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       CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘LA,’ Emir scolded, frowning as Nakia spat out the fruit he’d tried to feed her. ‘I mean no!’ He was fast realising that the twins mainly understood English. ‘She copies her sister.’

      Amy couldn’t help but laugh. They were deep in the desert, sitting by the oasis, feeding the children fresh fruit that they had collected from the lush trees—or they were trying to feed the children, because a moment ago Clemira had done the same thing, spitting out the fruit and screwing up her face.

      ‘Clemira is the leader.’ Amy watched his jaw tighten. It would seem she had said yet another thing of which he did not approve.

      Their time at the oasis was not exactly turning out to be a stunning success. As soon as Emir had put her down Clemira had promptly tried to eat the sand, and Nakia had copied and got some in her eyes.

      These were two thoroughly modern princesses, thanks to Amy. They were more used to bopping around to a DVD she’d had sent from home, or swimming in the impressive palace pool, than sitting by an oasis waiting for some elder from the Bedouins to come and offer wisdom for the life journey ahead of them.

      ‘They know nothing of our ways,’ Emir said, and though Amy was tempted to murmur that she wondered why that was, she bit her tongue. ‘Hannah was worried about this. She didn’t like the idea of them fasting.’

      ‘It’s not fasting.’ Amy was practical; she understood now why he had put this off. ‘If they’re hungry, they’ll eat. They have finally started to drink water.’

      ‘They are spoilt,’ Emir said as Clemira again spat out the fruit he offered.

      ‘I know,’ Amy admitted. ‘And it’s completely my fault—I can’t help it.’

      To her utter surprise, he laughed. She hadn’t heard him laugh in a very long while. Even though the twins were being naughty, since they had arrived at the oasis Emir had been different. He seemed more relaxed—like a father to the twins, even—and then she looked up and saw he was watching her. She blushed a little as she looked back, for he was still looking at her.

      She had no idea she was being seduced, no idea that the man lounging beside her, relaxed and calm, nurtured serious intentions.

      ‘I was not criticising you,’ Emir said. ‘I am glad that you spoil them. You are right—I should have given you more notice. Perhaps you could have prepared them.’

      ‘Now I’ve thought about it, I don’t know how I could have,’ Amy admitted. ‘They’re going to be terrified when the Bedouin take them.’

      ‘They are kind people,’ Emir said. ‘They will do them no harm.’

      But his heart wasn’t in it. He tasted again the fear he had felt when he was a child—could remember his screams as the wizened old man took him. He hated the rules that bound him.

      Hated Rakhal.

      It was kinder to his soul to look at Amy, to visit another possible option.

      ‘What happens tomorrow when we get back to the palace?’ Amy asked, unnerved by his scrutiny and desperately trying to think of something to say. ‘Will it be very grand?’

      ‘There will be a party. My brother Hassan, the second in line, should attend.’

      ‘Should?’

      ‘He has a great interest in horses too …’ Emir gave a wry smile. ‘They take up a lot of his time.’

      She had heard about Prince Hassan and his wild ways, though she had never met him, just heard the whispers. Of course some things were never discussed, so she stayed silent.

      She СКАЧАТЬ