About Kim Lawrence

KIM LAWRENCE lives on a farm in rural Anglesey. She runs two miles daily and finds this an excellent opportunity to unwind and seek inspiration for her writing! It also helps her keep up with her husband, two active sons, and the various stray animals which have adopted them. Always a fanatical consumer of fiction, she is now equally enthusiastic about writing. She loves a happy ending!

Kim Lawrence has a fabulous new novel, Desert Prince, Defiant Virgin, available from Mills & Boon® Modern™ in November 2008.

The Sheikh and
the Virgin
Kim Lawrence

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Dear Reader,

As a writer and reader I’ve always been a big fan of Mills & Boon® anthologies; it fascinates me how, given a common theme, the writers will each produce something different, exciting, individual and above all romantic – I hope you find my contribution to this anthology all of the above!

From someone who has recently celebrated a Big Birthday – I’m not saying which one, a girl is allowed some secrets – I’d like to say Happy 100th Birthday, Mills & Boon; long may you continue to provide a perfect antidote to the cynicism in this world and enable me to do what I love – write.

Best wishes,

Kim Lawrence

CHAPTER ONE

‘SHOW her directly in when she arrives,’ Tariq said, handing the lawyer a photograph. ‘This is her.’

James Sinclair glanced at the badly focused holiday snapshot of three people. At the centre of the laughing group on the beach was a young dark-haired man, who had his arms around two young women, one either side of him.

James tilted his head to look up at the tall dark-haired figure in the impeccably tailored suit before him. His secretary’s words came back to him. She had assured him, in an uncharacteristically giggly moment, that the women in the building weren’t interested in the suit the Prince wore, more in the body it covered.

‘Which woman are you expecting, Prince Tariq?’ The lawyer’s manner was respectful and, though he tried to hide it, nervous, as his glance slid from one pretty bikini-clad figure to the other.

Relax, James, he told himself. He genuinely thought he might feel similarly edgy if someone had left him in a room with an unchained and hungry panther. In fact now that he thought of it there was something about this man that brought that sleek, dangerous and unpredictable animal to mind.

If the business they did on behalf of the Royal family of Zarhat hadn’t been worth several small fortunes to the law firm he worked for, he might have been tempted to delegate this task. The heir apparent to Zarhat’s throne made him feel about as confident as a fresh-faced intern—not a pleasant feeling for a man who was acknowledged as one of the best litigators of his generation.

When he spoke Prince Tariq Al Kamal’s English was impeccable, distinguished only by the slightest of accents. But right now the incredulity in his deep voice was more noticeable than the foreign inflection. ‘Which woman?’

James lifted his eyes, connecting with those of the younger man standing before him, who was a good six inches taller than him. It was a struggle to keep his gaze level.

Continuing to feel uncharacteristically uneasy and unsure, James wondered if it was a power thing. But he suspected that even if he’d had no knowledge of the Al Kamal wealth and influence he would have instinctively known that here was a man he didn’t want to be on the wrong side of …

James considered the other man’s lean dark face and thought … implacable.

This guy, he mused, would not be gentle when it came to removing something or someone who got in his way.

Probably four or five years younger than his own thirty-seven years, James decided, studying his sable-haired client surreptitiously, the guy really looked the part. He was handsome as hell, clearly with an intellect to match his golden-skinned good-looks. James laid a hand to his own slightly generous middle and thought, I really should make some time for squash …

Tariq raised one dark brow as he studied the lawyer. The man’s credentials were impeccable, but after a question like that it was hard not to wonder if he was all he was cracked up to be.

Which woman?

Which woman did he think? He took the photo back and glanced down, his dark, veiled gaze sliding over the blonde and his brother before coming to rest on the redhead. The blonde was pretty, in a cutesy, curvy, giggly sort of way. No. He dismissed her with a mental click of his long brown fingers. She was hardly the type of female who would make a man such as his brother forget the responsibilities that had been drilled into him since his childhood. The responsibilities they had both been taught came hand in hand with privilege.

Now, the second female—with the tousled titian curls, seductive mouth and alabaster skin—she was such a woman.

Yes, she was definitely a woman who could inspire a little madness in a man. As for responsibilities. This woman could probably, without much exertion, make a man forget his name!

