The Defiant Princess by Alyssa J. Montgomery

was scanning and paused, coffee cup mid-way to his mouth. One dark eyebrow arched up in inquiry.
    â€œThe love of your life,” Sabrina clarified. “Have you told her about our plan?”
    â€œYour plan, Sabihah,” he corrected. He continued to drink his coffee, ignoring her question.
    â€œWell? Have you?” His reference to it being her plan disconcerted her.
    â€œI don’t see it as your concern.”
    â€œPrince Khalid, I have every right to be concerned,” she said. “I’ve already got Mustaf hiring assassins to put me out of the picture, I don’t need a jealous lover hiring assassins as well.”
    His lips quirked and then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he broke into a full smile. It transformed him. Stunningly, gorgeously drop-dead good-looking became something much, much more with his sex appeal shooting off the Richter scale. That smile caused tremors from her feet up and then major shock waves of reaction. She had to grip her own coffee cup to prevent the contents sloshing everywhere.
    He was completely irresistible. No wonder he had women falling all over him. If she hadn’t felt the impact of his attraction, she would’ve thought it pathetic earlier when every female at the airport seemed to tune to his frequency. One woman had stopped looking where she was going and nearly fallen over a garbage bin! And what was worse, although he didn’t seem to notice the effect he had on the women at the airport, every time he caught her looking at him, his expression showed that he knew she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. It was utterly humiliating because she so did not want to be attracted to him.
    â€œYou know, you haven’t got a very good track record with women.” She looked outside the window to the runway where planes were taking off in sequence. His track record was the reason she was lucky he wasn’t truly her betrothed. “When your average relationship doesn’t last past a few dates, you wouldn’t want her to think she’s on the way out. If you really want to hold on to this woman, you’ll be completely honest with her. You should …” She broke off as she registered the very slight whitening of his knuckles as he gripped his coffee cup.
    He leant back casually in his seat and then slid a finger nonchalantly up and down the handle of the coffee cup, but she’d already observed his anger. If she hadn’t tuned into the menace in his eyes, the steel in his voice would have alerted her to the fact that he was feeling far from casual.
    â€œPlease don’t stop, Sabihah. This is just getting interesting.”
    She leant forward across the table, refusing to be daunted by him. “I feel sorry for the woman you’re going to marry, and I’m damned glad it isn’t me. You’re one of the most notorious playboys in the stratosphere. You’re hardly good husband material.”
    A slight flush rose under his dark cheekbones, and she felt instant panic. What on earth had caused her to be so rude? She could think it all she liked, but she shouldn’t have voiced it. He wasn’t going to be her husband for long. It wasn’t as though she was about to have her heart broken, so what was it to her? She wasn’t his moral keeper.
    â€œYet, you’re the one insisting the out-dated betrothal be honoured.”
    â€œOnly in the short-term,” she reminded him. “Only on paper. My sole motivation is to depose Mustaf.”
    â€œYou don’t need to marry me to do that. You have the power to depose Mustaf all by yourself just by being the Crown Princess of Rhajia.”
    â€œExcuse me, Your Royal Highness. Your plane is now ready for boarding.” A male flight attendant bowed respectfully to Khalid.
    Khalid thanked the man. “It’s time,” he told Sabrina.
    Sabrina got up from her chair and started to follow him. The closer she got to the boarding