The Sheikh's Arranged Marriage: The only thing worse than falling in love with the man she'd married was knowing he would never feel the same... (10 page)

Ever attentive, he placed a hand on the small swell of her hip. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No. A little, at first, but then I was far too busy feeling pleasured to feel any pain.”

He smiled, baring even white teeth. “I couldn’t resist you, my pretty ballerina, for a moment longer.”

Happiness soared through her body. She zinged with relief that he was as much attracted to her as she was to him. “I’m a danseuse,” She corrected instinctively. “A ballerina is a professional.”

“Ah!” He nodded with mock seriousness. “I apologise for the incorrect terminology. It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not,” she responded in kind, but a smile played at the corners of her mouth.

“Why are you not a ballerina?” He asked stroking her naked hip and thigh as he continued to watch her.

She frowned. “I told you. I’m not good enough.”

“Says who?”

“Nobody. Everybody. Only a very few talented dancers can achieve great success in the real world. It would have been foolish and expensive to hope my hobby would translate into anything more than just that – a hobby.”

He opened his mouth to object but she pressed a finger against his lips. “Please,
Tariq, I don’t want to talk about it. Especially not right now.”

She didn’t want anything negative to take away from this perfect moment. The thought of Winona and Greg still had the power to make her heart turn cold and she didn’t want to give them the ability to rob her of this moment of sheer joy and ... relief. Relief that after so many years of believing herself to be a sexless cold fish, she had met and married the most desirable man on the planet – and he desired her right back!

CHAPTER SEVEN

Despite their new level of intimacy,
Tariq held Rebecca at arm’s length in so many ways, or at least, it felt like it to her. And as the days passed in a blur of steamy encounters and sexually promising notes passed back and forth by their attendants, still, she wanted more.

She wanted true intimacy. She wanted him in her bed. Or to be in his bed. For a whole night. Cradled together, listening to the
calls of the dessert animals beyond the palace walls, and the sound the wind made as it sung through the ancient building.

A week after their first time together, Rebecca
had had enough. She danced in her makeshift studio until her legs ached, but she would not give in to the hunger that was flaming inside of her. Not tonight. He had it so easy. She was easy. He just had to look at her across a crowded room and she felt moist in her core. Well, not tonight.

It was a petty and silly victory, but she danced her frustrations out until her body was almost shaking with the exertion, and when she looked at the
clock on her phone, she saw it was after nine o’clock. If he had wondered about her absence, he had not come looking for her. The constant security presence watching over her meant she could never really hide from him. He simply had to say a single word to his own security escort and she would be located.

But he had not. He had not sought her out when she’d stayed away. She should have felt pleased that she’d proved her point, but it was a hollow victory if it meant she, too, lost out on something she craved more than anything else on earth.

With a sigh, she towelled the sweat from her face and wrapped a robe around herself for modesty. At this time of night, the family quarters would only have a few servants scattered throughout, but the leotard and tights she wore showed a little more flesh and shape than she was comfortable revealing.

It was hot. Unbearably hot. Most nights, the dessert winds blew a cool change through the palace, but
it was still and sticky even at this late hour.

She stopped walking midway along the upstairs corridor that led to her bedroom.

“Farouk,” she said, turning to her security escort. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to go for a swim. Please see me to the pool and then leave me.”

“Ma’am, I will wait outside the pool for you.”

“No, Farouk. There are enough of the Emir’s guards in the royal quarters. Please go home to your wife and children and pass me over to one of them.” She smiled at him kindly, but firmly. “I insist.”

“Very well, ma’am.”

She had given up trying to coax any one of her security detail to call her by her first name.

Once in the private sanctuary of the Emir’s royal pool, she slipped her leotard and tights off so that she was naked and dove straight into the
water. The water was blissfully cool against her skin, and although her body was tired from dancing, she forced herself to pull through the water, kicking gracefully to execute a perfect freestyle lap.

She flipped at the wall and went back in the direction she’d
come, but as she reached a hand out for the pool coping, her fingers brushed against something smooth and warm. She jumped in the water, her heart beating with tension, but it was only Tariq.

Only
Tariq.

She gulped. His face was watchful, his eyes guarded.

“Sheikha,” he said quietly, his honey eyes scanning her face. “I missed you tonight.”

She bit down on her lip. It had been silly to avoid him. There were a thousand better ways to make her point. And one very simple one. She should have talked to him about how she felt. But whenever she tried to put her feelings into sentences, she
developed a clogged brain.

“I was dancing,” she said simply.

“Yes. I made inquiries. Swan Lake, I was told.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I really am under surveillance, aren’t I?”

He shook his head. “I take it the ever-present security guard is wearing thin?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She pushed a hand through her wet hair, and the action revealed her
naked breasts. His eyes fell to the exposed curves and his lip pulled into a small smile of approval.

“If only you knew how I fantasised about this.” He said throatily, pulling her towards him. She
realised, with a start, that he was also naked beneath the water.

“Have you?” She whispered, feeling her body turn to putty as his already erect penis nudged between her legs.

“Oh, yes,” he said, and she knew she wasn’t imagining a hardness to his voice. He guided her towards the steps and, when her bottom connected with the lowest step, he pushed into her, watching as her face flooded with relief.

It wasn’t planned.

