Jewel in His Crown

by Lynne Graham

  ‘It’s rude in my culture to turn your back on a guest or on royalty,’ Raja informed her almost carelessly.

  With a sound of annoyance, Ruby whipped her blonde head around to study him with frowning brown eyes. ‘We have bigger problems than my ignorance of etiquette!’

  As the tall, powerful man entered the room in Ruby’s wake Hermione peered out of her basket, beady, dark eyes full of suspicion. A low warning growl vibrated in the dog’s throat.

  ‘No!’ Ruby told her pet firmly.

  ‘You were expecting my visit,’ Raja acknowledged, taking a seat at her invitation and striving not to notice the way her tight black leggings and shrunken tee hugged her pert, rounded curves at breast and hip. The fluffy pink bunny slippers she wore on her tiny feet, however, made him compress his handsome mouth. He did not want to be reminded of just how young and unprepared she was for the role being offered to her.

  Ruby breathed in deep, fighting the arrowing slide of shameless awareness keeping her unnaturally tense as she took a seat opposite him. Even at rest, the intoxicating strength of his tall, long-limbed, muscular body was obvious and she was suddenly conscious that her nipples had tightened into hard bullet points. She sucked in another breath, desperate to regain her usual composure. ‘Yes, I was expecting you.’

  Raja did not break the silence when her voice faltered. He waited patiently for her to continue with a quality of confident cool and calm that she found fantastically sexy.

  ‘It’s best if I lay my cards on the table this time. First of all, I would never, ever be prepared to agree to a normal marriage with a stranger, so that option isn’t even a possibility,’ Ruby declared without apology, knowing that she needed to tell him that upfront. ‘But if you genuinely believe that only our marriage could ensure peace for Ashur, I feel I have to consider some way of bringing that about that we can both live with.’

  Approbation gleamed in Raja’s dark gaze because he believed that she was finally beginning to see sense. He was also in the act of reflecting that he could contrive to live with her without any great problem. He pinned his attention to the stunning contours of her face while remaining painfully aware of the full soft, rounded curves of her unbound breasts outlined in thin cotton. Clear indentations in the fabric marked the pointed evidence of her nipples and the flame of nagging heat at his groin would not quit. Angry at his loss of concentration at so important a meeting, however, he compressed his wide, sensual mouth and willed his undisciplined body back under his control. ‘I do believe that only our marriage can give our countries the hope of an enduring peace,’ he admitted. ‘But if you are not prepared to consider a normal marriage, what are you suggesting?’

  ‘A total fake,’ Ruby replied without hesitation, a hint of amusement lightening her unusually serious eyes. ‘I marry you and we make occasional public appearances together to satisfy expectations but behind closed doors we’re just pretending to be an ordinary married couple.’

  The prince concealed his surprise and mastered his expression lest he make the mistake of revealing that inflicting such a massive deception on so many people would be abhorrent to his principles. ‘A platonic arrangement?’

  Ruby nodded with enthusiasm. ‘No offence intended but I’m really not into sex—’

  ‘With me? Or with anyone?’ Raja could not resist demanding that she make that distinction.

  ‘Anyone. It’s nothing personal,’ she hastened to assure a male who was taking it all very personally indeed. ‘And it will also give you the perfect future excuse to divorce me.’

  Hopelessly engaged in wondering what had happened to her to give her such a distaste for intimacy, Raja frowned in bewilderment. ‘How?’

  ‘Well, obviously there won’t be a child. I’m not stupid, Raja. Obviously if we get married a son and heir is what everyone will be hoping for,’ she pointed out wryly. ‘But when there is no pregnancy and no child, you can use that as a very good reason to divorce me and then marry someone much more suitable.’

  ‘It would not be that simple. I fully understand where you got this idea from though,’ he imparted wryly. ‘But while your father may have divorced your mother in such circumstances, there has never been a divorce within my family and our people and yours would be very much shocked and disturbed by such a development.’

  Ruby shrugged a slight shoulder in disinterested dismissal of that possibility. ‘There isn’t going to be a perfect solution to our dilemma,’ she told him impatiently. ‘And I think that a fake marriage could well be as good as it gets. Take it or leave it, Raja.’

