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Rais walked in and joined the pair by the buffet. After a moment he threw back his head, guffawing at something Lily said.
Khaled’s mood worsened. Since when did his grizzled security chief guffaw? First Sabir...now Rais. Was every one of his team under her spell?
His sisters bounded in.
‘Lily! Mummy’s going to invite you to stay until Daddy’s anniversary party.’
‘Say yes. Please.’
No. Definitely not happening.
He spoke. ‘Lily.’
The flash of surprise in those big hazel eyes was followed by a wariness he thought they’d got past last night and which, to his annoyance, pained him. As he drew closer he saw she looked pale and drawn, as if she hadn’t slept well. That troubled him, too.
Damn it, he was putting a stop to this nonsense right now.
‘A word, please.’
He pulled her from her little fan club, marched her out into the corridor and backed her into a quiet alcove, using those precious seconds to wrestle his libido under control.
‘It appears you’re about to be issued with an invitation to my father’s anniversary party next month. You will decline.’
Lily shook free of his grasp. ‘Can’t you even say hello before you start ordering people about?’
‘I didn’t bring you out here to exchange pleasantries. We’ll be ending our arrangement long before the party, and you will, of course, be returned home at once.’
Her expression brightened and she looked up at him with big, hopeful eyes. ‘You think we’re going to prove Nate’s innocence soon?’
He’d barely given the man a moment’s thought this morning, and now he was finding it hard to think at all while she gazed up at him like that.
‘Perhaps. You’ll need to be here for a few more days. You’ll tell my mother you have a previous arrangement. A friend’s engagement party, maybe.’
‘How ironic.’
‘And while you’re here I’d prefer it if you didn’t flirt with the staff. They have work to do, and you are creating too much of a distraction.’
For him, too. Right now it was those shorts and sandals. They were doing incredible things for her legs.
‘Is that so?’ she said, in a tone he didn’t much care for. ‘And here’s me thinking I’m just being polite to people who have been kind to me.’
‘That’s not how it looked from where I was sitting.’
‘You’ve been spying on me?’
He didn’t answer that. He just stared down his nose at her. He didn’t have to justify his behaviour to this woman. He was the Crown Prince. He did as he damn well pleased.
‘Now I know why you’ve had to resort to blackmail to get a fiancée. You are absolutely without charm.’
Offended, he snapped back without thinking. ‘I’ve had no shortage of women.’
‘But a distinct lack of willing fiancées, apparently.’
‘My previous partners had no interest in marriage to me.’
That had not come out the way he’d intended. And of course she instantly leapt on his mistake.
‘Gosh, I can’t imagine why...’
