Desert Rogues: The Bride Who Said No
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Susan Mallery
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15
Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
“I know marrying the crown prince and eventually being queen sounds terrific,” Daphne Snowden said in what she hoped was a calm I’m-your-aunt-who-loves-you-and-I-know-better voice instead of a shrill, panicked tone. “But the truth of the matter is very different. You’ve never met Prince Murat. He’s a difficult and stubborn man.”
Daphne knew this from personal experience. “He’s also nearly twice your age.”
Brittany looked up from the fashion magazine she’d been scanning. “You worry too much,” she said. “Relax, Aunt Daphne. I’ll be fine.”
Fine? Fine? Daphne sank back into the comfortable leather seat of the luxury private jet and tried not to scream. This could not be happening. It was a dream. It had to be. She refused to believe that her favorite—and only—niece had agreed to marry a man she’d never met. Prince or no prince, this could be a disaster. Despite the fact that she and Brittany had been having the same series of conversations for nearly three weeks now, she felt compelled to make all her points again.
“I want you to be happy,” Daphne said. “I love you.”
Brittany, a tall willowy blonde with delicately pretty features in the tradition of the Snowden women, smiled. “I love you, too, and you’re worrying about nothing. I know Murat is, like, really old.”
Daphne pressed her lips together and tried not to wince. She knew that to an eighteen-year-old, thirty-five was practically geriatric, but it was only five years beyond her own thirty years.
“But he’s pretty cute,” her niece added. “And rich. I’ll get to travel and live in a palace.” She put down the magazine and stuck out her feet. “Do you think I should have gone with the other sandals instead of these?”
Daphne held in a shriek. “I don’t care about your shoes. I’m talking about your life here. Being married to the crown prince means you won’t get to spend your day shopping. You’ll have responsibilities for the welfare of the people of Bahania. You’ll have to entertain visiting dignitaries and support charities. You’ll be expected to produce children.”
Brittany nodded. “I figured that part out. The parties will be great. I can invite all my friends, and we’ll talk about, like, what the guy who runs France is wearing.”
“And the baby part?”
Brittany shrugged. “If he’s old, he probably knows what he’s doing. My friend Deanna had sex with her college boyfriend and she said it was totally better than with her boyfriend in high school. Experience counts.”
Daphne wanted to shake Brittany. She knew from dozens of after-midnight conversations, when her niece had spent the night, that Brittany had never been intimate with any of her boyfriends. Brittany had been very careful not to let things go too far. So what had changed? Daphne couldn’t believe that the child she’d loved from birth and had practically raised, could have turned into this shallow, unfeeling young woman.
She glanced at her watch and knew that time was running short. Once they landed and reached the palace, there would be no turning back. One Snowden bride-to-be had already left Murat practically at the altar. She had a feeling that Brittany wouldn’t be given the opportunity to bolt.
“What was your mother thinking?” she asked, more to herself than Brittany. “Why did she agree?”
“Mom thought it would be completely cool,” Brittany said easily. “I think she’s hoping there will be some amazing jewelry for the mother of the bride. Plus me marrying a prince beats out Aunt Grace’s piggy Justin getting into Harvard any day, right?”
Daphne nodded without speaking. Some families were competitive about sports while others kept score using social status and money. In her family it was all about power—political or otherwise. One of her sisters had married a senator who planned to run for president, the other married a captain of industry. She had been the only sibling to pick another path.
She scooted to the edge of her seat and took Brittany’s perfectly manicured hands into her own.
“You have to listen,” she said earnestly. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved another human being in my life. You’re practically my daughter.”
Brittany’s expression softened. “I love you, too. You know you’ve been there for me way more than my own mother.”
“Then, please, please, think this through. You’re young and smart and you can have anything you want in the world. Why would you be willing to tie yourself to a man you’ve never met in a country you’ve never visited? What if you hate Bahania?”
Daphne didn’t think that was possible—personally she loved the desert country—but at this point she was done playing fair.
“Travel isn’t going to be what you think,” Daphne continued before Brittany could interrupt. “Any visits will be state events. They’ll be planned and photographed. Once you agree to marry the prince you’ll never be able to just run over and see a girlfriend or head to the mall or the movies.”
Brittany stared at her. “What do you mean I can’t go to the mall?”
Daphne blinked. Was this progress at last? “You’ll be the future queen. You won’t be able to rush off and buy a last-minute cashmere sweater just because it’s on sale.”
“Why not?”
Daphne sighed. “I’ve been trying to explain this to you. You won’t get to be your own person anymore. You’ll be living a life in a foreign country with unfamiliar rules and expectations. You will have to adhere to them.”
None of which sounded all that tough to her, but she wasn’t the one signing up for a lifetime of queenhood.
