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Whatever else had happened between them, she needed Karim to get her to Rhastaan safely. He had been sent to protect her, and that was clearly what he was intent on doing—that and nothing more. She could do nothing but go along with him and do as she was told, for now.
It had been the same at the airport. Clemmie had been ushered from the car, through a bewildering series of gates and up into the private jet before she had fully registered just where they were. All formalities were dealt with by Karim, her luggage was loaded on board—and once she was settled in the plane, safely belted into her comfortable seat, it was Karim who disappeared into the cockpit to pilot them to Rhastaan himself. She hadn’t seen him from the moment they had taken off until just before landing. Or, if he had come back into the cabin at any point, she hadn’t been aware of it. Once in the air, and with her body finally feeling warm and something close to relaxed after the small meal and a hot drink prepared by an attentive stewardess, the stress of the past couple of days and the broken night had caught up with her and she’d fallen fast asleep. She’d only woken when the same stewardess had touched her shoulder to warn her to fasten herself in for landing.
‘Madam...’
A careful cough, a quiet voice, drew her attention now to where Aliya, the maid who had been assigned to her on arrival at the palace, stood in the doorway.
‘You have a visitor, madam—downstairs.’
Nabil. Who else could it be? She had been waiting for this summons ever since they had arrived at the palace. In fact she had been surprised to find that her husband-to-be hadn’t been at the airport to greet them, or at least arranged a meeting as soon as the sleek black car with the darkly tinted windows had swept up to the palace. She had nerved herself for it, determined not to show any weakness in front of Karim. He believed she had tried to run away from her responsibilities, that she was not fit to be a queen. So she would not let him see that she was afraid, or that she was concerned in any way. Head high, back straight, she had stalked into the palace, expecting to see Nabil.
And had only been met by his High Chamberlain.
Since then she had been alone in the palace apartment assigned to her. No one to talk to. No one to keep her company. Once from her window she had seen Nabil, walking in the courtyard.
He had been talking to a young woman, small, dark, very pretty, his head bent towards her, and he hadn’t noticed Clemmie at her window, watching them. For a moment she had considered going out to speak to him but in the end had changed her mind. This relationship, this marriage had been forced on both of them when they were too young to do anything about it. It was best to leave things until Nabil was ready to come to her. But after that she had heard that he had left the capital, flying out to his summer palace. Obviously he was no keener than her to get this marriage underway.
So now, it seemed, the summons she had been expecting had finally arrived. Squaring her shoulders, she drew in a deep breath as she nodded to Aliya.
‘I’m coming.’
The man who was waiting in the reception room on the ground floor was bigger than she had expected. Taller, broader in every way than she might have anticipated of a boy who had just had his eighteenth birthday. He was standing as she had been minutes before, staring out of the window, head slightly bent, one strong hand braced against the wall. And it was that hand that gave him away as she came nearer, recognising a gold signet ring on the fourth finger.
‘I... Karim?’
Had her heart really leapt up into her throat, pounding so hard that it seemed to have cut off her breathing, making her pulse thunder in her ears?
He took his time about turning round, making her feel that perhaps he had known she was there in spite of the soundless steps that had taken her into the room, closer to him.
‘Clementina...’
The slight inclination of his dark head was the only acknowledgement of her position here at this court. He was a High Prince too, his attitude said, and as such he wasn’t going to bow to her. Which was fine with Clemmie. The truth was that she was already sick of all the bowing and scraping she had received. It would have been bad enough anyway, but after the months of freedom, of living like an ordinary woman in her grandmother’s cottage, it seemed even more over the top.
‘Or should I say, Princess Clementina?’
‘Oh, please don’t!’
She was too busy taking in the sight of him standing there, big and strong and even more gorgeous than before, to think about holding her tongue and just let the words escape. She had never seen Karim in traditional robes before, the flowing white garment contrasting startlingly with the bronze tones of his skin, the polished jet of his eyes. He had discarded the headdress and the black silk of his hair gleamed in the shafts of sunlight that came in through the leaded windows.
She knew she had missed him, but she hadn’t known how much until now he was here again, standing before her, tall and powerful and devastating. She felt like someone who had been starving and who had suddenly had an incredible feast placed before her so that she didn’t know where to look first, what to enjoy most. How could two days’ absence have felt so long? How could this man have become so central to her life in the space of less than a week? And how had she survived the past days with the huge hole in her life that he had left behind?
‘I did ask you to call me Clemmie.’
‘But that was in another time, another place.’
Another lifetime, his tone said, forcing her to remember how he had reacted to her naïve attempts at seduction, the way he had assiduously kept so distant from her. He had delivered his parcel, completed his mission and he was done...
So why was he here now?
‘I have come to say goodbye.’
It was as if Karim had read her thoughts as he offered the flat-voiced explanation of his appearance here. If the truth was told, she had never imagined that she would see him again and just to have the chance to see his face, hear his voice was more than she had dreamed of. But...
‘Goodbye?’
He should never have come, Karim acknowledged as he saw her huge eyes widen in shock and surprise. He had told himself that he wouldn’t ever see her again. That it was so much better that way—the only way. He had made a vow to fulfil his father’s debt of honour and deliver Clementina to Nabil, and he had done just that. His duty done, honour satisfied, he was free to leave and go back home. Back to take responsibilities from the shoulders of his ailing father, to take the reins of government of the country he had never thought he would come to rule.
‘What else is there to say between us?’
His conscience gave a nasty twist when she saw the flinch she gave at his tone. She tried to hide it, of course, bringing her head up and meeting his eyes so defiantly that it was all he could do to bite back a smile. So the other Clementina, the wild, mutinous creature who had answered the door to him that first day at the cottage, was still there underneath this new version. The tall, elegant woman in turquoise silk, that wild hair tamed and sleeked into an ornate arrangement, who had stunned him into silence when he had turned to see her standing there.
It was the wild-haired, barefoot creature he’d first seen he remembered when awake. But it was that other Clementina, skin warm from the nest of blankets, silken hair spread out over his chest, the sound of her voice whispering his name in his ear who’d haunted his dreams. That memory made him toss and turn in restless hunger so that he had woken, bathed in sweat and with his heart racing, his body hard even from imagining her. Her choking cry of ‘I want you...’ was always there inside his head, driving him to a feeling of near-madness as he tried to rid himself of it.
He had told himself that the only sane way to deal with this was to go, never looking back. To put her behind him and head home, to the life that was now his and that she could never be a part of. That was best—for both of them.
So why the hell had he found it impossible to leave without seeing her one last time? Why had he come here now, like this, like some fool of a naïve adolescent unable to tear himself away from the current object of his adoration? Because that was all she was, all she could ever be. Today’s sexual fantasy. One he could easily replace with another willing, warm—and much less dangerous—woman in his bed.
No, that thought had been a mistake. The idea of any woman in his bed only reminded him of how it had felt to hold Clementina so close. To know she was warm and willing—and totally forbidden to him. It had almost torn him apart to say no to her then. It would destroy him to remember it over again.
‘You are here, where you belong, with your future ahead of you. Your birthday will be very soon.’
‘Four days.’ It was only a whisper so that he had to lean forward to catch it then immediately cursed himself for doing so as a waft of some heady floral perfume, mixed dangerously with the clean ultra-feminine scent of her skin tantalised his senses and made his lower body ache in hungry response.
To conceal his reaction he nodded sharply, taking a much-needed step back and leaning against a high carved pillar.
