Instinctively, Zabrina’s fingers dug into the silken coverlet as his gaze raked over her and she wondered if she had imagined that sudden brief darkening of his eyes. Was that because she was naked underneath it? she wondered. And did he still want her as much as she wanted him? How inconvenient desire could be, she thought bitterly, aware of her hardening nipples in respo
nse, and the molten heat which clenched so tantalisingly at the base of her belly. ‘Are you saying I lied to you about my inexperience?’
‘If it makes you feel better, I’ll be generous and put it down to you being creative with the facts. I can understand your reasoning because obviously you want to protect your reputation. But it won’t make me think any worse of you if you admit to the truth,’ he added. ‘It certainly won’t change the outcome of what I am about to do next.’
Maybe she should have addressed the slightly sinister portent of ‘what I am about to do next’, but Zabrina was so horrified by his accusation that she briefly forgot his words. ‘Why are you saying that?’ she whispered, and then, as a sudden horrified thought sprang into her mind, she glanced over at the sofa to quickly put her mind at rest, relieved to see that it was as pristine as before. ‘Because there was no evidence? Were you hoping to fly the bloodied sheet from the palace balcony in Rosumunte on our wedding night? Aren’t we royals supposed to have moved on from those days?’
‘Please do not try to distract me with inappropriate sarcasm!’ He glowered at her. ‘Because I know how a woman behaves when it is her first time with a man. She is shy. She is tentative. She is often overwhelmed by what is happening to her.’
‘How encyclopaedic you sound, Roman. Which leads me to conclude that you must have had sex with many virgins before?’’
‘Some.’ He shrugged. ‘Not many.’
‘And is that supposed to make me feel better?’
‘I don’t imagine anything would be able to do that at the moment,’ he commented wryly and gave a sudden, heavy sigh. ‘But if it’s any consolation, I feel pretty much the same.’
‘It isn’t!’ she snapped. ‘I’m not interested in consolation, even if you were capable of providing any, which I suspect you aren’t. And as for knowing how a woman behaves when it is her first time—don’t you suppose that any shyness on her part might have something to do with the fact that you’re a powerful king? Except when you’re pretending not to be, of course.’ She gave a short laugh. ‘Surely your crime was worse than mine, since you knew exactly who I was. Was that your intention all along, Roman? To seduce me? Was this some sort of primitive test of my character to see how much temptation I could take before submitting to you?’
‘Which I have to say you failed quite comprehensively, Princess.’
‘Well, maybe you shouldn’t be so skilled at seduction!’
There was silence for a moment before eventually he expelled a long sigh. ‘Look, I can see with hindsight that it’s unreasonable of me to apportion blame,’ he said, lifting the palms of his hands in what looked like a gesture of conciliation.
‘Why don’t you say that as if you mean it?’ she demanded, thinking that here was a man who was a stranger to the word apology. But weren’t all powerful men like that—especially kings? They only said sorry if they were forced to—the way her father had done in the past, when he’d been found out in his latest dalliance. They might go through the motions, but they never really meant it.
‘I have had sexual partners before,’ he continued. ‘So I guess it’s not unreasonable that you should have done the same.’
‘But?’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘I sense there’s a “but” coming.’
Again, a shrug—but this time there was no accompanying hint of apology. ‘We both know that the unwritten clause in our marriage contract is that you should have known no lover other than me, Zabrina. It’s how these things work. Sexual equality may be alive and well in most of the world, but it has yet to reach either of our two countries. And I’m certain your grasp of royal history is thorough enough for you to realise that there can be no possible question over the legitimacy of any future progeny, which can only be the case if my bride is pure.’
‘Pure?’ Zabrina stared at him, tugging the band from her hair and giving her ruffled mane an angry shake. ‘Look, believe or don’t believe that I wasn’t the cowering little innocent you were hoping for—I don’t particularly care either way. But please don’t illustrate your prejudices with such ridiculous euphemisms. You make me sound like a bar of soap!’
For a moment Roman almost smiled at her outburst, until he remembered the gravity of the situation in which he now found himself. A situation which must be resolved as quickly as possible. He shook his head. If only he could just walk out of the salon now and pretend that this had all been like a bad dream.
Or an irresistibly sweet one...
But he couldn’t. That was the trouble. Nobody could rewrite the past, no matter how much power they possessed at their fingertips. And unfortunately, the past wasn’t his only dilemma—not when the present was haunting him in a way he hadn’t anticipated. He found himself wishing she were someone else. Someone anonymous, with whom he had no projected future, so that he would have no qualms about going back over to the sofa on which she reclined and ravishing her over and over again as he hungered to do. What wouldn’t he give to feel her soft thighs wrapped around his back one more time, and hear her soft moans of joy as he thrust into her with wild abandon? He swallowed, looking into her defiant face and realising she didn’t look in the least bit chastened—which he might have expected in the circumstances.
Until he forced himself to remember that this was not a virginal princess who was grateful to marry the mighty King who had been selected for her. No, this was a princess who had betrayed, not only him, but both their lands. And now she would pay the ultimate price for her folly.
Yet he remembered what it had felt like to touch her and he felt a bitter regret that he would never experience it again. Sex had never felt like that before. As if he would die if he didn’t possess her. As if his very life had depended on being deep inside her. He remembered the battle which had raged within him as he’d fought to conquer the terrible desire she had unleashed in him. To stop what was happening before it reached the point of no return. But he had been unable to turn away from her sweet temptation and prevent himself from stripping them both bare, before losing himself in her delicious honey. As he had entered her, he had looked deep into her eyes and seen a powerful yearning which had matched his own and a random thought had briefly speared his mind. A thought which contradicted everything he had been brought up to believe.
That this woman was his equal.
But he forced himself to focus on the truth instead of fantasy.
Yes, she was a woman who would have made a superb mistress.
But a thoroughly unsuitable wife.
He wondered if she would save face by exiting their embryo relationship with the minimum of fuss or whether she needed him to spell it out for her. He thought perhaps she did since she was studying him with an impassive expression, almost as if nothing had changed. When everything had changed.
But he knew that this was a delicate situation which required careful and diplomatic handling, if the fallout was to be kept to a minimum.
‘You have many attributes, Princess,’ he said slowly. ‘You are a beautiful and intelligent woman and I am certain you will find another man who is willing to marry you. Perhaps not one as highly connected as I am, it is true.’ He glimmered her a smile, trying to reassure her, yes, but also trying to convince himself that nothing would be gained from making love to her again. He tried to take his mind off his throbbing groin. ‘And you must rest assured that what I said earlier was true. Nothing which has passed between us will go any further than these four walls.’ He gave her a swift, businesslike smile. ‘Your secret will be safe with me.’