The Sheik & the Virgin Princess. Susan Mallery

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СКАЧАТЬ the subject to something more relevant—you need to persuade the king to agree to a blood test. We have to be sure that I’m his daughter.”

      “I think it’s a little late for you to back out now,” he said.

      Cleo gave a long-suffering sigh. “You’ve wanted this all your life. I can’t believe you’re questioning your good fortune.”

      “Thinking about finding my father and actually finding him are two different things.”

      The limo turned onto a private drive and passed between two large gates. Up ahead through the trees she could catch glimpses of the famed pink palace—home of the Bahanian royal family.

      “Really different,” she breathed as the panic seeped in.

      

      There were servants in the palace. Servants and guards and priceless treasures. All of this had probably been discussed on the tour, but Zara had been too nervous to pay attention. Of course anyone thinking about a palace would assume such things existed, but she hadn’t been thinking, either. At least not sensibly. So here she was, being led down a long corridor, led by servants and passing guards. It was enough to give a healthy person a heart attack.

      Even the normally bubbly Cleo was subdued as they walked and walked, passing huge rooms filled with Western-style furniture and open areas with pillows and cushions instead of chairs and sofas. There were statues and fountains and tapestries and cats. Many, many cats.

      Zara had heard about Hassan’s love of felines, but she hadn’t realized they had their run of the palace.At least the cats were clean and well behaved, she thought as one approached and sniffed the luggage.

      Finally their party stopped in front of a large door in a corridor of many doors. The head servant of their group—an attractive woman in her late forties—opened the door and motioned for them to step inside. Zara turned to Rafe and impulsively gripped his arm.

      “Are you going to be close by?”

      She managed to get out the sentence before her body registered the heat of him radiating through his suit jacket sleeve. Her bones started to feel that melting sensation again, which was almost more than she could stand. It wasn’t enough that she was entering a world as unfamiliar to her as another planet. No, she also had to be incredibly sexually attracted to a man for the first time in her life.

      Rafe’s blue eyes stared into hers. She prayed that he couldn’t know how she was reacting to him. His pity, not to mention the rejection, would be more than she could handle today.

      “You’re my responsibility,” he told her. “I’ll be around and you’ll be fine.”

      “What if I’m not?”

      He smiled. A warm, friendly sort of smile that made her muscles quiver—because the bone melting wasn’t bad enough. Then he gently pushed her toward the door.

      “Go on,” he said. “You might like it.”

      “Liar.”

      But there was no turning back. She drew in a deep breath and prepared to enter a new world.

      They had not been assigned a room—instead there was a suite at their disposal. Zara’s first impression was of space and beauty. Cream-colored walls soared up at least fifteen feet. Opposite the door, floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors allowed a view of the deep blue Arabian Sea beyond the large balcony. She had the brief thought that the water was the same color as Rafe’s eyes, then she told herself not to go there—it would only be dangerous and potentially humiliating.

      Two sofas and several chairs formed a conversation group around a large square table made of inlaid wood. Large pillows were piled up in the corners of the room. Tapestries in deep blues and rose covered the pale walls, and underfoot an intricate tile pattern formed a maze.

      “You each have a bedroom,” the woman said, motioning to identical doors on either side of the vast living room. “His Highness thought you would prefer to be together, but if you would rather have separate quarters, that can be arranged.”

      She looked at Zara as she spoke. Zara glanced at Cleo, who shrugged.

      “This is fine,” Zara told the woman. “The room is lovely.”

      “If you will tell me which luggage goes in which room?”

      Zara pointed to her two suitcases. A different servant took them to the left. Cleo’s were taken to the right. Zara trailed after her bags and found herself in a massive bedroom.

      A four-poster bed stood in the center of the room. Two steps led up to the high mattress. Double doors led to the same balcony she’d seen from the main room. An oversize armoire held a television and DVD unit. Drawers below offered a selection of American and foreign movies.

      Dazed and with her senses on overload, Zara moved into the bathroom where she nearly fainted with delight. A private walled garden grew at the edge of the tub. Sunlight dappled the tile floor, illuminating a long vanity and double sinks. The shower could easily hold five or six people, and there were baskets of shampoo, lotion and soaps, all from expensive boutiques. It was girl heaven.

      Zara turned and saw the head servant waiting expectantly. “It’s beautiful,” she told her. “Everything is lovely.”

      The woman smiled. “I will tell the king you are pleased. Would you like us to unpack for you?”

      Zara thought about her discount clothes and the ratty state of some of her underwear. “Um, no. Thanks. We can manage.”

      The woman bowed and left, taking the other servants with her. It was only then that she realized Rafe hadn’t followed her into her room. Where was he staying? Not that she needed to concern herself with the arrangements. No doubt the palace had plenty of room for her temporary bodyguard.

      “Can you believe it?” Cleo asked.

      Zara stepped into the living room. “What’s your room like?”

      “Come see. It’s amazing. It’s something out of a movie or a dream.”

      Cleo’s room was identical to Zara’s, right down to the baskets of soaps and lotions. Cleo climbed the two steps and threw herself on her bed.

      “I’m never going home. This is fabulous. When I grow up, I want to be the daughter of a king, too.”

      Zara laughed at her sister’s pleasure. “Wait until you see the harem.”

      Cleo sat up, her eyes wide. “There’s a harem?”

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