Crowned for the Sheikh's Baby by Sharon Kendrick

Author:Sharon Kendrick [Kendrick, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-04-06T12:37:16+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE IMAGE WHICH stared back at her was strange and Hannah had never seen anything quite like it before. A woman clad entirely in a golden gown, the soft gleam emphasising the four-month curve of her fecund belly. The metallic shimmer looked more like armour than satin and her floaty veil of golden thread was held in place by a coronet of bright diamonds, which were fashioned to look like flowers.

This is me, thought Hannah—except it doesn’t look like me.

This was the last time she would stand in front of a mirror as a single woman. A last glimpse of the old Hannah, before she was taken into the vast throne room where Kulal and the rest of the wedding party were waiting for her so the ceremony could begin. And what a wedding party. A nervous shiver ran down her spine because the size of the congregation was daunting—more than that, all the guests seemed to be billionaires or royalty.

Hannah reminded herself that she’d worked for these kinds of people ever since she’d been a rookie sixteen-year-old starting at the Granchester, and they were only flesh and blood—just like her. Even so, she didn’t usually socialise with political leaders and sultans or academics and sports stars. The only person she’d met before was Salvatore Di Luca, who had arrived at the palace the previous evening and greeted her with a warmth which felt manufactured. She wondered if he remembered her as the last-minute guest Kulal had taken to his fancy party and whether he secretly disapproved of their unlikely union.

At least Zac Constantinides and his wife, Emma, had been unable to attend, and Hannah had felt nothing but relief when they’d cited a prior engagement in Zac’s native Greece. Imagine how embarrassing that would have been—saying her vows in front of the ex-boss who’d been forced to fire her. It was just unfortunate that his cousin Xan was present and that he and Tamsyn seemed to have had some kind of run-in during the rehearsal last night.

She pleated her lips together as she made a final unnecessary adjustment to her veil, terrified Tamsyn was going to cause some kind of scene today. Because her little sister was on the rampage and making no attempt to hide her displeasure. Had Tamsyn guessed she was being railroaded into this marriage, despite her repeated assurances to the contrary? And was she determined to fight Hannah’s corner for her, as her big sister had done for her so many times in the past?

But in the end, the choice Hannah had been forced to make had been a no-brainer.

Marriage which would confer legitimacy on her unborn child.

Or life as a struggling singleton, with the ever-present fear that Kulal might use his power and his influence to snatch her offspring away from her.

The soft voice of one of the servants interrupted Hannah’s reverie with a gentle question. ‘You are ready, mistress?’

Hannah nodded as she picked up the heavy spray of white hyacinth interwoven with juniper berries—both national flowers of Zahristan.

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