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It doesn’t matter, he told himself harshly. Tenderly, he kissed her forehead, then pulled her small, naked body protectively against his.
He must have slept, because when he opened his eyes, the shadows across the bedroom had moved, to the slant of late afternoon. His stomach growled. He considered calling for food, then glanced at the clock above the marble fireplace. The lavish dinner banquet, set to celebrate the conclusion of the bride market, was set to begin in a few hours. Perhaps it was better to wait. Especially since he did not want it widely known that he’d already seduced Beth and claimed her secretly as his bride, a month before the formal ceremony.
Though if she were already pregnant, everyone would be able t
o do the math...
He looked again at Beth, sleeping in his arms, so soft and warm, and a hunger stirred in him of a different sort. But as he was reaching to wake her, he heard a hard knock on the bedchamber door. He looked up in fury. Who would dare—
The door burst open, revealing his vizier and two guards.
Seeing Omar and Beth naked in bed, Khalid went pale. “What have you done?”
“What have I done?” Omar growled. Beth, blinking awake, looked horrified at having their private moment invaded. He wanted to strangle the vizier with his bare hands. As she covered herself with a sheet, Omar rose to his feet in full, naked fury.
“What is the meaning of this?” he thundered.
“That woman is a fraud, sire!” His vizier’s voice lifted a trembling finger to point at Beth. “She’s not Dr. Edith Farraday. The real Dr. Farraday is still in Houston, hiding in her lab!”
Omar glared at him. “What are you talking about?” He pointed toward the bed. “She’s right here!”
“That’s her identical twin, Beth Farraday!”
Identical twin? Omar snorted, shaking his head. “You can’t expect me to believe—”
Then, turning, he saw Beth’s face. The stricken expression in her eyes.
“I was going to tell you,” she whispered.
And Omar’s heart went numb. His body changed in a second from warmth and joy to pure ice.
He would have been prepared to fight anything, to defend the woman he’d chosen. But he couldn’t fight the look on her face. It almost brought him to his knees.
Staring at her, he staggered back a step. “You...you’re not Dr. Farraday?”
Mutely, she shook her head.
“Who are you?”
“I’m nobody,” she whispered.
“She works in a charity shop!” his vizier said with malicious triumph.
Omar felt a shot of pain in his throat. Turning on Khalid, he said in an expressionless voice, “Leave us.”
The vizier’s eyes flamed with impatience. “Sire, I do not think it wise to leave you alone with this temptress—”
“Do not make me say it twice.”
The guards bowed and obeyed. The vizier grudgingly followed, closing the door behind him with one last venomous look at Beth.
Omar stood naked beside the bed, alone with the woman whose virginity he’d just taken so gloriously as his own.
He felt like he’d just been punched.
The corners of his lips twisted coldly. “At least I know why you asked me to call you Beth.”
Looking up at him, she choked out, “I’m sorry.”
