The Return of the Sheikh

Eight

He wanted nothing more than to touch her. Only a slight touch. Or perhaps not so slight at that.

Since Madison’s arrival in the study, Zain had engaged in several fantasies that involved taking her down on the sofa where she sat reciting names that mattered not to him.

“Who is Layali Querishi?” she asked. “That sounds familiar.”

He fixated on Madison’s blue blouse, which could easily be unbuttoned, allowing access to her breasts. “She is a sultan’s daughter and a popular singer.”

“And gorgeous.” She crossed her legs, causing the skirt’s hem to ride higher on her thighs. “I remember seeing an article about her Australian tour.”

“I do not recall her looks.” Nor did he care about them. He only cared about running his hands up Madison’s skirt as a reminder of what they had given up for the sake of professionalism.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

Madison’s question startled Zain into believing he might have voiced his thoughts. “What are you referring to?”

“Pay attention, Your Highness.”

He had been paying attention—to her. “My apologies. I have a lot weighing on my mind.” And a heavy weight behind his fly.

“I said do you think it’s a good idea to seat all these women together at the same table? That’s grounds for a queen candidate catfight.”

He could not hold back his smile. “Some might find that thoroughly entertaining.”

“Or thoroughly in bad taste. I suggest we separate them to avoid bloodshed.”

He started to suggest they discard the list and move on to something much more pleasurable, when a series of raps sounded at the door. Familiar raps that readily identified the offending party.

Madison consulted her watch. “It’s late. I can’t imagine who would be stopping in this time of night, unless it’s Mr. Deeb.”

“It’s not Deeb.”

“Then who is it?”

“My brother.”

Thankful his coat sufficiently hid his current state, Zain rounded the desk and opened the door to Adan wearing his standard military-issue flight suit and a cynical smile. He made a circular sweeping gesture with his arm and bowed dramatically. “Greetings, His Majesty, king of the surfing sheikhs.”

He had not mentioned that pastime to Madison, but she definitely knew now. He wanted to send Adan on his way but instead gave him the required manly embrace. “When did you arrive?”

“I flew in a while ago.” Adan leaned around him. “And who is this lovely lady?”

“I’m Madison Foster.” Zain turned to see her standing in front of the sofa. “And you must be Prince Adan.”

“The one and the only.” Adan crossed the room, took Madison’s hand and kissed it. “Are you one of my brother’s California conquests?”

“She is a political consultant,” Zain added in an irritable tone. “Which means she is off-limits to you.”

Adan released her hand but offered up a devil-may-care grin. “I have only honorable intentions.”

She returned his smile as she reclaimed her seat. “You also have a very British accent.”

“He has an aversion to authority,” Zain said. “He spent most of his formative years in a military boarding school in the U.K.”

Adan attempted to look contrite. “I have since learned to respect authority and take orders, as long as they are not delivered by my brothers.”

Zain wanted to order him out of the room. “Considering the lateness of the hour, I am certain you are ready to retire.”

“Actually, I am wide-awake.” He had the audacity to drop down beside Madison and drape his arm over the back of the sofa. “How long will you be here?”

“Ms. Foster will be with me until after the coronation,” Zain answered before she could respond. “And we still have much to accomplish tonight.”

“We can take up where we left off tomorrow,” Madison said as she came to her feet. “I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do after all these years.”

Adan clasped her wrist and pulled her back down beside him, sparking Zain’s barely contained fury. “I visited Zain in Los Angeles less than six months ago. In fact, I was his guest at least once a year during his time there.”

Many times an unwelcome guest, as he was now. “For that reason, he should return to his quarters so that we might resume our tasks.”

Adan ignored him and took the pages from Madison. “What is this?”

“We’re going over the guest list for the upcoming wedding reception,” she said.

He leaned closer to her. “Am I on it?”

She seemed unaffected by his nearness, and that only served to anger Zain more. “Since you’re in the wedding party, there’s no need to add your name.”

Adan perused the pages for a few moments. “Ah, I see we have a bevy of prospective brides in attendance. Najya Toma’s much too young. Taalah Wasem is too stuffy. And I had hoped to claim the third one as my own. No one would turn down a chance to bed Layali Querishi.” He winked. “Of course, she is not quite as beautiful as you.”

Zain had had quite enough. “If you are finished with your attempts to seduce my employee, I suggest you retire to your quarters now so that we may resume our duties.”

