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She bit her lip to stop the passionate defence of her actions spewing out of her mouth as impotent fury boiled in her sore stomach. If this jerk hadn’t ‘rescued’ her, she would have won the race and her father would have understood why she had risked her personal safety. Instead of which, she just looked like even more of a monumental screw-up.
‘I would,’ she managed at last. ‘Except he won’t let me off his horse.’
‘Perhaps if you had asked me politely,’ the bandit prince interjected, ‘I would have considered it, Your Highness.’
She spotted the mocking twinkle in his golden eyes and the twitch of his hard lips.
Indignation blind-sided her.The rat.He was actually enjoying this, getting off on making a fool of her in front of her father, her mother and all their subjects.
She forced herself not to rise to the bait. Everyone was still watching, and she would be the bigger person now if it killed her...which, judging from the pain in her chest as she struggled to breathe past her fury, might actually happen.
‘Please, Mighty Prince Kamal,’ she said, fluttering her eyelashes as if she were the simpering idiot he obviously took her for. ‘Could you let me off your horse?’
Before I punch you.
The amusement in his eyes flared. A strange tingling sensation ran riot over her tired, sore body, waking up parts of her anatomy she did not want awakened and making her far too aware of the rock-hewn thighs beneath her bottom.
What on earth was that even about? Because she already couldn’t stand this man and she’d only just met him.
Without another word, his muscular forearm released its hold on her stomach. She jumped down from the horse with as much dignity as she could possibly muster while her temper was still boiling and her legs had turned to mush. Everyone—her father included—was watching her as if she were a naughty child now instead of a princess.
Locking her knees, she forced her chin up and began her walk of shame. But, as she made her way through the parted crowd towards the palace, she could feel the Jerk Prince’s mocking grin following her. Awareness rioted over her skin at the sudden thought of his fierce amber gaze sinking to her backside.
What the heck?
Her walk of shame turned into the seventh circle of hell as she bit into her lip hard enough to taste blood.
CHAPTER TWO
‘DAD,YOUCANNOTbe serious? The man is an arrogant, sexist jerk—who basically robbed me and Ashreen of the victory we’ve been training for for months. I don’t want to spend ten seconds in his company let alone the whole evening as his personal tour guide.’ Liah stared at her father, trying to keep the pleading note out of her voice.
But the punishment he had devised was too much. Even for him. She’d actually rather die than shepherd Prince Kamal around tonight’s reception. Especially as he’d probably use the opportunity to be even more of an overbearing ass.
Her father’s eyes narrowed as he looked up from his desk. ‘Which is precisely why I want you to do it,’ he said, being about as flexible as a lump of rock.
‘But I—’
‘Enough of theI!’ He cut her off. ‘Not everything is about you, Liah. This is the first time Prince Kamal has ventured out of Zokar after being named as the heir to the throne. He seemed ill at ease in the royal box earlier. He’s ruling a country that is one of our nearest neighbours—and he has a background which hasn’t prepared him for events like tonight’s.’
What background?The question popped into Liah’s head. She shoved it right back out again. She wasn’t interested in the man or his background.
‘As the Crown Princess, it is your job to make him feel welcome,’ her father added.
Liah’s belly tightened into a knot at the disappointment in her father’s tone, which struck at all her insecurities.
Her father was a brilliant ruler who had dedicated his life to Narabia. He and her mother had been instrumental in helping to evolve the country’s culture and traditions in the last twenty years so everyone had access to education and health care. Declaring their daughter as heir to the throne, when Liah had been their first born, instead of waiting for a son, had been an important part of that. But how did she tell them both, when they had always had such faith in her, that she had no faith in herself?
She didn’t want to let Narabia or them down but, while she agreed with her father one hundred percent that a woman could rule the country just as well as a man, deep down she wasn’t convinced she was that woman.
Her parents had always ruled her brothers and her as they ruled the kingdom—by consent. They’d allowed Liah to spend her childhood summers in Kildare, at her cousins’ stud farm, because of her love of horses. And had allowed her to study in the US and the UK when she’d asked.
The problem was, she had always been impulsive and headstrong...and she couldn’t seem to change that part of her nature, not even for them, no matter how hard she tried.
She sighed, trying not to let the creeping feeling of inadequacy show. If there was one thing she’d rather die than lose, it was her father’s respect.
‘Fine, I’ll do it,’ she conceded. ‘But I’m only doing it because you’ve asked me to. I still think Prince Kamal is a jerk and that I did not need rescuing.’
‘I know.’ Her father’s lips quirked, creating a crack in his stern expression. He masked it instantly, but the knot in her belly loosened. She knew she exasperated him a lot of the time. They exasperated each other, probably because they were so alike. But she also knew he loved her, fiercely and without compromise. And that would never change, no matter how many times she screwed up.
