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He rolled his shoulders back as if he was bracing himself for a direct hit. “I traveled here for a meeting. I’m staying at this hotel, and I didn’t know you were still in Abu Dhabi until I saw the poster at the hotel lounge about your performance.”
Just when she thought she couldn’t feel any worse. He hadn’t come here just to find her. He didn’t go out of his way to seek her. She stared at Hafiz, not sure if she was going to burst into tears or start laughing maniacally at the unfairness of it all.
She needed to cover herself. Protect herself. Lacey grabbed her robe that had fallen on the floor. “You needed to scratch an itch. Why? Your fiancée won’t sleep with you until the wedding night?”
His eyes darkened. “I have no contact with my future bride because it is an arranged marriage. It is not a love match.”
As if that was supposed to make her feel better. The muscle in her cheek twitched with fury. “It’s probably best that way. You don’t want her to find out how rotten to the core you are until after the vows are exchanged.”
“Lacey, I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? There was no misunderstanding. You withheld that information because if I knew you were still engaged, I wouldn’t have welcomed you with open arms.”
“Don’t be too sure. We have a connection that is too—”
“Connection?” She gave a harsh laugh. “No, we have a past. That is it. You severed that connection when you got me out of your life as quickly as possible.”
“We still have something,” he argued. “That’s why I came to check up on you and—”
“You came to have sex because you’re not used to going without.” Lacey thrust her arms through the sleeves of her robe. The fiery orange silk felt like needles across her sensitive skin. “And you knew I wouldn’t deny you. Especially since you had lied to me and said you loved me.”
Hafiz drew back. “That wasn’t a lie.”
She glared at him, fighting the urge to strike out with her nails unsheathed. “Your timing was suspicious.”
He placed his hands on his hips. “Suspicious?”
“You tell me that you love me the moment before I was out of your life forever. Was it a way to keep me dangling on your hook? That way, when you looked me up, you didn’t have to work too hard to get back into my bed.”
“I told you in a moment of weakness,” he said in a low growl. “I didn’t want you to look back and think the year we spent together meant nothing.”
Their time had meant everything to her. It had been the one time when she felt safe and wanted. She had honestly believed during the months in Rudaynah that they had been growing closer and that their relationship could weather anything.
“You could have told me you loved me at any time, but you didn’t. Why?” She took a step closer and pointed her finger accusingly at him. “Because saying those words at the last minute meant you didn’t have to do anything about it.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. Lacey had the feeling he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. She took a prudent step back.
“If you don’t believe me,” Hafiz said in a clipped tone, “that is your problem.”
Lacey glared at him. Wouldn’t a man in love want to express his emotions? Wouldn’t he show it with grand gestures and small, intimate moments?
But not this man. No, not Prince Hafiz. He wasn’t going to lower himself and try to convince her. He wasn’t going to waste his energy on proving something that didn’t exist.
“You want to forget everything I did for you? For us? Go right ahead,” Hafiz said. “I love you and nothing is going to change that.”
“What am I supposed to think? You say you love me when you are engaged to another woman.” She tied the sash of her robe with enough force that it could have ripped.
Hafiz ground the heels of his palms against his eyes. “I’m not replacing you.”
“Of course not,” Lacey said as she walked out of the bedroom. “I would have had to be part of your life for Nabeela to replace my role.”
