to me that there could be an opportunity there for…’ He paused.
Mariella suggested, tongue in cheek, ‘Something innovative?’
‘Indeed,’ he agreed. ‘But this is not a time to discuss business. I have invited you here as my guest, so that you can meet some of your subjects informally, so to speak…’
Fleur, who had been staring around in wide-eyed silence, suddenly turned her head and smiled at him.
‘You have a beautiful child,’ he complimented her.
‘She is my niece,’ Mariella informed him. ‘I am looking after her for my sister. I think my agent did explain.’
‘Yes. I am sure she did! I seem to remember that my personal assistant did mention the little one.’
Some new guests were waiting to be presented to him, and Mariella stepped discreetly to one side. In the distance on the racecourse she could see a string of horses being exercised, whilst here in the yard there were grooms and stable hands all wearing khaki shorts or trousers, and tee shirts in one of the prince’s three racing colours denoting their status within the hierarchy of the stables.
‘If you would care to take the baby to the crèche,’ the prince’s assistant was asking politely.
Firmly Mariella shook her head. Such was her sense of responsibility towards her niece that she preferred to keep her with her for as long as she could, and, besides, the yard was far too busy for her to be able to do even the briefest of preliminary sketches of the animals. The event was providing her with a wonderful opportunity to do some people watching, though.
Surveying the crowd filling the prince’s racing yard, Xavier wondered what on earth he was doing here. This kind of social event was normally something he avoided like the plague! It was much more Khalid’s style than his, and if Khalid had not taken leave of absence without warning he would have been the one to attend the event! However, since Xavier was involved in shared business interests with the prince, he had felt that perhaps he should attend the breakfast—especially as it was in aid of a charity that he fully supported.
Several people had already stopped him to talk with him, including various members of the royal family, but he now felt that he had done his duty and was on the point of leaving when he suddenly frowned as he caught sight of a silky flash of turquoise-blue as the crowd in front of him momentarily parted.
Grimly he started to stride towards it.
People were starting to move towards the pavilioned area where the breakfast was about to be served, but Mariella hesitated a little uncertainly, suspecting that it would be a diplomatic move now to take Fleur over to the crèche area rather than into the pavilions. A little uncertainly she glanced round, unsure as to what to do, and hoping that she might see the prince’s helpful assistant.
Xavier saw Mariella before she saw him, his eyebrows snapping together in seething fury as he realised his suspicions had been confirmed. It was her! And he had no difficulty in guessing just what she was doing here! Some of the richest men in Zuran were here, and very few of them were unlikely to at least be tempted by the sight of her! From the top of the confection of straw and tulle she was wearing on top of her head to the tip of the dainty little pink-painted toenails revealed by shoes so fragile that he was surprised that she dared risk wearing them, especially when carrying her child, she looked a picture of innocent vulnerability. But of course she was no such thing! And dressing the baby in an outfit obviously chosen to match hers seemed to proclaim their mother and baby status to the world.
Unaware of the fact that Nemesis and all the Furies were about to bear down on her with grim zeal in the shape of a very angry and disapproving male, Mariella shifted Fleur’s weight in her arm.
‘Very fetching! Trust you to be here, and with the very latest European accessory—I have to tell you, though, that you’ve misjudged its effect in Zuran!’
‘Xavier!’ Mariella felt her legs wobble treacherously in her high heels as she stared at him in shock.
‘I don’t know how you managed to get past the security staff—although I suspect I can guess how!’ he told her cynically. ‘Kept women and those who sell their favours to the highest bidder are normally kept out of such events.’
Kept women! His condemnation stung not just her pride, but her sense of sisterly protection for Tanya. She knew that if this conversation were to continue, she would have to explain she was not Fleur’s mother, but right now she was due in the pavilion for breakfast. She was here on business and she would not jeopardise the commission by having an argument with Xavier in front of the prince! ‘I refuse to speak with you if you are going to be so rude,’ she said tersely. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go and join the others.’ A flash of light to her left made her gasp as she realised a photographer had just caught the two of them on camera!
‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing here,’ Xavier told her challengingly. ‘You know that Khalid is going to come to his senses and realise just what you are, and you’re looking for someone to take his place, and finance you.’
‘Finance her!’ The feathers nestling in the swathes of chiffon on Mariella’s hat trembled as she shook with outrage.
‘For your information, I do not need anyone to finance me, as you put it. I am completely financially independent.’ As she saw his expression Mariella turned on her heel.
Hurrying away from him, she tensed as she suddenly felt a touch on her arm, but when she looked round it was only the prince’s assistant.
‘The Prince would like you to join his table for breakfast, Miss Sutton.’ he told her. ‘If I may escort you first to the crèche,’ he added tactfully.
Angrily Xavier watched as the crowd swallowed her up. How dared she lie to him and claim to be financially independent, especially when she knew he knew the truth about her?
She was the most scheming and deceitful woman he had ever met, a woman he was a total fool to spare the smallest thought for!
The conversation around the breakfast table was certainly very cosmopolitan, Mariella decided as she listened to two other women discussing the world’s best spa resorts, whilst the men debated the various merits of differing bloodstock.
After the breakfast was over and people were beginning to drift away, the prince came over to Mariella.
‘My assistant will telephone you to make formal arrangements for us to discuss my commission,’ he told her.
‘I was wondering if it would be possible for me to visit your new enclosure?’ Mariella asked him. ‘Or, failing that, perhaps see some plans?’
She had the beginnings of a vague idea which, if the prince approved, would be innovative, but first she needed to see the enclosure to see if it would work.
‘Certainly. I shall see that it is arranged.’
As he escorted her outside Mariella saw Xavier standing several yards away, her face beginning to burn as he looked at the prince and then allowed his glance to drift with slow and deliberate insolence over her, assessing her as though… as though she were a piece of… of flesh he was contemplating buying, Mariella recognised.
‘Highness!’
‘Xavier.’ As the
