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‘You need to let go,’ he rasped, the words burning with intensity and barely controlled passion.
Cat’s pulse leapt as she released his arm, but the need to soothe the fury tightening his features remained. ‘Please don’t be angry with him. It doesn’t matter.’
‘How do you figure that?’ he said, his face tight with temper. ‘He’s insulted you, by placing you in my bed as if y
ou’re a concubine. Damn it, he probably told the servants to give you that robe. Look at it—you’re practically naked. And after I specifically told him more than once that you weren’t here to warm my bed, you were here to research a book.’
She could feel his gaze through the transparent silk, making her skin prickle and hum with awareness.
She needed to tell him the truth, however compromising it was. She cleared her throat. Trying to find the words. ‘Maybe he didn’t mean it as an insult.’
What Kasim had done had clearly compromised her and on one level she did feel insulted. But Zane’s furious defence of her honour was making her feel something else entirely.
‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Zane snarled.
‘And maybe I’m slightly responsible for this,’ she offered.
His gaze bored into her before he ran his fingers through the short damp strands of his hair and looked away. ‘How the hell could you be to blame for this, Catherine?’ he asked. ‘You’re letting that bastard off the hook far too easily.’
She swallowed. She could lie to him, end this conversation now—let him leave and blame Kasim for the heat powering through her system—and dispel the brutal feeling of intimacy. But she couldn’t make herself do it.
If nothing else she needed to be honest about her own desires. She’d convinced herself she’d come on this trip to enhance her research. But the truth was a lot more complicated.
‘I still desire you,’ she murmured. ‘Even though I know I shouldn’t.’
Zane hadn’t said anything, so she forced herself to continue.
‘I came on this trip because I wanted to be with you. If Kasim arranged for me to be brought to your bed, maybe he only did it because I wasn’t able to hide how much I still want you.’
Zane turned, his naked chest gleaming in the torchlight, his breathing rough as he looked at her at last. Then he lifted his hand, and cupped her cheek. ‘Damn it, Catherine, don’t say stuff like that.’
She leaned into his palm. ‘Why not, if it’s the truth?’
‘You’re leaving yourself defenceless. Don’t you get that? You’ve already given me too much. You need to protect yourself. I’m not a kind man, or a good one.’
Yes, you are, or why would you care whether I’d been insulted by your brother?
His gaze sank to her abdomen. ‘If you turn out to be pregnant, if anyone discovers you were a virgin...you’ll be forced to marry me. And I won’t do a damn thing to protect you. Because I’m as ruthless as my father was.’
She shook her head. ‘But I’m not pregnant. And no one’s going to discover I was a virgin. And it’s just the two of us here...’ She moistened her lips, gratified when his gaze shifted to her mouth, and his pupils darkened to black. ‘Maybe we should view Kasim’s trick as a gift. Rather than an insult.’
She didn’t want to create even more friction between the two men. But she wasn’t being selfless now, she was being selfish.
Why couldn’t they have one more night? As long as they were careful.
She could smell soap on him and the scent of leather, and feel her heart pounding in strong, steady thuds.
Taking his hand in hers, she placed it over her breast. The nipple pebbled instantly through the transparent robe.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked, attempting to tug his hand away.
‘I want you tonight, Zane. If we can enjoy each other without risking pregnancy, why don’t we?’
They both wanted this. Why should they deny it?
His palm caressed her nipple, the calluses teasing the sensitive tip into a hard peak. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, I am.’ She’d never been more sure about anything in her life. Their first time had been a result of incendiary sexual chemistry. But this felt more intimate, more honest. She wanted to own her desire for him. To finally expel all the guilt she’d felt about her mother’s actions.
