Weight of the Crown

by Christina Hollis

  That moment on the palace landing felt like a lifetime ago. She had seen a side of Lysander today that was at odds with his playboy image. She liked to think her common sense might be having some influence on him, but she couldn’t ignore the obvious reason for the change in him. He’d had no time for flirting today. Both he and Alyssa had been too busy taking care of Ra’id and laughing along with him to think of anything beyond their shared interest in the little boy.

  She tried to see that as a good thing. Today could so easily be a one-off. Lysander had been taken out of his natural habitat. That might be having the same effect on him as the change in routine did with Ra’id. It gave them both more to think about than mischief. Alyssa tried to see that as a good thing, but the memory of Lysander’s eyes burning with desire for her on the night of his banquet was impossible to forget.

  She wondered what the next day would bring—more respect, or more temptation? Setting her alarm, she lay down and tried to sleep. The days were long in Rosara, but she was determined to make the most of every second of freedom.

  Everything was perfect, right down to the jug of filtered water in her bedside fridge, but she still couldn’t switch off. After what felt like hours, she gave up, untangled herself from the sheet and got out of bed. One long, cool, bubbly bath later, smelling of rose petal attar from the royal perfumier, she pulled on a thin cotton blouse and light, summer-weight trousers. Pouring herself a large glass of orange juice fresh from the palace citrus groves, she strolled out onto her balcony. If she couldn’t sleep, she could at least suffer insomnia in comfort. Settled on piles of silken cushions specially designed for lounging, she gazed past tendrils of wisteria draped around the balcony rail, and down into the courtyard below.

  The night was warm, and heavy with the fragrance of citrus and jasmine. It was heavenly. She stretched her limbs luxuriously across the downy pillows. It felt so good, she needed only one thing to complete the picture. That was a glimpse of Lysander. She hoped their happy afternoon hadn’t been a one-off, but she was wary that it might have been designed to weaken her resistance to him. Her body was definitely drawn to his, but she couldn’t let that lead her astray. Instead, she fell back on fantasy. Lysander’s worldwide reputation as a playboy made him too hot for her to handle in real life, but dreaming was free. She sighed. The man was a twenty-four-carat rogue, and a genuine heart-breaker. You only had to look at him to see that.

  She smiled at the thought of his handsome face this afternoon. She had never seen him look so relaxed and happy, especially when he was showing Ra’id how to take pictures with his smartphone. Not even in all those press photographs, where he had a new woman hanging on his arm in every shot.

  It was interesting to think he might really change now he was back in Rosara … and it was safer, too. She had heard from other staff at the palace that no woman could expect to keep Lysander interested for long, but maybe that would change, too. As long as he stopped tempting her everything would be fine, although it was impossible not to wonder what it would be like to be on Lysander Kahani’s menu … Alyssa had never met any other man like him, either in looks or character. And whatever his faults, he was always a gentleman. If he wanted, Lysander could have charmed her into his bed at any time over the past few days, if he did but know it! He made her feel so special. But then, she thought, he must have honed his skill at making women feel unique on a thousand other conquests. A man like that would be an expert at playing games with hearts. Every time she felt tempted, Alyssa relived the mental torture of her breakup with Jerry all over again.

  It was supposed to keep her own heart closed to Lysander, but it didn’t work. She sympathised with him, and could understand why he was so restless. He needed some form of escape within his gilded cage, she could tell—but she didn’t dare try and find out what it was.

  Lysander couldn’t sleep. He tried paperwork. He went back to his office and shuffled documents, but it was no good. The palace had a complete movie theatre, but trying to watch films only made him feel worse. However hard he tried to distract himself, nothing worked. It couldn’t take his mind off the events of that afternoon.