As his eyes lingered on the redhead’s vivid laughing face he felt his irritation fade. It really wasn’t hard, he conceded reluctantly, to see why his little brother Khalid had lost his head and his heart to this woman. Even in a blurry snapshot her earthy sex appeal hit you straight between the eyes—not to mention other places further south!

She did not have a conventionally beautiful face. Her rounded chin was too firm, the skin across the bridge of her small, slightly tip-tilted nose was lightly freckled, and her smiling sensuously curved lips were too wide. But the exotic slant of her big long-lashed eyes gave her features an almost feline look and certainly a sensual quality.

His glance dropped to her body. She was tall, square-shouldered and full-bosomed. She had an hourglass figure, and the flare of her full hips was perfectly balanced by her long shapely legs. The skin his brother’s fingers touched in the photograph was milky pale.

Her skin would be warm and smooth under a man’s touch, infinitely delectable … Tariq put aside the distracting image, his expression instantly hardening. That man was not going to be Khalid.

His little brother was clearly not thinking with his brain. If Khalid had gone out looking for the most unsuitable bride alive he could not have found one who fitted the bill better than this redhead.

She had no family; there was not even a father’s name on her birth certificate. And, while he did not hold her background against her, it was to him highly significant that after the death of her mother, she had never settled with any of the numerous foster families she had been placed in. This was a pattern that had continued into adulthood, and she had travelled the world working. Tariq could not fault her work ethic, but she had never accumulated any money or possessions, and she had never stayed in one place long enough to put down roots.

It was totally inconceivable that such a woman could fill the role of Royal Princess.

Tariq returned his attention back to the lawyer. ‘The redhead,’ he said, dispensing the blatantly unnecessary information with impatience as he slid the photo back into his breast pocket.

Dragging his long brown fingers over his bare dark head, he slid his dark pewter-flecked gaze to the window. It was closed and he was conscious of the feeling of claustrophobia he often felt when in London, or in any other major city for that matter.

At home his office windows would be flung wide open, allowing the warm desert breeze to circulate. Set in the oldest part of the palace complex, his office was located in the highest tower, and it offered panoramic views out over the old town, stretching as far as the new town, with its shiny glass-fronted buildings, then out further to the desert and mountains beyond.

Almost imperceptibly he felt some of the tension in his shoulders lessen. Tension that had been gradually building since he had providentially discovered his brother was about to make a disastrous marriage.

Tonight he would return home and be standing in that room, watching the sunset.

He had been looking at spectacular sunsets over the desert all his life, but familiarity had not bred contempt. The flame sky never failed to move something deep inside him, reminding him of the connection he felt to the land and its people, both of which his family had held in trust for many generations.

Some men might have termed the connection spiritual, but Tariq felt no need to put a name to it. It was just an integral part of him.

‘Just show her through when she arrives,’ Tariq informed the departing lawyer. Time was of the essence, and the sooner he nipped this sentimental and unsuitable romance in the bud the better.

Pressing a long finger to the indentation above his aquiline nose, Tariq felt that tension between his shoulderblades creep back. Damn Khalid! The planes of his strongly sculpted face tautened as he dwelt on the secret plans of his normally cautious and cooperative brother.

When their own English mother had chosen her freedom over her children, Khalid, who had been three at the time, had crept into his big brother’s bed each night for months after to cry himself to sleep. How, Tariq wondered, could a child of such a disastrous union, who had suffered so much as a child, not now realise that it was impossible to combine two cultures?

Maybe, Tariq brooded, it was some genetic defect? Their father was a man whose actions had always been characterised by strength and rational thought; he had shown inexplicable weakness and lack of judgement in only one thing—love.

Well, if this was a genetic flaw, and the weakness surfaced in him, Tariq, he had no doubt that he would be able to subdue it. Tariq was a man who prided himself on his iron control. It would not even occur to him to follow such selfish impulses. He had no immediate marriage plans, but when he did eventually commit himself Tariq knew his choice of consort would not be a woman who had split loyalties. Not for him a woman who could not or would not adapt to her new life in a foreign land.

No, he would marry a woman—when the time came—who would stand beside him as he continued the onerous task of bringing modern reforms to their ancient kingdom and its rich diverse cultural heritage. Love, too often in his opinion, was used as an excuse for inappropriate behaviour, and would be very low down the list when he came to look for a suitable bride for himself.