“I never thought about having to stay in the palace a lot,” Brittany said slowly. “I just sort of figured I could fly back home whenever I wanted and hang with my friends.”
“Bahania will be your home now.”
Brittany’s eyes darkened. “I wouldn’t miss Mom and Dad so much, but Deanna and you.” She bit her lower lip. “I guess if I love the prince…”
“Do you?” Daphne asked. “You’ve never met him. You’re risking a whole lot on the off chance you two will get along.” She squeezed her niece’s fingers. “You’ve only had a couple of boyfriends, none of them serious. Do you really want to give all that up? Dating? College?”
Brittany frowned. “I can’t go to college?”
“Do you think any professor is going to want the future queen in his class? How could he or she give you a real grade? Even if you did get that worked out, you’d just be attending classes part-time. You couldn’t live on campus.”
“That’s right. Because I’d be in the palace.”
“Possibly pregnant,” Daphne added for good measure.
“No way. I’m not ready to have a baby now.”
“And if Prince Murat is?”
Her niece glared at her. “You’re trying to scare me.”
“You bet. I’m willing to do just about anything to keep you from throwing away your life. If you’d met someone and had fallen in love, then I wouldn’t care if he was a prince or an alien from planet Xeon. But you didn’t. I would have gotten involved with this sooner, but your mother did her best to keep the truth from me.”
Brittany sighed. “She’s pretty determined to have her way.”
“I’m not going to let that happen. Tell me honestly. Tell me you’re completely committed to this and I’ll back off. But if you have even one hint of a doubt, you need to give yourself time to think.”
Brittany swallowed. “I’m not sure,” she admitted in a tiny voice. “I want things to go great with the prince, but what if they don’t?” Tears filled her eyes. “I’ve been trying to do what my parents want me to do and I’m scared.” She glanced around the luxury plane. “The pilot said we were landing in twenty minutes. That’s about up. I can’t meet the prince and tell him I’m not sure.”
Daphne vowed that when she returned to the States she was going to kill her oldest sister, Laurel. How dare she try to guilt her only daughter into something like this? Outrage mingled with relief. She held open her arms, and Brittany fell into her embrace.
“Is it too late?” the teenager asked.
“Of course not. You’re going to be fine.” She hugged her tight. “You had me worried for a while. I thought you were really going through with this.”
Brittany sniffed. “Some parts of it sounded pretty fun. Having all that money and crowns and stuff, but I tried not to think about actually being married to someone that old.”
“I don’t blame you.” The age difference was impossible, Daphne thought. What on earth could Murat be thinking, considering an engagement to a teenager?
“I’ll take care of everything,” she promised. “You’ll stay on the plane and go directly home while I handle things at the palace.”
Brittany straightened. “Really? I don’t even have to meet him?”
“Nope. You go back and pretend this never happened.”
“What about Mom?”
Daphne’s eyes narrowed. “You can leave her to me, as well.”
Just over an hour later Daphne found herself in the back of a limo, heading to the fabled Pink Palace of Bahania. Because of the long plane trip, she expected to find the city in darkness, but with the time difference, it was late afternoon. She sat right by the window so she could take in everything—the ancient buildings that butted up against the new financial district. The amazing blue of the Arabian Sea just south of the city. The views were breathtaking and familiar. She’d grown to love this country when she’d visited ten years ago.
“Don’t go there,” she told herself. There was no time for a trip down memory lane. Instead she needed to focus and figure out what she was going to say to Murat.
She glanced at her watch. With every second that ticked by, finding the perfect words became less and less important. Once Brittany landed back in the States, she would be safe from Murat’s clutches. Still, she couldn’t help feeling a little nervous as the long, black car turned left and drove past elegant wrought-iron gates.
The car pulled to a stop in front of the main entrance. Daphne drew in a deep breath to calm herself as she waited for one of the guards to open the door. She stepped out into the warm afternoon and glanced around.
The gardens were as beautiful as she remembered. Sweet, lush scents competed for her attention. To the left was the gate that led to the private English-style garden she’d always loved. To the right was a path that led to the most perfect view of the sea. And in front of her…well, that was the way into the lion’s den.
She tried to tell herself she had no reason to be afraid, that she’d done nothing wrong. Murat was the one interested in marrying a teenager nearly half his age. If anyone should be feeling foolish and ashamed, it was him.
But despite being in the right, and determined to stand strong against any and all who might try to get in her way, she couldn’t help a tiny shiver of apprehension. After all, ten years ago she’d been a guest in this very palace. She’d been young and in love and engaged to be married.
To Murat.
Then three weeks before the wedding, she’d bolted, leaving him without even a whisper of an explanation.
