- -
- 100%
- +
Unwrapping her innocence…
Reluctant ruler Sheikh Salim Al-Noury would rather abdicate than taint his realm with his dark secrets. Until one exquisitely beautiful diplomat is hired to persuade him to reconsider the throne…
Christmas means heartbreak to Charlotte McQuillan, so working abroad over the festive season is the perfect getaway. But Salim proves to be her most challenging client yet as his rugged masculinity awakens untouched Charlotte to unimaginable pleasures!
Soon Salim accepts that he alone can bear the weight of the crown. And his first proclamation will be to make Charlotte his Christmas queen!
ABBY GREEN spent her teens reading Mills & Boon romances. She then spent many years working in the Film and TV industry as an Assistant Director. One day while standing outside an actor’s trailer in the rain, she thought: there has to be more than this. So she sent off a partial to Mills & Boon. After many rewrites, they accepted her first book and an author was born. She lives in Dublin, Ireland and you can find out more here: www.abby-green.com
A Christmas Bride for the King
Abby Green
www.millsandboon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-474-05316-7
A CHRISTMAS BRIDE FOR THE KING
© 2017 Abby Green
Published in Great Britain 2020
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk
Note to Readers
This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:
Change of font size and line height
Change of background and font colours
Change of font
Change justification
Text to speech
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright
Note to Readers
Dedication
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
About the Publisher
This is for my Charlotte, whose friendship has made my life immeasurably richer in so many ways. Thelma & Louise 4 Ever. xx
PROLOGUE
THE PUNISHINGLY HOT shower Sheikh Salim Ibn Hafiz Al-Noury had just subjected himself to had done little to dispel the hollow feeling that lingered after his less than sensually satisfying encounter with a convenient lover. It wasn’t her fault. She was stunning. And, what was more important, she accepted his strict no-strings rules.
He never engaged with women who didn’t, because he’d built his life around an independence he’d cultivated as far back as he could remember. Distancing himself from his own family and the heavy legacy of his birth. Distancing himself from painful memories. Distancing himself from emotional entanglements or investment, which could only lead to unbearable heartbreak.
Salim and his brother, Zafir, had been bred as coldly and calculatedly as animals bred for their coats or meat. They’d been bred to inherit neighbouring kingdoms—Jandor, the home of their father, where they’d been born and brought up along with Salim’s twin sister, Sara, and Tabat, their mother’s ancestral home.
The two countries had been at war for hundreds of years, but a peace agreement had been brokered when their mother, the Crown Princess of Tabat, had married the new King of Jandor and they’d pledged to have their sons eventually ruling both countries in a bid to secure peace in the region.
On the death of their father over a year ago Zafir, as the eldest, had assumed his role as King of Jandor—which had always been more of a home to him than to Salim.
But Salim had yet to assume his role, as King of Tabat, and the pressure to do so was mounting on all sides.
He hitched a towel around his waist, irritated that his thoughts were straying in this direction. He ignored the sting of his conscience that told him it was a situation he had to deal with.
He’d managed to avoid dealing with it for this long because he’d built up a vast empire of business concerns, ranging from real estate to media and tech industries, none of which he could easily walk away from. None of which he wanted to walk away from. And yet, if he was honest with himself, he knew he’d finally achieved a level of success and security that could enable him to step back—if he had to.
The steam of the shower cleared and Salim caught his reflection in the mirror. He was momentarily taken off guard by the cynical weariness etched into his face. Blue eyes stood out starkly against the darkness of his skin. Stubble lined a hard jaw. Too hard.
With no sense of satisfaction he took in the aesthetically pleasing symmetry of his features, which called to mind another set of features—the feminine version of this face. Except that face was frozen in time, at eleven years old when his twin sister had died.
A part of Salim had broken irreparably that day: his heart. And with it any illusion of invincibility or a belief that the world was a benign place. He’d lost his soul-mate when Sara had died, and he never wanted to experience that kind of excoriating pain again.
For a moment the memory of his sister’s lifeless form and pale face was sharp enough to make him draw a breath. Even after all this time. Nineteen years. He had avenged her death, but instead of bringing him peace it had compounded the emptiness inside him.
Salim’s hands curled around the sink so tightly that his knuckles shone white through the skin. It was only a persistent ringing noise that broke him out of the moment.