Adan reluctantly came to his feet. “You are beginning to sound like Rafiq. Did you leave your sense of humor in the States?”

“Did you leave your sense of decorum in your jet?”

“Women are quite taken with my jet.”

Zain pointed at the door. “Out. Now.”

Adan had the audacity to laugh. “I can take a hint, brother. And I certainly understand why you would want Ms. Foster all to yourself.” He regarded Madison again. “It has been a pleasure, madam. Should you need protection from this rogue, feel free to notify me immediately.”

She needed protection from his rogue brother. “I assure you, Adan, Ms. Foster is in good hands and does not require your assistance.”

Adan sent Madison another smile. “Then I will bid you both good-night.”

After Adan thankfully left, Zain closed the door and tripped the lock. He turned back to Madison and launched into a tirade on the heels of his anger. “Although you obviously enjoyed my brother’s attention, you should know that he is a master of seduction. Stay clear of him.”

“That’s rich, coming from you.” She tossed the papers aside and sighed. “Not to mention he’s practically a baby, and he seems perfectly harmless.”

He took a few steps toward her. “He is five years my junior. That makes him twenty-eight, and a man.”

“And he’s three years younger than me, so in my eyes, that makes him cougar bait.”

He had not realized she was over thirty, but then he had never asked her age. “Adan would not care if you were twice his age. He recognizes a beautiful woman, he is anything but harmless and he has designs on you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Stop playing the jealous monarch, Zain.”

He was not playing. “I am only concerned about your well-being.”

She tossed the pages aside. “Really? For the past few days, you haven’t seemed at all concerned about my well-being, or anything else, for that matter. You’ve barely given me the time of day.”

And it had nearly destroyed him. “I am giving you space as you’ve requested.”

“You’re giving me the cold shoulder, and I don’t deserve that.”

“And you believe I deserve this torture?”

“What torture?”

He slid his hands in his pockets and took two more slow steps. “Each time you are near me, I can only think about touching you. Ignoring you is my only means of self-defense.”

“You could at least be civil.”

When he reached her, he took off his jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa. “Civility is the last thing on my mind when you’re dressed as you are now.”

She looked down before returning her gaze to his. “It’s a plain blouse and knee-length skirt, Zain, and I’ve been dressing this way since we met. It’s more than decent.”

Decent yes, but his thoughts were not. “And I have suffered because of your choices.”

She rested her elbow on the back of the sofa and rubbed her forehead. “Fine. I’ll wear a full-body burlap sack from now on.”

“It would not matter what you are wearing. I would still imagine you naked.”

“And that makes you just like every other man who comes in contact with a female.”

He leaned forward and braced his palms on the cushions on either side of her hips. “Is that what I am to you, Madison? Only one more man who wants you? Was our lovemaking nothing more than a diversion?”

Unmistakable desire flashed in her eyes. “It was… It was…”

“Remarkable?”

“Unwise.”

He brushed a kiss across her cheek before nuzzling her neck. “Tell me you do not want to experience it again, and I will leave you alone.”

“You’re asking me to lie.”

He touched his lips to hers. “I am asking you to admit that you still want me. I want to hear you say that you are as consumed by thoughts of us as I am.”

“Stop making it so hard to resist you, Zain.”

Using the sofa’s back for support, he lifted her hand and pressed it against his fly. “You are making it hard on me, Madison.”

She rubbed her thumb along the ridge. “That sounds like a very personal problem to me.”

He kissed her then, a kiss hot enough to ignite the room. But when she tried to pull him down beside her, he resisted and straightened.

She glared up at him. “I get it now. You’re teasing me and then you’re going to walk out of here just to punish me.”

“I promise I have no intention of punishing you.” He lowered to the floor on his knees to fulfill his greatest fantasy. “Unless you consider absolute pleasure a form of punishment.”

When he reached beneath her skirt and slid her panties down, she released a slight gasp. And when he parted her legs, she trembled. He kept his gaze leveled on hers as he kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other, and prepared for a protest. Instead, she remained silent as her chest rapidly rose and fell in anticipation.

“Unbutton your blouse and lower your bra,” he said, though he realized she might not answer his demand if she believed he had gone too far.

Yet she surprised him by releasing the buttons with shaking fingers before reaching beneath the back of the blouse to unclasp the bra.

Seeing her eyes alight with excitement and her breasts exposed was almost his undoing. As badly as he wanted to dispense with formality and seat himself deep inside her, he had something else in mind. Yet before he sought his ultimate destination, he had one final question. “Tell me you want me to keep going.”

