by Mel Teshco
But he had no right to call her foolish.
“Only when you thought I was May.” She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes when he trailed heavenly kisses over her shoulder. It was all but impossible to voice the pain in her heart, when he continued to play havoc with her body. If he really did still want her in his life, there was only one way she could think he meant. “I won’t be a married man’s mistress. Not even yours.”
He swirled the tip of his tongue around her nipple. His naked body barely touched her, as he braced his weight on his forearms, but his primal heat awoke every primitive nerve she possessed.
God help her. She wanted him. Desperately. Even now.
His breath teased her damp flesh, and he moved so that his sprinkling of chest hair brushed over her sensitized flesh. Without looking up at her, he spoke.
“I have no intention of making you my mistress. I would not insult your honor in such a manner.”
She laughed; a harsh, breathless sound and struggled to sit up. But his fingers gripped her hair, and she couldn’t move an inch. “You insult me by lying to me.”
He shifted his weight and nudged the length of his cock along the seam of her pussy. She swallowed a groan of impending defeat and clawed his biceps. But even though she saw the deep scratches score his skin, he appeared not to notice her attempt to mutilate him.
“Sweet Sanura. I haven’t lied to you. I intend to marry you as soon as it can be arranged.”
His words cut through her pain. There was no mistake. He didn’t think she was someone she wasn’t and she didn’t believe he’d lie so blatantly to her face. Relief surged through her. She’d misunderstood whatever Andre had been trying to tell her. All that mattered was he still wanted to marry her.
He loosened his grip on her hair as he inched down her body. “Does that please you?” His lips brushed the inside of her thigh and she shivered as he circled her clit through her damp lingerie.
She didn’t know whether he was referring to his comment or his love-making. She gave a muffled groan that could cover all possibilities.
He pulled the lingerie down her thighs and discarded them, exposing her to his avid gaze. “Tell me you accept my proposal.”
It was a command, but how could she refuse when he worshipped her body with his lips and tongue?
“Yes.” It was a sigh of surrender. Andre loomed over her, like a god from ancient times. His dark hair fell over his face, giving him a wild, dangerous air, and she mindlessly hooked her legs around his thighs.
Triumph glittered in his eyes, but she didn’t care. It was what she wanted.
He captured her lips, his kiss a mark of possession. The head of his cock pressed against her, but he didn’t push inside.
Finally he broke the kiss. She gasped incoherently and plunged her fingers in his hair, but he was immovable. “You won’t regret it.” His voice was little more than a growl and sent shivers of need racing across her skin.
She groaned, and dug her heels into his taut ass. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She just wanted him to love her, the way he had loved her throughout the previous night. With a feral grin Andre thrust into her, his thick length filling her completely. She bucked mindlessly, taking everything he gave her.
“I love how your tight pussy welcomes me, Sanura.”
His throaty words were unexpected. Shocking. As titillating as though he had sucked on her clit. He pinched her nipple between his finger and thumb and rocked into her, claiming her utterly.
Her body shattered into shards of pleasure. She convulsed around him, wanting everything he had, and with a guttural roar he came inside her.
For endless moments she lay immobile, crushed beneath his heavy body, entirely spent. Idly she played with his hair, loving the feel of him against her damp body, and the sound of his harsh, uneven breath against her shoulder.
Slowly reality intruded. The soft glow of the side lamps. The magnificent tester above the bed.
He whispered husky words in French that she didn’t understand but sounded breathtakingly romantic. And then he spoke in English.
“You will be my first and only wife in all but name.”
Her slumberous content splintered. He had told her his mother was his father’s second wife. He had never mentioned his father had divorced his first wife. Her mind had kind of glossed over the fact his father might have possessed two wives at the same time because it was all too surreal.
But it wasn’t surreal now. Not if Andre was suggesting they embark on the very same arrangement.
She wound her fingers around his hair and jerked him up. He looked down at her, his eyes heavy lidded and expression replete. Satisfaction bathed him and the smile he bestowed upon her caused her heart to ache.
She couldn’t allow herself to be distracted. She hitched in a ragged breath and tried to find the right words. It was obvious she was missing something. That she had jumped to a ridiculous conclusion. He had to tell her exactly what he had in mind when it came to May.
She trailed her hand along his back, and for answer he tenderly brushed her hair back from her hot cheek. She licked her lips and attempted to gather her scattered thoughts. “You want to marry, and then divorce May,” but only if she agreed. “And then you and I will get married?”
His sated smile barely wavered. “No, my sweet. Maysarah will always be my first wife and you my second. It’s the only way we can be together.”
Chapter Eleven
Khalid idly traced his finger along Sanura’s heated cheek. He always enjoyed sex, but there was something indefinably perfect in being with Sanura. A deeper connection, as though they belonged together.
It was a foolish notion, and one he’d never tell his brothers since they would mock him mercilessly. While he and Rafi had grown up together and were as close as brothers could be, Shahzad had always held himself somewhat aloof. As heir to Omana, Khalid guessed that was only to be expected. But Shahzad had certainly been the one to point out it was Khalid’s Gallic blood that made him such a hopeless romantic when it came to women.