He went into the bedroom of his New York penthouse apartment and saw his phone flashing on the nightstand. As he picked it up he registered who it was and immediately felt a tightening sensation in his chest, along with a familiar mix of turbulent emotions, the strongest of which was guilt. He was tempted to let the call go to voicemail, but he knew it would only be delaying the inevitable.
He answered with a curtness arising out of that mix of emotions and memories. ‘Brother. How nice to hear from you.’
Zafir made a rude sound at this less than effusive greeting. ‘I’ve been trying to contact you for weeks. Hell, Salim, why are you doing this? You’re making it harder for everyone—including yourself.’
Salim ignored what Zafir had said and replied, ‘I believe congratulations are in order. I’m sorry I didn’t make the wedding.’
Zafir sighed. ‘It’s not as if I really expected you to come, Salim, but it would have been nice for you to meet Kat. She wants to meet you.’
His tone made the tightness in Salim’s chest intensify. He’d done such a good job of pushing Zafir away for as long as he could remember that it seemed impossible to bridge the chasm now. And why did he suddenly feel the need to?
He shut down that rogue impulse and assured himself that he owed Zafir nothing—nor his new sister-in-law, who was now Queen of Jandor.
‘I don’t really have time to chat, Zafir. Why did you call?’
His brother’s voice hardened. ‘You know exactly why I’m calling. You’ve shirked your duties for long enough. Officials in Tabat have been waiting for over a year for you to assume your role as king—as per the terms of our father’s will.’
Before Salim could react to that succinct summary of his situation, Zafir was continuing.
‘Tabat is close to descending into chaos. This isn’t just about you, Salim. People will get hurt if stability isn’t restored. It’s time for you to take responsibility. You are king, whether you like it or not.’
Salim wanted to snarl down the phone that he was the furthest thing from a king that a man could be. He’d pursued a life far from royal politics and that closed, rarefied world. He’d never asked for this role—it had been thrust upon him before he’d even been born. His brother’s acceptance of the status quo was in direct contrast to Salim’s rejection of it.
Before he could say anything, Zafir went on. ‘You can’t avoid this, Salim. It’s your destiny, and if you don’t face up to that destiny you’ll have blood on your hands.’
Destiny. Salim’s anger dissipated as he thought bleakly of their sister’s destiny. Had it been her destiny to suffer unspeakable trauma and die so young?
After what had happened to his sister Salim didn’t believe in destiny. He believed you made your own destiny. And that was what he had done for his whole life—as much for himself as to honour the life his sister had lost.
He looked out over the skyline of Manhattan, where the late autumn dawn was slowly breaking, bathing everything in a soft pink glow. It was beautiful, but it left him untouched.
At that moment a falcon glided on the air outside his window, majestic and deadly, its head swivelling back and forth, looking for prey. It was a long way from its natural habitat, and yet this bird of prey had adapted to city life as well as humans had.
A memory floated back, of him and Sara in the desert with their pet falcons. Sara had lifted her hand to encourage hers to fly high, teasing Salim that his was too lazy to budge itself… She’d been so carefree, innocent…
‘Salim?’
His brother’s voice broke the silence and a heavy weight settled in Salim’s gut. Destiny or not, he knew he couldn’t keep avoiding this inheritance he’d never asked for. It had to be dealt with.
‘Fine,’ he said grimly. ‘I will give them their coronation. Let them know that I’m coming.’
And in doing so, he assured himself silently, he would sever his ties with his so-called destiny and the past for good.
CHAPTER ONE
CHARLOTTE MCQUILLAN PACED back and forth in the empty office and looked at her watch for the umpteenth time. The king, Salim Ibn Hafiz Al-Noury—or technically the king when he was crowned in three weeks—had kept her waiting for an hour now.
It was no secret that he was probably the most reluctant king in the world, having deferred his coronation for well over a year. Long after his older brother had been crowned king of neighbouring Jandor.
She might have expected as much from the enfant terrible of the international billionaire playboy scene.
Charlotte knew of Sheikh Salim Ibn Hafiz Al-Noury’s reputation, but only in a peripheral sense. Salacious celebrity gossip magazines were anathema to her, because she’d been the focal point of a celebrity scandal at a very young age, but even she was aware of the sheikh with the outrageous good looks, near mythical virility and his ability to turn anything he touched to gold.
His playboy exploits were matched only by his ruthless reputation and his ability to amass huge wealth and success in the many business spheres he turned his attention to.