The lawyer guided her through a series of interconnected rooms, and when they reached the last he stood back and indicated to Beatrice that she should go inside.

In the doorway she turned to call out to the retreating figure. ‘Look, what is this all about …?’

A stranger’s rough velvet voice from inside the room cut across her bemused protest.

‘Just come in, Miss Devlin.’

Cautiously Beatrice responded to the terse instruction and stepped into the room. Her inspection of her surroundings only got as far as the figure seated behind the desk. He rose as she stepped forward: a seriously tall man, lean, long of leg and broad of shoulder.

He was also young and sinfully good-looking, if you liked the dark fallen angel look, and frankly, Beatrice thought staring, who wouldn’t?

‘Take a seat.’ He commanded, in that velvet voice again.

‘I’m sorry—I don’t know who you are, or—’

‘I doubt that …’ His long lashes brushed against the sharp angles of his chiselled cheekbones as his midnight glance dipped, skimming the lush contours of her body.

By the time his attention returned to her face Beatrice knew her cheeks were burning in reaction. There was something of a calculated insult in his insolent scrutiny.

Later she might be bewildered by his attitude, but right now Beatrice was too furious for analysis. Was he trying to make her lose her temper? Or was he always this obnoxiously rude? Well, either way she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of responding.

Beatrice lifted her chin, raised her brows in a quizzical fashion and gave him a calm smile. ‘Manners really aren’t your strong point, are they …?’ She murmured amusedly before pulling out a chair. ‘I’m assuming I wasn’t summoned here just so that you could insult me …?’

She was rewarded by a perplexed frown that twitched his strongly defined sable brows into a straight line above his hawkish nose. The frown stayed in place as he watched her settle herself in the chair and casually cross one slender ankle over the other. It was a scrutiny that Beatrice was painfully conscious of. She was equally determined not to betray the fact.

This was not a person to show weakness to. The man was clearly a barbarian, she decided, and no amount of tailoring could disguise the fact. As mad as she was with him, for looking at her as though she were a piece of meat, she was madder with herself for responding on some primal level to the raw sexual challenge in his stance.

Cut yourself some slack, she counselled herself, as she slowed her breathing to a less agitated level. The man does have more undiluted blatant sexuality in his little finger than the average male has in his entire body. Her eyes skimmed the long lean length of him again, and she stifled an internal sigh. Whatever else the man was, there was nothing about him physically that she could find fault with.

Finally he stopped his appraisal of her and spoke. ‘You look like a smart girl.’ You only had to look into those green eyes to see this woman was no fool. Though admittedly intelligence was not the first thing that hit a man when this woman walked into a room.

Since the moment she had strolled in, with a sway of those feminine hips, filling the small room with the scent of roses and rain, he had been more than conscious of the sexual allure she radiated.

Beatrice flashed her white teeth in an insincere smile. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured, but she was not making the mistake of assuming this was a compliment.

It was pretty hard to think that when he was looking at her as though she was something unpleasant he’d discovered on his shoe! She wondered idly what he’d look like when he wasn’t sneering.

It seemed doubtful, given the inexplicable antagonism vibrating in the air between them, that she was ever going to find out. But, despite this, her wilful imagination toyed with a mental image of those arrogant patrician features relaxed in a genuine smile. The corners of his wide sensual lips pulled upwards, maybe a few sexy crinkles at the corners of those sensational eyes, and the temperature on those silver-flecked depths a few degrees above zero …

‘And as a smart girl I’m sure you already know why I arranged this meeting.’ He slowly folded his long lean length gracefully into the chair behind the desk. ‘Let’s lay our cards on the table.’

No cards, but his hands lay on the mahogany surface of the desk that stood between them. His tapering fingers were long and brown, and exerted a fascination for Beatrice that she was beginning to think bordered on the unhealthy.

‘My brother plans to marry you.’

Beatrice’s head came up with a jerk that jarred her spine. Eyes as hard as obsidian that were lightened only by those strange silvery flecks bored into her.

If she had any remaining doubts that this was a case of mistaken identity, this bizarre statement washed them away.

‘I’m not marrying anyone’s brother,’ she promised him.

