In Too Deep
Page 15
Adham could only gape at her as she continued her furious tirade.
“As for you, the only thing I ever wanted from you was caring and respect. But those are alien concepts to you and the only thing I now need from you is an uncontested divorce!”
With each word from her trembling lips, realization and heart-bursting delight dawned on Adham.
She’d never wanted the things he’d thought she’d married him for. She hadn’t been in on her father’s deal, and had always thought their marriage was real. She’d wanted to marry him. Because she wanted him. Because she loved him!
So why did she want to leave him now?
“Arjooki, ya habibati, I don’t understand. I love you—”
“Stop it!” she screamed. “Stop acting. I heard you, Adham. Today, with Sebastian. Your only concern is to allay doubts about our marriage so your enemies won’t undermine your family’s power. I understand it’s a noble cause but count me out. Go acquire some other woman to do this job. I want—I deserve someone who doesn’t have to pretend to want me.”
And everything fell into place.
He surged toward her. “Habibati, I beg you, listen to me—”
She beat his hands away. “Oh, I did. I’ve done nothing but listen to you and your lies since the day I met you. But I’ve listened to the truth today, and nothing you say can change that.”
He still vibrated with the elation of discovering her reciprocated emotions. But now, as her anguish flayed him, anxiety rose to supplant it as the extent of her misapprehension registered. He rushed to explain.
“But you misunderstood. I was discussing with Sebastian my predicament in retrospect, answering his questions about what my enemies had hoped to gain by approaching him.”
“Oh, please. Last night was about bringing me back under your spell, to be your worshipping fool and provide your enemies with photographic evidence of my enslavement. You must have also deemed it necessary to sleep with me again, to get working on the heir you need.”
His aching hands clenched on the need to drag her against him, make her listen to him, make her believe him. His heart stampeded with the rising dread that she might not, might close her heart to him, that he’d done it too much damage to fix. But he couldn’t accept that, never would. He’d make her believe him.
“No, Sabrina, that isn’t how—”
She cut him off. “That is exactly how it was. But don’t worry. There won’t be any repercussions from divorcing me. You were lucky—the two times you slept with me happened to be at the exact wrong time.”
“I don’t care if you never get pregnant,” he protested.
“Save it, Adham. And look at it this way. Our divorce will bring in even more business for the club. More people will be rabidly curious to see you next season with a new acquisition.”
He stared at her. Sabrina as he’d never seen her. A spirit that needed nothing and no one, that could not be tamed or bought, but would give her all willingly, endlessly only in the name of love. A tigress capable of slashing anyone who trespassed against her to shreds.
He knew he was fighting for his life here—for she was his life—but he couldn’t control the thrill that took him over at discovering these new facets of her. The knowledge of the barbed steel beneath the silk and surrender would make him revel in them more. He couldn’t wait to unearth more complexities, which he was now certain she possessed. But none of that would happen, his very life would be over, if he didn’t convince her of his sincerity. As he must.
Ready now to take her bitterness, welcoming its pain in atonement for the pain he’d caused her, determined to wipe it away, he closed the distance she’d put between them.
“It was Sebastian who said what happened between us last night was good for business. But he was only right about one thing—I had nothing on my mind but you. I’d come to claim you, thinking that if desire was all you felt for me, that I was a fool not to let you have me. But you turned away and I lost all sense of place and purpose. All sense, period. I had to get you back, make you succumb to the hunger that was eating at both of us.”
She shook her head, wrenched away. He caught her back, persisted. “But after last night, I was in agony. I didn’t know if you were just taking whatever benefits you could from our situation while your heart remained untouched. I went back to our house to give you what I just gave you now, what you tore apart, what would have released you from any fear about your future. I thought if you chose to stay with me when you no longer had to, that it would mean you do want me beyond what I can provide.
“But you have given me more than I ever dreamed. As you have from day one. It was so good, so unbelievable between us from the start, that when your father approached me with his offer, I found it easier to believe that none of it had been true, that you’d been too good to be true. But you are my miracle. And the fact that you love me, after all your father and I did, is beyond a miracle.”
Her tear-filled eyes hardened.
His heart sank. “You don’t still love me?”
“You are still acting. You just need a baby to tick off some royal requirement and don’t want to go through the trouble of acquiring another wife. It was a very time-consuming enterprise for you, acquiring me. All those times you pretended to be interested in me must have been torture for you. A word of advice. Next time, forgo the pretense and just lay your terms on the table. I’m sure hordes of suitable women will snap up you and your cold-blooded deal in a second.”
