His eyes held hers for several seconds. “Have your servants bring you to my apartment after this has concluded.”
Chloe’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t mean now. Tonight?” She gulped. “Don’t you think that’s too soon?”
“No, Chloe. I think it’s just soon enough.” There was a warning glint in his eyes, urging her to silence, but Chloe had never been the submissive wife she knew Raffa had banked on. Promises her father had made to seal the deal, no doubt. Or perhaps it had been her father’s truth. After all, to the Greek tycoon, she’d always been too in awe to speak her mind. Too afraid that the same criticisms he’d reserved for her mother might fall to her shoulders. So she’d been meek and respectful on the few occasions she’d seen him.
Raffa was not her father though, he was her husband, and Chloe wasn’t about to be dictated to.
*
“If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. You are Sheikh of Ras el Kida. With or without a wife; with or without a child.”
Raffa stared at his oldest friend with a rueful shake of his head. “You’re trying to make me feel better about taking a woman who hates me to my bed – about seducing an innocent woman, almost ten years my junior – just so she can carry a baby I don’t even know she wants.”
Kalim’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You mean to say, a baby you don’t know if you want.”
Raffa was uncharacteristically awkward. “I have always known my duty here, Kal. If I don’t have a child, an irrefutable heir to inherit the throne, Goran will act, and you know he has the power to tear at the fabric of this kingdom. For all my father has done, for all I’ve done, it is always banging on our doorstep. Don’t you hear that? The factions who wish to return to our old ways? To plunge Ras El Kida into what it once was? A disparate, fractured group of councils and tribes, with no single authority? Goran wants to drag us there; he is always stirring up dissent. And my father’s death, my lack of heir, these things will appeal to those who would foolishly follow him. I will not let that happen.”
Kalim lifted his broad shoulders. “Then you have no choice but to go through with this.”
Raffa compressed his lips and in the crowd, far below the mezzanine level on which they stood, sequestered from the goings on of the celebrations, he found her easily in the crowd. A single blonde head in the midst of so much colour. She was still, unmoving, like an ice sculpture in the centre of all the festivity.
A thick thud of guilt hefted in his gut.
“I know that.” He lifted his attention back to his friend’s kind eyes. “I just don’t know how I’ll live with myself afterwards.”
*
Chloe ruminated on her plan of attack throughout the function, so that she was barely cognizant of proceedings. It was an effort to make conversation with other dignitaries and guests, when all of her mind was absorbed by Malik’s worsening condition and Raffa’s demands for an heir, so by the time she walked from the Gold room, she was already weary.
The problem was, she loved Malik. While her own father had ignored her, Malik had been there – bringing her to Ras el Kida, even as a small child, so she could spend exotic, wonderful vacations in this beautiful palace. She had fallen in love with this place then: perhaps it was because it was the first time in her life she’d known kindness and affection. She’d run through the corridors, picked the wild, heavily scented flowers from the gardens, and become addicted to the sun on her skin.
She loved Malik, and she loved this country. But her husband?
She sighed, focusing her mind on the moments ahead.
Her maids surrounded her instantly – six of them, anyway. Perhaps she could beg off with a headache? Tell them there was an emergency in the city and she had to leave at once?
But just as she opened her mouth to speak, her husband’s principal bodyguard appeared. Male servants weren’t allowed to look directly at Chloe – a fact that had always amused her, and made her feel like some kind of human solar eclipse. She had become used to it now, though, used to the way they dipped their heads forward as a mark of deference and addressed her through her primary maid, Aysha.
“The princess is to attend His Highness,” Fahir said in his own tongue.
Chloe cursed inwardly but didn’t reveal a hint of how the pronouncement affected her. She’d become excellent at hiding her inner-most thoughts behind a well-practiced mask of indifference. First with her father, then with her brother, and now with her husband. Life had been a series of dictatorial men for Chloe and Raffa was no different.
“Fine,” she said to Aysha. “But you need not accompany me. I know the way.”
Aysha looked confused but knew her place wasn’t to question the princess’s dictates.
“As you wish,” she said with a bow, that set off a Mexican-wave reaction amongst the other servants.
Chloe turned her back on them and stalked through the enormous corridor of the Qasr Alnujum palace. She was not tall, only five and a half feet, and yet she walked fast, so it only took her five minutes to reach the carved timber doors inlaid with gemstones that announced the Sheikh’s apartments.
She hovered on the threshold, barely seeing the four guards that stood sentry, dressed in traditional military attire. They were the highest rank, she knew, men who had served in war and fought for their country, now prepared to willingly die for their ruler.
“Open the doors,” she said, taking only a moment to quell the blood that was raging inside of her veins.
They did so without a word.
Chloe had only been in his apartments once before, on their wedding night. As was the expectation, they’d spent the night together – better to acquiesce to traditions rather than incur the gossip and scandal of the palace staff. No one needed to know that she’d slept in the bed while he’d slept on a rolled mattress on the floor. She’d protested then but he’d made her feel utterly foolish, pointing out that he’d slept in far less savory environments during his four years in the country’s military.