Irritation chased across his lean features. ‘Then this is not you?’ he drawled.

Beatrice looked suspiciously for a moment at the item he extracted from a file and placed on her side of the desk before she picked it up.

Her eyebrows almost hit her hairline when she recognised the holiday snap. It had been taken two summers earlier, when she had been working as an au pair in the South of France.

The two people with her on the beach were friends she had met that summer. Emma, whose father had owned the villa next to hers, and Khalid, the charming young man Emma had introduced her to.

Both had remained her friends—in fact her sleeping bag was at present on the sofa in Emma’s London flat.

Her narrowed eyes left the photo and flew to the man’s face. ‘How did you get this?’

He dismissed the question with a shrug of his powerful shoulders. ‘That is not relevant.’

Strange men with photos of her in a bikini were extremely relevant to Beatrice!

‘I do not normally concern myself with my brother’s holiday romances.’

‘Your brother … Khalid is your brother? Then that makes you …’ She swallowed, her voice trailing off. That made him Tariq Al Kamal, heir to the throne of one of the richest countries in the world.

This incredible information certainly explained the autocratic air and the imperious arrogance she had been witness to since she had arrived.

Not that Beatrice was impressed. Why be impressed by an accident of birth? This man had been handed everything on a plate. Beatrice, on the other hand, had worked for everything she had. The way she saw it, the people who had been born to wealth and privilege should be required to prove themselves, not the other way around.

Khalid was the most self-deprecating un-royal person you could ever imagine meeting. The summer she had spent with Emma and him had been half over before Emma had discovered by accident his royal connection. A connection that he had typically played down.

‘Sorry, if I’d known who you were I’d have curtsied.’ Which no doubt he’d take as his due. God, the man was everything she detested most wrapped up in one package!

A gorgeous package, admittedly. Her glance drifted as he shrugged off his jacket. The suggestive dark shadowy triangle on his chest, visible beneath the fine white fabric of his shirt, sent an embarrassing rush of heat through her.

‘Forget the pretence, Miss Devlin.’

Forget the body, Beatrice.

‘I am aware of your relationship with my brother.’

She didn’t have the faintest idea how the man had got the idea she and Khalid were an item—Emma would laugh when she shared the joke—but it was definitely time she put an end to this farce and got out of here.

‘Look, I know Khalid—sure.’ She spread her hands in a pacifying gesture and raised her eyes to his. ‘He’s a friend, but—’

‘Men and women are not friends.’

Beatrice couldn’t restrain herself. He clearly thought his opinion on any given subject was definitive. ‘And you’d know all about friendship …?’

His sensuous mouth curled. ‘I know all about women,’ he corrected.

Now, that, she admitted, was easy to believe. Combating a fresh rush of cheek-burning colour, she tore her gaze from the sensual outline of his lips and pleaded sarcastically, ‘Spare me the tales of your conquests.’ The last thing she needed was any more fuel for the images already playing in her head!

His lips thinned in distaste and he qualified, ‘I know all about women like you. I know of your ambitions.’

His voice dropped to a menacing purr that did painful things to her sensitive nerve-endings as he leaned forward and added softly, ‘Let me tell you it is not going to happen, Miss Devlin. You will not trap my brother into marriage.’

‘Is that a threat?’ Daft question. Of course it was a threat. And Beatrice responded the same way she always did when she came across someone who thought they could intimidate her. She saw red and came out fighting.

‘Trap, you said …?’ She pressed a finger to the suggestion of a cleft in her softly rounded chin and pretended to consider the comment. ‘Get pregnant, you mean …? I actually hadn’t thought of that,’ she admitted, before throwing back her head and loosing a husky laugh of amusement.

His dark face tautened with anger, the golden skin pulling tight across his prominent cheekbones as his contemptuous eyes locked onto her face. ‘You would be wise not to consider such a thing.’

‘And you would be wise to keep your opinions and your orders and your damned condescending attitude to yourself!’ she retorted, rising to her feet and fixing him with a wrathful glare.

‘How dare you speak to me in that way?’

An overload of adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, and his astonished demand made no impact on her.

