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Three
“An heir.”
Jen heard her voice as if coming from someone else. Reaching her ears from the end of a vortex of incomprehension.
The hypnosis in Numair’s gaze only intensified, as if he was compelling her to say what he wanted her to say.
Good luck with that. It was a miracle she’d been able to produce sound at all, to parrot him. After the agitated excitement of meeting him, the soaring hope that he’d restore her freedom, the release of all tension when she’d made sure he would, it hadn’t shocked her when he’d said that he had a price. What had flabbergasted her was the price itself. She couldn’t even process it.
He couldn’t have really said... “An heir?”
At her croaking question, without any change in his expression, he inclined his head. “Yes. An heir you’ll give me.”
Ya Ullah, he’d said it again. And this time he left no doubt who would provide him with said heir.
The expansive room started spinning, and the sick sensations that earlier had her in their grip crashed back on her. She pressed her head into the headrest, as if to stop the churning. “You’re not joking.”
“I’ve never been more serious.”
Feeling as if she’d fallen into a trap, nausea almost blinded her. “Why are you doing this?”
In response, he covered the space between them. Before she could think of scooting away, she found herself half draped over his great body, stunned by his sheer strength.
“Doing what?” His whisper fanned her face, and the fragrant, virile scent of his breath and flesh only made the room spin harder. She tried to fidget out of his embrace, but he had her head cradled in the nook of his arm, supported by his muscle-laden shoulder, and her face tilted to look up at him. “Being truthful about what I want? I thought you appreciated total honesty.”
“When did you decide you wanted it?” she whispered. “You can’t have come up with it when I asked you to help me.” She tried to shake her head and only felt the world spin again. He secured her tighter and her queasiness quieted. She moaned, in relief this time. “I thought you would have a price, but I never thought it could be something like that.”
“What did you think it would be? Yourself?”
Now that he’d said it out loud, it felt presumptuous for the idea to have crossed her mind. But given his apparent interest in her, it had been the only thing she could think of.
She’d thought the most he’d want would be a short affair, maybe only while he passed through New York this time. But she wouldn’t have considered that a price. It would have been a reward to be with the first and only man she’d wanted breathlessly on sight. In any other circumstances, she would have given anything to be with him, no matter how fleetingly. To have both him and her freedom would have been the most incredible opportunity of her life.
But it was clear she’d read the situation all wrong. No, she couldn’t read it at all.
This was totally incomprehensible.
A gentle finger below her chin tilted her face up to him, his brooding gaze capturing her wandering eyes. “I never bargain for sexual favors, and I certainly would never take advantage of a woman’s need in any other way.”
Now that he put it that way, she again felt silly for thinking what she had. This was a man who must have his pick of the rare beauties and celebrities of the world, and there was no way he’d ever paid for his pleasures. She couldn’t see a woman alive who wouldn’t react to him like she had, wouldn’t want him at any cost.
He went on. “I also never stomached passing liaisons, but I never had any desire for anything more. My life revolved around work and amassing wealth and power. Those were everything I wanted for as long as I can remember. Then recently, everything changed.”
Curiosity, and something poignant and more powerful—empathy—dragged her out of her confused dismay.
Had he suffered some recent life-changing crisis that made him take stoc
k of his life, forced him to reassess his lifestyle?
She realized he was waiting for her to ask before he elaborated. So she forced her constricted throat to release the question. “What happened?”
“I hit forty, and it made me feel I need to rearrange my priorities and adjust my path. It never bothered me before that I have no family, and no one to leave my fortune and legacy to. Now it does.”
She gaped at him. This was again the last thing she’d expected he’d say. She’d expected a reason as unique and earth-shattering as he was. He was the last person on earth she would have believed could have a midlife crisis.
Maybe she’d read him wrong all along. Just like she’d been way off the mark in assessing what he’d want in return for helping her. But she still could think of no reason that he’d want an heir from her, of all women.
She put her bewilderment into words. “So you decided to join the human race after a lifetime of just dominating it. But now you feel the urge to perpetuate your genes. If you make your desire known, women would form lines spanning the globe for a chance to be the one to give you your heir.”