The Warrior King – that was what the American press loved to call him. It conjured images of a half-man, half-beast, and unfortunately, those images were very close to the truth. Raffa was some kind of primal, feral creature, caged by his palace, but no less vitally strong for the veneer of civilization he adopted as required.
His own suite of rooms was unlike anything she could have imagined before arriving at the palace. Through the thick, carved timber doors there was an atrium with a waterfall that Raffa had explained, on their wedding night, was naturally occurring. The palace had been built against a mountain range and this room had historically been the Sheikh’s.
The waterfall dropped into a pool – ‘my predecessors liked to watch their concubines swim,’ he’d said, with something in his eyes that had made it hard for Chloe to tell if he was joking. Teasing her, mocking her innocence. Trying to shock her?
It had worked.
She’d jerked her attention away from the waterfall sharply then, and she did so now. Bougainvillea had been trained to grow over the ceiling, and night-flowering jasmine intertwined with it, creating a heady fragrance and a stunning tangle of purple and white flowers.
Through the atrium, the suite was in stark contrast to such wild beauty. Everything in Raffa’s rooms was the finest money could buy. From the enormous bed in his room, to the polished marble dining table that was set with gold cutlery and crystal glasses, to the cinema sized screen that sat against one side of his living area. It was sumptuous, decadent and not even remotely what Chloe found the most remarkable thing in the room.
No, that honour was reserved for her husband.
He stood in the centre of the space, his robe removed so that he wore only a pair of loose pants, low on his waist. His feet were bare and the long, dark hair he’d worn in a messy bun at the event was down now, falling over his shoulders in thick, tumbling waves. His chest was bare, and her gaze couldn’t help but fall to it, taking in the muscular ridging, the hard lines, the hair that ra
n down his navel and into the waistband of his pants.
“Like what you see?” He enquired sardonically.
She blinked, grateful then for the years of practice she’d had in concealing her thoughts and feelings; grateful for the father, brother, mother who had all taught her to hide her inner-most feelings at all times.
“You wanted to talk,” she reminded him crisply, moving deeper into the room, towards the bar, where she poured herself a mineral water and scooped some pomegranate seeds from a small golden bucket.
“No. I want to sleep with you. You want to talk.”
Chloe’s fingers fumbled the ice tongs but she was calm when she met his eyes. “Oh, come on, Raffa. Don’t make it sound as though you want this. You want an heir. Sex you already have, surely, with any number of willing women?”
His eyes narrowed and something dark crossed his expression. “Careful, sheikha. That sounds a lot like you are questioning my integrity.”
“How? By stating a fact?”
“You think I have been sleeping with other women?”
She was on dangerous ground and yet she couldn’t retreat. “I haven’t thought about it at all,” she lied. “But, if I had to answer that, I would say, of course. This isn’t a real marriage, you’re…”
“Yes?” He prompted with a dangerous edge to the words.
“Well, you’re you. All virile and masculine and no doubt used to regularly being…”
An eyebrow lifted up, and embarrassment flicked at the edges of Chloe’s mind, making it impossible for her to finish the sentence.
“I am a married man,” he said with a shrug. “I am not interested in breaking the vows we made to one another.”
She had thought the ground was tilting beneath her moments ago, but now, it fairly shook! Was he actually saying that he’d been celibate this past year? That the virile and masculine specimen of royalty and hotness had gone without a partner – because of her? Because of their marriage?
“Fine,” she said, as though this revelation hadn’t made her pulse fire. “But if this is just about assuaging Malik’s worries, then why not simply tell him we’re trying for a baby? Surely that will do the same thing?”
Raffa’s eyes narrowed. “I hope, Chloe, that we can provide him with more than the thought of an heir, before he leaves this earth. His condition is worsening, but I have no reason to think he won’t survive long enough to meet his grandson.”
“Or granddaughter,” she pointed out, sipping her water, holding it tightly in one hand to hide the way her fingers were trembling.
“Or granddaughter,” The sheikh conceded with a nod. “The gender does not matter. The constitution will recognize either as my heir.”
Chloe tilted her head thoughtfully to one side. “You already have a son, do you not?”
It was the first time she’d played that card, the first time she’d spoken about the secret child, Amit, who was not so secret after all. Everybody knew of him. The twelve-year-old who was the product of a youthful indiscretion – rumoured to have been a love affair that was strictly forbidden by Raffa’s father.
“Leave Amit out of it. We are talking about my heir,” he recovered quickly, taking a step towards her, so that she fought an impulse to step backwards.
“Aren’t they one in the same thing?”
“He’s not my legitimate heir,” Raffa said with a shrug. “You are my bride. Only you can provide Qad’r with the child it requires.”
“You’re to be the King. Surely you can change the rules of succession?”
“Of course you would think ancient rules should be set aside when they become inconvenient. How very American of you.”
She ignored his condemnation. “I should think you find it inconvenient as well.”
His nostrils flared. “Amit will not inherit the throne, and he knows this. It has never entered his head that he would. He wouldn’t want the job, even if it were offered,” Raffa remarked with an affectionate smile.
A throb of jealousy robbed Chloe of breath. Raffa loved his son – that was natural. Why did that hurt? Why did she feel a sense of pain to see the way Raffa softened when thinking of another human? Because he would never soften towards her.