  Raja almost laughed out loud at that impudent closing speech. What a child she still was! He could only begin to imagine how deeply offended the Ashuri people would be were he to divorce their princess while seeking to continue to rule their country. What she was suggesting was only a stopgap solution, not a permanent remedy to the dilemma.

  ‘Well, that’s one angle but not the only one,’ Ruby continued ruefully. ‘I have to be very blunt here…’

  An unexpected grin slanted across Raja’s beautifully moulded mouth, for in his opinion she had already been exceedingly frank. ‘By all means, be blunt.’

  ‘I would have to have equal billing in the ruling stakes,’ she told him squarely. ‘I can’t see how you can be trusted to look out for the interests of both countries when you’re from Najar. You would have an unfair advantage. I will only agree to marry you if I have as much of a say in all major decisions as you do.’

  ‘That is a revolutionary idea and not without its merits,’ Raja commented, striving not to picture Wajid Sulieman’s shattered face when he learned that his princess was not, after all, prepared to be a powerless puppet on the throne. ‘You should have that right but it will not be easy to convince the councils of old men, who act as the real government in our respective countries. In addition, you will surely concede that you know nothing about our culture—’

  ‘But I can certainly learn,’ Ruby broke in with stubborn determination. ‘Well, those are my terms.’

  ‘You won’t negotiate?’ the prince prompted.

  ‘There is no room for negotiation.’

  Raja was grimly amused by that uncompromising stance. In many ways it only emphasised her naivety. She assumed that she could break all the rules and remain untouched by the consequences yet she had no idea of what real life was like in her native country. Without that knowledge she could not understand how much was at stake. He knew his own role too well to require advice on how to respond to her demands.

  Royal life had taught him early that he did not have the luxury of personal choice. His primary duty was to persuade the princess to take up her official role in Ashur and to marry her, twin objectives that he was expected to achieve by using any and every means within his power. His father had made it clear that the need for peace must overrule every other consideration. Any natural reluctance to agree to a celibate marriage in a society where extramarital sex was regarded as a serious evil did not even weigh in the balance.

  I’m really not into sex, she had confided and, like any man, he was intrigued. Since she could not make such an announcement and still be an innocent he could only assume that she had suffered from the attentions of at least one clumsy lover. Far from being an amateur in the same field, Raja surveyed her with a gleam of sensual speculation in his dark eyes. He was convinced that given the right opportunity he could change her mind on that score.

  ‘Well, what do you think?’ Ruby pressed edgily as she rose to her feet again.

  ‘I will consider your proposition,’ the prince conceded non-committally, springing upright to look down at her with hooded, dark eyes.

  His ability to conceal his thoughts from his lean, dark features infuriated Ruby, who had always found the male sex fairly easy to read. For once she had not a clue what a man might be thinking and her ignorance intimidated and frustrated her. Like the truly stunning dark good looks that probably turned heads wherever he went, the prince’s reticence wa
s one of his most noticeable attributes. He had the skills of a natural-born diplomat, she conceded, grudgingly recognising how well equipped he was to deal with opposing viewpoints and sensitive political issues.

  ‘I thought time was a real matter of concern,’ Ruby could not help remarking, irritated by his silence.

  A highly attractive grin slanted his wide sensual mouth. ‘If you give me your phone number I will contact you later this evening with my answer.’

  Ruby gave him that information and walked out to the front door. As she began to open it he rested a hand on her shoulder, staying her, and she glanced up from below her lashes, eyes questioning. Hermione growled. Raja ignored the animal, sliding his hand lightly down Ruby’s arm and up again, his handsome head lowering, his proud gaze glittering as bright as diamonds from below the fringe of his dense black lashes. She stopped breathing, moving, even thinking, trapped in the humming silence while a buzz of excitement unlike anything she had ever experienced trailed along her nerve endings like a taunting touch.

