Several days later As’ad returned to his rooms to find Kayleen sitting at his dining table in front of a sewing machine. Fabric covered every available surface. She’d pulled over a floor lamp for additional light and didn’t notice his arrival.

His reaction was as powerful as it was instantaneous. Not about the fact that she’d once again ignored his request that she take care of all things involving the girls. Instead his body recognized the woman who had most recently brought him to his knees with a single kiss.

A virgin’s kiss, he reminded himself, still annoyed and aroused at the sight of her. What should have been meaningless, done only to prove a point, had instead started a fire within him that still burned hot and strong. He’d been hungry before kissing her-now he was starved.

He hadn’t been able to sleep for wanting Kayleen. The kiss had shown him potential where he’d seen very little. She’d felt right in his arms-all soft curves and innocence. Yet there had been heat in her, an instinctive passion that had matched his own.

The event should have meant nothing. He should have been able to walk away without thinking of it again. Instead it was all he could do not to cross the room, pull her to her feet and kiss her over and over until she surrendered. He wanted her wet, naked and begging. He wanted all of her.

She looked and saw him. “As’ad.” She smiled. “You’re back.” She stood and held up both hands. “I know what you’re going to say. This is a big mess. I’m sorry. I meant to get it cleaned up before you got home. I lost track of time.”

Her mouth. He couldn’t seem to look away from it. The shape, the hint of white teeth and nimble tongue. His brother Qadir was right-he should have gone to Paris and spent the week mindless in an unknown woman’s bed. Now the opportunity was lost. He had a bad feeling it would be some time before he could use someone else to forget the appeal of Kayleen.

“What are you doing?” he asked, pleased his voice was so calm. Nothing of his turmoil must show.

“Making costumes for the Christmas pageant. All three girls are in it. I want the costumes to be a surprise.”

“The school will not provide them?”

“I suppose they could. They asked if some of the parents could help out. I said I would. Lina found this machine for me. It’s fabulous and practically sews on its own. You should see the instruction manual-it’s as thick as a dictionary. But I’ll figure it out.”

He fingered a length of fabric. “I am sure there are employees in the palace who could do this for you.”

She looked as if he’d slapped her. “But I like sewing. Besides, it’ll matter more if I make the costumes for the girls.”

“As you wish.”

“I’m going to guess you’re not into crafts.”

He allowed himself a slight smile. “No.”

“I learned to sew in the orphanage. I could make more clothes for a lot less. You probably don’t do anything like that here.”

“We do not.”

She tilted her head and her long, red hair tumbled over her shoulders. His fingers curled toward his palms as he ached to touch her hair, to feel it in his hand, dragging along his chest, across his thighs.

“Did your mother sew?” Kayleen asked, jerking him back to the present.

“I don’t know. She died when I was very young. I don’t remember her.”

The light faded from her eyes. “Oh. I’m sorry. I knew she was gone. I didn’t know how old you were when it happened. I didn’t mean to remind you of that.”

“It is of no consequence.”

“But it’s sad.”

“How can it be sad if the memory is gone?”

She frowned. “That is the loss of what should have been.”

“I am not wounded, Kayleen. Share your concerns with someone who needs them.”

“Because you feel nothing?” she asked. “Isn’t that what you told me? Emotion makes you weak?”

“Exactly.” Any emotion. Even passion. His current condition proved that.

“What about trust?” she asked.

“Trust must be earned.”

“So many rules. So many chances to turn people away. It must be nice to have so many people in your life that there are extras.”

She sounded wistful as she spoke, which made him want to pull her close and offer comfort.

Kayleen, who wanted to belong, he thought, realizing her concern for the girls came from having lived in an orphanage herself. She was all heart and would bruise easily in a harsh world. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.

“It is a matter of control,” he told her. “To need no one is to remain in charge.”

She shook her head. “To need no one is to be desperately alone.”

“That is not how I see it.”

“That doesn’t make it any less true. There’s nothing worse than being alone,” she told him. “I’ll get this cleaned up now, and get out of your way.”

Kayleen walked through the palace gardens. While she loved the beauty of the rooms inside, they were nothing when compared with the opulence of the lush gardens that beckoned just beyond her windows.

She chose a new path that twisted and turned, and once again reminded herself that she wanted to find a book on flowers in the palace library. She’d grown up gardening, but in the convent, all extra space had been taken up with vegetables. With money tight and children to feed, the nuns had not wasted precious earth on flowers.

Kayleen plucked a perfect rose and inhaled the sweet scent, then settled on a stone bench warm from the sun. She needed a moment to close her eyes and be still. Maybe then the world would stop turning so quickly.

So much had happened in such a short time. Meeting As’ad, moving here with the girls, getting ready for the holidays, kissing As’ad.

The latter made her both sigh and smile. She longed for another kiss from him, but so far there had been no opportunity. Which made her wonder if the kiss had been as interesting and appealing to him. Maybe he’d found her inexperience disgusting. Maybe he’d been disappointed.

Did it matter? There shouldn’t be any more kissing between them. She had her life plan and As’ad had his. They wanted opposite things-she needed to connect and he claimed connection didn’t matter. She just wasn’t sure she believed him.

She heard footsteps on the path and turned toward the sound. She expected to see one of the many gardeners. What she got instead was the king.

