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‘Oh, it doesn’t bother me,’ Zoe hastened to proclaim just as her sisters joined them and then, of course, the entirety of her short conversation with Nabila had to be recounted.
‘She’s got some brass neck!’ Vivi declared. ‘I wish I’d been with you. Didn’t you learn anything from us growing up?’
Zoe blinked and studied her sibling’s exasperated expression. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You don’t tangle with an ex. You certainly don’t give her any information... I mean, what you were thinking of, telling her that you and Raj don’t interfere in each other’s lives?’ Vivi demanded ruefully. ‘How normal does that sound? You want the ex to think you’re the love match of the century.’
‘Put a sock in it, Vivi,’ Winnie cut in. ‘Zoe doesn’t have to pretend if she doesn’t want to. It’s a marriage of convenience and both of them know and accept that. It’s not personal for them the way it was for you and me.’
Zoe had lost colour. No, it was not personal, she repeated staunchly to herself, because, unlike her sisters and their husbands, Zoe had had no prior relationship with Raj before their marriage. Yet even in acknowledging that truth she was taken aback by the revelation that she would have liked to have scratched Nabila’s beautiful eyes out because Nabila had hurt Raj. A long time ago, she reminded herself afresh, and he was perfectly capable of looking out for himself.
When the festivities were almost at an end, Zoe went to change into more comfortable clothing for their journey. They were to be out of the public eye for two weeks and she couldn’t wait to reclaim some privacy. Apparently, the royal family owned a very comfortable villa by the Gulf on the Banian side of Maraban, and Raj had already promised to show her the beauties of her grandmother’s birthplace, which was greener and less arid in landscape. She pulled on a light skirt and T-shirt, teaming them with a pair of glitzy high sandals, one of the many, many pairs she harboured in her wardrobe but had never previously worn. She had a serious shoe fetish and knew it.
‘We’re fortunate to be making so early an escape,’ Raj remarked, sliding into the limo beside her, a lean, lithe figure in jeans and a shirt, his black curls tousled as though he had changed out of his wedding finery in as much of a hurry as her. ‘If my father wasn’t so eager to pack us off on a honeymoon, the celebrations would have lasted all week.’
‘Farida mentioned that weddings usually last for days here, but then it was our second time round the block,’ she pointed out before pressing on, doing what her conscience told her she had to do, which was to warn Raj that he would be working with his ex on some project that she didn’t recall the name of. ‘I met your ex-girlfriend, Nabila, at the reception.’
Raj’s arrogant head turned, a frown building, his lean, darkly handsome face forbidding. ‘That is not possible. She would not have been invited. Nabila is a common name in Maraban.’
‘Apparently she came in my grandfather’s party of guests,’ Zoe persisted. ‘She’s the CEO of some company called Major Holdings and she asked me to warn you that you would be working with her on some project.’
‘The Josias hospital project.’ Raj’s intense dark eyes shimmered almost silver in the fading light. ‘But I need no warning. I am not so sensitive,’ he breathed with roughened emphasis.
And then he didn’t say another word for what remained of the fairly lengthy journey that took them to the airport and a flight and, finally, a bumpy trip in a SUV. And, unfortunately that brooding silence told Zoe everything she didn’t want to know or surmise about the exact level of Raj’s sensitivity. He was like a pot of oil simmering on a fire but all emotion and reaction was rigidly suppressed by very strong self-control that acted like a lid. But knowing that, accepting that she hadn’t a clue what he was thinking, didn’t make Zoe feel any happier. For the first time with Raj, she felt very alone and isolated...
CHAPTER SIX
WITH DIFFICULTY, RAJ emerged from circuitous thoughts laced with outrage at the prospect of being exposed to Nabila’s deceitful charm again and stepped out of the SUV. He expected to see the sprawling nineteen-twenties villa that his family had used as a holiday home since his childhood. He blinked in disbelief at the very much smaller new property that now stood in its place and signalled the army major in charge of their security to seek clarification of the mystery. A couple of minutes later he returned to Zoe’s side.