  His breath warmed her cheek and she focused on his strong sensual mouth, the surge of heat and warmth between her thighs going crazy. Desire was shooting through her veins like adrenalin and she didn’t understand it, couldn’t control it either, any more than she could defy the temptation to rest up against him, palms spread across his chest to absorb the muscular strength of his powerful frame and remain upright. Eyes wide, she stared up at him, trembling with anticipation and he did not disappoint her. On the passage to her mouth his lips grazed the pulse quivering in her neck and an almost violent shimmy of sensation shot down through her slight length. His hand sliding down to her waist to steady her, he circled her mouth with a kiss as hot as a blowtorch. The heat of his passion sent a shock wave of sexual response spiralling down straight into her pelvis.

  Raja only lifted his head again when Hermione’s noisy assault on his ankles became too violent to ignore. ‘Call off your dog,’ he urged her huskily.

  Grateful for the excuse to move, Ruby wasted no time in capturing her snarling pet and depositing her back in the living room. Her hands were shaking. Nervous perspiration beaded her upper lip. Ruby was in serious shock from finally feeling what a man had never made her feel before. She was still light-headed from the experience, and her temper surged when she caught Raja studying her intently. Consumed by a sense of foolishness, she was afraid that he might have noticed that she was trembling and her condemnation was shrill. ‘You had no right to touch me!’

  His lustrous dark eyes glinted like rapier blades over her angry face. ‘I had no right but I was very curious,’ he countered with a studied insolence that pushed a tide of colour into her cheeks. ‘And you were worth the risk.’

  A moment later he was gone and she closed the door, only just resisting the urge to slam it noisily. She was still as wound up as a clock spring. Men didn’t speak to Ruby in that condescending tone and they rarely, if ever, offered her provocation. Invariably they tried to please her and utilised every ploy from flattery to gifts to achieve that end. Raja, on the other hand, had subjected her to a cool measuring scrutiny and had remained resolutely unimpressed and in control while she fell apart and she could only hate him for that: she had shown weakness and susceptibility, he had not.

  Her phone rang at eleven when she was getting ready for bed.

  ‘It’s Raja.’ His dark drawl was very businesslike in tone and delivery. ‘I hope you’re prepared to move quickly on this as time is of the essence.’

  Taut with strain and with her teeth gritted, for it was an effort to be polite to him with her pride still stinging from that kiss that she had failed to rebuff, Ruby said stiffly, ‘That depends on whether or not you’re prepared to stand by my terms.’

  ‘You have my agreement. While I make arrangements for our marriage to take place here—’

  ‘Like soon…now? And we’re to get married here?’ Ruby interrupted, unable to swallow back her astonishment.

  ‘It would be safer and more straightforward if the deed were already done before you even set foot in Ashur because our respective representatives will very likely quarrel about the when and the where and the how of our wedding for months on end,’ the prince informed her wryly. ‘In those circumstances, staging a quiet ceremony here in the UK makes the most sense.’

  Infuriatingly at home giving orders and impervious to her tart comments, Raja advised her to resign from her job immediately and start packing. Ruby stayed out of bed purely to tell Stella that she was getting married. Her friend was stunned and less moved than Ruby by stories of Ashur’s current instability and economic hardship.

  ‘You’re not thinking about what you’re doing,’ Stella exclaimed, her pretty face troubled. ‘You’ve let this prince talk you round. He made you feel bad but, let’s face it, your life is here. What’s your father’s country got to do with you?’

  Only forty-eight hours earlier, Ruby would have agreed with that sentiment. But matters were not so cut and dried now. Ashur’s problems were no longer distant, impersonal issues and she could not ignore their claim on her conscience. In her mind the suffering there now bore the faces of the ordinary people whose lives had been ruined by the long conflict.

  Ruby compressed her generous mouth. ‘I just feel that if I can do something to help, I should do it. It won’t be a proper marriage, for goodness’ sake.’

  ‘You might get over there and find out that the prince already has a wife,’ Stella said with a curled lip.

  ‘I don’t think so. He wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t needed.’

  Unaccustomed to Ruby being so serious, Stella pulled a face. ‘Well, look what happened to your mother when she married a man from a different culture.’

