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“You mean what almost happened?” she asked teasingly.
“You touched me.”
“And you liked it.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
She laughed. Again. “No denial?”
“You aren’t going to convince me to dismiss my promise to your father with sex.”
“The thought honestly never crossed my mind.”
Thank goodness for small favors.
“The truth is, I’m hoping to strike a bargain.”
“I just said—”
“Not for my freedom. Even if you were willing, you don’t have the power to offer that. Not really. You could withdraw your services, but my father would simply hire someone else.”
“That’s true.” And he was glad she realized it. The thought of some other man escorting her back to her family—using means Hawk didn’t want to consider—sent black anger through him.
“But you can give me something I want.”
“What?”
“To start with, time.”
“Lina…” he said warningly.
“Not too much time…just a few days.”
“And what do you think you have to bargain with?” Curiosity about what it might be ate at him. Was she going to offer her body in exchange for that time? The prospect was way more appealing than he wanted it to be.
“My compliance.”
Her answer stunned him. “I have you. I don’t need your compliance.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“You will probably call me arrogant, but yes.”
Flicking her silky cascade of multicolored hair over one shoulder, she ed her head to one side. “How do you intend to get me on the plane?”
“I have a letter from your father giving me permission to use whatever means necessary to insure you do.”
Lina blanched, but looked no less confident. “And in Marwan, that letter would carry a lot of weight, but we aren’t in my father’s country.”
“It’s your country, too, princess.”
“No, it is not.” She sounded so sure, not at all like a petulant child rebelling against her parents.
“You can’t wish away your place in the world.”
“No, but I can and did take legal action to change it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am a U.S. citizen.”
“Living in this country, even for most of your life does not make you a citizen.”
“No, but applying for citizenship and passing the test does.”
An ugly word came out of his mouth.
“If you attempt to take me on a plane, or anywhere else for that matter, by force, you risk being faced with kidnapping charges.”
“Your father—”
“Has diplomatic immunity. You don’t. And while his word may be law in Marwan, his letter of authority isn’t worth the paper it’s written on when it applies to a U.S. citizen here in the States.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not, but you are welcome to check. I’ll even give you my social security number to make it easy for you.”
“You don’t have an SSN.”
“I do. I got it when I became a citizen.”
“This is not possible.”
“But it is.”
“If you are a citizen, why did you come with me yesterday?”
“Because I know I have to face my family.”
“Why run in the first place?”
She looked away, an expression he couldn’t decipher on her face. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Your father knows nothing of your dual citizenship.” Heck, Hawk couldn’t be absolutely sure that she wasn’t bluffing, but something in her eyes told him she wasn’t.
“It’s not dual. I gave up Marwanian citizenship to become a U.S. citizen.”
“Why?” In Marwan, she was a princess. In America, she was just another woman from a wealthy if conservative family.
Not that her action really changed who she was. Lina was still the daughter of a powerful king who expected her to marry the man he’d chosen for her. If she refused, she would cause a break with her royal parent that would most likely be irreparable.
Hawk had always maintained that his mother’s disloyalty and lack of maternal love did not bother him, but the truth was, if he could have her in his life without her using him…he would. The absence of any real family since his father’s death had caused him more than one brooding moment in the past few years.
“Marwan does not offer dual citizenship. My father’s family has always expected absolute loyalty from their people.”
“It’s your family, too, princess.”
She shrugged, her face going neutral.
“I can’t believe your father is not aware of your change in citizenship.”
“It’s not something he would have anticipated. The security team wasn’t watching for it, neither were the paper pushers.”
“You flew right under their radar,” he said with unquenchable admiration.
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t have done it with the new security measures.”
“No. It was seeking my citizenship that caused me to go looking for ways to circumvent my security team in the first place.”
“You had your citizenship when we first met?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I knew one day I would need the leverage.” She sighed, frowning with a sadness he hated to see. “I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve made your feelings about my so-called duty clear, but when my parents tossed me away, they lost the right to dictate my life. Not that I’m convinced they had it regardless.”
“They didn’t toss you away.”
“Call it what you like, they sent me to live in America. I chose to become an American.”
“So, you said you wanted to bargain with me for your compliance?”
“Yes.”
“Besides time, what do you want?”
“You, Sebastian. I want you.”
CHAPTER TEN
LINA WOULD HAVE LAUGHED at the expression on Sebastian’s face if she wasn’t so nervous. She’d done a good job so far of hiding her emotions, but the mask was going to start cracking soon if she wasn’t careful.
“What the bloody hell do you mean, me?”
“It’s quite simple, really,” she forced past the dryness in her throat. “I want sex with you…more than once, which is why I want time.”
“I’m not a gigolo,” he ground out, sounding highly insulted.
“And I’m not offering to pay you to have sex with me.”
“You might as well be.”
“Don’t be such a prude. Whether you want to admit it, or not, you want me.” She took a deep breath and let it out. This was harder than she imagined, and she hadn’t thought it was going to be a cakewalk. And she hoped to God she was right. “And I want you. For two normal people in a situation less melodramatic than this one, that would most likely end with them in bed together.”
“Are you saying you don’t think I’m normal, princess?”
“What, a super wealthy man who runs not only a plethora of businesses, but his own internationally renowned detective agency? Nah, that’s as normal as it gets.”
He shook his head. “You aren’t serious about this.”
“Like I’m not really a U.S. citizen?”
The sound that erupted from his throat was pure frustration…of the male variety.
“Look, it’s not like I’m really asking for something you don’t want to give. Think about it, Sebastian.” She stood up. “And while you are at it, why don’t you page that cute server so he can come back and clean up?”
She peeled her T-shirt off as she walked away. It didn’t hurt to give him a glimpse of what she was offering. Lina had a hard time accepting her own bold actions, but then she’d never shrunk from going after what she wanted.
Right now, she needed freedom.
And it was a type of freedom only he could provide. A sexual liberation that unfortunately, it seemed like only this man could give her.
No matter how much she teased him about the hot server.
The other man had touched her hip and it hadn’t affected her as much as the way Sebastian had looked at her when she stood up to show him her mini-tattoo.
She’d only been sitting in the bubbling hot tub about five minutes when Sebastian came storming into the room. “What about your sheikh?” he demanded in a cold voice.