‘Apparently, my father had the old villa demolished several years ago because it was falling into disrepair and he thought it was too large to renovate,’ Raj explained. ‘It was built by your great-grandparents at a time when the Banian royal family had half a dozen daughters. My family used it rarely after your mother’s father died. My father likes the sea but the Queen does not.’
Relieved that Raj was talking again, Zoe murmured, ‘Did you come here much as a boy?’
‘Often when I was very young with my parents. My mother loved it here.’ His lean strong face tightened, his perfect bone structure pulling taut beneath his bronzed skin. ‘I remember her skipping through the surf and laughing. No worries about etiquette or protocol or who might be watching and criticising her behaviour. She could be an ordinary woman here again and she loved it.’
‘An ordinary woman?’ Zoe queried, puzzled by that label.
Momentarily, Raj turned away to evade the question because he disliked talking about past traumas. In his experience a trouble shared was not a trouble halved and he preferred to gloss over such issues. Without skipping a beat, he deftly changed the subject. ‘My father should have told me that there was a smaller property here now,’ Raj breathed. ‘As he only comes here alone, there may only be one bedroom.’
‘Oh, let’s not get into that debate again!’ Zoe carolled with a comically exaggerated shudder that locked his eyes to her animated face. ‘We’re adults, we’ll get by, even if you make me sleep on the floor!’
Her green eyes could dance like emeralds tumbling in sunlight, Raj noted abstractedly, settling a hand to her spine to guide her down the path because it was dark and she could hardly move in her high heels without stumbling on the stony surface beneath their feet. He had watched her throughout the day, had been forced to watch her teeter and sway and steady herself on furniture every time she lost her balance. She might continually wear high heels but had evidently not yet learned how to comfortably walk in them. The idea of her falling and hurting herself made him want to go into her wardrobe and burn every one of those preposterous shoes. It was an odd thought to have and he tagged it as such and frowned in bemusement.
‘You know, I wouldn’t do that.’
‘You’re not sleeping on the floor either!’ Zoe warned him as they approached the well-lit front door. A lovely wrap-around veranda fronted the building and their protection team surged ahead of them to check that the house was safe. ‘Where have you been spending the night since we got married?’
‘My office.’
‘Is there a bed there?’
Raj shrugged a broad shoulder. ‘A sofa,’ he admitted grudgingly.
Zoe gritted h
er teeth in annoyance. ‘Are you that scared of me?’
Dark colour scored the hard, slanted lines of Raj’s spectacular cheekbones and his stunning eyes flashed gold with angry disbelief. At that optimum moment the protection team reappeared to usher them inside. It didn’t take long to explore the interior of the beach house. There was a surprisingly large contemporary ground-floor living area and a winding staircase led upstairs to a spacious bedroom and bathroom.
‘There’s no kitchen!’ Zoe exclaimed abruptly, glancing out at the walled swimming pool beyond the patio doors. ‘How are we supposed to eat here?’
‘The staff stay in a new accommodation block built behind the hill and cater to our needs from there,’ Raj told her. ‘Meals will be delivered. It’s not a very practical arrangement but my father enjoys his solitude.’
‘I’m starving,’ Zoe admitted.
‘I will order a meal.’
‘I’ll go for a shower and change into something more comfortable,’ Zoe said cheerfully.
She was halfway up the stairs when Raj spoke again. ‘I am not scared of you, nor was I implying that you would choose to tempt me into breaking my promise,’ he assured her levelly. ‘But it annoys me that my father is making it so difficult for me to offer you the privacy I swore to give you.’
‘And why is he doing that?’ Zoe prompted, tipping her head to gaze down at him, her cheeks warm from his misapprehensions about her. No, she wouldn’t ever set out to deliberately tempt him but she was painfully conscious that she wanted him to make some kind of move on her because she was keen to explore the way he made her feel. It was just sex, she told herself guiltily, sexual urges tugging at her hormones, and there was nothing more normal than that, she told herself in urgent addition, nothing to be ashamed of in such fantasies. It was simply her bad luck that she was married to an honourable male who believed in keeping his promises and not taking advantage. Luckily for her, she could not even imagine a scenario where she would tell him honestly how she felt and, for that reason, the humiliation of making a total fool of herself over him was unlikely.
