The Duke's Runaway Princess Page 0,11

secret.”

“Skeletons in the closet, type of secret?”

Suzanne thought about that, then shrugged her shoulders. “Anything is possible.”

Zarah laughed. “He sounds like a strange sort of man. I’ll steer clear,” she said as she pulled out her book and flipped to the page she’d left off previously.

Suzanne looked at her beautiful friend and started to worry. There was no doubt that the man in question was a mystery. But he was also gorgeous, wealthy, charming and made women stop and stare when he walked down the street. Even the older ladies tittered with interest when he showed them even the smallest bit of attention. Since he always flirted with the blue and grey haired set, there was a great deal of giggling and blushing happening whenever he showed up.

Zarah was beautiful in an exotic, enticing way. Would ‘The Duke’, as everyone in the village referred to him normally, try to entice Zarah into his bed as well?

She thought of the man she’d met a few times and then shook her head. The Duke never flirted seriously with any of the younger women from the village. He seemed to have very strict rules about dating someone he might run into when he came to his country home for a visit. He would flirt outrageously with anyone over fifty while the younger women were treated with painful politeness, but he never flirted with any of them. No, Derrick Huntington, Duke of Waren was always the ultimate gentleman with women their age. Zarah was safe from his charms.

Chapter 3

Zarah almost danced down the street to the dress shop. She’d been living here in Willingham for six months now. It had been a wonderful six months too. Mary was a fun-loving boss with a wicked sense of humor and a gentle heart who loved to meddle in people’s personal business, but always with the best intentions and never maliciously.

She was also so disorganized she could barely figure out what should be in her current inventory. Zarah had created a new inventory system, straightened out the financials so that Mary understood her profit margins better. She’d also brought in different designers but nothing too upscale because this was a sleepy little town, so the new designs were conservative, interesting and not too edgy which created a buzz around the town. The result was a one hundred and fifty percent increase in sales over the past six months for Mary.

Adding to Zarah’s happiness was that other businesses around the village were asking her to consult for them. They all wanted her to work her business magic for their shops as well. Zarah was more than excited to take on clients and she worked around Mary’s schedule so that she could go over the business details with the other shop owners, coming up with creative ways to increase both their revenue and profit margins. She’d already suggested several changes to the florist and the copy shop down the street and the coffee shop owner and restaurant owner were both waiting for her to help them.

Zarah loved her new life. She and Suzanne had a small, two bedroom apartment where her friend cooked their meals and Zarah cleaned up afterwards. She even enjoyed cleaning! It was very satisfying to restore order from the chaos of Suzanne’s excellent cooking. She’d never tell her brother that she liked cleaning. She could just imagine the look of horror on his face if she mentioned that part of her life to him. Rashid was an excellent ruler, but had very specific ideas about what was appropriate for his sisters.

This morning, she opened the shop for the morning, pulled up the shade for the window and ensured that the cash register was set and ready to go. As the morning hours passed by slowly and quietly, she built a new spreadsheet that would better calculate the return on investment for some additional advertising she was going to recommend to Mary. She was concentrating on the strategy when she heard the bells over the door ring and in walked a beautiful blond with a cloud of heavy perfume.

“Good morning,” Zarah greeted the new client, holding her breath as the woman came closer because the scent was so strong and cloying.

The blond walked in a bit more, examining the dresses on display and then pulling her hand away with disgust, as if she’d gotten some dust on her perfectly manicured hand from the fabric. “Its afternoon,” the woman stated with disdain, walking through the clothes and