‘Don’t you think your brother is old enough to decide who he marries?’ She for one pitied the woman—who would presumably need to gain this man’s approval. ‘I don’t see there’s much you can do about it.’ Except strangle me. And he looked quite capable of doing that!

‘I am not an unreasonable man.’

But he was definitely a very angry one, she thought, her eyes glued to the erratic pulse that clenched and unclenched in his lean cheek.

‘I can see that you should be compensated for the time and energy you have put into this … project.’

‘Project?’

‘I think you’ll find I am quite generous,’ he replied smoothly as he pushed a piece of paper across the table towards her. ‘Feel free to consult a lawyer, but it is quite straightforward. Once you sign this agreement, stating you will not marry my brother and you will not make any further attempt to contact him, you will receive half that stated amount. Six months later you will receive the balance.’

‘You’re bribing me?’ And just when she’d thought this situation couldn’t get any more surreal!

‘I am offering you financial compensation.’

‘You want to pay me off?’

‘I am willing to pay to remove you from my brother’s life,’ he admitted, clearly irritated by her insistence on calling a spade a spade.

‘I’d starve before I’d take a penny off you!’ she flared, fixing him with a furious smoky glare.

He looked taken aback by her anger. ‘There is, I think you will find, rather more than a penny on the table.’

Her lips curled contemptuously as she glanced down. ‘This isn’t about the amount.’ He clearly didn’t have the faintest idea he had just offered her an insult. ‘I don’t care how—Good God!’ she gasped, catching sight of the figure.

Her round eyes moved from the paper to the man behind the desk, who was watching her with an air of smug complacence. It had obviously never even crossed his mind that she would say no.

‘That’s a lot of money,’ she admitted, with massive understatement. ‘But actually I’ve not a lot of use for it. However, being a princess … well, that’s something that money can’t buy, isn’t it …?’

His eyes narrowed to icy slits as he rose majestically to his feet.

She had to tilt her head back to look at him, and her taunting smile dimmed.

‘That, Miss Devlin, will not happen,’ he told her positively.

‘We’ll see …’

‘If you are trying to extract more money …?’ he began grimly.

‘I’m not. The fact is,’ she said stabbing her finger in the direction of his chest, ‘you don’t have enough money to buy me. I’m sure you’ve spent your life throwing money at problems to make them go away, but me—I’m not for sale. At any price.’

Her regal exit was slightly marred by the fact that her hands were shaking so much it took her three attempts to open the door.

The irony was, of course, that his insults and his bribe were not really intended for her. He had made a huge mistake. She just hoped that when he discovered Khalid’s real girlfriend the other girl would have the guts to tell him to go to hell too.

CHAPTER TWO

‘ARE you all right, miss?’

It required a supreme effort, but Bea forced a smile as she turned to the concerned-looking silver-haired man who had stopped to make the anxious enquiry. Concerned people who gave a damn were rare commodities nowadays, and in her opinion deserved at least a smile.

‘I’m fine, thank you,’ she promised.

He didn’t look entirely convinced, and if she looked anything like she felt, Beatrice wasn’t surprised.

‘Perhaps you should sit down …? A glass of water.?’ He glanced towards the large impressive-looking building Beatrice had just emerged from.

‘Really, I’m fine,’ she insisted, able to hide her shaking hands in the pockets of her jacket, but unable to control the emotional quiver in her voice.

In truth, she had never felt less fine. She was, in fact, furious. A laid-back, easygoing person, Beatrice rarely lost her temper—but when she did she lost it big time!

She remained so angry that her furious long-legged stride got her back to Emma’s flat in record time. Turning the key in the lock, she pushed open the door and stepped into the sitting room.

‘You’ll never guess what—’ She stopped abruptly. The room was empty, but a muffled sound from the bedroom indicated her friend was home.

‘That didn’t take long,’ Emma said, belting a robe around her waist as she emerged from the bedroom, her blonde curls tousled and her cheeks flushed. ‘Well, what was your meeting all about? Has a rich relative left you a fortune?’

Bea, struggling to control her anger, barely registered her friend’s breathless voice as she gritted her teeth. ‘A fortune was involved,’ she admitted, kicking off her shoes and flopping down onto the sofa. ‘But, like I told you, I don’t have any relatives—rich or otherwise.’

Neither, after living in foster care after her mother’s death, did she have Emma’s romantic imagination.

