only packed an overnight bag.’
‘That won’t be adequate.’ She knew that; why was he even having to say it? ‘You need to pack everything you want to take with you. You’ll not be coming back here again.’
‘Oh, but there you’re wrong.’
Something had set her soft mouth into a surprisingly hard determined line, and the way she shook her head sent the dark hair flying again, tormenting his nostrils with that subtle floral scent.
‘I’m only going away for one night this time—and then I will be back. I’ll do my proper packing then. Look...’ she broke in hastily when he opened his mouth to reject her outrageous statement and tell her just what he thought of such stupidity ‘...I can explain.’
‘You can try,’ Karim growled, fighting the urge to grab her by the arms, bundle her out of the door, into his car and drive away from here just as quickly as he could. That would meet one of the demands of this mission and get her on the road back to Rhastaan as soon as he could.
But it would also defeat the other part of the plan, which was to move her from A to B with as little fuss and publicity as possible. If he virtually kidnapped her—because that would be how she would interpret his actions—then she would react strongly, possibly go into meltdown and panic completely. She would certainly not go quietly—not this woman. If she started screaming for help or calling for the police, even here in this small village, she would soon draw too much unwanted attention to who they were and where they were going.
‘You’re not going anywhere. Not for one night—not for any time at all.’
‘But... Please...’
Hastily, she seemed to adjust her frame of mind, altering her tone to match so that it was suddenly disturbingly soft and cajoling. Obviously, she had decided to try to entice him round to her way of thinking. And the shocking thing was the way that just hearing that low, almost gentle tone changed his mood. He wanted to hear more of that voice, could imagine it murmuring to him in bed, whispering temptation in the heated darkness of his room. And that was not an image he needed in his mind right now.
‘Haven’t you ever wanted—needed—to keep a promise? So much so that you would do anything at all to make sure you did just that?’
‘What?’ His brows drew together in a dark frown. ‘Of course I have.’ It was why he was here now. ‘But...’
‘Then you’ll know exactly how I’m feeling right now. I made a promise...’
‘To whom?’
‘To Har—to someone,’ she corrected hastily, obviously horrified that she had almost blurted out the truth. ‘Someone who really matters to me.’
She had been about to give someone’s name. A man’s? Harry? Someone who really matters to me.
‘Nothing matters—’ Karim’s tone was harsh and unyielding. His face seemed carved from stone, not a muscle moving to reveal any sympathy or understanding. ‘Nothing should matter more than the promises you made—your commitment to Nabil.’
‘I know all about my commitment to Nabil and, believe me, I mean—’ Something caught in her throat, making the words tangle there, tight as a knot, so that she had to struggle to force them out. ‘I mean to honour it.’
She had no choice. None at all. Not unless she wanted to risk the ruin of international relations between two powerful kingdoms. The possible outbreak of hostilities. The destruction of her family’s reputation. Hadn’t her father drummed it into her from the moment he had signed the documents? He had made it sound as if it was her sacred duty. She had been fifteen before she’d realised just how much he was getting out of it himself, that the luxury they lived in had been bought from the sale of his own daughter.
‘But not yet.’
‘You will be twenty-three in nine days’ time.’ Could his voice be any more cold, any more inflexible? ‘You do not have any more time to delay. You’ve had your freedom, been let off the leash for a while; now it is time to consider your duty.’
‘Consider my duty!’
Clemmie threw up her hands in a gesture that was a blend of exasperation and despair.
‘Do you think I’ve ever done anything else? That I’ve ever been able to forget it?’
‘Then you will know why...’ Karim put in, but she ploughed on, unable to hold back any longer.
‘And let off the leash! You make me sound like a naughty puppy dog that has to be brought to heel.’
If the cap fits...his expression said. That was all she was in his eyes. A naughty, disobedient puppy who had been running wild for far too long. She could almost see him snapping his fingers and declaring ‘Heel—now!’
She had not been able to tell anyone why she had wanted to leave Markhazad in the first place. She had had to go, while she still could. Once she was married, once she was queen, her life would be lived within the confines of the palace walls, subject to her husband’s control, his to command. And she would have lost her last chance to spend time with the only other member of her family. The little boy who had now stolen her heart completely.
‘You are to be a queen,’ Karim said now, his tone dark and disapproving. ‘You should learn to behave like one.’
‘Unlike my mother?’ Clemmie challenged.
Everyone who knew of her story must know how her English mother had run away from the court, leaving husband and daughter behind, never to be seen again. Clemmie winced away from the memory of how it had felt to be left alone, abandoned by her one defender from her father’s worst excesses. Those had been the worst years of her life. It was only recently, in the letter from her maternal grandmother that had been delivered to her after the old lady had died, that she had learned why her mother had had to run. The unplanned, late in life baby she had been determined to hide from her husband. He was a secret that Clemmie was now just as determined to keep, whatever it cost her.
She knew how little her father had valued her because she was only a daughter. She had no needs or dreams of her own. Her only value to him had been in the marriage market, sold to the highest bidder. What he might have done if he knew he had the son he had dreamed of made her shudder to think.
‘I’ll behave like one when I am a queen! Until then...’
She watched that frown darken, felt a shiver run over her scalp and slither down her spine. She had a suspicion that she knew what he was thinking but she didn’t dare challenge it in case it meant he subjected her to more questioning that might push her to drop something revealing about Harry and his circumstances.
‘There is no “until then”. From this moment on you are the prospective Queen of Rhastaan, and I have been sent to fetch you home for your wedding and then your coronation.’
‘But I promised! And if he...’
‘He...’ Karim pounced on the word like a cat on a mouse, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of the chase. ‘He. Just who is he?’
Clemmie bit down hard on her lower lip in distress at how close she had come to giving herself away. She should know better. Even after less than
