Hidden in the Sheikh's Harem: Christmas at the Castello(27)

'Watch how fast he is.' Luke came up beside her. 'There's no one better behind the wheel.'

Farah watched and her heart flew into her mouth when the bullet-shaped  boat became airborne before crashing back down, spraying water into the  air. 'Is it supposed to do that?'

'Oh yeah.' His friend didn't bother to hide his admiration. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to race again sometime.'

'Race?'

'Yeah, he was unbeatable once, and when he left he said his stint was  over and he'd never get back in one of those babies again. But then he  said he'd never marry a Bakaani girl, either.' He winked at her. 'Never  say never, eh?'

Never marry a Bakaani girl?

Before she could fully process that piece of information, Zach had  pulled the boat up to the pier and men were yelling and readying  themselves to hold it steady.

The look on his face was one of exhilaration and joy and she felt a momentary pang that he would never look at her like that.

Brushing off her suddenly morbid thought, she nodded as Luke told her  he'd see her at the party before jumping down to join Zach.

'Luke said you might race again,' she mentioned to Zach as they wandered back along the harbour a short time later.

'No.' Zach held her hand again. 'When I finished up, I meant it.' He  stopped in front of an enormous navy-and-white yacht with music and  lively conversation coming from the upper decks. 'Ready?'                       
       
           



       

No, she wasn't ready. She wanted to ask him about what Luke had told  her but something warned her to hold off. What did it matter anyway? She  knew he hadn't wanted to marry her. He'd made that plain.

She glanced up to find Zach looking at her curiously and wondered if he  guessed how unsettled she felt. 'Sure,' she hedged, pride refusing to  let her lean against him, as if she was the kind of woman who could not  take care of herself.

Still, she couldn't seem to stem her unease once they boarded the  yacht, and the curious glances she received as more and more people  realised she was with the prince didn't help at all. The women  especially gave her a weird vibe and didn't seem to know what to make of  her once they'd asked where she was from and how she had met the  prince. Farah kept her answers deliberately vague-'My father introduced  us'-which earned her a smile from Zach. After that most people either  ignored her or saw someone in the distance they simply had to speak with  and walked away.

Whatever.

Farah didn't care. For the most part Zach kept her by his side, proudly  introducing her as his wife, and she was more pleased than she would  have expected to be by that. Especially given that this marriage had  been forced on both of them. Somehow in the past three days that hadn't  seemed relevant in the isolated nest of the apartment where she'd come  to learn that, far from being an arrogant despot, her new husband was  actually a kind and decent human being. But he still hadn't chosen to  marry her out of free will, and probably never would have if his  friend's unintentionally hurtful words were true.

'Having a good time?'

About to tell Zach she'd prefer to muck out the camel enclosure in her  village, she turned her head to find him watching her with an expression  on his face that melted her from the inside out. And suddenly she was  determined that, yes, she would have a good time in this life he seemed  to enjoy so much. 'Yes!' she said, turning her face up to his.

'I'm glad.' He leaned over and kissed her softly before drawing back  with his arm slung around her waist. His possessive touch was comforting  but, try as she might, she couldn't set aside the feeling of  vulnerability that gripped her, surrounded as she was by so many  glamorous people, especially those whispering behind their hands as they  looked at her. Were they wondering what Zach was doing with her? Or did  they all know that he had been forced to marry her? That given a choice  he would have preferred any one of the beautiful women parading around  on the yacht in their sexy triangles of material. Would Zach ever expect  her to wear one of those, in public? If so, he was going to be  incredibly disappointed, because that just wasn't her.

'Zach.'

Someone-a woman-said his name in a low, throaty murmur and Farah turned  to find a slender, elegant blonde looking up at him. She was tiny and  delicate and so flawlessly beautiful she was hard to look away from.

Used to having women come up to him by now, Farah at first didn't pay  her any special attention, but then she realised that Zach had grown  tense.

'I heard you got married,' the woman said, casting Farah a brief glance.