  He cursed loudly. What had Alyssa done to him? He couldn’t even be truthful with himself any more. It wasn’t the picnic that had affected him so much, but her. When it came to women, he was a professional. This afternoon he had gone out of his way to act as though their kiss had been no big deal for him. He had tried to pretend it was a mistake he had already forgotten about. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Lysander enjoyed heightening his desire in any way he could. Resisting temptation was a new strategy. It was proving to be the most arousing and the most difficult thing he had ever attempted. Alyssa’s smile, the scent of rosewater on her warm skin, that little habit she had of twiddling a lock of her hair when she was thinking—details kept coming back to haunt him as night fell. Tiny things about her he hadn’t realised he had noticed seethed through his mind until he could hardly think straight. The woman was disrupting his thoughts and stealing his sleep. How was he supposed to work towards a better Rosara, with thoughts of her pressing in on him from all sides?

  This had gone far beyond a joke. No one can be allowed to get inside the mind of Lysander Kahani like this, he thought with grim determination. He had to put a stop to it as soon as possible, and, being Lysander, he knew exactly how to do it. The sooner she was in his bed, the better.

  The palace was winding down for the night. Alyssa got to her feet, knowing she should try to go back to bed. Still she lingered, enjoying the richly fragranced evening air for a few more moments. The sound of a bubbling fountain down in the quadrangle was wonderfully restful. An old apricot tree dripping with fruit scented the air with its sweetness. The evening was so quiet she could hear the soft sounds of the last few servants going off to bed. The rustle of a robe or the click of sandals on marble floors were the only human intrusions into a scene dominated by nature. A warm breeze caressed her skin, insects sang in the shadows and as always there was the scent of the roses that gave Rosara its name.

  It was heaven—and then she heard hooves clattering across cobblestones, not very far away. She listened as the sound changed, and knew the royal horses were being led in for the night. Sleep still felt so far away. The stables were close, and she couldn’t resist visiting them.

  Leaving her rooms, she padded through the silent palace. As she cut through the inner courtyard below her balcony a lighted window on the ground floor caught her eye. She saw a tall and unmistakable form pass a pair of open French doors. It was Lysander. The angle meant she couldn’t see his face, but that didn’t matter. What she saw was arousing enough. He was pacing around in bare feet, his white shirt hanging loose and unbuttoned. Her heart lurched as she realised he must be in his own suite, on his own territory.

  As she was enjoying the sight he suddenly swung out into the courtyard garden. As if sensing the heat of her gaze, he looked straight across to where she stood watching him.

  There could be no escape. Alyssa thought of all the photographs she had ever seen of him. None of them did him justice tonight. While he was always snapped with the world’s most glamorous women, tonight she was scrubbed clean of make-up, perfumed only with bath oil and dressed in chain-store casuals. She blushed furiously, but before she could melt back into the shadows he spoke.

  ‘Alyssa? What a lovely surprise. I was just thinking about you. You can’t sleep either?’ He chuckled, his voice as warm as melted chocolate. ‘I know how you feel. Our afternoon together was so good, it seems a shame to end this special day like any other.’

  He smiled, in a deliciously unthreatening way.

  ‘Wait there—I’ve had a great idea …’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  LYSANDER vanished back into his suite, but reappeared seconds later. Fully dressed now, complete with breeches and boots, he was still buttoning his shirt as he strode across the courtyard towards her.

  ‘I don’t need to ask what brings
you outside on this beautiful evening, do I, Alyssa?’

  ‘I couldn’t sleep, and when I heard the horses I had to go and take a look.’

  ‘Enticing, isn’t it?’ His voice was full of its old mischief, but that was as far as it went. He stopped while he was still several feet away from her. ‘Why don’t we go out for a moonlight ride? If you think this palace is beautiful, wait until you see the place they call The Queen’s Retreat. It’s too beautiful a night to waste an opportunity like this. The gardens there are full of the most stunning plants and flowers, brought from all corners of the world.’

  Alyssa stared at him. ‘Don’t you think it had better wait until morning?’

