Free Weight of the Crown by Christina Hollis

with wisteria where she could sit down and relax, when she had a moment to herself. In practice, that might never happen. There were plenty of staff, but in England she had already found she could never rest while Ra’id was up and about. She didn’t like to let him out of her sight during the day, and always popped in to check on him during the night, too. Each time she had run her hand over his cool, dry forehead she thought of little Georgie. That had been a rare tragedy, and with Lysander giving her total control over Ra’id’s health and welfare she knew the same thing would never happen again, but the worry was always there. She knew everyone else would think she was being irrational, but it didn’t feel like that to her.
I’d rather care too much than not enough
, she kept telling herself.
Except when it comes to Lysander …
Ra’id was so exhausted after all the excitement of their journey home, he wanted to go to bed straight after his supper. Alyssa couldn’t believe her luck. Once the nursery was straight, she had a long indulgent bath, got ready for bed, then allowed herself the luxury of a really early night. She was almost as tired as Ra’id, and dropped off to sleep straight away.
    Alyssa had been told the nursery wing was fitted with the best alarm system money could buy, but nothing could override her years of training. Her earswere tuned to hear the slightest night-time noise. When music wafted in through her open windows, she was awake instantly. The faint, distant sound of wheels on tarmac told her exactly what was going on. Lysander was having a party. A big affair, judging by the number of vehicles arriving.
    She tried to get back to sleep rather than worry about what might be going on, or how much noise there would be. From the sound of it, the party was a long way away. It must be on the other side of the palace complex. Although there was no way a nanny could have expected an invitation to one of Lysander’s parties, a part of her couldn’t help wishing she were there—while knowing it would be a bad idea. She had seen enough photographs of Lysander partying to know what would be going on. Half-naked starlets would be draping themselves all over the place, hoping for something more permanent than a simple photo opportunity. The more she thought about some other woman making a fool of herself over a philanderer like Lysander Kahani, the harder it was to get to sleep. In the end, she pulled the sheet over her head and stuck her fingers in her ears to block out the distant rise and fall of sound.
    A loud knocking at the door to her suite was harder to ignore. Scrambling out of bed and padding over to open it, she found a footman outside. He was carrying a silver salver, and on it was a single sheet of handmade paper. It had been folded in half to hide the message. When she opened it out, she found a simple message written in a bold, flowing hand.
    ‘Dear Alyssa, please bring Ra’id straight down tothe state banqueting hall. I’d like to introduce him to the company.’
    It was signed simply ‘L’, with a little ‘x’ beside the initial letter.
    Alyssa felt the unwanted stirrings of arousal within her body. A personal invitation from Lysander to visit his party, and with a kiss after his initial … She pursed her lips. It was a dream that, professionally, she had to treat as a nightmare. He was asking her to treat his nephew like some performing animal on display!
    She checked her watch, which only made things worse. It was ten past ten—hours after Ra’id’s bedtime. Infuriated, she told the footman there was no reply and sent him back to the party. When he had gone, she realised a simple message would never stop a man like Lysander. He would carry on sending for her until she did as he commanded.
    Fingering the mobile nursery alarm hanging from its loop at her waist, she wondered what to do. Ra’id was fine—she had checked on him the moment the party woke her, only a few minutes