Shahzad had always accepted his destiny to marry a princess he had never even met. He’d found Khalid’s distaste for the whole idea dryly amusing. Duty was everything. Romance could be had with a mistress. A wife was for begetting heirs.
As Sanura hitched in an uneven breath and her legs released their death grip around his waist, another languid thought occurred to him. Perhaps Shahzad wouldn’t find his idea so outrageous after all. Since he had married his bride, Khalid had noticed a marked difference in his brother. He was still bound by duty but his devotion to Lexi was absolute. It appeared that even without a drop of Gallic blood in his veins when it came to his own princess, Shahzad was a complete romantic.
Lost in his thoughts, he smiled indulgently at his soon-to-be-bride as she pressed her hands against his shoulders. Still buried inside her sweet warmth, his cock thickened once again.
Hell, he hadn’t used a condom. For a fleeting second guilt flashed through him, before he discarded it. If Sanura conceived his child tonight, then it was meant to be. But he’d ensure the search for Maysarah was stepped up immediately so the marriages could be undertaken. He would tolerate no hint of a scandal when it came to the reputation of his Sanura.
“Get off me.”
He blinked down at her, certain he had misheard her. “Am I hurting you?’ Of course he was. He’d sprawled over her, crushing her on the bed, and she hadn’t made a sound of complaint until now. Still, he wasn’t sure why she sounded so mad. He eased himself upright, enough so he was no longer squashing her breasts, but not enough so their bodies disengaged. “Is that better?”
She blushed, a delightful vision, and he stared at her, entranced. She then let out a huff of breath and dug her nails into him. “No it isn’t. You’re still inside me.” She sounded mortified.
Mystified by her mood, he reluctantly pulled out of her silken heat and rolled onto his side, taking her with him. Her body was rigid an
d she didn’t snuggle into him, as she had the night before.
“What’s wrong?”
Her body trembled. He wanted to believe it was from suppressed passion, but the look on her face gave no credence to that hope. “Do you really think I’m going to be your second wife?”
He smothered a sigh. He had hoped their lovemaking had been enough to convince her that when he said she would always be first in his life, he meant it.
“It will be fine, you’ll see. And at least you and Maysarah are already friends.” That was a huge relief. His mother and his father’s first wife had never become friends in all the years they had known each other. They had always been unfailingly polite to each other’s faces but the atmosphere had sizzled like wildfire.
Sanura made a choking sound. “How does that make this any better? If anything it makes it worse.”
He couldn’t see how, but let that pass. The important thing was to soothe Sanura’s fears that he would discard her because of his obligation toward Princess Maysarah.
“You will have your own palace. You need never see Maysarah if that is your wish.”
She arched her back in an attempt to escape. He tightened his grip around her and after a moment she let out a frustrated growl and lay still, although her body was rigid with tension.
“That’s not the point, you idiot.”
He stared at her, shock ricocheting through him. Nobody insulted him in such a manner. Nobody would dare.
Yet Sanura, his beautiful obedient bride-to-be, not only dared she apparently hadn’t finished.
“May doesn’t want you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“That’s irrelevant.” His voice was flat. He didn’t want to marry Maysarah any more than she wanted to marry him. But that wasn’t their choice to make.
Sanura shuddered and instinctively he tugged her close. She didn’t come willingly. “How can you expect her to endure a marriage of convenience? Especially when you seriously expected to have a proper marriage with me.”
Her tirade was giving him a headache. He hadn’t expected her to be so vehemently against the idea. Certainly, he’d known she wouldn’t be thrilled. Neither was he. But while he was familiar with the ways of his forefathers, Sanura wasn’t. He just needed to make her see that the situation was workable.
If she could overlook her prejudices.
“I don’t know what you expect me to say. I’ve told you the truth. I’ll honor you as my wife and our children will be my legitimate heirs just as any I have with Maysarah.”
A deathly stillness descended. He was not deceived that her silence was a good thing. And then she confirmed it.
“You intend to have a family with both of us?”
He knew there was little point explaining how politically important it was that the houses of Salah al Din and El Habib were united not only by marriage, but also by blood. In the past he had been praised for his diplomacy in tricky situations. But here, in his own bedroom, he appeared to have royally fucked up.
It was too late to discuss such sensitive matters. Sanura needed to sleep on it, to come to realize this was the only option they had to be together.
“We’ll discuss this in the morning.” His voice was final. “You’re tired and overwrought and not thinking clearly.”
Instead of acceding to his thinly veiled command, his sweet Sanura pushed herself upwards, out of his grasp, and glared down at him. At any other time he would have been distracted by the way her hair cascaded in glorious disarray over her naked breasts, but the expression on her face immobilized him.
“Don’t patronize me.” Her voice shook with emotion and regret stabbed through his heart at the unshed tears glittering in her eyes. “I won’t become a part of your… harem.”
Irritation spiked through him, effectively slaughtering the unwelcome knot of guilt in his chest. “I don’t have a harem.”
“Two wives is a harem.”
