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He turned his attention back to her. “You haven’t given me your preferences for your robe for the ceremony yet. Surely you’d like to select that yourself.”
“I didn’t realize your attractive robes came in a number of different colors and designs,” Tally answered with mock sweetness. “So far I’ve only seen basic black and basic white.”
“There is a lovely shade of blue.”
“Navy.”
He tipped his head. “See.”
“So you’re asking if I’d like to be married in black, white, or blue?”
A muscle popped in his jaw. “Yes.”
“Hmph.”She couldn’t believe how much he irritated her, infuriated her, couldn’t believe he really thought they could marry, spend time together, much less time in bed!
At thirty-one she was no simpering virgin, but she’d never managed to look at sex as recreational activity, either. Sport was sport, and sex was well, private. Intimate. Sex was making love. And how was she supposed to make love with a man she didn’t even respect?
Tally lifted her chin, forced a tight smile. “Surprise me. It will make the wedding day such a delight.”
Tair suddenly reached for her wrist, fingers encircling her slender bones and he pulled her up, to her feet, and then around the table toward him. “You’re such a feisty bride to be.”
She tugged hard, resisting. “Because you’re so not the groom I ever wanted.”
He dropped her into his lap. “Why?”
His thumb was slowly, lazily drawing circles on the inside of her wrist. It was annoying. Distracting. Disturbing. Little forks of sensation raced through her arm, licks of fire and ice that tingled from her arm to her middle, curling hotly in her belly. Damn him. He couldn’t arouse her. She wouldn’t let him arouse her. She had no wish to be aroused by Tair of the Desert. He was horrible. Uncivilized. Barbaric.
“You know why,” she said gruffly.
“Because I’m a sheikh?”
She growled a protest.“No. It’s not cultural, or religious—it’s you. You. You stole me, kidnapped me, imprisoned me. Why would I want to marry you?” Then she shuddered, shivering not from distaste but the unnerving things his touch was doing to her. He shouldn’t be able to make her feel anything. She didn’t like him. Didn’t admire him. Didn’t want him.
But oh, and she shivered again, a ripple of helpless response as his thumb stroked over and over that little sensitive pulse point on her wrist. Problem was, that little sensitive spot seemed to be growing. Her whole arm had come alive, her skin flushed, her body tensing in protest.
Delicious protest.
Tally’s brows pulled, flattened. Damn him. How could she ever respect him if he didn’t even let her respect herself? A man that broke down her defenses with touch—with pleasure—well, that was just wrong.
They should talk. Converse. Even play a game of chess. But touch? So brutally unfair.
“And if I hadn’t kidnapped you? You’d like me then?”
She couldn’t meet his eye. “Maybe.”
“Woman, I think not,” he scoffed.
Woman.She clenched her teeth. Why did he still call her that? He knew she hated it. He knew she hated his chauvinistic attitude, but did he change? No. Would he ever change?No.
“You’re right,” she fumed. “Even if I’d met you at a cocktail party at the Barakan Embassy I wouldn’t like you. It’s not political. It’s personal, completely personal. You’re everything I don’t like in a man. Hard, mean-spirited, bullying.”
She paused for breath before continuing. “A man should never try to dominate a woman and yet that’s all you do. Dominate and push me around.”
He leaned toward her, closing the distance so that she felt the warmth of his skin, the tension crackling between them. “I’ve saved you, too.”
His mouth was so close, his lips just there above hers and she felt a sharp lance of pain, and it surprised her, the cut and twist in her chest and belly. Wrenched, that’s how she felt. Wrenched.
“You were the one that put me in danger,” she protested, voice hoarse. “It’s only fair you saved me.”
“I didn’t put you in danger.” He head dipped, his lips just missing hers to brush her cheek and then lightly touch the corner of her mouth. “You put yourself in danger by behaving in an emotional, impulsive, irrational manner.”
She wanted to jerk away, wanted to pull back and escape but the feel of his mouth against her skin was so seductive it confused her, held her, made her want more.