  It was obvious he knew exactly what she meant. A man and a woman in a beautiful garden, caressed by the warm desert night … He smiled in a way that told her he had already made up his mind exactly what was going to happen, but he was still careful not to get too close. ‘No. It can’t wait.’

  Alyssa’s entire body began to glow. This was her wildest fantasy brought to life. Apart from dim lamps set around the quadrangle, the only lights showing were in his suite. Every other window overlooking the courtyard was dark and blank.

  No one would see them leave the palace together. No one would know.

  But I will, she thought with a pang, and so will my poor battered heart.

  ‘That doesn’t sound very sensible …’ she ventured.

  He shook his head, and spoke in a rich undertone. ‘It’s possibly the most sensible thing I’ve done in my life so far.’

  Alyssa tried to answer, but couldn’t. Desperate to know what he was talking about, she didn’t have the confidence to ask. Lysander at arm’s length was exciting. Any closer than that, and he was sure to be trouble.

  He gave her a little bow and her senses went into overdrive.

  ‘What if someone sees us?’

  His dark eyes glittered like jet in the soft evening light. He chuckled softly. ‘Little details like that never bother me. When I want to do something, I do it. There’s never any point in hesitating. There comes a time when the waiting has to stop—and that’s now.’

  Alyssa didn’t know what to think. Taking a step back, she wrapped her arms around her waist and stared down at the toes of his highly polished riding boots. To look at anything else would lead her into all sorts of trouble.

  ‘I’m not sure …’

  ‘I am—and if we’re going at all, it needs to be soon. If we go now we’ll be in time to see a full moon rise over the mountain ridge. It’s a breathtaking sight,’ he murmured, reaching for her hand. ‘We should take our chance while we can. It’s a perfect night—and we’ll use my special short cut.’

  Alyssa tried to refuse, but Lysander was impossible to resist. He guided her towards the open French doors of his apartment. She couldn’t have complained if she wanted to. Her heart was pounding too hard. She could hardly take it all in—his breathtaking confidence, the faint drift of his aftershave and the enticing glimpses of his private life as she was whisked straight through his suite.

  The hall beyond the royal wing was deserted. Lysander melted through the shadows, leading her where he must have led countless other women in the past. They made it to the stables without picking up any of his security team. From there, it was easy. Communicating by the lightest of touches, Lysander helped Alyssa saddle up a beautiful bay mare, and then found his own horse. Together, they escaped into the night.

  The royal animals were bred from tough, fast desert bloodlines that Lysander’s family had guarded jealously for centuries. Alyssa laughed with delight, but desert breezes stole the sound from her lips. The only sound was the drumming of hooves on hard-packed sand. They galloped across a landscape veiled in the mauve and lavender shades of dusk, to an island of rock in the sea of sand. Cresting a final dune, Alyssa saw the stark silhouette of a royal palace pasted against the clear ultra marine sky. Lysander led her on, but as they reached the shadow of those great stone ramparts Alyssa reined in her horse. It turned and fretted as she looked up at walls as high and solid as cliffs. Lysander was a little way ahead but when she stopped he wheeled his stallion around and went back to her side.

  ‘Come on—I don’t want you to miss a moment!’ he called, urging her on past the last security post and up the sloping switchback path that led to the castle gates. As they clattered beneath a final arch, roosting doves exploded with fright across an inner courtyard. Alyssa jumped, but Lysander was there to reassure her.

  ‘There’s nothing to be scared of here. It’s the safest stronghold in my country. I visit when I want to get away from people,’ he confided, which shocked Alyssa.

  ‘But everyone knows you’re the original party person!’ she blurted out. ‘Why would you of all people want to escape?’

  ‘Everyone needs quiet sometimes, and, anyway, I don’t have time for partying any more. There’s so much to do for Rosara. It fills up all my time, and the change from player to manager is a difficult adjustment.’ He leapt from his horse and went to help her down. ‘I’ve always liked my own space. It’s especially important to me now. I need a place where I can leave the restrictions of palace life a long way behind.’

