HIS SERENE HIGHNESS, Prince Shahir bin Harith alAssad, reached his vast estate in the Scottish Highlands shortly before eight in the morning.

As usual, every possible arrangement had been put in place to smooth his arrival with the seamless luxury that had been his right since birth. A limousine with blacked-out windows had collected him from the private airfield where his Lear jet had landed. At no stage had anyone sought to breach his reserve with unwelcome dialogue, for he valued his privacy beyond all other things and his staff worked hard at keeping the rest of the world at bay. Offered a seat in the limo, his estate manager, Fraser Douglas, had answered several questions and then embraced a self- effacing silence.

The only road to Strathcraig Castle stretched for more than fifteen miles, through tawny moorlands surrounded by spectacular purple-blue mountains. The lonely silence of the majestic landscape and the wide blue sky that filled the horizon reminded Shahir of the desert that he loved with an even greater passion. After the frenetic bustle and buzz of the business world, the wild, natural emptiness refreshed his eyes.

As the limo began its descent into the remote forested glen of Strathcraig the passage of a flock of sheep forced the powerful vehicle to a halt. A white-haired woman with a bicycle was also waiting by the side of the road. Only when she turned her head did Shahir appreciate that the woman had barely left her teenage years behind: her hair was not white, it was a very pale platinum-blonde, drawn back from her delicate features in smooth wings. Slender and graceful, she had wide, intelligent eyes and a sensitive, full pink mouth. Even her drab clothing could not conceal the fact that she was as proud and pure in her beauty as an angel he had once seen in an illuminated manuscript. There was, however, nothing reverent about the instant charge of lust that she ignited in Shahir. He was startled by the unfamiliar intensity of his desire, for it had been a long time since a woman had excited his interest to that extent

"Who is that?" he asked the estate manager seated opposite him.

"Kirsten Ross, Your Highness," the square-faced older man advanced, and when the silence lay gathering dust, in a way that implied he had answered too briefly, he hastened to offer more facts. "I believe she's employed as a domestic at the castle."

Shahir would not have dreamt of bedding an employee, and the news that she worked for him in so menial a capacity struck an even less welcome note, for he was a fastidious man. "I haven't seen her before."

"Kirsten Ross isn't the sort to draw attention to herself."

Hard cynicism firmed Shahir's well-sculpted mouth. He was a connoisseur of beautiful women, and had yet to meet one unaware of her power. "She must be accustomed to the attention her looks excite."

"I shouldn't think she's ever been encouraged to pay much heed to a mirror," Fraser Douglas responded with a wry grimace. "Her father is a religious fanatic with a reputation for being very strict on the home front."

Realising in some surprise that he was still staring at the exquisite blonde, Shahir averted his attention with punctilious care from her. The car drove on.

The older man's censorious reference to the girl's father had surprised him, for where did religious devotion end and fanaticism begin? After all, to an outsider village life in Strathcraig appeared to revolve round the church and its activities. The local community followed a very different code of values from the more liberal ways of high society circles. Indeed, the tenants on the estate had a conservative outlook that struck visitors as distinctly grim and outdated, and was probably the result of the glen's isolation from the wider world.

Yet Shahir was more at home at Strathcraig than he was within a more laissez-faire culture. Dhemen, the Middle Eastern kingdom of his birth, was equally strait-laced. Right was right and wrong was wrong and community welfare always took precedence over the freedom of the individual. Within that clear framework few dared to stray, and those who did were punished by the opprobrium they attracted.

In much the same way Shahir accepted the limitations that fate had chosen to place on his own prospects of happiness. Any woman he took to his bed could only be a poor substitute for the one he really desired, he acknowledged wryly. He loved a woman who could never be his, and casual sexual affairs were his only outlet. But he was thirty-two years old, and that was not how he had planned to live his life.

Concerned relatives kept on lining up the names of promising bridal prospects, and the more broad-minded set up casual meetings with suitable females on his behalf. Perhaps, he reflected grimly, it was time for him to bite the bullet and choose one of those candidates. His darkly handsome features firmed. An Arabian woman would devote her energies 24/7 to the pursuit of being his wife. In return she would expect children, wealth, and the prestige of great position. Love wouldn't come into the equation and why should it? Marriage in his world had much more to do with the practicalities of status, family connections and, primarily, the provision of an heir. His father had been extremely sympathetic towards his son's desire to remain single for as long as possible but, as the next in line to the throne, Shahir was well aware that he could not stave off the inevitable for much longer.

It was fortunate that there was not an atom of romance in his soul, Shahir conceded with bleak satisfaction. His hot- blooded temperament and powerful sex-drive had always been kept in line by his strong principles and his discriminating tastes. He was a man who faced the truth, no matter how unpalatable it was. He was not a man who made foolish mistakes. Born into the very heart of a royal family, he knew what his duty entailed and he was proud of his heritage. His keen intelligence told him that accepting the need to acquire a wife would be a much more sensible option than eying up a gorgeous but totally unsuitable Western woman — particularly one who worked for him in so lowly a capacity…

"You're living in Cloud-cuckoo-land," Jeanie Murray told Kirsten with blunt conviction as she sat on the worn wooden counter, smoking a cigarette in flagrant disregard of her rules of employment. "Your father will never let you live away from home to go to college."

Kirsten continued to wash a bone-thin Sevres china saucer with gentle and careful hands, her classic profile intent. "I think that now that he's married to Mabel he might be prepared to consider it." 'Aye, all that kneeling and praying didn't stop your dad from courting a new bride before your poor mum was cold in her grave. Folk say he likes his home comforts on tap." Impervious to her companion's discomfiture, the plump, freckled redhead rolled her eyes and vented a laugh. "But why should he agree to you moving out? You're bringing home a tidy pay packet. Don't tell me that that isn't welcome to Angus Ross — we all know how tight his hold is on his wallet!"