'Yes.' Something in his tone made the hairs on the nape of Farah's neck  stand on end. 'Amy, I'd like you to meet my wife, Farah.' His fingers  flexed on her hip. 'Farah, this is Amy Anderson.'

Farah had wondered more than once who the woman was that Zach had  nearly married and suddenly she knew she was standing right in front of  her. It was obvious in every casually awkward line of the woman's body  and the answering tension in her husband's.

The woman had a peaches-and-cream complexion Farah would never achieve  even if she stayed out of the sun for a decade, and the way she was  looking at Zach made it very clear that, if she could, she would trade  places with Farah in a heartbeat. Feeling about as attractive as a  desert shrub in a French garden, Farah smiled. 'I'm pleased to meet  you.'

'And you,' Amy said with a warmth Farah wasn't sure reached her eyes.

'How long ago did you break up?' she asked a little dully as the beautiful Amy finally wandered off into the crowd.

Zach grimaced faintly. 'Was it that obvious?'

Farah felt old beyond her years. 'A woman knows these things.' Not that she ever would have thought she would.

'Five years ago.'

Five years ago? Farah frowned. Was that because he'd had to return to  Bakaan? Had she inadvertently broken up his relationship when she had  tried to implement change with her little magazine? It seemed  impossible.                       
       
           



       

She wanted to ask if he had been in love with her but she knew that he  must have been if he'd nearly married her. Did he still? The sick  feeling she had experienced on her wedding day thinking about the exact  same thing balled in her stomach, but there was no way she would ask him  because she really didn't want to know the answer. In fact, she didn't  want to think about the answer.

As if reading her every thought, he took her chin gently between his  fingers to bring her eyes to his. 'If you're worried that I'll cheat on  you, Farah, I won't. I'm not like that. Amy is in my past.'

Deep down she knew that he was telling the truth but it didn't change  the fact that he had once wanted to marry Amy and he had never wanted to  marry her-and why was she so fixated on that all of a sudden?

'I'm not worried, I-'

'Prince Zachim.' A large man in a cream suit that stretched across his  ample belly and a matching Stetson stopped beside them, an overconfident  smile on his face. 'Not interruptin', am I?'

'I've never known you not to interrupt, Hopkins,' Zach said mildly, making the man laugh.

'Always did enjoy your sense of humour, Your Highness. This is Cherry, my wife. And you must be Zach's new wife.'

'Farah,' Zach supplied grudgingly.

'Good to meet you, ma'am.' The man took her hand in that deferential  manner men did when they were putting women in their place before  dismissing her in favour of Zach. 'I was hoping to talk to you about  building hotels over in that country of yours, Your Highness, and  there's no time like the present.'

'Actually, there is. And now isn't it.'

'Oh, come now, we fly back to Dallas tomorrow. Cherry will take care of your little lady for a spell, won't you, sugar?'

'Of course!' the vivacious redhead exclaimed. 'I'd be glad to.'

'Some other time, Hopkins. Farah and I were just leaving.'

'It's okay, Zach.' Farah put her hand on his arm, knowing from an  earlier conversation they'd had how important new investments were to  Bakaan and not wanting to be the reason he missed an opportunity, even  if the man was a bit of windbag. 'I'll be fine.'

'See? She'll be fine.' The man gave her an oily smile. 'You got to let 'em either sink or swim, don't you, sugar?'

The look on Zach's face told her he wanted to make this man sink or  swim and it gave her the urge to giggle. Instead she moved away from him  and murmured a greeting to the man's nubile wife who was spilling out  of a red polka-dot bikini top above white jeans that looked tighter than  her own.

Within minutes Farah found herself amidst a small knot of Cherry's chic  friends, including the beautiful Amy, who all wanted the gossip on how  she had landed the prince-gossip Farah had no intention of giving them  because it would only show them how little she really meant to her  husband!

'At least tell us if he's as hot in the sack as they say he is,' one of the women whispered.