  ‘But Mum was in love while I would just be acting out a role. I won’t get hurt the way she did. I’m not stuffed full of stupid romantic ideas,’ Ruby declared, her chin coming up. ‘I’m much tougher and I can look after myself.’

  ‘I suppose you know yourself best,’ Stella conceded, taken aback by Ruby’s vehemence.

  Ruby couldn’t sleep that night. The idea of marrying Najar’s Prince still felt unreal. She could have done without her friend’s honest reminder that her mother’s royal marriage had gone badly wrong. Although Ruby knew that she had absolutely no romantic interest in Raja and was therefore safe from being hurt or disappointed by him, she could not forget the heartbreak her mother had suffered when she had attempted to adapt to a very different way of life.

  At the same time the haunting images Ruby had seen of the devastation in Ashur kept her awake until the early hours. The plight of her father’s people was the only reason she was willing to agree to such a marriage, she reflected ruefully. Even though she was being driven by good intentions the prospect of marrying a prince and making her home in a strange land filled her to overflowing with doubts and insecurity.

  In recent years she had often regretted the lack of excitement in her life, but now all of a sudden she was being confronted with the truth of that old adage: Be careful of what you wish for….

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE saleswoman displayed a ghastly, shapeless plumcoloured suit that could only have pleased a woman who had lost interest in her appearance. Of course it was not the saleswoman’s fault, Ruby reasoned in growing frustration; it was Raja’s insistence on the outfit being ‘very conservative and plain’ that had encouraged the misunderstanding of what Ruby might be prepared to wear at her wedding.

  ‘That’s not me, that’s really not my style!’ Ruby declared with a grimace.

  ‘Then choose something and quickly,’ the prince urged in an impatient aside for he was not a patient shopper. ‘Show some initiative!’

  Raja did not understand why what she wore should matter so much. After all, even in her current outfit of faded jeans and a blue sweater she looked beautiful enough in his opinion to stop traffic. Luxuriant honey-blonde hair tumbled round her narrow shoulders. Denim moulded her curvy derrière and slim thighs, w
ool cupped the swell of her pouting breasts and emphasised her small waist. Even unadorned, she had buckets of utterly natural sex appeal. As he recognised the swelling heaviness of arousal at his groin his lean dark features clenched hard and he fixed his attention on the wall instead.

  Show some initiative? Dull coins of aggravated red blossomed over Ruby’s cheekbones and her sultry pink mouth compressed. Where did someone who had so far dismissed all her helpful suggestions get the nerve to taunt her with her lack of initiative? It was only an hour and a half since she had met her future husband at his hotel to sign the various forms that would enable them to get married in a civil ceremony and he was already getting on her nerves so much that she wanted to kill him! Or at the very least kick him! A high-ranking London diplomat had also attended that meeting to explain that a special licence was being advanced to facilitate their speedy marriage. Raja, she had learned, enjoyed diplomatic immunity. He was equally immune, she was discovering, to any sense of fashion or any appreciation of female superiority.

  Stalking up to the rail of the town’s most expensive boutique, Ruby began to leaf through it, eventually pulling a red suit out. ‘I’ll try this one on.’

  The prince’s beautifully shaped mouth curled. ‘It is very bright.’

  ‘You did say that a formal publicity photo would be taken and I don’t want to vanish into the woodwork,’ Ruby told him sweetly, big brown eyes wide with innocence but swiftly narrowing to stare intently at his glorious face. He was gorgeous. That fabulous bone structure and those dark deep-set eyes set below that slightly curly but ruthlessly cropped black hair took her breath away every time.

  The saleswoman took the suit to hang it in a dressing room. With fluid grace Raja lifted his hand and let his thumb graze along the fullness of Ruby’s luscious lower lip. His dark eyes glittered hot as coals as he felt that softness and remembered the sweet heady taste of that succulent mouth beneath his own. Tensing, Ruby dealt him a startled look, her lips tingling at his touch while alarm tugged at her nerves. As his hand dropped she moved closer and muttered in taut warning, ‘This is business, just business between us.’