Charlotte walked over to a nearby window that looked out over a seemingly unending sea of sand under a painfully blue sky. The sun was a blazing orb and she shivered lightly in the air-conditioning, imagining how merciless that heat must be with no shade. The little taste of it she’d had walking from the plane to the sheikh’s chauffeur-driven car and then into the palace had almost felled her.
With her fair, strawberry-blonde colouring, Charlotte had never been a sun-worshipper. And yet here she was. Because when the opportunity had come up to escape London in the full throes of Christmas countdown she’d jumped at it.
To say it wasn’t her favourite time of the year was an understatement. She loathed Christmas, with all its glittery twinkling lights and forced festive joviality, because this was the time of year when her world had fallen apart and she’d realised that happiness and security were just an illusion that could be ripped away at any moment.
Like the Wizard of Oz, who had appeared from behind his carefully constructed façade to reveal he wasn’t a wizard at all. Far from it.
And yet as she looked out over this alien view that couldn’t be more removed from that London scene, she didn’t feel relieved. She felt a pang. Worse. A yearning.
Because in spite of everything a tiny, traitorous part of her secretly ached for the kind of Christmas celebrated in cheesy movies and on cards depicting happy families and togetherness. The fact that she usually spent her Christmas Day alone, with tears coursing down her face as she watched Miracle On 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life for the hundredth time was a shameful secret she would take to her grave.
She made a disgusted sound at herself and turned her back on the view, firmly shoving any such rogue yearnings down deep where they belonged. She distracted herself by taking in the vast expanse of the King’s Royal Office—which, if the correct protocol was being observed, she should never have been allowed into without his presence. She sighed.
She could see that at one time it had been impressive, with its huge floor-to-ceiling murals depicting scenes that looked as if they’d been plucked from a book of Arabian mythology. But now they were badly faded.
Everything Charlotte had seen so far of Tabat and its eponymous capital city had an air of faded glory and neglect. But it had charmed her with its ancient winding streets, clusters of stone buildings and the river that ran all the way from the Tabat Mountains to the sea on the coast of neighbouring Jandor.
The country was rich in natural resources—oil being the most important and lucrative. But its infrastructure was in serious need of modernisation, along with myriad other aspects of the country—education, government, economy… It badly needed a leader prepared to take on the mammoth task of hauling it into the twenty-first century. Its potential was abundant and just waiting to be tapped into.
But, from the little she knew of Sheikh Al-Noury and his reputation, she didn’t hold out much hope for that happening any time soon. He’d made no secret of the fact that his priorities lay with his myriad business empires in the West.
She’d been hired by his brother, King Zafir of Jandor, to advise Salim Al-Noury on international diplomacy and relations in the run-up to his coronation, but in the two weeks since she’d accepted the assignment neither the sheikh nor his people had made any effort to return Charlotte’s calls or provide her with any information.
Charlotte checked her watch again. He was now well over an hour late. Feeling frustrated, and not a little irritated and tired after her journey, she walked over to where she’d put down her document case, prepared to leave and find someone who could direct her to her room. But just as she drew near to the huge doors they swung open abruptly in her face and a man walked in.
One thing was immediately and glaringly apparent. In spite of seeing his picture online, Charlotte was not remotely prepared for Sheikh Salim Ibn Hafiz Al-Noury in the flesh. For the first time in her life she was rendered speechless.
For a start he was taller than she’d expected. Much taller. Well over six feet. And his body matched that height with broad shoulders and a wide chest narrowing down to lean hips and long legs. He was a big man, and she hadn’t expected him to be so physically formidable. The impression was one of sheer force and power.
Messily tousled over-long dark hair framed his exquisitely handsome face, which was liberally stubbled. His eyes were so blue they immediately reminded Charlotte of the vast sky outside—vivid and sharp. His mouth was disconcertingly sensual—a contrast to the hard angles of his body and bone structure.
A loose-fitting white shirt did little to disguise the solid mass of muscle on his chest and a tantalising glimpse of dark hair. It was tucked into very worn jodhpurs that clung to hard and well muscled thighs in a way that could only be described as provocative. Scuffed leather boots hugged his calves.
It was only then, belatedly, that Charlotte registered the very earthy and surprisingly sensual smell of horseflesh and something else—male sweat. To her utter horror she realised that she was reacting to him as if she’d taken complete leave of her senses.
He frowned. ‘Mrs McQuillan?’
She nodded, only vaguely registering that he’d got her title wrong.
‘You were leaving?’
