Free The Sheikh's Arranged Marriage: The only thing worse than falling in love with the man she'd married was knowing he would never feel the same... by Clare Connelly

she’d lacked the confidence to argue with anyone else, either. Until now.
    CHAPTER SIX
    Ballet. It was her secret passion. Secret by necessity, and passion by design. She had no control over the matter.
    As a girl, she had danced until her toes bled, and her mother had indulged the fervent hobby of her only child with slavish determination. She’d taken Rebecca to ballet lessons four times a week from the age of three. By the time her parents had died, Rebecca was being courted by The Royal Ballet School. Only Winona hadn’t let her attend the auditions.
    “This is just a stupid pipe dream of my sister’s, Rebecca. She was a fool to make you think you could go anywhere with dancing. Look at you. You’re too tall to ever be good at ballet. The day she married into your dad’s hoity toity family she lost touch with reality. You, a ballerina? What a joke.”
    Rebecca had not, at that stage, been so totally brow beaten and she had argued, “But the headmistress herself of the RBS thinks I am good. She came to our concert last year and asked me to audition.”
    “Lies, fabrications. That’s your mother for you. Always building you up only to let you fail. You can’t do it, Rebecca. Forget about it. And another thing. Your uncle Greg hasn’t worked his arse off just so he can pay tuition fees to a school like that. Get real, girl.”
    And that had been the end of it. Rebecca had appeared to shelve her dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer. And when she’d learned that one of her dearest friends from the ballet academy she had attended as a young girl had been paralysed by a fall at school, she had transferred her passion to another field completely.
    But ballet was still there. Her secret joy. Her secret love. Long concealed but never forgotten.
    Her argument with Tariq had left her with a strange pent up emotion. She’d tossed and turned all night, and when she had slept, it had been lightly and fitfully. At first light, before her attendants had even joined her, she dressed in a pair of black leggings and a fitted black singlet top and had crept from her room. On her first day in the palace, when she’d explored the rooms, she’d found a large empty hall that would be perfect for her needs. It had mirrors along one wall, and a corked floor. She had known instantly that it would serve as a makeshift dance studio.
    As she tiptoed out of the private royal residence, a security guard emerged from a groove in the wall. “Your majesty, I am to accompany you today.” He said formally, and Rebecca felt her heart race.
    “You scared me!” She exclaimed, bringing a hand to her chest while her breath steadied.
    “I apologise,” he murmured.
    “This was the King’s idea?” She demanded.
    “Yes. New orders for your protection.”
    She knew what had brought this on. Her tousle with the servant woman yesterday was no doubt something he didn’t want repeated.
    She sighed with exasperation. “Very well. Come along.”
    Rebecca shouldn’t take her bad mood out on this man, but she couldn’t help it. She stomped down the long corridor of the palace until she found her makeshift dance space. “Can you wait outside?” She asked once they’d reached the room.
    The guard shook his head. “No, madam. I must watch you.”
    “Very well.” She said again, and walked into the room. “Please close the door behind you.”
    He did as she’d asked.
    Well, Tariq might have wanted her to have a security guard, but she doubted her husband would have liked the fact that the man was watching her like a hawk as she stretched and warmed up. He was so used to being under constant scrutiny that he could have had no concept of how intrusive she found it.
    She placed her iphone down on the table and turned the volume up as loud as she could. The sound of Giselle immediately soothed her frazzled nerves. After a sleepless night, she finally felt a sense of calm. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. It was the last