She exhaled slowly. “You know I do, dammit.”

The first curse she’d ever uttered in his presence served to excite him even more. “Then say it.”

“I want you to do it.”

That was all he needed to hear. He pushed her skirt up to her waist for better access, slipped his hands beneath her hips and lowered his mouth between her trembling legs. He watched her face to gauge her reaction as he teased her with the tip of his tongue, varying the pressure to prolong the pleasure.

When her eyes momentarily drifted shut, he stopped and lifted his head. “Look at me, Madison. I want you to see what I am doing to you.”

She blinked twice as if in a trance. “I don’t think I can.”

“Yes, you can, and you will.”

When their gazes locked, he went back to his exploration, more thoroughly this time. She gripped the cushions and lifted her hips to meet his mouth, indicating she was close to reaching a climax. And as she tipped her head back and released a low moan, Zain refused to let up until her frame and expression went slack.

After her breathing slowed and her eyes closed again, he rose to his feet. Leaving her now would be difficult, but he felt he had no choice. He turned and started toward the door, only to halt midstride when she asked, “Where are you going?”

He faced her to find she was clutching her blouse closed, a mixture of ire and confusion in her expression. “I am going to bed, and you should, as well. You should be relaxed enough to enjoy a restful sleep.” He regrettably would not. He would lie awake for hours, aching for her and wondering when he would have her again. If he would ever have her again.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “You’re not going to just leave me here alone after you’ve somehow managed to turn me into some sort of wild animal in heat.”

“I know you, Madison, and this wildness is the part of you that you’ve kept concealed from the world, and from yourself. You have simply never met a man who encourages that side of you before now. I am that man.”

She released the blouse, allowing it to gape open. “A real man would come over and finish what he started.”

It took all his resolve not to answer her challenge. “From this point forward, you will have to come to me. But mark my words, we will finish this.”

*

Mark my words, we will finish this…

To this point, Madison hadn’t given Zain that satisfaction, although he’d given her plenty during their little office interlude. She’d managed to afford the same courtesy he had shown her by turning the tables on him. She’d made a point to avoid him the past three days, but unfortunately, she couldn’t avoid him tonight.

While she claimed a corner of the banquet hall, nursing a mineral water and a solid case of jealousy, the imminent king stood at the front of the room, basking in female attention. Who could blame them? He was a tall, dark presence dressed in a black silk suit, light gray shirt and a perfect-match tie. Both his looks and his status had earned him more than his share of attention. She’d basically been relegated to wallflower status, after she’d made the required rounds among the dignitaries and diplomats she’d personally invited. Normally she didn’t like being invisible, yet tonight she didn’t care if she blended into the background. It didn’t matter one whit if no one noticed her.

“You are looking exceedingly lovely tonight, Ms. Foster.”

Madison glanced to her left and met the dimpled baby Mehdi’s charming smile. She still couldn’t get over his lack of resemblance to his older brothers, who could almost pass as twins. Where their eyes were almost black, Adan’s were golden and his hair was much lighter. That didn’t make him any less gorgeous in a boyish sort of way. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

“Tonight you should refer to me as Adan.” He took a step back and studied the crimson cocktail dress she’d chosen instead of the black one Zain had requested she wear all those weeks ago. “Red certainly becomes you.”

She smoothed a hand over the skirt. “I worried it might be overkill.”

“Your beauty has almost killed some of our elder statesmen. You’ll know who they are as they are holding their ribs where their wives have landed elbows throughout the evening.”

She couldn’t hold back a laugh over that image. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I am only being observant.” He nodded toward Zain. “My brother the king has certainly noticed. He has watched your every move all night, and he’s presently staring at us, the fires of hell in his eyes.”

Madison turned her attention to Zain and confirmed he had one heck of a glare leveled on them. “He’s too involved with his admirers to care about me.”

“He cannot give them his proper attention when you are all that he sees.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“That is the truth.” He leaned close to her ear. “Right now he believes I am propositioning you, and if he knew that for certain, he would come over here and wrap his hands around my throat.”

She couldn’t believe he would even think that about Zain, let alone voice it. “He wouldn’t do that. He’s your brother.”

Adan straightened and smiled. “He is a man obsessed with a woman. I have no idea what you have done to bewitch him, but your spell has effectively created a monster. I have never known Zain to be so possessive. Perhaps he is caught in a web of love and he has no idea how to free himself.”