He gritted his teeth. She was deliberately twisting the truth. He reined in his temper and took a deep breath. “Answer me this question. Do you want to be my wife or not?”
She took a shuddering breath, and his anger dissolved, only to be replaced by another acidic wave of guilt. Damn this situation to hell. Why was Sanura being so difficult? He had not anticipated she’d fight him in this. She had seemed so malleable. Willing to obey his every command.
Yet the rebellious woman in his bed, with her refusal to accept his word as law, fascinated him just as much.
“I did.” There was no trace of the antagonism she had just hurled at his head. Instead her voice trembled, as though she battled to contain her tears. God, she was driving him insane. One moment her stubbornness exasperated him, and the next he simply wanted to hold her close and promise her everything would work out. “But you have to see I can’t now.”
He didn’t see that at all.
“You’re mine.” His words were final. “I will never let you go, Sanura.”
Instead of melting into his arms at this evidence of how much she meant to him, she stiffened. “You can’t make me go with you.”
Her obstinate refusal to even try and see this from his perspective grated along his nerves. He would do anything for her. Make any sacrifice. But how could she expect him to betray the pledge between his country and Qtara and ignore the lifelong wish of his father?
“You’re wrong. I can do anything I wish. That includes taking you to Omana. Whether you come willingly or not is up to you.” It had worked for Shahzad, when he’d kidnapped his English bride. Lexi adored his brother now.
But Sanura wasn’t Khalid’s official bride. And the look on her face was anything but adoration.
“You would stoop to abduction?” She sounded incredulous. And her accusation stung. Because by God, of course he didn’t want to abduct her. The very thought of it offended his soul. But if it was the only way to make her see sense, what choice did he have?
But this conversation was getting them nowhere. He got out of the bed and pulled on his robe. He refused to rise to her bait and make this situation worse than it already was. In the morning she would see things differently.
She had to see things differently.
He looked down at her and played his final card. “You may have conceived my child tonight, Sanura. You know in your heart what that would mean.”
For a second she looked stricken, as though that possibility hadn’t crossed her mind. Then she tugged the sheet up to her throat and stiffened her spine. “In your dreams, Khalid.”
Khalid couldn’t stomach continuing this pointless argument. He stalked from the room and shut the door behind him. They both needed time to cool down before one of them said something they would regret.
But that wasn’t the reason why his fingers shook as he gripped the door handle. The contempt in Sanura’s voice as she had called him Khalid burned like acid through his chest, a pain such as he had never before experienced. Not even upon the death of his father.
All his life he’d got everything he wanted. Even his father had indulged his whims, in a way he never had with Shahzad or Rafi. He knew it was because of his mother. His father’s first wife had been an arranged marriage, but he had fallen in love with the vivacious, intelligent Madeleine Sauveterre, and keeping her as his mistress had not been enough.
Khalid gripped the back of a chair and glared sightlessly at the ornate fireplace that dominated the wall. Why couldn’t Sanura accept the situation as his mother had?
Except his father had told his mother she would be his only wife. It burned to face the fact, but in that his father had lied. Would Khalid’s mother have gone through with the marriage, if she’d known from the start she would be, and always be, the second wife?
He exhaled a long breath that seemed to empty his heart of life. Perhaps she would have. His mother had adored his father, even though she had never quite forgiven him for his deception.
Sanura had never told him she loved him. Many women had, thinking it wo
uld make a difference and he would succumb to their charms. But he hadn’t wanted their love and he most certainly had never wanted to make any of them his wife.
With Sanura he wanted it all. Despair washed through him. Yes, he wanted it all, and that included her love and her respect. And he had just told her he would take her back to Omana whether she wanted him to or not.
He took pride in the fact he was always prepared for every eventuality. But nothing in his life had prepared him for this.
God, this was impossible. How had he fallen in love with a woman who refused to accept everything he offered her?
Thunder filled his mind and his heart ached as he finally faced the truth.
He wanted Sanura not merely because she fascinated him, or that she was beautiful and tempting and he couldn’t get her out of his head.
He wanted her because he loved her. And because he loved her, he had to let her go.
Chapter Twelve
Sanura watched Khalid stalk from the room and shut the door behind him. Tears blurred her eyes as she tugged a sheet around her and stumbled after him. How dare he threaten to abduct her and then simply walk out on her?
She stopped abruptly at the door. Did she really want to chase him around his suite in the middle of the night, with only a sheet wrapped around her? She still had some pride left.
Slowly she looked around the room. It was magnificent. But it was her prison. Her bag and phone were in the other room, and the only clothes in here were the ones she’d worn last night.
Clothes Khalid had bought for her.
An all-consuming ache gripped her heart and she fought the urge to sink to her knees and weep. She had been so sure she knew who Andre—Khalid—was.
But she hadn’t. Tonight, when he couldn’t get his own way, he had shown her the man he truly was.
May had been right to run from him.
She collapsed onto a nearby chair and buried her face in her hands. Even now, she didn’t really want to leave him. But how could she stay on his terms? When he still intended to take May as his wife?