felt as though it were plastered to her damp, perspiring skin. ‘It looks like a fascinating building.’
‘Hamid will show you round.’ Zarif referred to his chief aide. ‘His father used to be in charge of running the old palace and he, too, grew up here. He knows everything about the palace’s history.’
Ella would have been more impressed had Zarif offered to conduct such a tour personally and kept her expressive eyes veiled as she reasoned that she had been shown her true importance in the grand scheme of things again. Not that she wasn’t already well aware of her lowly status. Regardless of the fleeting intimacy they had shared, Zarif remained ultra-cool and detached. Her body might still hum at the very thought of his fingers trailing across her sensitive skin but he was still as remote as the Andes.
A small crowd of women in distinctly elaborate clothing waited two steps inside the giant front doors of an echoing stone hall ornamented by a long parade of pillars.
‘I am Hanya,’ a very pretty dark-eyed brunette informed Ella in perfect English. ‘I will look after you until tomorrow.’
Zarif froze on the threshold, ebony brows pleating and rising in a frown. ‘Where are you taking my wife, Hanya?’ he demanded abruptly.
‘According to the imam Miss Ella Gilchrist will not be your legal wife or our queen until tomorrow, cousin,’ Hanya announced in a soft, deeply apologetic tone, her head bowing low as if she hated to break such news. ‘Our uncle discussed his regard for the old ways with me and I’m afraid this is what he expects.’
Zarif almost looked heavenward to pray for patience but restrained the urge. Hanya had been cousin to Azel and insisted on maintaining the bond between them created by marriage. But Hanya was right. Halim was an old-fashioned man, always eager to venerate the proprieties. Clearly, Zarif had another day to wait before he was able to claim his bride. He threw back his shoulders, ready to lay down the law and refuse to part with her to a separate bed. After all, Ella was still his wife even if she hadn’t yet married him according to Vashiri law and the concept of restraining his already very unruly libido for still longer had no appeal whatsoever.
A year, his more honourable and tolerant self reminded him staunchly, to take the edge off his temper. Ella would be his for an entire year...surely he could wait another day? He did not want to disappoint or alarm his uncle and with a brief jerk of his arrogant dark head he strode past, pausing only to say to Ella, ‘I will see you tomorrow, then.’
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’ Hanya, who had an extremely irritating laugh, giggled like a little girl and clutched Ella’s sleeve with a dainty, perfectly manicured hand. ‘I will show you to your suite...come this way.’
* * *
The following morning Ella winced and cringed through what had amounted to a public bathing experience in which she was surrounded by a flock of strange women wanting to bath her, wax her and anoint her body and her hair with exotic scented oils. After that ordeal, being wrapped in a modern towelling robe felt refreshingly normal, and it was almost relaxing to have to sit down and patiently wait while a pair of henna artists knelt on the floor beside her to draw intricate swirling patterns onto her hands and her feet.
Indeed Ella was feeling remarkably tolerant and relieved that she was getting through the trial of the wedding preparations without losing her temper or showing irritation because she did not want to spoil the day by insulting Vashiri bridal traditions or rejecting them. After all, there was no doubt whatsoever that her female companions, virtually none of whom spoke English, were overjoyed that their king was getting married again. That she was a foreigner did not appear to be a stumbling block in any way.
‘Ella!’ A female voice carolled from the doorway and Ella glanced up to see Cristo Ravelli’s vibrant wife, Belle, with her mane of wild Titian hair, surging towards her and she grinned because it was quite impossible to do anything else. Although she had met Zarif’s brothers and their wives on only one previous occasion she had not forgotten Belle with her warm Irish friendliness, or the quieter but no less sociable Betsy, because at the time she had met them—before Zarif’s proposal—she had been fantasising that some day she would become a part of their close-knit family circle as well.
‘I thought we were never going to get through all the obstacles being put up to us joining you up here!’ Belle exclaimed, settling a heap of gift-wrapped packages and an enormous tote bag down carelessly on the floor. ‘This is my first visit to this palace. I had no idea it was still running at about five hundred years behind the times.’
‘Belle...’ Tiny blonde Betsy emerged from behind Belle and bent down to kiss Ella’s cheek in greeting. ‘How are you bearing up?’
‘Oh, don’t waste time asking her that!’ Belle exclaimed. ‘No, we’re more interested in hearing why you said no three years ago and are now suddenly saying yes to our Desert King.’
Ella froze at that blunt question, which was, nonetheless, perfectly understandable in the circumstances. ‘That would be a...er...challenging story to tell. Hanya,’ she murmured, seeing the pretty brunette hovering with a suspiciously stiff look on her face as if she resented the intrusion of the two Western women. ‘Could we have some drinks and snacks for Zarif’s family, please?’
‘I thought the whole palace was dry,’ Belle commented out of the corner of her mouth. ‘Not that Zarif doesn’t take the occasional alcoholic drink, but the old boy who’s ill never touches a drop of the evil stuff.’
‘If you put your foot in your mouth one more time I’m not going to fish you out of it!’ Betsy warned her companion on the back of a groan. ‘Ella, we’re here to provide support.’
‘We’re here to celebrate!’ Belle contradicted. ‘Why would Ella need support? She’s marrying a gorgeous billionaire who’s also a reigning king and obviously he’s madly in love with her because I’m shocked he’s forgiven her for rejecting him the first time around!’
‘No, he’s not madly in love with me and I’m not sure he’s forgiven me either,’ Ella heard herself admit flatly as glasses of pomegranate juice and a tray of little appetisers were handed round. Belle wrinkled her nose at the lack of stronger spirit in her beverage.
‘Cheers,’ Belle pronounced nonetheless, knocking her glass noisily against Ella’s. ‘Cristo wasn’t in love with me when we got married either, so don’t worry about it. That came afterwards and surprised us both. I married him to get a name and security for our half-siblings and he married me to stop me going to court to fight for their rights. But I know Zarif...he has to be in love.’
‘Why?’ Ella asked baldly before tucking into a tiny delicious appetiser consisting of a mini pastry case and a mousse filling.
‘Because all this is happening so fast. It’s just not Zarif. He’s usually so cool and right now he’s acting all hot-headed and spontaneous.’
‘That is true.’ Betsy too was looking thoughtful.
Hanya intervened to tell Ella that it was time for her to get dressed. An elaborate kaftan was displayed to her along with a silk chemise composed of several voluminous layers while Hanya added that underwear was not traditionally worn.
Belle frowned when she saw Ella’s expression of dismay and stooped down to her collection of parcels to retrieve one and present it to Ella with a flourish. ‘One of my gifts is some pretty lingerie. The bride has to wear something new, Hanya. It’s one of our traditions and going naked beneath a petticoat isn’t.’
Ella