  Lysander’s strong, tanned hands slid around her waist and drew her gently from the saddle. His touch lingered over her for a little longer than protocol would have liked, but here the boring rules of palace life felt far away. For once, Alyssa was in no hurry to remind him about them.

  Two men came out from a gatehouse to greet them. One took care of their horses, while the other handed Lysander a flaming torch.

  ‘What a gesture!’ Alyssa said, trying not to watch the firelight dance over the impressive, gleaming muscles exposed by Lysander’s open-necked shirt.

  ‘It sets the scene perfectly,’ he told her. ‘There’s no electricity here. The Queen’s Retreat was the last word in gracious royal living in the fifteenth century, but not now. Queens today want more in the way of hundredwatt lighting, satellite TV and walk-in fridges.’

  He held the torch high and looked around with real fondness. Alyssa couldn’t help wondering about all his ancestors, living, loving and laughing in this beautiful haven. Inside the perimeter wall was a large courtyard. In the centre rose the castle, but Lysander led her to one side of the main building. As they went he touched his torch to others set up along the way. When they reached a wrought-iron gate set into the stonework, he opened it and let her go through first.

  She walked into a beautiful garden, laid out behind the main castle. It was a wonderland of rustling trees and tangled undergrowth, rioting around a large circular building with a high domed roof.

  ‘That’s the observatory,’ Lysander told her in passing. ‘This is the perfect place to study the stars, and I like to relax in style.’

  Everywhere was studded with the luminous pale flowers of roses and lilies, sparkling with fireflies that danced in the dark.

  Alyssa drew in a deep breath, rich with all the wonderful perfumes of flowers and oil from cedar trees. Before she could say anything, a nightingale began sobbing from deep in the heart of a rambling rose.

  ‘Legend says that is the lament of an adulterous queen who was banished here,’ Lysander said in a low voice.

  ‘Who could be unhappy when they can listen to that?’ Alyssa whispered, afraid to spoil the moment. ‘Unless she regretted putting her trust in someone who betrayed her?’

  ‘It sounds as though you know what you’re talking about,’ he whispered back.

  ‘Shh.’ Alyssa put her hand on his arm. It was only a touch, but it was enough to make him tense. When she felt that, Alyssa looked at him quickly. Their eyes met, and in the silence a second nightingale sent a stream of silvery notes into the evening. For long moments they waited until the song died away. Then Lysander’s hand slid over hers.

  ‘Come on, or we’ll miss the real show.’ He squeezed her fingers, but then moved away.

  Light-headed with the effects of his touch, Alyssa followed
. He led her over to the Eastern wall, where a golden glow was already spreading above the horizon. Climbing a steep flight of steps to the sentries’ walkway, Alyssa gasped at the perfect view of the night sky it afforded.

  ‘It’s lovely and you can see for miles!’

  Lysander put out the torch he was carrying, then leaned his folded arms on the breast high wall.

  ‘Yes, but can you imagine spending every day and night here, for the rest of your life?’ he said quietly. ‘Marooned far away from the city, the bright lights and all your friends?’

  ‘I’d love it,’ she added, smiling at the confession he had made.

  ‘I had a feeling you would. It isn’t for everyone, and that’s part of its charm. My brother Akil wanted to update this place and make his wife move here, but she hated it.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have bothered waiting for the renovations. I couldn’t have got here fast enough,’ Alyssa muttered.

  He laughed. ‘You’re the first woman who hasn’t run screaming from the thought of being stuck here at The Queen’s Retreat without so much as a power shower to bless herself with.’

  ‘I’m a nanny. We can cope with anything!’ Alyssa joined in his laughter.

  ‘Then you’re the only woman I’ve met who could. Most of them have fainted at the thought of a hangnail.’

  Alyssa put her elbows on the wall beside him and cupped her chin in her hands. ‘Then you’ve only met some rather silly women! I’m glad I’m not like that.’