Romancing The Crown: Leila and Gage. Kathleen Creighton

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СКАЧАТЬ at a table almost directly across the reflecting pool from hers. Tonight the hat was absent, and, like many of the other male guests present, particularly those from Montebello and America, he wore a white dinner jacket. Though in Leila’s opinion, none of the other guests looked so lean and fit and dangerous in theirs, or boasted such broad and powerful shoulders. She could see now that his hair was thick and wavy, a rich dark blond. It gleamed like gold in the flickering light of the torches. She would like to know what color his eyes were, but they were set deep in his rugged face, and masked in shadows.

      If only we could dance like Americans do, she thought wistfully as she watched a line of professional performers of the traditional Tamari dances, faces veiled and torsos cleverly concealed, undulating their way down the length of the courtyard, weaving in and out among the tables to the rhythmic keening of native flutes and sitars. Jewels flashed from their ankles, wrists and hair as they performed the intricate hand movements and kept time to the music with tiny finger cymbals. Like most girls in her country, Leila had learned secretly as a child how to dance the traditional dances, though of course it would not have been proper for a princess to actually perform for anyone—except, perhaps, for her husband, in the privacy of their marriage chambers. If I ever have a husband, she thought moodily, as without her realizing it, her body began to move and sway in time to the music.

      On her right, Samira nudged her and hissed, “Leila—stop that. Someone will see you.”

      Leila rolled her eyes. So what? she wanted to say. It would not be the first time. Many people had seen her dance in Switzerland and England, and the world had not come to an end. When she was in boarding school she had learned to dance the western way, to rock and roll music, and in England she had even—and she was sure her father would have a heart attack if he knew—danced with boys the way westerners did. Touching one another. And nothing terrible had happened then, either. She was still, alas, very much a virgin. And likely to remain one for the foreseeable future.

      “I am bored,” she whispered back. “I have eaten too much and I want to lie down. When is this going to be over?”

      “Hush,” Samira scolded. “This is Hassan and Elena’s night. Remember your manners.”

      “I wish we could at least mingle with the guests—talk to them,” Leila said, wistfully eyeing the golden-haired man across the reflecting pool. But his head was bowed as he listened, apparently with close attention, to the frizzy-haired woman seated next to him. Leila sighed. And before she could stop it, her mouth opened wide in a blatant, jaw-popping yawn.

      “I’m sorry?” Cade politely lowered his head in order to hear what the woman at his side was saying above the discordant wailing these people called music.

      Kitty repeated it in a loud, hoarse whisper. “I said, that girl across the way over there has been tryin’ her darndest all evenin’ long to catch your eye. I believe she’d like to flirt with you.”

      Cade’s glance flicked upward reflexively. “Oh yeah? Which one?” Anything, he thought, to relieve the tedium. He wasn’t accustomed to spending three hours over dinner.

      “That one—the real pretty one in the aqua blue dress…long black hair with gold thingies in it…looks like something out of The Arabian Nights. See her?”

      Cade looked. He’d already noticed the girl, since she was drop-dead gorgeous and he was a man and only human. Now, though, he felt a shiver of silent laughter ripple through him. “You mean, the one who looks like she’s about to swallow herself?”

      His amusement blossomed into an unabashed grin as the girl’s bright and restless glance collided suddenly with his. Her eyes went wide with horror and she slapped a long, graceful hand over her mouth in a belated and futile attempt to cover up the yawn. Next, he watched, fascinated, as a parade of expressions danced across her face like characters in a play: dismay, chagrin, vexation, arrogance, pride, irony…and finally, to his delight, a dimpled and utterly winsome smile.

      Kitty gave a little crow of triumph. “There, you see? I told you she was flirtin’ with you.”

      “Kind of young, don’t you think?” Cade drawled. “Not to mention,” he added, as the significance of that circlet of gold medallions on the girl’s head sank in, “if I’m not mistaken, she’s a princess.”

      “Really?” Kitty gasped before she caught herself, then added with a lofty sniff, “Well, so what if she is? Hassan’s a prince. That didn’t stop Elena.” She gave an excited little squeal. “Oh—I just realized—that would make her Elena’s sister-in-law, wouldn’t it? I’ll bet she could introduce us—uh, you.”

      “I wouldn’t count on it,” Cade said dryly. “Looks to me like they keep those princesses pretty tightly under wraps.”

      Pretending disinterest, he watched out of the corner of his eye as an older woman flanked by a cadre of female servants suddenly appeared beside the princesses’ table across the way. This woman he knew. He’d been presented to Tamir’s first lady—Elena’s new mother-in-law—along with her husband, Sheik Ahmed, following the wedding ceremony last night. Alima Kamal—who, he’d been told, preferred not to use a royal title—was dressed in the same gracefully draped style of gown as were her daughters, this one deep royal blue liberally trimmed with gold. Like her daughters, she wore a circlet of gold medallions in her still-raven black hair. They glinted in the torchlight as she gracefully inclined her head. Without a word, all the occupants of the princesses’ table rose and were swallowed up by the royal entourage, which then moved away in the direction of the palace, veils fluttering, like a dense flock of brightly plumed birds.

      “Wow,” breathed Kitty. “It really is like something out of The Arabian Nights. Do you think they keep them in a harem?”

      Cade gave a snort of laughter. “I’m sure they don’t. For starters, the sheik only has one wife. And, if Hassan is any indication, they’re pretty westernized here. All this native costume stuff tonight—the turbans and veils—I’m sure is just for this occasion. Some kind of wedding tradition, probably.”

      “Umm-hmm…” Kitty was thoughtfully chewing her lip. “Well, I’ll still bet Elena could introduce you to that cute little sister-in-law of hers, if you asked her to.”

      “No, thanks.”

      “Why not? She’s very pretty, and she was definitely interested in you, Cade.”

      “Not on your life.” Cade’s grin tilted with grim irony. A knockout she might be, but not really his type and way too young for him, anyway. Not to mention that the very last thing he needed was to get tangled up with some royal pain-in-the-ass princess, when what he was really hoping for was to close a nice, lucrative business deal with her father, the sheik.

      Chapter 2

      Eight horses thundered in close formation down a grassy plain on what appeared to be a collision course with disaster. Long-handled mallets flashed and winked in the bright morning sunlight to the accompaniment of guttural cries, grunts of effort, and shrill and imperious whistles, while on a sideline shaded by olive trees that looked as though they might easily have dated from biblical times, Cade watched the proceedings with an interest that could best be described as ambiguous.

      He wasn’t a polo fan—in fact, he knew next to nothing about the game. He considered it a rich man’s sport. And while there were some who’d place Cade in that category, he certainly never thought of himself in those terms. As far as he was concerned he was just a hardworking businessman who happened to СКАЧАТЬ