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She belongs to Riyaz.
Yes. She belongs to Riyaz.
He snapped his fingers, and Aisha put her hand on Ariel’s arm.
“Come along,” she said.
“I will,” said Ariel. And then she turned aqua eyes on to him. “But only to get away from him.”
As if that would affect him. He felt nothing. The sooner she understood that, the better.
CHAPTER FOUR
SHEWASTRYINGnot to be impressed by the grandeur of this place. At first she had thought it terribly ugly. A large, shiny box out in the middle of these unforgiving mountains.
But she could see the beauty once she was inside. The way the windows captured the sunlight, while protecting them from the harshest aspects of it. The way it showed them the mountains, the trees, the wild landscape below, while concealing the house from view.
It was an architectural wonder.
A huge part of fashion was appreciating the elements of design, and this house was... It was truly remarkable.
The woman was at least a head taller than Ariel, but she moved with a ruthless efficiency that belied her size. She opened up a door in the hallway, black like everything else, and Ariel’s mouth opened when she saw the room. It too was black. The floors, the walls. But the ceiling had a graphic, brilliant wallpaper on it with large magenta flowers. A chandelier hung from the ceiling. The bed that stood at the center of the room was gold, with plush, velvet coverings in different shades of pink.
“What is this room for?”
“It has always been for you,” she said. “Sheikh Cairo has been preparing this place for this inevitability for many years.”
The words echoed within her.
Riyaz had demanded her. But Cairo had prepared a room for her.
As if it had been fate.
No.
He had never been her fate. That was all magical thinking, the kind she’d let herself fall into as a girl.
She wasn’t a girl anymore.
“Has he?” The words came out scratchy.
“Yes. I will just go run your bath. The bathroom is just through there. You will find a selection of clothing in the armoire. You may choose that which you wish for dinner.” The woman disappeared, and a moment later she heard water running.
She opened up the gilded, mirrored armoire, and inside found a myriad of jeweled, ornate dresses.
They were halfway between contemporary and traditional dress, each one of vibrant color, with gems stitched into fashionable designs.
The designer’s heart within her quickened. This was inspiration. Down to the depths of her soul.
And she felt... Privileged to get to put on such clothing. But she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.
She might be enjoying elements of this, but he didn’t need the satisfaction of knowing that.
She touched a brilliant blue gown. It had a matching top that would bare her midriff, and a skirt with a high waist that looked as if it would hug her hips and flare out around her knees.
She selected it and carried it into the bathroom. And what she saw in there stopped her cold. It was not a simple bathtub. Rather more of a pool, with gold taps, the farthest most edge simply a window that looked out at the desert below.
“I will leave you,” the woman said. “The water is scented with oil, and you will find different scrubs at the edge just there.”
