She met his scrutiny with a bashful shrug. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘An event like this pays very well and they wanted to have some British serving staff among the Zahirstanians. You know, to make sure the English-speaking guests felt at home.’
He nodded. ‘Good of them to fly you out in style.’
Tamsyn bit back an indignant laugh. Any minute now and he would start asking her if she’d ever been on an airplane before! She reached out and gave the plush leather of the armrest a quick squeeze, as if it was the chubby cheek of a particularly attractive little baby. ‘I know,’ she sighed. ‘Let’s hope I don’t get too used to all this luxury before I go back to my poverty-stricken existence.’
‘Let’s hope not.’ His smile was brief and dismissive—the smiling equivalent of a yawn—as if he had already grown bored with her. His gaze drifted towards the curvy bottom of one of the stewardesses, as if already he was miles away. ‘And now, if you don’t mind—I have work to do.’
Tamsyn opened her mouth to say that he was the one who had started the conversation, but something made her shut it again, as he continued his journey up the aisle of the plane. And she wasn’t the only person looking at him—every female on the plane seemed to be following his sexy progress towards the front of the aircraft. Resentfully, Tamsyn found herself noting the powerful set of his shoulders and the way thick, dark tendrils of hair curled around the back of his neck. She thought she’d never seen a man who was quite so sure of himself. He seemed to inject the air around him with a strange and potent energy and she resented the effect he seemed to have on her without even trying.
An unfamiliar shiver whispered its way down her spine and she clenched her hands into tense little fists as the plane soared through the sky on its way to the desert kingdom.
TAMSYN STOOD IN the centre of the huge room, her head spinning as she gazed around her in amazement. She’d known that her sister’s fiancé owned an actual palace which she was going to be staying for the forthcoming wedding celebrations, but the reality of being here was so far outside her experience that for a moment she felt as if she were dreaming.
Drinking in her surroundings, she craned her neck to look up at the high ceiling which was vaulted and gilded with gold. She didn’t think she’d ever seen so much gold! Soft drapes fell from the floor-to-ceiling windows which overlooked surprisingly green and lush gardens—surprising, because this was, after all, a desert country. Her bed was huge and closer to the ground than she was used to and it was covered with rich brocade and velvet cushions. And everywhere she looked she could see flowers. Big, claret-coloured and sunset-hued roses crammed into what looked like solid gold vases. Their heavy scent vied with the incense which was burning softly in one corner, in a container which seemed to be studded with genuine rubies and emeralds. As for the bathroom, Tamsyn swallowed. The bathroom was something else—exceeding the standards of every upmarket hotel she’d ever worked in—and she’d worked in quite a few. She spent several minutes running her fingertips over the fluffy bathrobe and eying up the gleaming glass bottles of bath oil and perfume, wondering if she’d be able to take some of them home with her.
She had sent away the servant who had hovered around after her arrival, because just the thought of having a servant had made her feel uncomfortable, since that felt like her natural role. She’d thought she would be alone until she was summoned to the pre-wedding dinner, but a knock at the door interrupted her reverie and Tamsyn went to answer it, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the woman who was standing there. She was wearing beautiful silk robes of sapphire blue, which flowed to the ground like a waterfall. Her shiny hair was covered in some gauzy veil of silver and the sparkling earrings which dangled from her earlobes echoed the aquamarine brilliance of her eyes. Tamsyn stood in shocked silence, realising that for a few seconds she hadn’t recognised her own sister!
‘Hannah,’ she breathed. ‘Is that really you?’
Hannah came in and closed the door behind her, before enveloping Tamsyn in a crushing bear hug. ‘Of course it’s me—who did you think it was?’
Tamsyn gave a mystified shake of her head. ‘I can’t believe it. You look so different. Like...like a real-life queen.’
A wry smile touched her sister’s lips. ‘Well, that’s kind of appropriate, seeing as of Saturday that’s exactly what I’m going to be.’
Tamsyn stilled. Was she imagining the strained quality in Hannah’s voice or the faint shadows around her eyes? ‘You don’t have to go through with it, you know,’ she said instantly, but her sister shook her head.
‘I’m afraid I do. I can’t back out of it now and I don’t want to. I have to do this—for the sake of the baby.’
At the mention of the baby, Tamsyn’s gaze swivelled to her sister’s belly. She supposed that most people might not even have guessed Hannah was pregnant—she looked more like someone who’d just come back from holiday having been a bit too liberal with the hotel buffet. But she knew Hannah better than anyone. Hannah who had acted more like a mother than a big sister when they were growing up. They had shared a mother who had given them up when they’d been very young—but they each had different fathers.
Just the thought of fathers made an acrid taste rise up in Tamsyn’s throat because her own had been a waster in every which way. She tried her best not to judge all men by his miserable standards, but sometimes it was difficult. But then, life was difficult, wasn’t it? Everyone knew that. These days she understood why Hannah had kept her in the dark about her parentage for so long, though she had been bitter and angry about it for a long time. But now was not the time to rake up the perceived sins of the past. She was here, not because she wanted to be—but because she was determined to support her beloved sister—the only family she had left in the world.
‘So what’s it like living with a sheikh? Is Kulal treating you properly?’ she demanded.
Hannah shot a nervous glance in the direction of the door as if she was afraid someone might be standing outside, listening.
‘He is.’ The Princess-in-waiting forced a smile. ‘How was your flight?’
Tamsyn hesitated, thinking it would probably be unwise to offload onto her pregnant sister on the eve of her wedding. No need to mention that she’d met Xan Constantinides once before and certainly no need to mention that she’d tipped a drink over him. ‘Very comfortable,’ she said. She saw Hannah frown—as if she hadn’t been expecting such polite diplomacy so she injected her next remark with just the right amount of carelessness. ‘I bumped into some Greek tycoon in the queue.’
‘Xan Constantinides?’
‘That’s him.’ Tamsyn paused and then, despite her best intentions, she couldn’t resist her next comment. ‘He’s pretty full of himself, isn’t he?’
Hannah shrugged. ‘Why wouldn’t he be? He made billions at an early age and is built like a Greek god. Apparently women fall at his feet like ninepins and I guess those kind of things can go to a man’s head. And of course, he’s never been married—which makes him a bit of a target for predatory women. Never even got close, so Kulal tells me.’ She frowned. ‘You didn’t...you didn’t fall for him did you, Tamsyn?’
‘Oh, please!’ Tamsyn manufactured a disbelieving snort. ‘I don’t go for men with egos the size of Mars.’
‘And you didn’t fall out with him, I hope?’ continued Hannah nervously.