giggles from the two maids who had helped her into her wedding dress, Lexie said with a grin, ‘He’s not into fainting. I’ll settle for him being gobsmacked.’
The maids giggled again, and Jacoba glanced at the clock. ‘OK, time to get this show on the road,’ she said cheerfully. ‘We have exactly three hours before my son announces his desire for his next sustenance.’ She examined the Considine tiara. ‘I believe that thing weighs half a tonne, but it’s worth it.’
‘Anything is worth it for Rafiq,’ Lexie said quietly, and went out of the room to where Prince Marco, her brother-in-law and distant cousin, waited to escort her to her marriage ceremony.
Much later, in a pavilion overlooking a lagoon scattered with stars, she looked at her husband.
‘Come here,’ he commanded, holding out his hand as his eyes narrowed in the intent, penetrating gaze that always set her pulse drumming. ‘Have I told you how wonderful you looked today as you walked up towards me in the cathedral?’
She smiled shakily, heated anticipation building inside her. Since her arrival in Moraze they hadn’t made love, and the time spent away from each other had sharpened her hunger into something close to desperation.
‘Not until now,’ she said, walking to him over a floor strewn with the petals of tropical flowers. Their scent hung like a blessing in the warm, smooth air.
She cupped his face in her hands, saw the answering glint of passion in his eyes, and knew with rock-solid certainty that this was the start of a long and happy life together.
‘I love you,’ she said, resting her forehead on his chest, inhaling his beloved scent, taking simple comfort from his formidable strength and presence.
‘As I do you. With everything I am, everything I have, for eternity.’
He spoke the words like a vow; to her they were more precious than the magnificent fire-diamond jewellery he’d given her, more precious than anything else in her life.
Then Rafiq kissed her, and all thought of jewels vanished in the magical potency of that kiss, and the glorious promise of their future together in Moraze.
‘East of Zanzibar,’ she murmured when she could talk again. ‘When you told me Moraze got its name because it means east, I thought anything could happen east of Zanzibar—even something so wildly romantic as finding a soul mate. I didn’t really expect it to happen, though.’
He leant his cheek on the top of her head. ‘But it did. To both of us,’ he said in a voice dark with satisfaction, and together they walked hand in hand towards a future as bright and glittering as the fabled fire-diamonds of Lexie’s new country, the country that held her heart.
Annie West
ANNIE WEST spent her childhood with her nose between the covers of a book—a habit she retains. After years preparing government reports and official correspondence she decided to write something she really enjoys. And there’s nothing she loves more than a great romance. Despite her office-bound past she has managed a few interesting moments—including a marriage offer with the promise of a herd of camels to sweeten the contract. She is happily married to her ever-patient husband (who has never owned a dromedary). They live with their two children amongst the tall eucalypts at beautiful Lake Macquarie, on Australia’s east coast. You can e-mail Annie at www.annie-west.com, or write to her at PO Box 1041, Warners Bay, NSW 2282, Australia.
For Karen, Reeze and Daisy, who celebrate with me and who understand all the rest.
Thank you!
RAUL stared unseeingly out of the chopper as it followed the coast south from Sydney. He shouldn’t be here when the situation at home was so delicately poised. But he had no choice.
What an unholy mess!
His hands bunched into fists and he shifted his long legs restlessly.
The fate of his nation and the well-being of his subjects were at risk. His coronation, his right to inherit the kingdom he’d been born to and devoted his life to, hung in the balance. Even now he could scarcely believe it.
Desperately the lawyers had sought one legal avenue after another but the laws of inheritance couldn’t be overturned, not till he became king. And to become king …
The alternative was to walk away and leave his country prey to the rivalries that had grown dangerous under the last king, Raul’s father. Civil war had almost ripped the country apart two generations ago. Raul had to keep his people safe from that, no matter what the personal cost.
His people, his need to work for them, had been what kept him going through the bleak wasteland of disillusionment when his world had turned sour years before. When paparazzi had muckraked and insinuated and his dreams had shattered around him, the people of Maritz had stood by him.
He would stand by them now when they most needed him.
Besides, the crown was his. Not only by birthright. By dint of every long day, every hour he’d devoted to mastering the myriad royal responsibilities.
He would not renounce his heritage. His destiny.
Tension stiffened every sinew and anger simmered in his blood. Despite a lifetime’s dedication to the nation, despite his experience, training and formidable capacity, it had all come down to the decision of a stranger.
It scored his pride that his future, his country’s future, depended on this visit.
Raul opened the investigator’s report, skimming familiar details.
Luisa Katarin Alexandra Hardwicke. Twenty-four. Single. Self-employed.
He assured himself this would be straightforward. She’d be thrilled and eager. Yet he wished the file contained a photo of this woman who would play such a pivotal role in his life.
He closed the report with a snap.
It didn’t matter what she looked like. He wasn’t weak like his father. Raul had learned the hard way that beauty could lie. Emotions played a man for a fool. Raul ruled his life, like his kingdom, with his head.
Luisa Hardwicke was the key to safeguarding his kingdom. She could be ugly as sin and it would make no difference.
Damn! The cow shifted, almost knocking Luisa over. Wearily she struggled to regain her footing in the bog at the edge of the creek.
It had been a long, troubling morning with early milking, generator problems and an unexpected call from the bank manager. He’d mentioned a property inspection that sounded ominously like a first step to foreclosure.
She
