Protecting the Desert Princess. Carol Marinelli

Mikael might say no to her request. More than that, though, the effect of his smile had unsettled her stomach in a way she did not understand.

      Certainly she wasn’t about to tell him all the adventures she was seeking—though her eyes did fall to his mouth, which she had briefly imagined upon hers, but then she met again the cool of his gaze. ‘I don’t know you well enough to tell you,’ Layla said.

      ‘How long have you been planning this?’

      ‘For quite some time,’ Layla admitted.

      ‘Would your family have guessed that you were going to escape?’

      ‘No.’ Immediately she shook her head.

      ‘‘You’re sure of that.’

      ‘Very sure,’ she said. ‘I learnt a very long time ago that I get in trouble if I tell anyone my thoughts.’

      ‘You can be honest here,’ Mikael said, and Layla gave a hesitant nod—though her eyes said that she doubted it.

      She did offer a little more. ‘I tried to get my brother to take me to a wedding in London a few months ago—I was going to escape there, but he refused to take me with him.’

      Sensible man, Mikael thought, feeling a knot of unease forming at the thought of her let loose in London—or even let loose here, for there was an innocence behind her arrogance, an inherent trust in the good of others that could so easily be shattered.

      ‘How are your family going to react?’

      ‘That depends,’ Layla responded. ‘I have made it very clear in my letter to my brother that he is not to inform my father that I am missing. If he does my father will have no choice but to create an international incident. That is avoidable, of course—I just need for you to reassure my brother that I will be safe and that I will return to the hotel one week from now.’

      ‘What about your mother?’

      ‘From what I have been told about her, she would approve.’

      ‘Told?’

      ‘She is dead, but apparently we are very similar, and if that is the case then she’d approve of my plans.’

      ‘Where are you going to stay?’ Mikael asked. ‘Have you got friends…?’

      ‘You will arrange that.’

      ‘One phone call?’ Mikael reminded her.

      ‘Two.’ Layla smiled. ‘You are to make sure I stay somewhere nice and you will have to drive me there. I am not taking a taxi again; the man was very rude.’

      ‘Possibly because you didn’t pay him,’ Mikael said. ‘I’ll ask Wendy to book you somewhere and she’ll drive you to a hotel.’

      They went over a few more details. There was nothing uncomplicated about Layla. She was twenty-four, he found out, and he checked that she was healthy, that she wasn’t on any medication, or suffering any illnesses. He wanted to be sure that there was nothing that could be flashed up on the news about her life being at risk.

      Physically, it would seem she was healthy—though certifiable, perhaps…

      ‘They thought that I had seizure once, but I did not,’ Layla said.

      Mikael let out a tense breath as out of her lips popped another surprise.

      ‘I was on my way to select a husband and I started to scream and shout expletives and then I fell to the floor. The palace doctor is kind and she told my father and suitors that anxiety had caused a seizure. But it was not a seizure. I was just cross.’

      ‘Don’t you ever try that trick on me,’ Mikael warned her.

      ‘It wasn’t a trick.’

      ‘Oh, Layla.’ Mikael slowly shook his head. ‘I’m quite sure that you are full of them.’ He ran shrewd eyes over the cunning minx. ‘Why did you choose me?’

      ‘Because you are not swayed by emotion and you don’t care what others think.’

      ‘You don’t know that,’ Mikael said.

      ‘You are hated by many for the people you defend.’ Layla shrugged. ‘Yet you do not look like a man who cries himself to sleep at night. Now, am I wasting my time or are you going to make that call?’

      ‘Layla…’

      ‘Princess Layla,’ she corrected.

      ‘I’d suggest,’ Mikael responded, ‘that if you really want to disappear for a week then you lose the title.’

      ‘Mr Romanov—’

      ‘Mikael,’ he interrupted.

      ‘Mikael,’ Layla amended. ‘I would like you to speak with my brother now.’

      ‘Very well,’ Mikael said, ‘but you need to understand that I am near the end of a very complex case. I will make one phone call and have you taken to a hotel…’ He briefly closed his eyes. ‘I don’t have time to babysit you.’

      ‘Good.’

      She smiled very widely then, and it was like a fist to Mikael’s guts because the breath was almost knocked out of him when she did.

      ‘The last thing I want this week is to be watched over.’

      Layla didn’t have a phone, but she did have Zahid’s number. Mikael blocked his own number and then made the call.

      He did not give his name, but explained that he was representing Layla and that her request for a week away from her family was far from unreasonable.

      ‘You don’t understand—’ Zahid started.

      ‘I understand that the laws in your land may be different,’ Mikael interrupted, ‘but—’

      ‘You don’t understand Layla.’ This time it was Zahid who broke in.

      Far from the fury and hysterics that Mikael had expected, Zahid’s response was clipped. ‘She will not manage alone.’

      ‘Layla is twenty-four.’

      ‘Which means for twenty-four years she has had everything done for her. Everything,’ Zahid reiterated.

      ‘Well, she seems very capable to me, and more than independent.’

      ‘Could I speak with her?’ Zahid asked.

      Mikael looked over to Layla, who sat rigid in the chair, her lips pursed. ‘Your brother wishes to speak with you.’

      He expected her to shake her head, but instead Layla nodded.

      ‘You don’t have to,’ he said, but she was holding her hand out for the phone.

      ‘Don’t give him my name,’ Mikael warned her.

      Layla had been right to get him in to handle this, Mikael thought, because whatever was being said in Arabic the conversation was clearly emotional. He watched as she stood and started pacing, shouting and crying, but then, just as he was going to take the phone from her, she switched to English.

      ‘No, Trinity, I do not accept what Zahid just said and you can tell him the same. Yes, I have messed up your honeymoon—well, guess what? I don’t expect to have a happy honeymoon. I know my honeymoon will be miserable. At least you get the rest of your life to be happy…’

      Mikael’s eyes widened a touch in admiration, and then he suppressed the second smile to grace his lips in months as Layla continued.

      ‘What does your pregnancy have to do with my life?’ Layla demanded. ‘I am supposed to put my one chance for freedom to the side because you are growing a baby…?’ Layla gave an incredulous laugh. ‘I never realised you were so precious, Trinity. Let me speak with my brother—clearly you are supposed to avoid the real world