His deep and intriguingly accented voice reverberated through her nerve-endings in a very distracting way.
Charlotte finally broke herself out of the disturbing inertia that was rendering her insensible. What on earth was wrong with her? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen a handsome man before. She tried to ignore the fact that she’d just made such an intense inspection of the man and shelved her unfortunate reaction to him until she could study it in private, later.
She looked him in the eye. ‘I’ve been waiting here for over an hour, Your Majesty, I thought you weren’t coming.’
Those remarkable eyes flashed with what looked like censure. ‘I’m not king yet.’
He looked down, and Charlotte became conscious of her rigid grasp on her case. She forced herself to relax.
He met her eye again. ‘Were you offered any refreshment?’
Charlotte shook her head. King—no, Sheikh Al-Noury walked back to the doorway and shouted for someone. A young boy in a long tunic and turban appeared—the same one who had shown her into the office—looking pathetically eager to please. He looked terrified, however, after the stream of rapid Arabic Sheikh Al-Noury subjected him to, and then he ran.
When Charlotte registered what he’d said she stepped forward saying heatedly, ‘That was uncalled for! How was he to know to offer me anything when he only looks about twelve? Someone senior should have been here to meet me. Where are your staff?’
Sheikh Al-Noury turned around slowly. He arched a brow and leant against the doorframe, crossing his arms. Totally nonchalant and unfazed by her outburst. ‘You speak Arabic?’
Charlotte nodded jerkily. ‘Among numerous other languages. But that’s not the point—’
He straightened from the door. ‘I’m sorry. I would have been here to meet you but I got delayed at the stables, taking delivery of a new thoroughbred—a present from Sheikh Nadim Al Saqr of Merkazad. He was skittish after the journey so it took a while to settle him.’
Sheikh Al-Noury had crossed the expanse of the Royal Office before Charlotte could get her thoughts in order. The fact that his apology hadn’t sounded remotely sincere was something that got lost in a haze as she found herself once again momentarily mesmerised by his sheer athletic grace. He moved like no other man she’d ever seen—all coiled muscle and barely restrained sexual magnetism. It was an assault on her senses.
He looked over his shoulder from where he was pouring dark golden liquid into a bulbous glass. ‘Can I get you anything?’
Charlotte’s throat suddenly felt as dry as the surrounding desert and she said, ‘Just water, please, if you have it.’
He came back towards her, holding out a glass of iced water, and once again Charlotte was struck by his sheer physicality. She reached for the glass and their fingers touched. A raw jolt of electricity shot up her arm, making her accept it jerkily. She immediately raised it to her mouth to give herself something to do, feeling as if she was floundering. She didn’t like it.
Sheikh Al-Noury indicated the chair from which she’d only just picked up her bag, intending to leave.
‘Please, take a seat, Mrs McQuillan.’
He walked around to the other side of his desk and sat down, lifting his feet carelessly onto the desk-top and crossing them at the ankle. Charlotte’s eyes grew wide at this less than respectful pose, and she forgot his offer to take a seat. Right now all he was missing was a half-naked showgirl sitting in his lap.
He swirled the drink in his glass and took a sip before looking at her and raising a brow. ‘I presume from the expression on your face that I’m about to get my first lesson in diplomacy and etiquette?’
Charlotte dragged her horrified gaze away from the very battered soles of his boots. There were dark stains that looked and smelt suspiciously like animal waste, and as her gaze clashed with that painfully blue one she said frigidly, ‘It is generally considered an insult of varying proportions to expose the soles of your feet to a guest anywhere in the world.’
The man did nothing for a long moment, and then he just shrugged minutely. ‘Well, we are in this part of the world now—and, believe me, we have far more inventive ways of insulting people. Nevertheless, I will endeavour to refrain from insulting my etiquette advisor.’
He lifted his legs, which only drew Charlotte’s attention to his thighs again, and then they were hidden from view under his desk. She felt the strangest twist in her belly. Almost a pang of regret. It angered her to be behaving so oddly.
That anger made her say through gritted teeth, ‘I am much more than an “etiquette advisor”, Sheikh Al-Noury. I am an expert in international relations and diplomacy, with a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Relations. I speak seven languages and I’ve just completed a successful assignment with King Alix Saint Croix, ensuring his smooth transition back onto the world stage after regaining his throne…’
Charlotte stopped and took a breath, slightly aghast at how much had just tumbled from her mouth.