Page 13 of Liam

It was neither a statement nor a question, but he answered anyway. “Your brother and his wife are attending.”

He watched her spine snap straight, pain filling her eyes as she pulled back, her emotional wall coming down. It was an amazing transformation and one he hated with a passion. He liked her smiling and relaxed with his friends, not on guard and wary of every single thing she did, worrying they would judge her.

“I see.” Taamira spun away from him, and he admired the graceful line of her spine.

“You need to cancel your appearance at the conference.” His words were said as a statement rather than asking her and he knew he’d made a mistake as soon as the words left his mouth.

CHAPTER SIX

SHE SPUN TO FACE HIM, HEAT SUFFUSING HER CHEEKS AS ANGER TOOK CHARGE OF HER EMOTIONS THAT had been teetering since he’d come in. The look on his face had forewarned her she wasn’t going to like what he said.

“Absolutely not.” Taamira paced back and forth as was her want when she was angry. Her brother had taken enough from her; she would not allow him to take this as well.

“Taamira.”

She heard the warning in his voice but ignored it as she turned to glare at him. “Do not Taamira me. I am not some little woman to be cowed by a man. I am a Princess, and I will do as I please.” Her head was high as she shot daggers at him, but fear was forcing her words to come out wrong. She sounded like a spoilt brat, when it was, in fact, a reaction to being told what to do by yet another man.

All her life she’d been dictated to, told what to wear, what to think, and what to say. She had thought she had got away from that, got away from having her life ruled by men who didn’t care enough about her to step up when she needed them.

“You may be a Princess but you’re acting like a damned spoilt child, one who has just had her toys taken away.”

Taamira drew in a sharp breath and stopped her pacing to glare at him. He looked equally annoyed; his brow drawn down, hands on his hips as he returned her glare. The blue of his eyes a stormy navy that she should not find attractive given the situation.

“This is fucking serious, treacle. Your life is at risk. You could be hurt, you could be fucking killed. Yet you’re huffing and puffing like a brat.”

That snapped her out of her desire induced funk. “How dare you speak to me like that.”

Her breath was coming in harsh heaves now as she stepped towards him without fear, her words coming through teeth clenched in an effort to control her ire. The dangerous vibe pulsing from him didn’t make her back down. This man did not cause fear in her. Taamira knew deep in her soul he would never harm a hair on her head, and it gave her the freedom to argue in a way she never had before.

He looked down at her, his turbulent eyes on her lips, the hot air around them filling with a pulse of electricity that beat in tandem with her heart.

“I dare, Princess, because it’s my stupid ass that will stand between you and a bullet. I dare because you’re behaving like a naive four-year-old.”

His jaw was practically granite, and she saw the five o’clock shadow and wondered if he’d shaved today or if it had just grown back from this morning. It was distracting her slightly from her tirade and train of thought. She gave herself a tiny shake to free the spell he seemed to weave over her.

“I am not.”

“Are too,” he retorted, and foolishly she stamped her foot in indignation and fury at the man’s stubborn behaviour.

“I will go to this conference, and I will give this speech, and you will not stand in my way.”

Fighting for this was essential to show the girls and women who had been suppressed and cowed that they had a voice and she would not give it up without a fight.

Liam spun away and walked to the door of the balcony and then turned, coming back towards her with a prowl. His face a cool mask she could not read; her heart beat hard against her chest as she watched him. Liam had always had a cheeky way about him, a friendliness, even when she knew she was driving him crazy, but now he looked altogether different.

“You are the most stubborn, infuriating woman I have ever had the misfortune of meeting.”

The words hit her like shards of glass, piercing her skin and scoring a wound across her heart that she hadn’t seen coming and hadn’t earned.

It was that more than any of his other arguments that got to her. Those words that had angry tears burning the back of her eyes. Biting down on her lip she refused to show him he’d scored a direct hit and instead spun on her heel and walked to her room, running the last few feet before she slammed the door closed behind her and letting the tears fall.

She slid down the door and sat with her back to it, knees drawn up and rested her head on them as she hugged her shins. It shouldn’t hurt that he’d said what he did. Liam was just her guard, he meant nothing to her, but even as she thought it, she knew it wasn’t right.

Him saying he had been misfortunate to meet her hurt more than she could have imagined. Coupled with the fact that she may have to cancel her speech, she was left feeling defeated in a way she had not felt since her attack.

Just hearing her brother’s name hurt. Even now, coming to terms with the low regard he held for her caused almost unbearable pain. They had been close when she was a child, playing together in the palace gardens and hiding from the nanny when it was time for lessons. It was as they grew older his role in her life changed from playmate to domineering older brother, then they had grown apart.

Now he was going to stop her from doing her speech, and she wanted to fight for her rights, but Liam’s words came back to her.