A web of lust, maybe, but Madison didn’t buy the love theory. Anxious to end the troubling conversation, she opted for a topic change. “The wedding was nice, although I didn’t understand one word of the vows.” She also didn’t understand how a bride could have looked so sad on her wedding day.

“You did not miss much,” Adan said. “It was a merger. The culmination of a business arrangement born out of obligation. An obligation I will eventually face. But since I have no direct claim to the throne, I intend to enjoy my freedom until I am at least forty. Regrettably, Zain is not as fortunate. He will be expected to marry a suitable bride as soon as possible.”

Madison didn’t need to be reminded of that, nor did she need to encourage more discussion about Zain by commenting on the antiquated tradition. “Speaking of the bride and groom, I haven’t seen them in a while.”

“They have retired to the marriage bed,” Adan said as he snatched a glass of fruity punch from the roving waiter’s tray. “And by now Rafiq has confirmed that his bride is not a virgin. Of course, he will not care as long as she spreads her legs in an effort to produce the mandatory heir.”

She frowned. “That’s rather crass, and how do you know for sure she isn’t a virgin?”

“Because another Mehdi brother had her first.”

Surely not… “Zain?”

Adan downed the rest of his drink and set the glass on the nearby side table. “Yours truly.”

Madison did well to hide her shock. “You slept with your brother’s wife?”

“Future wife,” he said. “And I did not instigate it. I had recently arrived home from the academy to celebrate my seventeenth birthday at a friend’s house. Rima came by after having argued with her true love. She was looking for consolation wherever she could find it. I happened to be searching for a willing woman to give me my first experience. I tried to refuse but, alas, I succumbed to her charms. It was, as they say, the perfect storm.”

A perfect mess, in Madison’s opinion. “And Rafiq never wondered where she’d gone after they argued?”

He sent her a practiced smirk. “I said she argued with her true love. I did not say she argued with Rafiq.”

She had somehow become embroiled in a reallive Arabian soap opera. “Then who is it?” Reconsidering the question, she raised her hands, palms forward. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

When Madison noticed one young woman standing on tiptoe and whispering in Zain’s ear, she’d seen enough. Her feet hurt and her heart ached. She only wanted to crawl into bed and throw the covers over her head. That probably wouldn’t stop the images of the king taking another willing woman into his bed.

She set her glass next to Adan’s and smiled. “Since the crowd seems to be dwindling, I’m going to head to my quarters now. It’s been nice talking to you.” And very, very interesting.

He lifted her hand for a kiss. “Should you require a man’s undivided attention, I am on the second floor in the room at the end of the hall.”

She tugged her hand away and patted his cheek. “You, Adan, are too charming for your own good, and I’m really much too old for you.”

“As was Rima.”

She wasn’t going to jump into that sorry situation again. “Good night.”

Without waiting for Adan’s reply, she hurried through the expansive ballroom and bore down on the double doors that led into one of the many courtyards. Since the building was separate from the palace proper, she found the surroundings seriously confusing, particularly when only dimly lit by random lights alongside the various pathways. Deeb had accompanied her to the reception, but he had long since left, and now she was on her own. That shouldn’t present a major problem. She had a master’s in political science, a good sense of direction and she’d always excelled at geography. Give her a map and she could find her way anywhere. Too bad she didn’t have a map of the jumbled of walkways.

Madison chose the most direct path and immediately arrived at an intersection. She couldn’t remember whether to go right or left and wished she’d paid more attention on her way there. She could see the looming palace, but had no clue how to get there. Maybe she should flip a coin—heads, right; tails, left. Maybe she would end up in Yemen if she took a wrong turn.

Luckily she heard approaching footsteps behind her and pivoted around, expecting to see a security guard who could show her the way. She wasn’t prepared to see Zain walking toward her instead.

She refused to do this, her prime motivation for taking off down the hedge-lined brick path to her immediate right. At the moment, she didn’t care if she wound up seeking shelter in a caretaker’s cottage, as long as she could escape before she did something totally foolish, like taking the pretty prince down into the hedges and having her wicked way with him.

“Madison, wait.”

She didn’t dare look back. “No.”

“You cannot continue.”

“Yes, I can. Watch me.”

“You are about to hit a dead end.”

No sooner than he’d said it, Madison did it—almost ran smack dab into a brick tower with a nice little water feature set off to the side of a small bench.