Bea had responded to the mysterious invitation that had arrived in the post with curiosity and an open mind, but no great expectations. Definitely not the expectation of being insulted so comprehensively!

‘Neither did I bump into a white knight at the corner shop.’

‘Don’t be like that, Bea. There’s someone out there for you … a soul mate.’

Sometimes Emma’s incurable romanticism could be irritating. ‘I won’t hold my breath—’ She stopped, tilting her head in a listening attitude. ‘Did you hear that? It sounded as if it came—’

Emma threw a nervous look at the closed bedroom door, before perching on the arm of a chair and asking quickly, ‘What on earth did the lawyer say to put you in this mood?’

‘It wasn’t the lawyer I spoke to. The man I did speak to offered me a small fortune.’

Actually, Beatrice thought, not so small! The number of noughts on the paper he had handed her had looked like a misprint, but apparently it wasn’t.

Emma looked bemused. ‘And that made you angry?’

‘The money was conditional on me … I warn you, Emma, you’re not going to believe this.’ She unclenched her fists, sucked in a deep breath and tried to smile—it really was absurd. ‘It was conditional on me not marrying Khalid!’

She paused, fully expecting Emma’s incredulous laughter, but not expecting to see the colour seep from her friend’s face.

‘What did he say when you told him you weren’t engaged to Khalid?’

‘He didn’t give me the chance. And then I got so mad, because he was so utterly detestable and smug, and … Well,’ she admitted ruefully, ‘I lost my temper and told him I fancied the idea of being a princess. Princess Bea …’ She struck a pose and chuckled. ‘What do you think? Shall I suggest it to Khalid? Incidentally, I must give him a ring and warn him what his brother is up to.’

‘Oh, God, Bea!’ Emma moaned, looking if it was at all possible, even paler. ‘Why did you say that to him …?’

Beatrice was perplexed by her friend’s attitude. ‘Could it have had something to do with the fact the man treated me like some cheap little tart? I don’t think you understand, Emma.’ Beatrice spelt it out. ‘Poor Khalid must have fallen in love with some girl. His brother is trying to buy this girl off, and for some weird reason he thinks it’s me.’ She laughed, lifting her hair from the back of her neck and stretching with feline grace. ‘Weird doesn’t really cover it.’

‘Oh, Emma understands, Bea.’

At the sound of the rueful voice Beatrice jumped up—in time to see Khalid emerge from the bedroom, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal his bronzed torso.

‘Khalid …?’ She looked blankly from the man in the doorway to her friend and back again. ‘But you’re …’ Colour flooded her face as comprehension dawned. ‘How long?’ She stopped and shook her head. ‘Never mind. It’s none of my business.’

Emma looked stricken. ‘We wanted to tell you, Bea, but …’

Khalid put a protective hand on Emma’s shoulder. ‘Tariq and my family have very traditional views on this matter.’

Things were slowly beginning to sink in for Beatrice. ‘I knew something was going on, but I never—’ She stopped, her eyes widening. ‘SO you and Emma—you’re getting married?’

Beatrice watched her friend struggle with tears as she glanced at her lover. ‘It’s difficult,’ she said unhappily.

‘Yes, we are getting married,’ Khalid contradicted her, sounding firm. He sounded less firm as he added bleakly, ‘Somehow.’

How difficult could it be?

Beatrice bit her tongue and forced a smile. ‘That’s …’ She was still finding it hard to get her head around the situation, but now she thought about it, it made perfect sense. Khalid and Emma made a perfect couple. ‘It really is fantastic news.’

Well, it would be if you took one apparently oppressive and old-fashioned sibling out of the picture.

Frowning, she expressed her bewilderment and indignation out loud. ‘What is your brother’s problem anyway? He’s the one who’s going to be King, isn’t he? Why does it matter who you marry?’

‘Tariq is King in all but name. Since our father had his stroke he isn’t seen in public.’

‘If it was me you were going to marry I could understand.’ Beatrice could see realistically that she wasn’t anyone’s idea of a royal bride. ‘But Emma. Well … if I said you could do better, Khalid, I’d be lying. Emma is perfect.’

‘I think so,’ Khalid agreed.

