care that Roxy had once been known as the Nightingale of London

Millie cared She cared deeply and passionately for her mother, and her protective instinct rose like a lion for its cub Ignoring the impatience of the Sheikh, she held out her hands ‘It’s tio home Please, Mum—’

‘Roxy,’ her lance at Millie ‘My name is Roxy’

‘Please Roxy,’ Millie aet them out of here somehow

‘Don’t be stupid,’ herpublic ‘I haven’t sung yet Tell you what,’ she said in a change of tone ‘Why don’t you sing for us, Millie? She has a lovely voice,’ she added to the Sheikh ‘Not as strong and pure asup to him

The way the Sheikh was looking at Millie made her skin crawl, but she refused to back down ‘If you come home with me now, I’ll buy cakes on the way,’ she coaxed her mother

Unpleasant laughter greeted this reuests ‘I have world-renowned pastry chefs on board, little girl You and yourfor your supper’

Millie suspected the Sheikh had so With her plaits, spectacles and serious demeanour, she would certainly be a novelty for his sophisticated guests, who had started to chant her naement, as her mother seemed to think, Millie kneas mockery of the cruellest kind Her neck burned with eed, ‘Please, Mum You don’t need the Sheikh’s money I’ll take an extra shift at the laundry—’

Screeches of laughter drowned out her voice Desperate now, she glanced longingly in the direction of theon as normal If this was how the super-rich lived, Millie wanted no part of it Tonight had cee a life she could control

‘Sing for us, Millie,’ Roxy slurred ‘You can be my support act’

Millie loved singing, and had joined the school choir, but her real passion was discovering how things worked Once she’d passed her school exams, she was deter at the laundry to fund more education

The crowd continued to chant, ‘Millie Millie Millie’ Her ed, and she looked so tired ‘Please, Mum’

‘You’ll stay here,’ the toad on the dais rapped At his signal, the guards closed around Millie, cutting off all avenues of escape ‘Coary voice that frightened her ‘Dip your hands into my bowl of sapphires They will inspire you, as they have inspired your mother’

Millie flinched away as soh

‘Touch my sapphires,’ the Sheikh continued in the sanificence—’

‘Step back!’

The icy coid Millie turned to see a colossus in travel clothes striding into their uards snapped to attention as he passed, and even the Sheikh’s spoiled mouth remained petulantly closed

What a devastating er than the Sheikh, he was infinitely more attractive, and Millie’s ideal when it came to a romantic hero While the Sheikh overflowed his cushions, this uard

‘Why, brother, you’re such a prude’

When the Sheikh drawled this, she gasped His brother? This was the toad’s brother? There was so little resemblance between the two men it didn’t see down her spine, his brother inspired a very different response

She cringed to see the Sheikh wrap his ar his property in the face of a challenge ‘Have you never played Bridge the Generation Gap before?’ he asked, glancing between the newcomer, Millie, and her mother

‘You disgust me,’ the newcomer rapped ‘She’s just a child,’ he observed as he flashed an appraising glance at Millie

That brief look seared her to the depth of her soul She would never forget it There was anger in his eyes, but also concern, and it made her feel safe for the first time since she’d boarded the yacht

‘I can’t believe you’d sink so low as to include a young girl in your debauchery,’ he said scathingly

‘Can’t you?’ The Sheikh gave a careless shrug ‘She’s a pretty young thing Why don’t you take a turn when I’m finished with her?’