Scandal: His Majesty's Love-Child

  Then she was before him. Velvet eyes gazed up with a stunned delight he knew matched his own expression.

  ‘You look like an impatient bridegroom,’ she said, her voice husky.

  ‘I am.’ He claimed her, wrapping his hand around hers and drawing her close. ‘I want you so badly it hurts to breathe.’

  Her lips curved in an enchanting smile, even as her eyes gleamed with excitement. ‘Then perhaps we should leave everyone to their celebrations, so I can…tend your hurts.’

  Tahir sucked in a deep breath at the image her words conjured.

  ‘Soon,’ he promised, ‘when I’m capable of walking.’ He pulled her to him and turned her round so she stood, like him, looking out over the colourful scene. She fitted against his body, into his arms, as if made for him.

  ‘No regrets about becoming my Queen?’

  ‘Of course not.’ She shook her head and the delicate scent of cinnamon and wild honey teased his nostrils.

  Beneath the finery she was still the woman he’d met in the desert. Capable, loving, wonderful. His arms closed round her tenderly.

  ‘I love you,’ he whispered against her hair.

  ‘And I love you, Tahir. Always.’ She wrapped her hands over his encompassing arms and sank against him.

  He and Annalisa would be together for the rest of their lives.

  He’d never known such happiness.

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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  First published in Great Britain 2010

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  Scandal: His Majesty’s Love-Child

  © Harlequin Books S.A. 2010

  ISBN: 978-1-408-91902-6