She had no choice but to face the music, or in this case, the monarch. “Go back to your guests, Zain,” she said when she turned around.

He loosened his tie and collar. “The guests have all departed.”

She folded her arms beneath her breasts. “You couldn’t entice even one of those nubile young creatures into your bedroom?”

He slipped the single button on his coat. “They did not hold my interest.”

If he made one more move to undress, she would have to resort to hedge-diving. “I’m sorry to hear that. Now if you would kindly point me in the right direction, I’ll be on my way.”

When he stalked forward, she retreated, once again finding herself backed against a wall. “I am not letting you leave until you understand that being without you is killing me,” he said.

“You seemed quite alive to me tonight.”

“Those women meant nothing to me.” He braced one hand above her head and used the other to slip the wide strap down her shoulder. “Seeing you in this dress made matters worse, as did watching you with Adan. Had he touched you again, I would have crossed the room and wrapped my hands around his neck.”

She almost laughed when she recalled Adan had said those exact words. “You can’t go around beating up any boy who pays attention to me while I’m here. And I won’t be here much longer.”

“Precisely,” he said before he leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder. “Our time together is limited and I do not wish to waste more than we already have.”

“What happened to me coming to you?” Better still, what was happening to her determination to resist him?

“My patience is in tatters. We have been playing the avoidance game long enough. It’s time to release our pride and admit that we need to be together. I need to be with you.”

And heaven help her, she needed to be with him as much as she needed air, which seemed to leave her when he streamed his hand over the curve of her hip.

If he wanted to finish this once and for all, then they would finish it, even if it meant going out in a blaze of glory. “If you need me that much, stop talking and kiss me.”

He did, with enough power to light up the country. Before Madison knew it, Zain had her bodice pulled down, his mouth on her breast and his hand between her legs. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized she should tell him to stop and take it to the bedroom before they went any further. But she was too weak with wanting and too far gone to halt the madness.

And madness it was when he pushed her panties down and did the same with his slacks before he wrapped her legs around his hips and drove into her. His intense thrusts blew her mind and propelled her to the edge of orgasmic bliss. That one-time foreign sound began to form in her throat, only to be halted when Zain planted his palm over her mouth.

At that point, she heard the nearby voices, saw movement between the break of the trees. Knowing that could get caught only heightened the dangerous pleasure, and brought about a climax that shook her to the core. She could tell Zain had been affected, too, by the way he tensed and released a guttural groan in her ear, followed by that same single harsh Arabic word.

The sound of their ragged breathing seemed to echo throughout the area, and Madison hoped the passing party had moved out of earshot. Zain loosened his hold, allowing her legs to slide down where she fortunately found her footing. She still felt as if she were on shaky emotional ground.

For that reason, she had to get away from him. “We need to return to our respective rooms before Deeb sends out a posse and they catch you with your pants down.”

He planted both palms on the wall and rested his forehead against hers, his eyes tightly closed. “When I think about you leaving me, even only for a moment, it sickens me.”

She could relate to that. “We knew my leaving was inevitable, Zain. The more time we spend together, the harder it will be to say goodbye.” At least for her.

He raised his head, some unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. “Stay with me tonight, Madison. All night. I want to wake in the morning to find you beside me.”

And that seemed like a recipe for disaster when it came to her heart. “But—”

His soft kiss quelled her protest. “I am begging you to stay.”

*

Madison had stayed with Zain that night, and every night for the past week. They had grown so close, and she had become so lost in him, she’d begun to believe she didn’t know where he ended and she began. And that frightened her, but not enough to stop sleeping in his bed, and waking up every morning to his wonderful face. This morning was no exception.

When a ribbon of light streamed through a break in the heavy curtains covering the window, Madison rolled to her side, bent her elbow and supported her cheek with her palm. She took a few moments to capture a good, long look at the beautiful sleeping prince. The prince who would become king in two days.

His dark lashes fanned out beneath his closed eyes and his gorgeous mouth twitched slightly, as if he might smile. The navy satin sheet rode low on his hips, exposing the crease of his pelvic bone and the stream of hair below his navel. Her face heated when she remembered following that path last night with her lips, causing Zain to squirm when she kept right on going.

