Sharon Kendrick Collection. Sharon Kendrick
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to keep an eye on me! You make me sound helpless!’ she objected, and could hear the smile in his response.
‘Not helpless, Sabrina. Maybe just a little vulnerable at the moment.’ And make damned sure you remember that, he thought grimly as he hung up before tapping out Tom’s number.
Guy arrived back from Paris on Saturday morning, feeling all frazzled and frayed around the edges as he walked into the kitchen to a delicious smell of coffee. Sabrina was already dressed, busy buttering a slice of toast. He paused for a moment which felt dangerous. Because his kitchen had never felt more of a home than it did at that moment.
He’d missed her, he realised with a sudden sense of shock.
‘Hi,’ he said softly.
Sabrina turned round slowly, trying to compose her face, making sure that every trace of leaping excitement had been eradicated from her features. She smiled instead. ‘Welcome home! How was your trip? Would you like some coffee?’
He wanted something a lot more fundamental than coffee, but he nodded his head, sat down at the table and took the mug of coffee she slid towards him.
‘You’re up early,’ he commented.
‘I’m working today, remember?’
He frowned. Had it really been three weeks since the last time she’d been in the shop on Saturday morning? ‘Yeah.’ He sighed. He’d been almost tempted to take the day off himself, and to ask her whether she wanted to go to a gallery with him, but if she was working…‘I guess I might as well go in myself.’ He yawned.
Sabrina fixed him with a stern look. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Guy! You’ve only just got back from Paris. Give yourself a break!’
He glared at her. ‘I’ve managed to get along just fine for the last thirty-two years without anyone telling me how to live my life, if it’s all the same to you, Sabrina.’ He paused. ‘Did you book the restaurant?’
‘I did,’ she said steadily, without missing a beat.
‘Which one?’
Her bright smiled didn’t falter. ‘It’s a surprise!’
‘A surprise?’
She wondered what had caused that sudden hardening of his voice. ‘You don’t like surprises?’
‘No,’ he clipped out, and then saw her crestfallen face and relented. It was unpredictability he shied away from. She wasn’t to know that surprises made him feel as though the control which was so fundamental to him could be in danger of slipping away. Loosen up, he told himself—just as he’d told her to. He smiled. ‘It had better be a good one.’
‘Oh, I think it will be.’
‘We’re picking Khalim up from his hotel at eight.’
She nodded, trying to be helpful. ‘So shall I order us a car, too?’
‘Yes,’ he murmured, wondering why he got the distinct impression that the balance of power had somehow shifted in this relationship without him really noticing. He’d wanted her to try and let the past go, but he hadn’t expected such an enchanting switch into sexy and sassy and bossy mode. It was much too irresistible a transformation. ‘Thanks,’ he added heavily.
Sabrina spent hours in the bathroom getting ready, comfortable in the knowledge that she wouldn’t be holding Guy up. Thank heavens there were three, she thought, remembering her initial shock at discovering that one flat had three bathrooms all to itself. Back in Salisbury her mother would have been beating the door down by now.
In the spare room, she pulled out the hanger on which hung the dress she’d bought after work yesterday, and she looked at it with eager eyes. It was a dream—easily the most grown-up and sophisticated thing she had ever owned—but nothing less would do, not for a prince!
It was in deepest violet velvet and it fell to just above the knee, with long, fitted sleeves. In fact, the whole dress accentuated every curve of her body and the rich, vibrant colour contrasted deeply with her red-gold hair. It was a simple dress, possibly a little too simple, which was why she’d bought diamanté earrings and an ornate and glittering necklace to go with it.
She stepped back to look at herself in the mirror and gave a nod of satisfaction. The diamanté necklace and earrings sparkled and spangled in the light. She looked good! Maybe the best she had ever looked—and there was an added sparkle to her eyes and a soft flush to her cheeks.
Guy was standing by the window in the sitting room, doing up his cuff-links, and he looked up as she made her entrance, then froze.
Sabrina, who had been watching him expectantly, saw the sudden stiffening of his body, the swift hard gleam in his eyes, and her heart sank.
‘You don’t think it’s suitable?’
A pulse hammered at his temple. ‘Don’t be so bloody naïve, Sabrina! Of course it’s suitable—’ He’d never seen anything more suitable in his life—and the thing it was most suitable for was being ripped off her body…He groaned and tried to pay a gracious compliment. ‘It’s lovely,’ he finished lamely.
‘Oh. Right.’ She screwed her nose up. ‘You don’t think it’s too over the top?’
‘No, I don’t!’ He drew a deep breath. ‘And I think we’ve just about exhausted the subject of what you’re wearing. Now, where the hell is this bloody car?’
Sabrina hoped that he was going to moderate his language a little, especially in front of Prince Khalim, but now didn’t seem a very good time to say so, especially since at that moment the doorbell rang, and the chauffeur was standing there, telling them that their car was ready. She picked up the same diaphanous silver wrap she’d worn in Venice and turned to Guy.
‘Ready?’ she asked, thinking that she’d never seen him in formal black tie regalia before, and just how darkly imposing and broad-shouldered it made him appear.
‘And waiting,’ he said, in a grim kind of voice.
Outside stood a long, gleaming, black car which made the limousine he’d hired in Salisbury look like an ancient old banger. Sabrina felt like a film star as she climbed inside.
But as they were whisked towards the West End Guy seemed to want to avoid all her attempts at conversation, and Sabrina forced herself to look out of the window, trying to appear interested in the sights as they sped by, wondering why he was sitting in such stony silence.
All he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss her, and it was driving him out of his mind. Since when had kissing been his number-one priority?
The car slid to a halt in front of the Granchester Hotel, which was situated right opposite Hyde Park and where a uniformed doorman immediately sprang to attention.
‘I’d better go inside and tell him we’re here,’ said Guy, still in that same, heavy voice.
But at that moment there was some sort of commotion and several burly men in suits emerged from the hotel entrance and stood, looking this way and that.
‘That’s his security,’ said Guy, seeing her expression of bemusement. ‘They may want to check the restaurant out so your little “surprise” may have to be unmasked, Sabrina, dearest.’
In the dim light of the early evening, Sabrina blanched. Maybe she had misjudged the whole situation completely, but by then it was too late to do anything about it because the men in suits had all stood up straight to attention. And the most striking man she had ever seen in her life came gliding out of the hotel.
It wasn’t just the fact that he was tall—although Guy was actually taller by about a head. Or that he was wearing a long, silky kind of robe which was a cross between white and gold and hinted at a hard body beneath. Or that his hair was darker than the night—much blacker than Guy’s—and his skin the deep golden colour of some ancient and lovingly polished piece of wood.