CHAPTER TEN

      ‘COFFEE, Eleni?’

      Eleni sat down at the breakfast table as Zahra held up a heavy silver pot, wondering if her face or her demeanour gave the sheikh’s assistant any hint of what had happened last night.

      Or was this a house with no secrets—the interconnecting door of her bedroom giving the game away to all? Did the servants realise that, under cover of darkness, Prince Kaliq had crept into the bed of his stable girl and taken her virginity in the most heartbreakingly beautiful way possible? Why, maybe Zahra herself had gone through a similar initiation ceremony.

      Eleni’s cheeks flamed and she felt her heart give a painful lurch. Please let that not be the case, she prayed silently. ‘I’d love some coffee,’ she said quietly.

      Zahra upended some inky brew into a tiny golden coffee cup and pushed it across the table. ‘The sheikh has asked me to tell you that someone will be over after breakfast. You can be measured up and a selection of outfits sent over within the hour. Something for you to wear to the polo match.’ Zahra smiled. ‘It’ll be fun—believe me.’

      But Eleni was still smarting from Kaliq’s command that she never call him by his given name in public. And while she knew that his words made sense, it didn’t stop them hurting—but at least it helped her come to a decision. He had set out his rules very firmly—so why should she not have rules of her own? Why should she dress up to be something she wasn’t? Masquerading as a cute western mannequin until Kaliq tired of her and it was time to put her back into the cupboard?

      And besides—she already felt displaced enough in this English home of the sheikh’s. Surely if she started dressing like a westerner then she would end up feeling completely alienated?

      ‘Please thank the sheikh for his generous offer,’ she said stiffly. ‘But also tell him that I cannot accept it. There is no reason why I should not go to the polo match dressed in traditional gown. I am there to assess a horse and not to impress others.’

      Zahra gave her an uneasy smile as she offered a basket of warm bread. ‘I’ll tell him,’ she said. ‘But I can tell you now, Eleni—he won’t like it.’

      Eleni shrugged. No, she could imagine that Kaliq was a man who never liked being disobeyed in anything. ‘Where is the sheikh this morning?’ asked Eleni, telling herself that Zahra’s slightly ominous words were not going to frighten her.

      ‘He’s in his office.’ Zahra hesitated for a moment. ‘Do you need to speak to him?’

      Too quickly, Eleni shook her head. ‘No. I have no wish to disturb him.’

      She needed to get out into the fresh air. To cool down her overheated body and blow her disquiet away, and after coffee she went out to explore the grounds—discovering a small wood carpeted with blue flowers shaped like bells.

      Her mood kept veering wildly between dreamy recollections of what had happened to her last night. Of her first initiation into the act of love with a man who could not have been a more perfect lover. Except that there was no love involved, she reminded herself bitterly. No feeling at all, it seemed. The sheikh had made that very clear indeed—illustrated by the way he had described sex in such a mechanical and unfeeling way! Did he not care how cruel and cold he had been to a woman who had welcomed him into her body during that blissful night?

      She picked one of the blue flowers and held it to her nose, inhaling its sweet scent. Of course he didn’t. She was his servant, wasn’t she? His stable girl—nothing more than that. And she never would be.

      Just before they left for the polo match, Eleni showered and changed into silk tunic and trousers and Kaliq’s eyes narrowed when he walked into the room and saw her.

      So she had ignored his instructions, he thought grimly. He had been looking forward to seeing that superb, tight bottom encased in a clinging pair of jodhpurs. Or a sleek and fitted dress.

      ‘You will stand out by a mile, dressed like that,’ he offered drily. ‘And yet Zahra tells me you turned down the clothes which were offered to you.’

      ‘Indeed I did.’

      ‘Stubborn, obstinate Eleni,’ he said, in a low voice. ‘And why did you do that?’

      ‘Because I would rather be true to myself than pretend to be something I’m not, Highness,’ she replied as she bobbed him a curtsey.

      He glanced at her—cursing the folds of silk which concealed her slender body from his eyes. How dared she have the temerity to disobey his wishes and cover herself up?

      ‘No coy look for your prince this morning?’ he mocked. ‘No murmured thanks for the treasures he brought to your bedchamber last night which made you gasp aloud with such joy?’

      Eleni kept her face expressionless, even though inside her heart was racing so fast that she felt dizzy. ‘But you told me not to be familiar with you in public, Highness,’ she protested.

      He glanced around. ‘And you can see for yourself that the room is empty!’

      Her smile was serene. ‘Far better to get into practice of maintaining normal protocol, Highness—that way no embarrassing mistakes can be made.’

      To his fury, Kaliq felt himself taken unawares by this impudent minx of a girl. How dared she answer him back—in a way which managed to be both insubordinate and yet smoothly diplomatic? Almost as if she had the upper hand! Why, he should show her who was boss… and… and.

      Beneath his robes, he could feel himself growing hard and was just about to lock the door and take her into his arms until he realised such an action would throw his whole timetable out.

      ‘Let’s go!’ he growled.

      She followed him outside to where sat a low and gleaming car as scarlet and as bright as a sunset