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“Calling you is an obvious waste of time,” Kyria muttered glumly.

“I have...tell...king.”

Her teeth gnashed as the queen continued laughing her head off. “You arenothelping at all!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Harper wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and did her best to control herself. “But seriously, why in God’s name did you do those things in the first place? Did you forget we have caller ID?”

“Of course I didn’t.” Kyria threw herself on the couch in a fit of unrest. “I panicked at hearing his voice.”

The queen frowned. “But it’s not like you guys don’t talk.”

Kyria grimaced. Even the word ‘talk’ would be stretching it a bit when she recalled the stilted phone conversations that either Vanna or Altair had forced on her and the sheikh in the past two years.

Happy birthday, Kyria. I’m sorry I’m unable to visit you.

Merry Christmas, Malik. I’m sorry I’m unable to fly back home.

“Those were different,” she said finally. She had at least some semblance of time to prepare herself for those calls. It was the opposite with him answering the phone yesterday and the way he unexpectedly showed up on her doorstep this morning. Neither had given her any time at all to school her mind and heart...

Harper was still bewildered. “What do you mean different?”

“I wasn’t expecting to hear his voice yesterday. It made me want to say things, stupid things—-”

Stupid things,the queen mentally translated,like probably how Kyria still couldn’t make up her mind on whether she saw Malik as a man or as a brother.

“And because they were stupid things,” Kyria continued glumly, “I panicked.”

Now Harper was beginning to understand. “That’s why you hung up.”

Kyria’s head hung low in shame. “Yes.”

“And so when you saw him this morning, you were, umm, thinking of stupid things again?”

“Yes.” The admission was uttered in a small voice.

“And so instead of doing any of those stupid things—-” Harper was guessing those had to do with hugging and kissing. “You, umm, ended up panicking again and slamming the door in his face?”

“Yes.” And this time, the younger girl’s voice was even smaller.

“I...see.” Harper tried hard not to imagine the look on Malik’s face when his beloved Kyria shut the door on him, but it was impossible, and before she knew it she was already clutching her sides, lost in another bout of laughter.

“Harper!”

“Sorry...just...too...funny.”

She glared at the phone in disgust. “Call me when you’re done, and by the way—-” Her voice turned sweet. “I’m charging this call on your account.”

The queen’s laugh abruptly stopped. “Hey!”

But Kyria had also hung up on her.Serves her right, she thought darkly. As Harper was now queen, the kingdom’s laws dictated that her every expense be settled from the royal coffers, and there was nothing the fiercely independent queen hated more than having to spend anyone else’s money but hers.

That took care of her little revenge, but there was still the matter of a certain sheikh.

Kyria stared at the phone in her hands. At the very least, she owed him an apology. But what if he askedwhyhad she done all those things?

****

AS MALIK’S LIMOUSINEjoined the flow of vehicles rolling down one of St. Valentine’s busy avenues, the sheikh noticed his head of security glancing at him every once in a while through the rearview mirror—-