Not because he hated her – he didn’t. She would take his hatred – she would take any kind of emotion in preference to the coldness with which they treated one another.
Coldness, and disapproval. Yes, disapproval, because he disliked the necessity of this marriage as much as she. Because he’d thought he was getting a certain type of bride and instead he’d found himself married to a woman with her own ideas about where she wanted to live and what their lives would look like. They’d butted heads from day one, and that didn’t look like changing any time soon.
“You’re nervous.” The words were grim.
For a second, Chloe almost dropped her mask of unconcern. “Not at all,” she lied.
“You’re inexperienced.”
Chloe lifted a brow. “Employing euphemisms? For your comfort or mine?”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re a virgin,” he said simply.
Chloe refused to be intimidated. “I’ve never even been kissed,” she confirmed with apparent disregard. “Is that what you want to hear?”
Something like speculation grew in his eyes as he closed the distance between them, reaching for the glass in her hands.
He stared at her and despite her intentions to maintain her cool, his proximity and the promise of what was about to happen was over-charging her nerve endings. “You were twenty one when we married. You hadn’t dated?”
“No.” She tilted her head away, not wanting to be interrogated about her resolute commitment to being single.
“I find that hard to believe.”
That drew her attention back to his handsome face. “Believe it or not. That’s your choice.”
A muscle throbbed low in his jaw. “I know I should be gentle with you, and then you say things like that and I have to fight the urge to lift you over my shoulder and smack that delightful rear of yours.”
She drew in a gasp of surprise and stepped backwards, so that her hips jammed against the kitchen counter.
“You’d regret it,” she drawled, but the words were husky, the desire his words had sparked obvious in every syllable.
“Perhaps.” He closed the gap once more and she refused to be cowered, meeting his look without fear. “Did you marry me and believe we wouldn’t need to have an heir?”
“No. I always knew that one day we’d have to…” she couldn’t finish the sentence.
“I don’t want you to fear this, nor do I want you to feel forced.” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “You have choices here, Chloe.”
Her eyes met his, and a spark travelled from her to him, flaming the air. “I know that.”
His expression flashed with something like relief, for her words were the permission he sought.
“I will be gentle with you,” he promised, placing his hands on either side of her body, bracing his palms against the counter top and imprisoning her easily.
Chloe’s mouth was dry, her throat hoarse. She parted her lips to say something, but slammed them shut again when she realized she had been about to beg him, “Don’t be gentle.”
CHAPTER TWO
HIS LIPS CAME CRUSHING down on hers, as though with his mouth he could brand her and possess her, as though fearing that she might escape. That she might push him away and demand he never touch her again. That she might demand her freedom in the form of divorce.
Chloe could have done any of those things. She had married Raffa by choice, because she’d wanted to please her father, but she’d gone into it with her eyes wide open. And now, with eyes shut, she was still staring down the barrel of her choices, knowing that it went beyond duty to their families.
She wanted this. She wanted him.
A low, keening groan tipped from her mouth to his and he returned it, a thick curse charging the air as he lifted a hand to her hair
and tangled his fingers in its length, drawing her head backwards to give him better access to her lips. His tongue warred with hers and his body pressed hard against her, so she felt the strength of his attraction, she felt the powerful firmness of his body and her own went weak in response.
Temptation was dragging her under, pulling her into a tide of responsiveness and need. But it was madness, and a madness of his making. With a super-human effort, she broke apart from him, shoving at his chest and spinning herself around, so she had some space. Only space was an illusion – he was everywhere! In the air she breathed deep into her lungs, in the black recesses of her eyes, in her mouth, right down to her toes.
“Don’t kiss me,” she said warningly, lifting a hand to her mouth and touching her lips as though she could wipe away what they’d just shared.
“We can do it without kissing,” he said with a lift of his shoulders, his tone mocking. “But it’s a lot less personal.”
She glared at him. “We aren’t doing it at all,” she denied hotly. “I’m not going to simply sleep with you because you’ve decided it’s time! That’s not how things work. We’re husband and wife. How and when we have children is our decision, not yours alone. I appreciate you’re used to ruling with supreme autonomy but I’m not your subject to command.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what you are,” he said with a hint of steel in his voice.
“So you’re going to order me into your bed even when it’s the last place on earth I want to be?”
He laughed softly. “I don’t think I’ll need to order you there.” He raked his gaze down her body, his attention lingering on the way her breasts were straining at her dress, two firm peaks of desire, echoed by her parted lips, flushed cheeks and huge pupils.
The room was filled with the sound of her breathing, hoarse and rushed. “Having children is not something I can just rush into.”
“You must see the importance of acting now.”
She turned away from him, so he wouldn’t recognize the acquiescence in her eyes. The truth was, she did want children. Desperately. She’d had a lonely upbringing – her only sibling was ten years her senior and they weren’t close. Her father and she had been basically estranged and her mother had been miserable and cold. Chloe yearned for someone to love, someone to fill the void in her heart. But a baby? Would she know what to do? How to love one? How to care for one?
Blackmailed by the Spaniard Page 18