“I thought you weren’t allowed.”
Somehow, though she knew it to be impossible, she heard his smile through the timber doorway. “It will be our secret.”
Olivia reached for the bar of soap. “Fine.”
The door pushed inwards, allowing Tamir to step into her bathroom. He’d pulled on a pair of boxers – this time black – and he looked dangerously attractive. He sat on the edge of the bath, staring down at her.
“I married you thinking that I hated you. I married you wanting your body, even though I judged you harshly for your crime. I thought the worst of you. Yet I worry I have hurt you, and it makes me feel… guilt.” He shook his head. “I do not want to hurt you, Olivia.”
The water lapped against her breasts, and she sank lower into it. “I hardly know you, but I find that hard to believe.”
He sighed. “Why?”
“When I was in Liya before – years ago, admittedly – I thought this was an incredibly beautiful country. Traditional and enlightened at the same time.” She bit down on her lip. “You scare me, Tamir.”
“Scare you? Why?”
She laughed, for it was such an absurd question. “Since the moment you saw me, you have bullied me and berated me. You have pursued me in a way that bore no opposition. And here I am. Your wife, though I did not know it until well after the fact.” She shook her head. “You have treated me like little more than an object, and yet still I don’t seem able to resist you.” She ran the bar of soap over her shoulders in an effort to distract herself. “Ours is not a marriage, and I am not your wife. And I wish, with all my heart, that you’d never married me.” Her voice cracked as the sob she’d been fighting found its way into her mouth. “I could have handled being your mistress. What we share, undeniably, is a mutual sexual interest. So we could have indulged it. I would have. Happily. And though I know it would have hurt, when you decided to end it, I would have walked away with my head held h
igh.” She sobbed again. “But what now? What do I have?”
He refused to let her see that she was eating into his confidence. “What do you mean?’
She reached down and pulled the plug out. The water began to gurgle rapidly down the drain and Olivia stood, reaching for a towel in one smooth movement. She wrapped it around herself, then turned to face him. “I have nothing. I have no say over what we are. I have no ability to walk away from you. You own me, and always will.” She was shaking, so great was her rage. “I will always hate you for this.” Her eyes sheened with tears. “You have robbed me of so much. The ability to marry for love. The proposal I was due. The ability to look down at my wedding ring and sigh with happiness, for the moment of perfection that donning it had given me. I just don’t understand why you did this to me, Tamir.”
Nor, frankly, did he. But he’d never admit that to his wife. He couldn’t. On some instinctive level, he knew that showing her weakness would be the beginning of the end for them. “You are my wife. It is done.” He reached over and touched her curled hair, compelled to feel the soft blondness between his fingers. “Do not think about why. Or what if. Simply understand that this is now fact. Wishing it were different will change nothing, Azeezi.”
Her throat was raw from the pain of unshed tears, but she somehow kept a grip on her emotions. “Fine.”
He nodded, strangely proud of her. “You have much to do today. You will have your own assistants arrive shortly to prepare you.”
Olivia was stricken. “Tamir,” she murmured, reaching out for his hand. It surprised him, and he paused, looking down at her small, pale fingers wrapped around his wrist. “Are you going somewhere?”
A frown flicked across his face. “I have a meeting with the King of Janina.”
“Oh.” She looked away. “I see.”
He sighed wearily. Why had he married her? What had he been thinking? Love and affection had never entered his mind, and yet the thought of leaving her like this was a physical pain. “I must go, Olivia. It is an important discussion, and this meeting has taken months to convene.”
She squared her shoulders in an attempt at bravery. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”
“Your assistants will be here shortly.” He turned to leave before her desperation could puncture his resolve completely.
He was doing the right thing, he assured himself, a little while later, when he sat in his breakfast meeting. King Kibab of Janina was across from him, broad and fat from years of ruling a thriving kingdom. They were in the final stages of negotiations, and Tamir’s attendance was almost a formality. Nonetheless, he listened intently as the final details were arranged, only allowing a small portion of his brain to dwell on the sadness he’d felt from Olivia.
Their marriage had been unavoidable, hadn’t it? Kalil was a distant cousin, and had served him conscientiously for years. His position as security chief was highly regarded, and Kalil himself was a man of high esteem. Yet Kalil heralded from a far more conservative background. He had made his disapproval of Tamir’s moderate politics obvious, and Tamir had seen the pure delight Kalil had tasted at the discovery of Olivia’s crime. To discredit the lover of the Sultan in a multi-million pound theft would have been a sweet victory for the right wing puritans who lived in Talidar.
Might there have been another way to protect Olivia?
Perhaps.
But certainly not one that Tamir could easily have discovered. His authority was ultimate, but to let a woman get away with such a bold crime, simply because she had legs that went forever, would plant a seed of discontent in his people.
Tamir lifted his water glass and drank from it thoughtfully. At least in marrying her he had guaranteed her protection. As his lover, she had been vulnerable. He thought of his many other mistresses. Some had been able to remain secret in his life. Most – particularly those from the West, with hair like honey and skin like sand – had become objects of scorn. He’d never felt bothered by that. After all, they had all walked openly into their relationships with him.
But Olivia was so different.
He had singled her out and virtually hunted her. Oh, her desire had been real. From the moment they’d first touched, he had known she was as shocked by the overpowering current of electricity that ran between them as he had been. But he, Tamir, had made her a prisoner to it. He’d forced her to acknowledge it, and he’d made it impossible for her to resist.