The glow in his eyes as he looked at his prospective bride brought a lump to Beatrice’s throat. She had to do something for them. They were meant to be together.

‘Tariq has strong views about marriage. He thinks we shouldn’t marry—’

‘Beneath you?’ Beatrice cut in, unable to repress the bitter retort. ‘Yes, I sort of got that.’

‘It’s not that … Our mother was English, and when our parents’ marriage broke up it was pretty rough. I was small, so I don’t really remember, but I think that it made a big impact on Tariq. When they finally split up she came back to England. She wasn’t allowed to take us with her.’

‘That must have been terrible for her.’ And pretty tough on the boys, deprived of their mother, she privately conceded.

‘We saw her in the holidays or I did. Tariq always refused to see her and our half sister—then there was the accident.’

‘He blamed her,’ Emma, who clearly knew the story, explained.

‘You said the accident …?’

‘A car smash on the motorway. She was killed instantly.’

‘I’m sorry, Khalid,’ Beatrice said, her tender heart touched by the story.

Not that it offered any excuses for the dreadful brother’s behaviour. She too had lost her own mother, at a similar age, but it didn’t make her feel she could go around sitting in judgement on total strangers!

Khalid took Emma’s hand. ‘And I’m sorry, Bea—that you had to go through that with Tariq.’

‘Better me than Em,’ Beatrice retorted, adding with a shrug, ‘I was mad, not hurt.’

‘Tariq will love Emma once he meets her. It just has to be the right time.’

Beatrice’s heart went out to the unhappy lovers. From her experience that morning, she was pretty certain that the right time would be of the ‘when hell freezes over’ variety, and from Khalid’s expression she was sure that he knew it too.

She felt a surge of frustration. She’d been hoping that she could laugh off this morning, but that was before she knew what was at stake.

‘There must be something I can do or say to this brother of yours.’ A brother who seemed to live in another century and who thought everyone had a price. Then it hit her. The solution was right under their noses and so blindingly simple that they couldn’t see it!

‘He’ll never accept me,’ Emma retorted bleakly. ‘Khalid would have to choose between me and his family, and I couldn’t let him do that.’

‘What if there was another way?’

The lovers looked at her with a mixture of doubt and hope.

‘He might see you, Em, in a entirely new light if he’s just endured a visit from the bride from hell.’ Bea’s green eyes, dancing with devilish excitement, were at stark variance with her butter-wouldn’t-melt expression. She smiled at the bemused-looking couple. ‘It’s perfect,’ she enthused as she warmed to the idea forming in her head.

‘What are you talking about, Bea?’ Khalid asked impatiently.

‘Don’t ask,’ Emma advised. ‘Look at her face—she’s got one of her crazy plans.’

‘Not crazy—perfect!’ Beatrice insisted, punching the air in a triumphant gesture. ‘It can’t fail. And the beauty is that it was his idea, so we’re just going along with it. Take me home with you, Khalid.’

‘What?’

‘I’ll be the fiancée your brother thinks I am, and when you dump me they’ll be so relieved that anyone else you bring home will seem perfect,’ she promised grimly.

And the other beauty of her plan was that she would be able to exact revenge first-hand on the wretched man.

‘She’s serious?’ Khalid said, looking to Emma for confirmation.

‘Totally,’ Beatrice promised them both. She arched a feathery brow and looked at Khalid. ‘Unless you have a better idea?’

‘It’s hard. Family is …’

Hearing the defensive note in her young friend’s voice, Beatrice smiled and admitted readily, ‘Something I know zilch about.’ At times like this that didn’t seem such a bad thing, even though when she was growing up a family and roots had been the only things she’d dreamt of.

‘If we do this crazy thing and it backfires … Tariq realises what we’re up to … it will only make things worse,’ Khalid said, shaking his head.

‘How?’ Emma said in a small voice.

Khalid looked at her.

‘How can it be worse than this?’ she asked in a stricken whisper. ‘Tell me, Khalid, what is worse than sneaking around as though we’re doing something wrong? Not even able to tell my best friend or my family?’

Khalid stood there for a moment and watched the tears sliding down Emma’s pale cheeks. Then he heaved a sigh and turned to Beatrice.

‘You would really do this?’

Beatrice smiled, anticipating her revenge. ‘Absolutely.’

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