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‘One kiss …’ Layla smiled.
‘Your brother asked me to—’
‘You don’t have to keep my promises for me,’ Layla interrupted. ‘I shall be returning to Ishla a virgin.’
‘We were talking about a kiss!’
‘So what’s the problem, then?’ Layla said.
She soon found out.
Mikael turned her around to face him and she stood shivering in anticipation. She felt his hand on her shoulder and his face move to hers … And then she was lost, because nothing in her imaginings could have prepared her for arrogant lips turned tender.
His kiss was soft at first, as one hand rested on her waist, the other at her shoulder. Then she felt the slip of his tongue and the slide of his hand to the back of her head. It was shocking, it was sensual, it was the gateway to paradise.
One kiss and her lips were swollen.
‘We agreed one kiss.’ Layla smiled again. ‘But now I know why it is trouble …’
CAROL MARINELLI recently filled in a form where she was asked for her job title and was thrilled, after all these years, to be able to put down her answer as ‘writer’. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation and, after chewing her pen for a moment, Carol put down the truth: ‘writing’. The third question asked, ‘What are your hobbies?’ Well, not wanting to look obsessed or, worse still, boring, she crossed the fingers on her free hand and answered ‘swimming and tennis’. But, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, and the closest she’s got to a tennis racket in the last couple of years is watching the Australian Open, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!
Protecting the Desert Princess
Carol Marinelli
Contents
‘PRINCESS LAYLA, are you excited to be…?’
Layla patiently waited as the little girl on her computer screen faltered while choosing her words. By video link Layla was being beamed into the classrooms of the girls and young women of Ishla. Each class took an hour and, by working hard, Layla managed to get to each classroom once a month. Here she encouraged the children to converse in English and to work harder on their schoolwork, and it was proving a huge success.
‘Princess Layla.’ The little girl tried again. ‘Are you excited that you will travel to Australia with Prince Zahid and Princess Trinity on their honeymoon?’
At the word ‘honeymoon’ the class exploded into a fit of giggles and Layla did her best not to join in with them. This class consisted of ten-year-old girls and they were all terribly excited that the handsome Prince Zahid had married the English lady Trinity, and they were all only too happy to talk about weddings.
And honeymoons!
‘Well done,’ Layla said to the little girl when the laughter had died down. ‘You asked your question beautifully. Yes, I am very excited that I shall be joining my brother and his bride in Sydney, Australia. Did you know that you are my final class before we leave on the royal plane tonight?’
Zahid and Trinity’s
