The Inherited Bride by Maisey Yates Page B

her. “He is to be … delayed until the wedding, I’m afraid.”
    “I see. Please bring someone to show the Princess to her room.”
    Relief washed through her. She didn’t have to face Hassan. Not today. Not for another two months. But she was still to be confined to the walls of the palace. Would Adham leave her here alone? The idea made her stomach churn with nerves.
    “You will not accompany me?” she asked, hating the obvious fear that edged her voice.
    “It would not be appropriate,” he said tightly, not looking at her, his eyes fixed ahead, his hands locked behind his back. “Hadiya will show you to your chambers.”
    A small girl with glossy dark hair and a sweet smile came into the room as if on cue.
“Salaam, “
she said, inclining her head, and Isabella returned the greeting.
    Isabella followed Hadiya, but she was powerless to stop herself from looking back at Adham. His eyes were fixed on her, intensity blazing from them. She felt the heat burn through her, her stomach contracting sharply. She whipped her head back around and turned her focus to where she was headed, her heart thundering madly.
    “These are the women’s quarters,” Hadiya said. “Men are not allowed.” A slight sparkle lit her dark eyes. “Of course they do not always follow the rules.”
    Would Adham? He was a man who seemed to live to enforce rules, to ensure that honor was upheld. Which probably excluded visits to the women’s quarters. She wasn’t sure how to handle that. It felt as though he was her lifeline.
    Isabella could only offer a weak smile.
    “The High Sheikh had this room prepared for you months ago—for after the wedding.”
    Isabella nearly sighed with relief. She would have her own room. In her own wing of the house. That way, atleast, she would have some space from her husband. The word made her stomach clench.
    Hadiya opened a massive door and revealed a spacious room draped in swathes of fabric in rich, saturated colors. They hung from the ceiling, and were draped so that they gathered around the bed like an extravagant canopy. There were doors that led out to what looked like a walled garden. So this was her cage. It was gilded nicely. She would say that for it.
    “Thank you, Hadiya,” she said.
    The girl inclined her head. “I’ll bring your things in later.”
    “Thank you,” Isabella repeated, somewhat inanely.
    When Hadiya left Isabella fought the urge to give in to her grief. Instead she walked across the high-gloss jade floor and went to stand at the window, pulling the heavy blue drapes back. The garden was lovely—an oasis with man-made waterfalls and flowering trees and bushes. There was a carved stone bench in the middle of all of it.
    It was clear that real effort had been put into the space, although it hadn’t been tailored to her likes and dislikes specifically. It was simply an elaborate space designed to please any woman. And she
did
like it, so it would be childish to find fault with it simply on principle.
    She pressed her forehead against the glass, felt the heat from outside, and hoped that it might warm the chill that was spreading through her.
    “Isabella.”
    Adham’s husky voice made her pulse jump. She turned and her heart stopped. He was standing there, her bags in his hands.
    “I thought men weren’t allowed here,” she said.
    “We aren’t.” He set her bags down at the foot of the sumptuous bed.
    “You’re breaking the rules. Doesn’t that violate your code of honor? “
    “I’ll risk it.”
    “Are you leaving?” she asked.
    He nodded curtly, and she hoped that the devastation she felt wasn’t evident on her face. “I have other business to deal with.”
    “Babysitting another princess?”
    A small smile curved his lips. “You’re the only one.”
    “Good.” And she meant it. She didn’t want to think of him with another woman. Although just because he wasn’t princess-sitting it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to find a woman. One of the women