“I only ever wanted you. The only pretense was when I pretended I didn’t.” He stopped as more tears escaped her eyes, groaned. “But I can’t ask you to believe me. Words mean nothing. I have to prove the truth of my feelings with actions.”
He got out his cell phone and dialed a number.
He spoke as soon as the line opened. “Angus Henderson? Sheikh Adham Aal Ferjani. I have a scoop for you. Record what I’m going to say so you have it in my own words. Are you ready?” He waited a second, gazing back at Sabrina’s confused, apprehensive stare. Then he started. “This is Sheikh Adham Aal Ferjani of Khumayrah, and I’m here today to divulge the true circumstances of my marriage….”
Sabrina gaped at Adham as he recounted everything from the start. He painted his actions in their worst light, closing by saying he was fighting to convince his wife, the love of his life, to give him a second chance to atone for his sins against her, so he could prove his love and dedicate his life to her.
Then he ended the call. “Do you understand now I care only that you believe me and remain my wife, lover and soul mate?”
Sabrina could only stare at him in shock. Angus Henderson was one of the country’s most famous celebrity reporters, who produced and hosted the most notorious shows in the history of modern media. And Adham had just told him everything about their marriage. Everything.
That Adham would expose himself like that! That he would think nothing of offering himself to the media to eat him alive as long as it proved his sincerity to her.
Her paralysis suddenly snapped, and she snatched Adham’s phone, redialed the reporter’s number. Angus answered at once. No doubt the reporter was rabidly eager to answer in case Adham had forgotten more juicy details to add to the explosive scoop he’d just secured.
“Mr. Henderson? This is Sabrina Grant—Princess Aal Ferjani—Mrs. Adham Aal Ferjan…” She panted, her words and thoughts tangling. “Oh, you know who I am. Everything Adham told you was a joke. A dare. There is no truth in what he said, so please don’t publish anything.”
There was a moment’s silence on the other end, before the man’s signature raspy voice answered, “I’m sorry to hear that, since I just broadcast his recording live. In fact, you, too, are on the air with me right now.”
“Oh, God, no….”
She felt she’d burn to ashes with mortification. Adham took the phone from her, assuring their live audience that he’d meant every word and wouldn’t be issuing a retraction. Sabrina squirmed, protesting, but A
dham only smiled down on her, hugging her to him as he terminated the call.
“Do you believe me now, ya rohi?”
She tore out of his arms and stumbled back. “Believe you? You painted yourself blacker than I ever had! What will that mean for you in your kingdom? I can only assume the worst. You big fool!” Then she threw her arms around him and smothered him in kisses. Tears flowed faster as his mingled with hers. He’d just proved he was as far gone in love with her as she was with him, and feared losing her as much. “Oh, ya habibi,” she sobbed, “I might have been reluctant to believe you right away, but I would have eventually. You didn’t have to go to this extreme.”
He shook his head. “I did. I couldn’t let you doubt my love for you a moment longer. I couldn’t risk that you’d always feel some distrust. I had to agt’a ash’shak bel yaqeen—cleave doubt with certainty, once and forever.”
“You don’t have to,” she insisted. “I will never doubt you again. Please, tell that man to announce a retraction.”
“I won’t. It’s my punishment for letting myself be blinded to the truth, your truth. It’s my thanks to you for saving me from spending my life without you, and in misery.”
“If you want to thank me, you won’t punish yourself. I can’t bear seeing you suffer in any way. And what will your family, your father, think?”
“I couldn’t care less. I’ll take care of any fallout. The only thing that matters to me is what you think and feel, and that you give me the chance to prove my love to you.”
A fresh stream of tears, of delight and gratitude, poured down her cheeks. “More than this?”
He pressed her against his body that trembled with emotion. “I haven’t even started. I intend to do everything in my power, everything I can think of. And believe me, I can think of endless ways to prove my love.”
“I promise you the same.” She looked up at him, felt her heart quivering with adoration for this magnificent man, her man, for real, forever, even as a mischievous grin played on her lips. “Wanna bet I’ll think of more things than you can?”
“Hmm, sounds like we’ve got a challenge on our hands. I like that. You know me and challenges—I never lose.”
She melted back into his arms, sighing her bliss. “And I might just let you win….”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6017-1
IN TOO DEEP
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
HUSBAND MATERIAL
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Brenda Jackson is acknowledged as the author of “Husband Material.”
THE SHEIKH’S BARGAINED BRIDE
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Olivia Gates is acknowledged as the author of “The Sheikh’s Bargained Bride.”
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at Customer_eCare@Harlequin.ca.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette Books at www.eHarlequin.com