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Twenty-something virgins had by definition to have a pretty heavy agenda going on. Either they had sexual hang-ups or problems—which patently she most certainly did not—or there was another reason. And the only logical reason Jay could think of was that Keira had remained a virgin because she expected to exchange her virginity for commitment. That was never going to happen. He had no intention of making a commitment to any woman—ever. During the years of their estrangement his father had let him know many times via his courtiers that he wanted to make plans to arrange a suitable marriage for him, but in that both he and Rao had withstood their parent, refusing to submit to a marriage of tradition and royal necessity.
Rao would, of course, ultimately have to marry, and his wife would have to be someone worthy of being his Maharani. For himself, Jay knew that it would be expected if he did marry that he too would marry a suitable bride. But he had no intention of marrying—not anyone, not ever. So Keira had wasted her virginity on him and he would have to tell her so. There must not be any more errors of judgement or aspiration.
Slowly, like wisps of fine cloud, memories of the night drifted back to him. Keira whispering his name to him, thanking him for her pleasure, her eyes huge with emotion.
Emotion. Jay’s mouth compressed. What had happened between them had nothing to do with emotion—at least not on his part—and the sooner he told her that the better. Both for her sake as well as his own. The last thing he wanted was to have her start building some ridiculous fantasy out of what had quite simply been a single night of sex—and one that he had no intention of repeating. He would have to speak to her before the situation got even more out of hand than it was already.
Keira had been awake for some time, lying in bed and marvelling at the difference between the woman she had been and the woman she was now. Her body glowed still with the aftermath of her pleasure. Their pleasure, she reminded herself. Jay would know now that he had been wrong about her, and that what she felt for him was unique, something she had never shared with anyone else. She was still on a physical and emotional high from last night, in a blessed-out state where the world felt like a fairytale come true and she its heroine princess. And all because of Jay.
Jay! Where was he? What would he say to her? What would she say to him? Her heart was thumping unsteadily. Already she missed him. Already she ached for him and wanted to be with him. Already the effect of the night’s sexual intimacy had changed her and their relationship, and her heart was speeding on wings into a magical world where everything and anything was possible.
It was Jay himself who brought her back down to earth, arriving with a tray of tea and an expression that had her giddy heart’s headlong race brought to an abrupt halt.
Something was wrong. Something was more than wrong. Jay was looking autocratic and distant. He was fully dressed. He didn’t come to her, or even sit down on the bed beside her, instead he walked over to the window and then turned to face her so that its light fell on her face but obscured his.
‘I owe you an apology. And I’m afraid it will have to be accompanied by a warning.’
He was speaking to her as though he was addressing a business meeting, Keira recognised, his whole manner cool and distant. Her heart was pounding again—but not this time with elation. Instead what she felt was dread.
‘I want to be frank with you, Keira. Had I known you were a virgin I would never have had sex with you. Were you a girl of eighteen or so, I would add here that I understand you might have had rosy romantic delusions about men falling passionately in love with sweet innocent virgins, and throwing their heart and an offer of marriage at their feet having taken that virginity. But you are not eighteen. You are twenty-seven. Women of twenty-seven do not remain virgins by accident or out of some romantic delusion. To have chosen virginity when yours is such a sensual and passionate nature can’t have been easy.’
Keira’s mouth had gone dry. She might not have been expecting quite the eighteen-year-old’s scenario he had described with such sparing and cruel accuracy, but to be addressed as Jay was addressing her now was a horrible shock and very hurtful.
