Читать книгу Claimed by the Sheikh - Rachael Thomas - Страница 8

PROLOGUE

THIS WAS THE MOMENT Amber had been looking forward to. Her wedding day. Her new husband, Prince Kazim Al Amed of Barazbin, was powerful and, despite her nerves, Amber wanted their first night together to be perfect. He might be the man her father had chosen for her to marry, but she’d given her heart to him the moment they’d first met. His reputation preceded him and she intended to hide her virginal innocence by playing the role of seductress to perfection.

As soon as they’d left the wedding feast things had changed, had gone wrong. His warm smile had disappeared and he stood in their suite, anger clouding his handsome face.

‘I have no wish for this marriage.’ He almost had to force the word ‘marriage’ out. ‘There is no need to change your life.’

‘Change my life?’ How could he so calmly say that? Of course her life would change, but she held her chin high, kept her strength, not wanting to appear weak to a man so strong.

‘Like you, I have married out of duty and respect for my family.’ His eyes, as black as obsidian, fixed on hers and a sizzle of something indefinable raced down her spine. She clenched her fingers tightly beneath the silk of her abaya.

He picked up her hand; the warmth of his fingers around hers made her heart race and for a moment she saw confusion in his eyes.

‘We have done our duty. Now you will return to your family.’

* * *

Kazim breathed a sigh of relief, thankful his bride was a level-headed woman not prone to hysteria. It must be the Western influence she’d had in her life. The same influence that had corrupted her. Rumours of her secret assignations with men in hotel rooms whilst at boarding school had only just reached his ears. She was not the innocent bride he had been expecting. He had done his duty, married the woman his father had selected. He would do no more.

‘So what must I do?’ She looked panicked for a moment and he wondered if his assumptions had been premature.

‘Whatever it was you were doing before you arrived here. You will, of course, have my full financial support.’ As far as he was concerned, after what he’d just learnt he had every right to send his new wife home and then one day call into question her suitability.

‘So I just go back to my life?’

‘There is one problem.’ He hesitated. ‘It will be expected for the marriage to be consummated.’

‘That’s easily sorted.’ She jumped up impetuously and tugged at her abaya, pulling the long lengths of silk. ‘We can make it look as if it has.’

Kazim couldn’t believe what he was hearing and seeing. As each piece of silk was removed and tossed aside lust thudded through his veins. This woman was his wife, an innocent virgin, but she was performing some kind of striptease. What had she learnt in England?

With each movement she became bolder, seducing him with her curves, her sexy pout. Anger mixed with disbelief was making a heady cocktail. This woman was no innocent. But still he watched as lust thundered in his blood.

The silk ripped as her movements became faster and she gasped, her face full of genuine shock. Then she smiled. The smile of a woman who knew how to tease a man. ‘That will make it look all the more real.’

Then the last piece of silk slipped to the floor, leaving her almost naked, and their eyes met. She stood and looked at him, as if daring him to resist her now. He was hardly able to, but taking her now was out of the question. His rage was so strong he knew what could happen and he couldn’t risk that.

‘Put some clothes on,’ he growled, hardly able to contain the anger he felt. In just a few minutes she’d proved herself completely unsuitable as his bride.

A short while later she emerged from the bathroom, her lush body covered by the soft towelling robe. She sat on the bed, her rich coffee eyes meeting his in challenge. ‘The bed will need to look as if we’ve slept together in it.’

‘What?’

She calmly sat there, her breasts rising and falling with each breath, making it harder than ever to resist the call of his lust.

‘The bed,’ she said coldly. ‘If you want this marriage to look as if it has been consummated, it needs to be a mess.’

* * *

Amber watched the man she’d married toss the sheets into disarray and self-preservation kicked in. She wasn’t about to be sent home a disgraced bride, one who was still a virgin. It had to look as if the marriage had been consummated. She couldn’t face her parents otherwise.

If her husband could be as cold and calculating about the marriage they’d entered into out of duty, then so could she. The deal struck by their fathers would be honoured, as long as it looked as if they’d spent the night in the same bed.

Just a few more hours and she could leave. Go as far away as she could. Maybe go places and do things her position as her father’s only daughter and Princess of Quarazmir had never enabled her to do.