Midnight in the Desert Collection. Оливия Гейтс

you’ll know I’m right for you is if I’m myself. So from now on, I’m going to be myself, and hopefully, you’ll like the real me. But if you don’t, I’d rather go home than marry someone who doesn’t enjoy my company.”

      Zale’s brows lowered. “You would reject me?”

      She smiled, the same patient smile she gave Sheikh Al-Koury when he gave her another impossible task. “Since we’re being completely honest, I admit that I don’t want to marry someone I don’t like, either.”

      His lips thinned.

      She nodded, as if he’d given a sign of agreement. “I’m really looking forward to the next four days and spending time together. I imagine you have some fun activities planned—” she lifted a finger, holding him off a moment “—activities other than signing documents, sitting for portraits and selecting china patterns.”

      “Those are all necessary if we’re to marry.”

      “Yes, if. But as you made clear yesterday, we don’t know that we will. In fact, you’re fairly certain we won’t. So perhaps selecting a china pattern is a bit presumptuous, never mind a colossal waste of time. Perhaps we should slow down and … date … first.”

      “Date?”

      “Mmm. Lunches. Dinners. Activities that allow us to spend time together in a relaxed and enjoyable manner.” “Is this a joke?”

      “No. I definitely wouldn’t joke about our future.”

      Zale stared at her through narrowed lashes, his expression grim. “You’re so different from a year ago. You were so quiet at our engagement party. You hardly looked at me. Where has all this personality come from?”

      Hannah shrugged. “It was always there, just a bit squashed by my parents’ disapproval. But my parents aren’t marrying you. I am.”

      “And this entire epiphany came to you last night?”

      “Yes. As I lay in bed.” She gestured to the footman. “I think I’d like the eggs Florentine and some fresh fruit. Thank you.” She lifted her white linen napkin from the table and placed it on her lap. “I thought you’d be pleased by my epiphany but you don’t seem happy at all.”

      He didn’t look happy, either. His brow was furrowed, his square chin jutted and he was practically glowering at her from across the table. “I find your attitude a trifle cavalier considering the circumstances. Your parents have invested a great deal of money into our alliance—”

      “Five million euros.”

      A small muscle pulled in his jaw at her interruption. “And I, too, am invested.”

      “Two and a half million. Because you’re a king and more important than I am.”

      “Emmeline,” he growled.

      It’d meant to be a warning.

      Hannah ignored it. “But that’s the reality, isn’t it? You are a king and I’m just a princess—” “Stop.”

      “It’s true. You do have more power. You can afford to be critical. Judgmental. Unforgiving.” “That’s not who I am.”

      “It’s how you speak to me. You’ve told me repeatedly that I’m not suitable.” Her shoulders lifted and fell. “So why would I want to marry you? Why would I want to spend my life with a person who treats me like my parents do?”

      He leaned back in his chair and for a long moment said nothing and then he shook his head. “I respect your parents, but I’m nothing like them.”

      “Yet all I’ve heard from you since I arrived is that I’m a disappointment and you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

      “I also think I’ve told you you’re beautiful a half dozen times.”

      “But I’d rather you like who I am as a person than appreciate my looks. Beauty fades. Appearances change. It’s the inside that matters and that’s the part of me you don’t like.”

      “I’ve never said that.”

      “Because there isn’t anything about me—other than my bloodline and my looks—that you do like.”

      He fell silent. She knew she’d made a point. She could see it in his eyes and the twist of his lips.

      Silence stretched. Zale drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I like you right now,” he said after a moment. “I like your candor. I appreciate honesty.”

      Hannah suppressed the twinge of guilt she felt at his mention of honesty. “Zale, I think there are a lot of things you’d like about me, given the chance to get to know me. I love adventure. I have a great sense of humor. I enjoy traveling and reading and learning about new cultures. But if you keep throwing the past in my face, you’ll never get to know any of those things about me.”

      “It’s hard to forget that until last week you were with Alejandro.”

      “Is that pride speaking?”

      “No. It’s the realist in me. The one that knows leopards don’t change their spots.”

      “But the realist must also see that I’m here. I asked to join you at breakfast this morning. I want to spend as much time as I can with you—Zale, the man, not the king—over the next few days. But you have to want to be with me, too, because I don’t want to marry my father. I want a man that likes me. Enjoys me. And could maybe even one day love me.”

      Zale stood up, walked across the room, then turned to face her. “Maybe we need to start over,” he said quietly. “Wipe the slate clean.”

      “Can you?”

      His broad shoulders shrugged. “I won’t know until I try. But let’s do what you’ve suggested. Try to act like a normal couple getting to know each other. We’ll spend time together … date.”

      She smiled at the way he said date. He made it sound foreign and exotic, as if it was something he’d never normally do. “Good. It’s the only way we’ll know if we really have a chance.”

      “So let’s have our first … date … today. I’ve morning meetings but once they wrap up we’ll head out for the rest of the day.” He paused, thought a moment and then added, “We’ll plan to meet at eleven. Wear something comfortable, bring a sweater and a swimsuit, just in case.”

      A sweater and a swimsuit? She was immediately curious as to where they were going but didn’t ask. “I’ll be ready.”

      Hannah changed into white linen pants, a blue and white striped knit shirt topped by a navy jacket. It was rather nautical but the most casual thing Hannah could find in Emmeline’s elegant wardrobe.

      Reluctantly she packed one of Emmeline’s two-piece swim-suits, thinking there was no way her curvy figure would be covered by the tiny scraps of material, but Zale had said to bring a suit and so she would.

      She headed downstairs at five to eleven to find Zale already waiting for her. She’d expected a car would be waiting outside but discovered a helicopter in the enormous circular driveway instead.

      The pilot gave both Hannah and Zale headsets to wear for the flight to reduce noise. The headsets came equipped with microphones but Zale was quiet as they lifted off the palace helipad and flew above the walled city over creamy colored bluffs, cypress pines and hillsides dotted with orange and red tiled houses.

      Even with the microphones it would be impossible to really talk above the noise and Hannah didn’t mind the silence as it gave her a chance to really see Raguva. It’d been nighttime when she’d arrived and she was fascinated by this jewel-like kingdom on the Dalmatian Coast.

      “We’re going to my island,” Zale said, ten minutes into the flight. “I don’t go often, haven’t been there in years, but I thought we could both use some downtime away from the