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‘Thank you so much for winking when you did. It helped me get the rest of the way down the aisle,’ Orla said to the staggeringly beautiful and insanely smart woman she had just been introduced to.
Queen Catherine of Narabia was a British scholar originally, but as she stood next to her husband Sheikh Zane, who had their youngest child on his hip while the other two chased each other in the garden behind them, it was hard not to see how well she had adjusted to life as the wife of a desert king.
Catherine laughed. ‘You looked absolutely exquisite but also terrified and I knew exactly how you felt, so it was my duty as a woman to do something.’
Orla found herself smiling back, despite the nerves running riot in her stomach. Karim’s arm remained around her waist, as it had been ever since their kiss had caused such a stir an hour ago. The heavy weight felt possessive and strangely protective, as he had introduced her to all the guests, but she was brutally aware of the tension rippling through his body, every time she moved. And the thought that this might well be the last time she would ever be this close to him.
‘How did you two meet?’ Catherine’s husband, Sheikh Zane, asked casually. But Orla could sense the intelligence behind his questioning gaze.
Was it obvious, she wondered, how fraudulent this marriage really was?
Ever since the ceremony itself had finished, Karim had made a point of shepherding her around the reception with him, which she had to believe was as torturous for him as it was for her.
He looked drawn, she had discovered, once she’d managed to calm down enough after the ceremony to gather her senses. Not just drawn, but tense and on edge.
‘His manservant tells me he does not sleep well at night. That he wakes from nightmares and paces his chamber.’
Orla’s heart pulsed in her throat as she recalled what Ameera had told her about Karim’s sleepless nights that morning. But the wave of sympathy only made the heat that continued to ripple at her core—every time she got a lungful of his scent—more torturous.
She tried to remember the story they’d worked out to give Zane a coherent answer, when Karim’s hand moved to her hip and her emotions cartwheeled into her throat again.
‘I bought her family’s stud in Kildare. We met while I was considering the sale,’ Karim supplied.
‘You know about horses, Orla?’ Catherine asked, thankfully changing the subject.
Orla nodded, suspecting that Catherine had detected the unease between her and Karim, from the kindness in her eyes, and was trying to alleviate it. Why did that only make it worse?
‘Yes, I… I managed the stud for a number of years,’ Orla replied. ‘Racing and horses are my passion,’ she added.
They were putting up a good show. No one need know what was really going on… But still his response to her note tormented her.
Had she done something wrong, by reaching out to him? Was that the real reason why he had decided not to share a bed chamber with her tonight?
‘Our daughter Kaliah would love to meet you. She’s passionate about horses too,’ Catherine added with a gentle smile, as she pointed out the stunning pre-teen girl across the courtyard who was dressed in an elegant trouser suit speckled with mud while she raced around with her younger brother.
‘And far too much of a daredevil.’ Her father shuddered theatrically, but Orla could sense the Sheikh’s fierce pride in his oldest child.
‘Not unlike her cousin Jazmin,’ the tall man dressed in magnificent tribal wear who Orla had noticed with his pregnant wife earlier announced as he joined them. He looked slightly harassed, probably because he had one of his toddler daughters perched on his hip—who Orla suspected was the aforementioned Jazmin because she was bouncing up and down shouting, ‘Giddy-up, Daddy.’ An identical little girl gripped his hand and hid behind his legs.
This had to be the fearsome Chief of the Kholadi tribe, Prince Kasim, known to his friends as Raif, if Orla remembered correctly. Although he looked a lot less fearsome with his daughters in tow.
‘Hey, Raif.’ Zane slapped him on the back. ‘I see you got left holding the babies again,’ he added with a smile, before the little boy on his own hip started to chatter to the bouncing Jazmin.
The children were cousins, Orla realised, as she recalled that the etiquette advisor—while going over the guest list with her—had told her the Kholadi Chief Prince Kasim and the Sheikh of Narabia were half-brothers. The man had also mentioned that Queen Catherine and Princess Kasia, Raif’s wife, were best friends.
It wasn’t hard to tell, as the brothers shared a knowing look while their toddler children jabbered to each other.
These people were family, the unit they made so obviously strong and bonded. The boulder of emotion that had been dogging Orla all day—especially since receiving Karim’s note—swelled in her throat. She blinked, trying to control the pain in her eyes.
Don’t you dare cry.
But then Karim’s hand shifted on her hip again, and the boulder that had been expanding all day settled in the centre of her chest as she glanced up at him. He was staring at her, his gaze so intense, the boulder felt as if it were about to crush her ribs. She looked away, knowing how foolish it was to regret the fact she and Karim would never make a family like the Khan brothers and their wives and children.
Why should that derail her emotions now, when this relationship had always been a business arrangement? This lavish ceremony didn’t change that, no matter how significant it had felt as she had walked down the aisle towards him. And he had branded her with that incendiary kiss.
‘Has anyone seen Kasia?’ Raif’s question interrupted Orla’s troubled thoughts. His gaze roamed around the garden, his anxiety obvious as he searched for his wife. ‘She was only supposed to be going to the restroom, but I think I may have to insist we retire. She looked tired and I don’t want her on her feet too long.’
Karim clicked his fingers, signalling a servant boy over. ‘I’ll have her found immediately,’ he said to Raif. He gave the servant instructions. As the boy raced off to do his new King’s bidding, Karim added, ‘Would you like me to arrange for a nurse to take your children to your rooms and put them to bed while we locate Princess Kasia?’
