“What in the world are you talking about?”
He indicated the paper with a nod of his head. “Read that.”
“More of the Cinderfella romance between Tahira and her palace aid husband?”
“Not exactly.”
With a huff, Liyah started reading, hope and despair twisting together in a knot inside her with each new paragraph. Not Cinderfella, but a modern-day Cinderella fairy tale. Where Liyah played the role of servant elevated to princess by the love of her prince.
Only Sayed didn’t love her and he had to be furious about this. “Oh, my gosh…what are we going to do? How did they learn my name? Can we get a retraction printed?”
“And what are they to retract? The picture of us in obvious afterglow, or the speculation that Tahira and my stars did not cross because we both had different destinies?”
“Um, well…how furious are your parents about this?”
“Father is surprisingly prosaic and Mother is thrilled all her plans for a royal wedding won’t be wasted.”
Liyah jumped up like there was a spring under her behind. “Married?” she screeched.
Sayed winced, but then he smiled. “Under that buttoned-down exterior, you’re an emotional firecracker, aren’t you?”
“Don’t tease me. This is too serious.”
An arrested expression came over his face. “Yes, you’re right. It is.”
“What do you mean?” Had he changed his mind already?
He pulled her to him and leaned down to kiss her softly. “Think about it, will you do that for me?”
“Marriage?” she asked, afraid to believe.
“Yes.” He kissed her again, as if he couldn’t help himself. “Until tonight.”
“What’s happening tonight?”
“We’re having dinner.”
“Don’t we have dinner every night?” He smiled indulgently like she’d said something sweetly funny. “Tonight’s dinner will be special.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to ask you a question and if you give me the right answer I’ll show you the secret passage and the hidden room my great-great-grandfather built for trysts with his wife.”
“Don’t you mean his mistress?”
“No. He was a romantic and wanted to give her a very special wedding gift.”
“So, he built a hidden room.”
“Yes.”
“No wonder.”
“What?” Sayed asked.
“You’re so incredible.” She smiled up at him. “It’s in the genes.”
“I tried to tell you.”