Claiming His Replacement Queen
Stepping into the spotlight… As the desert king’s queen! Khalil’s motivation for marriage is politics, not passion. So when his intended bride marries for love, and her sister, shy Princess Cressida agrees to take her place, Khal travels to London to retrieve his replacement queen! Yet their sizzling encounter changes everything. Since losing his first wife, Khal keeps all emotion on lockdown, but the desire innocent Cressida ignites is too hot to resist…
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Stepping into the spotlight...
As the desert king’s queen!
Khalil’s motivation for marriage is politics, not passion. So when his intended bride marries for love and her sister, shy Princess Cressida, agrees to take her place, Khal travels to London to retrieve his replacement queen! Yet their sizzling encounter changes everything. Since losing his first wife, Khal keeps all emotion on lockdown, but the desire innocent Cressida ignites is too hot to resist...
Lose yourself in this seductive royal romance...
AMANDA CINELLI was raised in a large Irish/Italian family in the suburbs of Dublin, Ireland. Her love of romance was inspired after ‘borrowing’ one of her mother’s beloved Mills & Boon novels at the age of twelve. Writing soon became a necessary outlet for her wildly overactive imagination. Now married, with a daughter of her own, she splits her time between changing nappies, studying psychology and writing love stories.
Resisting the Sicilian Playboy
The Secret to Marrying Marchesi
Monteverre Marriages miniseries
One Night with the Forbidden Princess
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
ISBN: 978-1-474-08787-2
CLAIMING HIS REPLACEMENT QUEEN
© 2019 Amanda Cinelli
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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For Emily
Contents
‘I’D RATHER DIE than be your wife a moment longer.’
Khal opened his eyes, clean cool air filling his lungs with painful force. His surroundings were a jolt to his system, the sleek interior of the royal jet’s main cabin so far apart from the angry red sands and fathomless black water of his dream. It had just been a dream. He sat back, looking up at the ceiling as his heartbeat found its rhythm once more.
His subconscious had long ago stopped tormenting him with every detail of his last conversation with his wife before her death. Or so he had believed.
He unbuckled his seat belt and stood, stretching out the painful tightness in his shoulders. He could have chosen to sleep in any one of the three luxurious bedrooms on board, but sleep had not come easily of late. The dreams were back with a vengeance. The same dreams that had plagued him for an entire year after his wife’s death. Stress seemed to be a trigger and the past few weeks had most certainly not been a relaxing time.
He pressed a button on the panel by his side and, as if by magic, two flight attendants emerged from the end of the cabin. A tray bearing hot towels and fresh ice water was placed on the nearest table without a word. His chair was returned to the upright position and a pot of hot coffee set down within reach.
‘That will be all, thank you,’ he said, his voice unintentionally gravelly from sleep. He glanced up just in time to see one of the women visibly flinch as he waved one hand in dismissal. He fought the urge to roll his eyes with irritation. Without another word, they hurried back behind the curtain and he was alone once more. Just as he preferred it.
Most of his staff knew him well enough to disregard the rumours that had spread upon his wife’s untimely passing. Disgusting, slanderous rumours that he had worked hard to dispel even while in the first days of his grief. But still, whispers spread and somehow the idea that he was a man to be feared had stuck.