She realized she was only a shell of her former self—the woman who had repressed her sexual nature for fear of losing control. Lately, losing control had been preferable when it came to making love with Zain, in many ways, and in many different places—in the study at noon, in the shower several times, in the tunnel leading to the lower-level grounds and on the veranda after midnight, even knowing extra guards had been posted at the corners of the building on all levels. Yet some of the most memorable times came when they took walks in the garden, holding hands and stealing innocent kisses. And the long talks had meant the world to her, conversations about politics and policy and sometimes their pasts. Zain had even reluctantly admitted he harbored some guilt over not having the opportunity to say goodbye to his father, and that made her ache for him.

But the one defining moment in their relationship happened two mornings ago, when she’d awakened alone in his bed, with an orchid on her pillow and a note that read, “You make my days, and my nights, worthwhile.”

She’d realized she loved him then. Loved him more than she ever thought possible. Yet none of that mattered. In forty-eight brief hours, he would enter a new era as the king, signaling the end of theirs.

But she still had today—an important day for Zain—so she shook off the downhearted thoughts and kissed his bare shoulder. When he didn’t respond, she pressed another kiss on his unshaven jaw, then propped her chin on his chest. “Time to get up, Your Sexiness.”

His eyes drifted open and his lips curled into a smile. She would store that smile in the memory bank to get her through the lonely days to come. “I am up,” he said in his sexy morning voice.

Madison caught his drift and lifted the sheet. Yes, he had definitely arisen to the occasion, as usual. “I’ll rephrase that,” she said as she dropped the covers back into place. “You need to get out of bed, get dressed and get ready to address your subjects. On that note, I don’t know why you won’t give my speech suggestions even a little bit of considera—”

He rudely interrupted her light lecture when he flipped her onto her back and rubbed against her. As far as bedside manners went, she couldn’t complain. “My royal staff yearns for your attention,” he said as he buried his face in her neck.

She had to laugh over that one. “Aren’t we just the king of bad euphemisms this morning?”

He lifted his head and grinned. “I have more descriptive ones, if you’d like to hear them.”

Before she could object, he had his lips to her ear and her body reeling with possibilities when he recited a litany of crude, albeit sexy, suggestions. When he looked at her again, she faked shock. “Oh, my. Did you minor in dirty words in college, or have you been watching too much cable TV?”

His cupped her breast in his palm. “You bring out the savage in me.”

She could say the same for him. He made her want to growl, especially at the moment when he set his hands in motion all over her bare body.

Right when he had her where he wanted her—hot, and bothered and almost begging—the bedside phone began to ring. He eased inside her at the same moment he picked up the receiver. Madison marveled over his ability to multitask, then became mortified when she recognized Rafiq’s voice on the other end of the line.

“I am currently occupied,” Zain said. “However, when I am able to pull myself away from this most pressing matter, I will be downstairs in the study.”

After he hung up, Madison laughed. “You are so bad.”

He frowned. “Last night you told me I was very good.”

“No. That’s what you told me.”

The teasing quickly ended as they concentrated on their lovemaking, on each other with a familiarity normally reserved for longtime lovers. But they were so attuned to one another now, it seemed as if they had been lovers forever. And in the aftermath, when Zain’s gentle, whispered words of praise floated into Madison’s ears, she started to cry. For some reason, she’d done a lot of that lately, but never in front of him.

As he folded her into his arms and stroked her hair, he didn’t question her about the tears. He only held her close to his heart until they finally subsided.

“I’m sorry,” she said after she recovered from the meltdown. “I guess my leaving is starting to sink in.”

“I am trying not to think about it,” he said. “Otherwise, I might not get through my duties today.”

She wanted so badly to tell him she loved him, but what would be the point? Nothing had changed. Nothing would. She was still the unsuitable American, and he was still the Arabian king steeped in tradition, destined to choose one of his kind.

So she raised her head and gave him her sunniest smile, even though she wanted to sob. “Speaking of your duties, the time has come for you to impress the masses, the way you’ve continually impressed me.”

His dark eyes were so intense, it stole her breath. “Madison, I…” His gaze drifted away with his words.

“You what?”

When he finally looked at her again, he seemed almost detached. “I want to thank you for all that you’ve done. I would not have gotten through this process had it not been for your support.”

That comment was as dry as the desert, and not at all what she wanted to hear. “And to think you almost sent me packing that first night.”

“I am glad you fought me on that, and I will never forget our time together.”

Funny, that sounded a lot like an early goodbye. Maybe he was just doing some advance preparation, and she should take his cue. “You’re welcome, Your Highness. Now that the party’s over, it’s time to take care of business.”