Crowned at the Desert King's Command by Jackie Ashenden

Author:Jackie Ashenden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-11-12T14:42:37+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

TARIQ’S FINGERS ON her were firm as he stripped away her heavy, water-soaked robes, but it was the look on his face that made her breath catch.

His jaw was tight, tension radiated from him, and his features looked as if they’d been carved from granite. The only thing that wasn’t hard and cold was his gaze, and a kind of molten intensity was burning in his eyes.

Burning in her too.

What had she said? That he was kind? He’d been kind to her that day she’d spoken to her father, and he’d been kind to her just before, underneath the palm trees, as nervousness and the strangeness of the whole day had got to her. As she’d been overwhelmed by the fact that she was now married to a king and that he was going to take her virginity, probably right where she stood.

He’d looked so stern, so forbidding as the helicopter had left. And the courage that had carried her through the wedding ceremony in front of seemingly the entire city had deserted her.

She’d tried to pretend she was fine, but suddenly, under his intimidating stare, all she’d felt was doubt. In herself, and in what was going to happen, and in the intensity of her own desire too.

It had only occurred to her then that, as much as she hadn’t had a choice in their marriage, perhaps neither had he. He needed an heir, and he hadn’t been able to choose a wife from his own people because he had an entire country he had to protect. And she’d been convenient.

Really, when she thought about it, it seemed he’d been stuck with her the same way her father had been stuck with her.

It shouldn’t matter, but somehow it did. She didn’t want him to be stuck with someone he was only going to be disappointed in—and she would end up disappointing him. She wasn’t one of his people and she didn’t speak his language. She didn’t know his customs or what was expected of her.

She was a virgin with no experience whatsoever.

How could that not be disappointing to a man like him?

And yet he’d cupped her cheek in his hand, his gaze fierce with conviction. And he’d told her that she was beautiful. That she was loyal. That she was everything he’d hoped for.

He was kind, no matter what he said, and she didn’t know why that made him so angry.

Maybe you should ask him?

She probably should—except now was not the right time, given the way he was looking at her, as if he wanted to eat her alive.

A shiver coursed through her and it had nothing to do with the water lapping around her. Even forbidding and hard, the impact of him was like a gut-punch. She’d felt it the moment she’d met him on the steps of the palace, just before the ceremony. He’d been dressed in white, as had she, but his robes had been embroidered with gold. The white had set off his inky

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