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His smile became more forbearing, as if he considered her what-ifs ridiculous, and her adorable as she worked herself up in a lather.
“Finished enumerating your worst-case scenarios?” He shrugged a shoulder, making everything she’d said irrelevant. “You only have to say yes and I’ll take care of the rest.”
She had to laugh. “I did think you were a god when I laid eyes on you, but you clearly think you are literally one, if you think you can make fate bow to your desires like that.”
He gave another nonchalant shrug. “I always create my fate to my specifications. As I’m doing right now. I recognized you as the one tailored to my every need and demand. Once I have you, I’ll fulfill every major milestone I have left in my life’s master plan.”
That made her sit up on his lap. “Okay, time out. I know you’re master of all you survey and all, but even you must know how crazy you just sounded. I hate to break it to you, but there is stuff in life that is outside your control.”
“We can and do control our destinies. You can either relinquish control over yours by considering others who’d never truly appreciate your sacrifice or even fully benefit from it, or you can say yes to me and take control of your fate.”
“How would being an instrument in your so-called master plan make me mistress of my own fate?”
“Because contrary to everyone else in your life, I will never threaten your autonomy. At your demand, I will only boost your powers, support your plans and remove obstacles from your path. You will choose to say yes to me, because you’ll weigh all pros and cons, and the pros will crash heavily in my favor. Once you do, we’ll become lovers. I’ll give you anything you’ve ever wished for, in and out of bed.”
“When you say pros and cons, getting rid of Hassan is among the pros, right? You are making this quid pro quo.”
“No. I promised I’d rid you and Zafrana of Hassan, and I will, no matter what happens between us. You can immediately tell your father you’ve found a solution for all your problems and are sending Hassan to hell.” He nibbled the fleshy side of her hand, and she involuntarily pressed harder into him in response. “You will become my lover and bear my heir because of a dozen other reasons, all borne of your free will. The foremost one is because you can’t wait to be in my bed, taken and mastered, serviced and pleasured.”
He punctuated his last words with suckles and nips that had every cell in her body clamoring for everything he’d just tantalized her with.
“What free will?” she moaned, deep and long. “Ya Ullah, Numair, now I know what it feels like to be swept along on a deluge. You are one.”
“I will sweep you into a realm neither of us has ever entered, one of pure pleasure. Then when you become pregnant, we’ll marry.”
She choked. She coughed until she felt as if her life force would be expelled. As Numair realized her distress, his efforts to end her paroxysm only made things worse.
When the shock-induced attack finally came to an end, she looked up at him through eyes that felt inflamed. “Why can’t you be like other men and just do the obvious thing? I ask you for a huge favor, and you ask for one in return and be done with it? You had to go demand an heir, and now marriage? Who said marriage was an option at all?”
His face became implacable. “I do. And it wouldn’t be an option. It would be a must.”
This made her push out of his arms, needing to put some breathable space between them. “Thanks, but no thanks. I was married once, and it isn’t for me. The most I fantasized about was a hot affair with a sex god who had the power to get my kingdom out of its worst historical bind. I’m not up for becoming a wife. Certainly not to a man who, when all is said and done, considers me the best specimen to procreate with.”
His lips pursed disapprovingly as he watched her scooting away from him. “Apart from the blatant inaccuracy of this last statement, you’ve already discussed having a child with me, which means you were considering it. What did you expect you would do once you were carrying my child? That you’d have it in secret, give it to me and disappear? Or that you’d have it out of wedlock, a princess from your region of all places? Or did you think you’d have it here and cut all ties with your kingdom? And where did you figure I’d be in all this? On the sidelines, content to see my child once every blue moon? Sending checks and not taking any role in its upbringing?” Before she could think of a resp
onse to his barrage, he declared, “We will get married as soon as you become pregnant.”
Bombarded by his inexorable will, she felt as if she’d choke again. Before she succumbed once more, she fumbled for the purse she’d dropped on the coffee table, then stood up unsteadily.
Once she’d taken a few air-filled steps away from him, she said, “I need time to think.”
Then, on trembling legs, she strode out. He let her walk away.
As she opened the main door of the suite, she almost crumpled to the ground with fright when he caught her back.
She could swear she’d walked here all alone!
As he turned her, she started spluttering, “How...?”
He drowned her in a kiss that ended any possibility for independent thought or movement.
It was him who finally released her, only the storms in his eyes betraying his state of emotional and physical arousal.
Before he let her spill out the door, he said, “I’m giving you till tomorrow evening, then I will send my right hand for you. Tomorrow night, you sleep in my arms.”
Four
Numair watched Jenan receding down the corridor as if she was escaping a widening chasm.
