“As you wish,” the king said easily. “As you wish.”

As’ad stared at the three bridge proposals in front of him. While each provided the necessary access, they couldn’t be more different. The cheapest bid offered a utilitarian design while the other two had an architectural element that would add to the beauty of the city. There were-

His phone buzzed. He stared at it a second, then pushed the intercom. “I said I was not to be disturbed.”

“I understand, sir. Your orders were very clear.” His normally calm assistant sounded…flustered. “It’s just, there’s someone here to see you. A young woman. Kayleen James. She says she is the nanny for your children?”

The slight rise in Neil’s voice probably came from the fact that he wasn’t aware As’ad had any children.

“I’ll explain it all later,” As’ad told him. “Send her in.”

Seconds later Kayleen walked into his office. As she moved across the open space, he took in the plain brown dress that covered her from the neck to down past her knees, and the flat, sensible shoes. She’d pulled her hair back in a braid. Her pale skin looked bare, and although her eyes were large, she did nothing to enhance her features. Even her earrings, tiny gold crosses, provided little adornment.

He was used to women who took the time and made the effort to be as beautiful as possible. Women who dressed in silk, who showed skin, who smelled of enticing perfumes and glittered with diamonds. Did Kayleen not care for such adornments or had she not had the opportunity to dress that way?

She could, he acknowledged, easily transform herself into a beauty. The basics were already in place-the perfect bone structure in her face, the large eyes, the full mouth.

Without meaning to, he imagined her wearing nothing at all. Pale and soft, covered only by her long hair, a naked temptress who-