Sheikh's Mail-Order Bride by Marguerite Kaye Read Free Book Online Page B

to it, and if there is no prospect of him profiting from something he is utterly uninterested.’
    â€˜I don’t think it’s inexplicable, and I most certainly do not think the fact that you are a woman should disbar you from scientific study. Quite the contrary. It is to your credit and to be commended.’
    â€˜Oh.’ She turned back to face him, her cheeks hot once again. ‘I’m terribly sorry. You sounded so— And then I assumed— And I ought not to have— Only my father— And I should not have spoken to you as I did, but I keep forgetting that you are a prince. I mean I don’t forget, exactly, especially not when you give me that assessing look and I wish that I was thinking something a little more interesting for you to assess, but I fear that you would think my mind rather boring if you could read it, which you can’t, obviously, though truly you do give one the impression that you can, and—and—oh, dear, that is another thing you do. Those silences. They make me want to fill them, and I start babbling and here I am, doing it again.’
    Her face, she was sure, was bright scarlet. ‘You’re probably now wishing there was a ship for Bombay due tomorrow after all,’ Constance said, once again failing to keep to her resolve to stop talking.
    â€˜Actually, quite the reverse. I was thinking that I have the perfect solution to occupy you for the three months you will be here.’
    â€˜Ah, you have a vacancy for a court jester?’
    Smiling faintly, the Prince took her hand, leading her over to the covered object which stood in the middle of the terrace. ‘Lady Constance,’ he said, tugging at the knot which held the tarpaulin in place, ‘I have no need of a court jester, but I do have a vacancy for a court astronomer.’
    * * *
    Kadar pulled the tarpaulin away, and Lady Constance’s mouth fell open. ‘A telescope! And such a telescope!’ She ran her hands along the polished wooden barrel. She touched the little stool which was contained in the instrument’s mounting box. She stroked her fingers along the system of pulleys and the brass handle which allowed the unwieldy tube of the telescope to pivot and rotate on its axis. She peered into the eyepiece. Finally, she ran her hands once more along the barrel. ‘I have never seen anything so beautiful,’ she said, her voice hushed with awe. ‘How did you come by such a sophisticated instrument?’
    She was staring at it as if it were made of gold. ‘I share your passion for studying the stars. You have no idea how rare it is to meet a fellow astronomer. This particular instrument is a seven-foot reflector,’ Kadar said. ‘It was built in Mr Herschel’s workshop. I purchased it five years ago, when I spent some time at Oxford. It has travelled with me ever since.’
    â€˜This actually comes from William Herschel’s own workshop?’ Her big brown eyes glowed. Her smile was soft, almost tender, as her fingers strayed compulsively to the telescope again. Captivating, he had thought she could be last night, and she was. There was a sensuality in the way she touched the instrument, mingling reverence and passion. And he was once again becoming aroused!
    â€˜I met the great man himself,’ Kadar said, dragging his eyes away. ‘Mr Herschel, I mean. I went to see the forty-foot reflector that he had constructed in Slough. A most impractical instrument, I thought, far too cumbersome to be of much use. Mr Herschel himself admitted as much. He, however, was fascinating. The telescope with which he discovered the new planet is very similar to this one.’
    â€˜Georgium Sidus , he named it, in honour of the King,’ Lady Constance said. ‘I like Uranus much better though, after Urania, the goddess of astronomy. Is it wrong for a court astronomer to confess that she prefers mythology to science as an explanation for the