His Arranged Marriage by Tina Leonard Page A

hurry. Cade stared after her. “Missing the meal with them was their intention,” he said to no one.
    What had made his princess vanish like day before night?
     
    “O NE MOMENT , Princess Serena, I will get Prince Sharif for you,” her father’s chief adviser said. “Your father is at a meeting in the city, or I am certain he would want to speak with you as well.”
    “That’s all right. Prince Sharif is fine for now. Thank you.” Her mission of seduction could best be answered by the man who had a many women vying for his favors. She needed to know how long it took before a man could consider that he knew a woman well enough to make love to her; this was not a question she could ask of any females in the palace harem. The gossip would be enormous and scathing that she could not lure her prince into bed.
    No, Prince Sharif was the appropriate person to give her the man’s perspective on love.
    “Hello, my sister,” he greeted as he came on the line.
    Familiar feelings of love and closeness rushedinto her at the sound of Sharif’s voice. “How good it is to hear you, Sharif!”
    “And you, as well. The palace is not the same without you.”
    “Perhaps I am not the same without the palace,” Serena said quietly.
    “You are not happy with Prince Kadar?” Sharif asked quickly. “He is not kind to you? I will come at once and cut his—”
    “No, no, no!” Serena exclaimed. “I mean that maybe I am not all my prince thought I would be once he brought me to his home.”
    Sharif hesitated. “My sister, you are all he thought you were and more, I am sure. What makes you have these worries? It is his job to make you feel secure in a land where you are unfamiliar, and secure among his people.”
    Serena laughed. “His people are kind and generous. They have included me as one of their own. His land is different, but I like it. No, Sharif,” she said, her voice lowered, “my problem is a delicate one.”
    “I will help you if I can, but perhaps you should call the harem and speak to—”
    “No. I cannot do that. I need to know how a man thinks, not how a woman thinks who is trying to please a man. My prince seems immune to that.”
    “Ah. I understand.”
    Serena’s eyebrows flew up. “You do?”
    “Absolutely. He is bored.”
    “Bored?” She didn’t like the sound of that at all.
    “Yes. He has had many women who tried to possess him. They have all tried their tricks on him. He is weary of women’s wiles. So you must forget whatever you learned in the harem.”
    “Well, it wasn’t much,” Serena muttered. “The women were careful around my ears.”
    “All the better then. Anyway, American people are very different about this marriage thing. This one-man, one-woman situation is very trying. You must be all the more captivating, without actually seeming to be trying to captivate him, of course.”
    “But how? He won’t even…even—” Serena broke off, blushing. “Our marriage could be annulled at any moment,” she finished on a dismayed whisper.
    “Has he said that is what he wants?”
    “No. He says he wants to wait until I know my own mind.”
    “Allah be praised for bringing such a man to my sister,” Sharif said joyfully, “even if I cannot fully comprehend such restraint.”
    “You would not show such restraint with your bride, then?”
    “Certainly not. However, I do not expect to love my wife. I will make a political alliance with no expectation of love. Harems are for pleasure—marriage is for duty. Yet it is clear that your prince has fallen in love with you.”
    “In love…with me?” Serena echoed in disbelief.
    “Why else would he care whether you know your own mind or not? Women are not supposed to know their minds.”
    “Oh, Sharif,” Serena said on a moan. “You have had the luxury of a harem too long.”
    “Actually, I have not visited the harem in a great while. I tell you I am restless, and it is true. This is why I think I sympathize with your prince. It