The Desert Sheikh's Innocent Queen: King of the Desert, Captive Bride. Jane Porter
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first. I thought he’d want to be prepared.”
Jake wasn’t going to understand, though. Jake knew her. He knew she’d only dated a little and had never had a proper boy-friend. When it came to men she was still ridiculously sheltered and the last thing she’d do, ever, was jump into a relationship with a man she didn’t know, much less a man from a culture so very different from hers.
“Jake’s just going to be more worried,” she said. “It’s only going to make things worse.”
“It can’t be much worse for him that it already is,” Khalid answered shortly. “He’s had his hands full these past few weeks and the truth is, you are safer with me than you were in Ozr.”
“What do you mean, things can’t be much worse for him than they already are? What’s happened back home?”
Khalid abruptly turned the interior light on, flooding the car with yellow light. “Your mother took the news of your disappearance badly—”
“What do you mean ‘badly'? How badly?” she interrupted.
“She had a heart attack—”
“No!” Liv pressed a hand to her mouth. “No,” she repeated, voice muffled. “It can’t be.”
“I understand she’s better. She’s stable, and resting, but she’s still not strong and your brother has been caring for her. Otherwise he’d be here now.”
Liv shook her head, her thoughts wild and chaotic. Her entire world had been upended and she couldn’t get her bearings. “When did she have the heart attack?”
“A week ago.”
With an unsteady finger she reached up to dash away tears before they could fall. “Are you sure she’s okay?”
“She’s back home. She’s sleeping a lot right now.”
“That’s why you didn’t want me to call home earlier.”
“Yes.”
Exhaling slowly, she drew another painful breath. “I’m not ready to lose my mom. I just lost my dad a couple years ago.”
“You must be strong now. You must believe that everything will work out. Everything will be fine.”
“Do you really think everything really be fine?”
He gazed down at her for a long, level moment. There was a fierce intelligence in his eyes that reminded her of a hawk or falcon circling before making its kill. “Yes.” His long black lashes dropped, concealing his fierce, dark eyes. “It may take time, but things always do work out. One way, or another.”
Returning to the hotel, Liv discovered their suite had been transformed. Fresh flower arrangements covered the living room tables while the dining room table had been turned into an elaborate dinner buffet with another huge white-and-purple floral arrangement at the centerpiece.
Soft music played from hidden speakers and a uniformed waiter finished prepping the beverage table, while another moved around the room, fluffing pillows, dimming table lamps and lighting floating candles.
Liv stood in the hall, awed and more than a little bit intimidated by the transformation. In the shimmering candlelight, the faded tapestries on the wall, the dark wood furniture and the rich exotic fabrics covering the couch and chairs seemed almost otherworldly, and Liv realized all over again how far from home she was. How far from anything she knew or understood.
The butler appeared and bowed. “Your attendants are here,” he said to Olivia. “They are waiting to help you dress.”
Liv shot Khalid a perplexed glance. “My attendants?”
“Miss Bakr thought you might feel more confident tonight if you had help preparing for the party. She sent her favorite stylists. One to do your hair, and the other to … to …” His voice faded and for a moment he looked nearly as perplexed as Liv. “I actually don’t know what she’s for, but Miss Bakr insisted you have her.”
Not entirely reassured, Liv slowly entered her bedroom, not sure what she’d find. Two Egyptian women waited for her. They’d been deep in conversation when Liv arrived but they broke off abruptly to greet her.
“We don’t have much time,” the hairdresser said briskly, steering Liv straight into the bathroom, where she’d already laid out hair appliances on the marble counter. The curling iron, flat iron and hot rollers were all plugged in, heating, while the blow dryer lay close by, along with a half-dozen bottles of lotion, pomade and hair spray.
“Simple,” the other woman said, taking one of Liv’s hands in her own to examine her nails. “Tonight it is all about you. Simple. Beautiful. Elegant.”
“A goddess,” the hairdresser added. “Tonight, you shall be a goddess.”
The hairdresser urged Liv to sit down on the chair they’d pulled into the bathroom and while she turned her attention to Liv’s clean but tousled blond hair, the other one started in on a pampering manicure.
While they worked she snacked on fruit and cheese and crackers Khalid had sent to her. A glass of champagne also arrived but she didn’t dare touch it. She hadn’t eaten much in days and feared the alcohol would go straight to her head. However, the assorted cheeses, sweet apricots, grapes and savory flatbreads were delicious and Liv ate virtually everything on her plate.
By the time her hair and nails were finished, Liv felt unusually relaxed and ridiculously spoiled. To have not one, but two, women fuss over her while she snacked on cheese and crackers struck her as incredibly decadent, but she wasn’t in a position to argue. Tonight was important. Khalid had made that very clear and she was going to do everything in her power to make a good impression on the visiting officials.
“And your clothes have now arrived,” the manicurist said. “We’ll just get you into your dress, make sure everything fits exactly so and then leave you to your party.”
Her party.
The suggestion was laughable but Liv didn’t laugh. She shivered, suffering from a sudden fit of nerves.
She was scared. Nothing could go wrong tonight. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—go back to Ozr.
Fortunately her attention was drawn to getting dressed. She was to wear a beautiful ivory-pleated gown, the ivory shimmering with threads of gold. A gold collar encircled her throat, the collar the width of her hand and heavy with gold and jewels. The dress was long, touching the tips of her champagne-colored high heels.
The hairstylist had curled her hair in loose waves, and then pinned strategic pieces up so that her hair looked like a golden waterfall with loose tendrils around her face. The manicurist wasn’t to be outdone. She swiftly applied a deft application of makeup, including sooty eyeliner, a swirl of black mascara and a soft golden blush on Liv’s cheeks, and a touch of golden gloss on her lips.
“You look perfect,” the manicurist said, stepping back to examine her handiwork. “So fresh and young and charming, just the way a princess should.”
Liv smiled gratefully even as she heard the door open and close. From the sound of voices she knew that the guests had arrived and her smile disappeared as her stomach flipped … a maddening somersault that had her clutching the sink.
“It’s going to be fine,” the hairstylist said, patting Liv on the back even as Liv leaned over the sink, trying to catch her breath and calm her queasy stomach. “Everything is fine, and you are going to make His Highness very proud. Now go. Enjoy your party.”
Her party. A party where she had to pretend she was engaged to Prince Khalid Fehr, Sheikh of the Great Sarq Desert. How could she do it? She was just a girl from Pierceville, a girl who’d never had more than twelve dates in her entire life.
Her stomach rose up again in protest. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t go out there, not if the Jabal secretary of security was here….