All night, whilst he’d entertained some of the most boring business people he had ever had the displeasure of meeting, he had stared at her empty chair, brooding over why her unexpected absence angered him so. She was free to do what she wanted, of course, but over the last week, he had become used to her. She was helping him with some of his obligations by day, and by night, whenever they were alone, they were together. Far from their need showing any signs of abating, he couldn’t get a moment without her being in his mind, tormenting him.

But the last two days he’d sensed a wariness about her, and he had meant to ask her about it tonight. To romance her. Not seduce her. But damn it, seeing her swimming naked in his pool, it was impossible to resist.

He plunged into her again, thrilling as she cried out in pleasure, dragged her nails down his back. Her long, slender legs wrapped around his chest, and she exploded quickly, her body wracked with pleasure as she felt the burning release take over. He chased after her, holding her close as he spilled into her, and with his body, he tried to say all of the things that he couldn’t put into words. Tried to ask her all the questions he needed answered.

* * *

“Listen, Rick, she’s obviously mad about you. I don’t get what’s got you hung up?”

Tariq
sighed heavily as Eric swung back on the expensive leather office chair, looking out at the view of bustling Fattid. “You wouldn’t. Everything’s black and white for you. I know Rebecca better now than I did when first we married. But I still don’t know her at all.” He sighed again. “She is so distant with me. She keeps so much hidden. I’m not a fool. I know the only reason a woman from her culture would marry a man she’s never met is for the money.”

Eric rolled his eyes. “You’ve never doubted your ability to attract women before,
Rick. I would have said you’re the cockiest bastard I’ve ever known. So what’s got you so sure she’s only after your money?”

He shrugged. “I did not say
only.”
He shied away from discussing his sex life with Rebecca with Eric, although he would trust the man with his life. It felt like a betrayal. He stuck to a very loose version of the truth. “She is physically attracted to me, now. But when she accepted the proposal, she didn’t know that she would be. She didn’t know what she was getting. Why did she do it? It had to have been for the money.”

“She gained more by marrying you than money,” Eric pointed out
with a small frown. “She gained prestige, a royal title, and very real political influence. Not to mention being married to a pain in the arse for the rest of her life.”

There were few people in his life who felt comfortable speaking freely with
Tariq, and he treasured his friendship with Eric all the more for the relaxed footing they were on. Eric had never let Tariq’s royal title distract him. He was a loyal confidant, more like a brother than a friend.

His
answering smile was distracted. “And yet, she doesn’t seem all that interested in money. Her attendants have informed me that she buys no clothes for herself – they have standing orders with local boutiques on her behalf.”

“
When you say
attendants,
I presume you’re referring to Monique?” Eric cut in quickly. “I meant to ask you how it came about that your most recent mistress is now serving as a lady-in-waiting to your new wife.”

Tariq
’s face showed his anger. “I do not know,” he answered honestly. “I took such little interest in the proceedings of my marriage, especially when it came to the arrangements for my fiancé.” He shook his head in self castigation. “I suppose my mother selected Rebecca’s staff. And who better to acquaint a woman with my needs than the woman who serviced them so excellently for so many years.”

“Ouch. That seems a little cynical.”
Eric’s tone was disapproving.

“Pragmatic, rather, and you and I both know my mother is nothing if not pragmatic.” He had lost sleep worrying about how Rebecca would react if she knew.  His relationship with Monique had ended before he’d married Rebecca. But only just before. That she was still in his life would be an obvious betrayal to his bride.

“So, reading between the lines, you have started to have feelings for your wife – which I know was never part of the plan. And before you can accept that you’re falling for her, you want to make sure she is as she seems?”

“More or less,”
Tariq said with a nod of his head.

“Look, man, I don’t want you to get hurt either, but relationships have to be built on trust. If you don’t trust her, then you can’t be serious about her.”

“How can I trust a woman who marries a man she’s never met?” He snapped crossly.

“Your mum did it,” Eric contradicted.

“My mother is Assanian. She was betrothed to my father as a teenager, married at twenty. It is all she’s ever known. Rebecca is beautiful, talented, intelligent... She could have been anything she wanted. Married any guy she wanted. Yet she signed herself up for a future with a man who for all she knew, could have been fat, balding, abusive... How can I accept that?” He shifted in his seat. “Have I told you about her dancing?” He asked.

Eric lifted his eyes heavenward. “Only about a thousand times
.”

“I’m sorry – am I boring you?”
Tariq asked with as much regal command as he could inject into his voice.

“No. You’re confusing me. Who cares about the whys, when you’ve got everything you’ve ever wanted?” He said honestly.

“Have I? I’ve got her body. I don’t have her mind. She is locked away from me, always steering away from my questions, making sure things don’t get too serious.”

“I’ve never known you to want much more from a woman than her body
. I would have said ‘serious’ was the last thing you’d want something to become,” Eric was still teasing but it cut Tariq to the core.

“That isn’t true.” He frowned. “I suppose I
had a habit of dating women who don’t want more than a quick roll in the hay, and some expensive gifts, perhaps. But I’ve always known my relationships had an expiration point. I expected to love my kingdom, not my wife.”

“Are you saying you love Rebecca,
Tariq?” Eric leaned forward in his cheer, appraising his friend with surprise.

Tariq
shook his head. “I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying, hypothetically, I never doubted that I was born to rule Assan. It is in my blood, it fires my soul. But all I have ever expected of my wife is a pleasant temperament, and a uterus capable of carrying on the family line.”

“Charming,” Eric drawled cynically. “Problem solved. Just repeat that romantic little speech to Rebecca and she’ll fall swooning to your feet.”