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His dark eyes flashed. “Liar.”
“It’s true.” She looked down at her body, still covered only with a sheet. For the first time in her life, she’d been selfish, and let herself experience the pleasure of his touch. But she was paying for it now, body and soul. “I made a deal with myself. One night with you. Then I’d confess everything.”
“Confessing only when it’s too late,” he said harshly.
She frowned. What did he mean, too late?
“Cancer is bad,” he mimicked her voice mockingly, then shook his head, clawing back his hair. “I was a fool to think any scientist would say that. Or not immediately explain every detail of your research if you thought you could get more funding!”
Her cheeks burned. She looked away, a lump in her throat. “I should have told you the truth. The first time you asked me to stay, in Paris.”
“You never should have come to Paris at all.” He stepped toward her, his hands tightening at his sides. “But one thing I don’t understand. Why did you let me make love to you? What were you hoping to achieve?”
“I...”
“Were you trying to make me care? To forgive you?”
Looking at him, she blurted out, “No one has ever looked at me like you did. I wanted...a memory. Something I could cherish for the rest of my life, long after you’d chosen someone better to be your bride.”
He stared at her, then set his jaw. “Do you even realize what you’ve done?”
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was thick with tears. How many times could she say it? “I’ll leave quietly. Just tell your people the truth, that I lied. Your vizier was right. I’m nobody. I pretended to be my sister. She’s the genius. I barely finished high school.” She wiped her eyes. “I’ll take the first plane home and...and I’ll make Edith give you the money back.” She tried to keep her voice light. “You can marry Laila—”
Omar cut her off with a low, bitter laugh. “It’s too late for that.”
“Why?”
“We had sex,” he said grimly.
As if Beth couldn’t still feel that, in every sweet ache of her body! As if she didn’t feel that with every wistful beat of her heart! She lifted her chin. “So?”
“You might be pregnant.”
That possibility hadn’t occurred to her. She sucked in her breath. “But you stopped—I assumed you were reaching for a condom—”
“I did. But it broke.”
“Broke?” she repeated numbly.
“I told myself it didn’t matter,” he said sardonically. “Why should I worry about preventing pregnancy, making love to my own wife?”
A shocked silence fell in the bedroom.
“What?”
“That’s right,” Omar said in a low voice. “I couldn’t wait to make love to you, Beth. But you were a virgin. I couldn’t make love to you. Not honorably. Not until we were wed.”
Rising horror filled her.
“Those words we spoke,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “We spoke the vows, followed by the two kisses. In my culture, it is a binding commitment.”
“To my sister—”
“I didn’t speak the words to her. I spoke them to you.”
Beth stared at him in disbelief. They were married? Married? She swallowed hard, trying to even comprehend it. “But I didn’t know!”