Kirsten tried not to wince at the news that her father's stinginess was a living legend locally. Jeanie's frankly uttered opinions and tactless remarks often caused friction with other members of staff. Kirsten, however, could forgive her much, for she valued the other woman's warm-hearted friendliness. "Jeanie…"

"Don't go all goody-goody on me just because you think you should. You know it's true. I've heard a story or two about what your home life's like, and that's no picnic by all accounts —"

"But I don't discuss my family with anyone," Kirsten slotted in swiftly.

Jeanie rolled her eyes with unblemished good humour. "I bet you're still doing all the cooking and cleaning at home. Old sourpuss Mabel won't want you to move out either. Face up to it, Kirsten. You're twenty-two years old and the only way you're ever going to get a life of your own is by running away as fast as your legs can carry you from the pair of them!"

"We'll see." Kirsten bent her head and said nothing more.

It would take a hefty sum of money to enable her to set up home elsewhere. Running away would be the coward's way out, and doing so without sufficient funds would be foolish, for it would land her straight into the poverty trap. She wanted to be able to rent somewhere decent and plan her future. She just had to be patient, she reminded herself sternly. She was only six weeks into her very first job, and with her father taking a large slice of her wages to cover her keep it would be a few months before her savings could cover any sort of a move.

She could wait until then; her job, humble as it was, still felt like a lifeline to her. She loved working in the medieval splendour of the historic castle. The magnificent surroundings were an endless source of fascination to her. Even riding her bike into work every morning gave her a freedom that had long been denied her. The chance to mix freely with other people was even more welcome. But she was equally conscious that she wanted more out of life than a post as a cleaner, and that she needed qualifications and training to aspire to anything more.

Yet the prospect of having to blatantly defy her father's rigid rules of conduct was challenging and frightening, for she had been taught from childhood to offer him unquestioning obedience. He was a cold, intimidating man, with a violent temper that she had once struggled to protect her late mother from. Her lovely face shadowed, for she was still grieving for that loss.

Isobel Ross had become ill when her daughter was thirteen years old, and her long, slow decline had been matched by her ever greater need for care. That responsibility had fallen on Kirsten's shoulders. Her father had not been prepared to assist with what he saw as 'women's work', and her older brother, Daniel, had been kept too busy doing farm work to be in any position to help. Once the brightest child in her class, Kirsten had begun to miss a great deal of school and her grades had slowly worsened.

Fed up with the restrictions imposed by their father's increasingly obsessive absorption in religion, her brother had finally quarrelled with him and moved out. As soon as it was legally possible, Angus Ross had removed his daughter from school so that she could nurse her mother and take charge of his household.

For the following five years Kirsten had only left the farm to attend church and do the weekly shop. Her father disapproved of social occasions and had discouraged all visitors. Exactly a year after her mother's death her father had married Mabel. The other woman was sour and sharp-tongued. But Kirsten was grateful that Mabel's eagerness to see more money coming into the household had prompted her stepmother to persuade her husband to allow Kirsten to seek employment outside the home.

"We'll have to see if we can get you a proper thrill this week, while our gorgeous desert sheikh is in residence," Jeanie remarked brightly.

A surprisingly mischievous smile curved Kirsten's lips. "I've had my treat for the week: I saw the Prince's limousine, and very impressive it was too."

"Never mind the limo. We'll hide you somewhere to get a glimpse of the man himself! I've only seen him a couple of times, and at a distance, but I'm telling you he'd make a sinner out of any saint." Jeanie groaned, with a lascivious look in her eyes, as she disposed of her cigarette and put the ashtray back in its hiding place. "He's a right sex god."

"I'll be keeping well out of his way. I wouldn't want to lose my job." Kirsten had been warned when she was hired that all domestic tasks at the castle were to be carried out with as much silence and invisibility as was humanly possible. It had been made equally clear to her that if her phenomenally rich and royal employer was to appear in the same corridor she was to hastily vacate it, so she didn't think there would be much chance of her bumping into him!

"If I had your face and body I'd be tripping over myself to accidentally fall in His Serene Highness's way!" Jeanie gave her a broad wink." If he fancied you he could take you away from all this and set you up in a house somewhere. You'd be made, because he's minted! Think of the clothes you could have, and the jewels, and a real macho man in your bed into the bargain. You're really beautiful, Kirsten. If anyone could pull Prince Shahir, you could!"

Kirsten studied her in bewilderment, her colour rising. "I'm not like that —"

"Well, you'd be much better off if you were," the redhead told her roundly. "At least I know how to have a bit of fun and I can enjoy a good laugh. If you don't watch out your father will turn you into a dried-up old spinster!"

Having finished washing the Sevres dinner service, Kirsten dried it piece by piece with great care. Even so, her thoughts were miles away. She felt so out of step with Jeanie. Kirsten had been brought up in a house where the only spoken reference to sex had related to what her father referred to as 'the sin of fornication'. The content of the newspapers and magazines she had glimpsed since starting work at the castle had initially shocked her, for the only written matter in her home consisted of the Bible and religious tracts, and it was many years since her father had got rid of the television. Yet she was guiltily aware that she was sorely tempted by the fashionable clothes and the exotic places that she had seen in those publications.

If only her father were a more reasonable man. If only he would allow her to go out and about and enjoy mixed company, like other women her age. After all, he must have dated her late mother to have married her — and surely that could not have been morally wrong?