“Oh!” Kayleen sprang to her feet, then paused, not sure what she was supposed to do.

King Mukhtar smiled. “Good afternoon, Kayleen. I see you are enjoying my garden.”

“I enjoy wandering,” she said with a slight bob she hoped would pass for a curtsy and/or bow. “Have I stepped into off-limits space?”

“Not at all. I welcome the company. Come, child. Walk with me.”

It didn’t sound like a request.

Kayleen fell into step beside the king and waited for him to start the conversation. She was just starting to sweat the silence when he said, “Are you settled into the palace? Does it feel like home?”

She laughed. “I’m settled, but I’m not sure anywhere this magnificent will ever feel like home.”

“A very politically correct answer,” he told her. “Where did you grow up?”

“In an orphanage in the Midwest.”

“I see. You lost your parents at an early age?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know anything about my father. My mother had me when she was really young. She couldn’t handle a baby so she left me with her mother. When that didn’t work out, I went to the Catholic orphanage, which turned out to be a great place to grow up.”

She was used to telling the story in a upbeat way that avoided making anyone feel awkward. There was no reason for the king to know that her mother had abandoned her and that her grandmother hadn’t wanted to be stuck with another child to raise. No reason to talk about what it had felt like to be left on the doorstep of an orphanage on her fifth birthday, knowing no one in her family wanted anything to do with her. King Mukhtar wouldn’t know what it felt like to never belong anywhere.

“So you don’t remember your mother at all?” he asked.

“No.” Which was fine with Kayleen.

“Perhaps you’ll meet again one day,” the king said.

“I would like that very much,” Kayleen lied, knowing it was what the king wanted to hear.

Growing up, she’d been taught that it was her duty to forgive her mother and grandmother for abandoning her. She’d made peace with what had happened, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be close now. Perhaps there were circumstances that, if explained, would help her understand. In truth, she wasn’t interested enough to find out.

“So your past is the reason you were so against the three sisters being split up,” the king said.

“Absolutely. They only have each other. They need to stay together.”

“Because of you, they will.”

She smiled. “Actually As’ad gets all the credit. He’s the one who saved them. I’ll always be grateful to him.”

The king glanced at her. “I heard you rode into the desert and met with some of the villagers who live there.”

“I did. I liked them a lot. It’s an interesting way of life. Carrying one’s roots wherever one goes.”

“Most young women would be more interested in the elegant shops on our boulevards than in the desert.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not much into shopping.” She’d never had the money for it to be serious sport and she doubted the stores the king spoke of had much in the way of bargains.

“Perhaps As’ad will take you one day,” the king said.

“That would be fun, but it’s not necessary. He’s given me so much already.”

“So you like my son?”

“Of course. He’s a wonderful man. Charming and kind and patient.” And a great kisser, but she wasn’t going to mention that to the king.

“I am pleased to hear you are getting along,” King Mukhtar told her. “Very pleased.”

Chapter Six

Kayleen waved at Neil, As’ad’s assistant, and when the man didn’t lunge for her, walked past him and into the prince’s office.

As’ad glanced up from his computer. “You have so intimidated my assistant that he has given up trying to stop you.”

She laughed. “If only that were true. I won’t stay long, I just…” She walked to the desk, started to sit down, then stopped. “I spoke with the king.”

As’ad looked at her as if waiting for her point.

“Your father is a king,” she said.

“Yes, I know.”

“I don’t. I can’t be speaking with a king. That sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like me. It doesn’t happen to anyone. It’s not normal.”

“You live in the royal palace. What did you expect?”

“Not to be living here,” she admitted. “It’s too crazy. You’re a prince.”

“Again, information I have already obtained.”

She sighed and sank into a chair. “You’re not taking me seriously.”

“You have given me no reason to. My father and I are who we have always been.”

She nodded slowly. He’d grown up this way. It was impossible for him to grasp the incredibleness of the situation for her.

“I shouldn’t have made you take the girls,” she told him. “I didn’t think the whole thing through. How they would change things for you.”

He rose and walked around the desk until he was standing in front of her and she had to look way, way up to meet his gaze.

“You did not make me do anything.”

She waved that away. “You know what I mean.”

“Indeed, I do not. I was aware that adopting three American sisters would make things different and still I went forward.”

Which made her wonder why he hadn’t just dismissed her like an annoying gnat. Isn’t that what princes did?

“I don’t belong here,” she told him. “I’m not used to this sort of thing.”

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “I say who belongs and who does not.”

“Off with my head?”

“That is not what I had in mind.”

She knew he was going to kiss her even before he bent toward her and brushed his mouth against hers. She couldn’t say how she knew, only that anticipation tightened her stomach and she forgot to breathe. Nothing else mattered but the feel of his lips on hers and the nearness of his body. He put his arms around her and drew her close.

It was like going home. The sense of belonging and safety. She’d never experienced that before and the sensation was so sweet, so perfect, she never wanted to be anywhere else. Then his mouth was moving on hers and she got lost in the kiss, the feel of his hands moving up and down her back. The heat of them. The way they pressed against each other, her body melting into his.

She put her hands on his upper arms and explored his muscled strength. When the pressure on her lips increased, she parted and was rewarded by the sensual sweep of his tongue across hers.