Claimed For The Desert Prince's Heir (Mills & Boon Modern) by Heidi Rice

Author:Heidi Rice [Rice, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Modern
Published: 2019-12-26T13:20:52+00:00

No. No. No.

Kasia pressed a hand to her belly, trying to contain the pain, not just at the hideous truths Raif had revealed about his childhood and his mother’s mistreatment and exploitation but also at the guilt tying her stomach in tight knots. Because Raif’s revelations about his mother put a whole new complexion on what had happened a month ago.

‘Is that why…?’ She paused, her throat dry as the guilt sharpened. ‘Is that why you were so insistent we marry? Why you wanted to obey the Law of Marriage of the Sheikhs.’

Had he been trying to right the wrongs his father had done his mother, and him, by observing the same sacred law his father had broken so callously?

She had so easily dismissed his demand that they marry as a backward and autocratic request based on arrogance and a misguided honour system that had no place in modern society, but it had always been much more personal than that. How could it not be after what he had discovered about his mother’s treatment? She had put him in an untenable position by not telling him about her virginity, then had compounded it by dismissing his attempt to solve the problem. She had used him for her own pleasure, and then underestimated him at every turn.

‘I don’t know.’ He shrugged, the movement stiff. ‘I’m not sure what I was thinking at the time. I was shocked by your untouched state. I had not expected it. Or the intensity of our lovemaking.’

Her skin flushed at the bald statement, and the knots in her abdomen heated. She wasn’t sure whether she was moved or flattered or simply aroused by his honesty and the knowledge she wasn’t the only one who had been blindsided by their intense physical connection.

‘But afterwards…’ He sighed. ‘Especially as I lay for days in the Golden Palace with nothing to do, I kept recalling our last moments together. And questioning why I had been so inflexible, so belligerent, so determined to insist upon marriage.’ He hesitated. ‘And it occurred to me that maybe I was more affected by what I had learned about my parents’ past than I had assumed.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘For putting you in that position.’ It wasn’t the first time she had apologised for not telling him of her virginity, but it was the first time she had meant it without reservation.

Maybe she’d had no knowledge of his past, his priorities, when she had slept with him, but she had assumed he was a thoughtless man, and had never examined his motives properly. His honour was important to him, not because he was arrogant or overbearing but because he had been forced to fight for it every single day of his life.

He lifted her hand, stared at her fingers as he brushed his thumb across her knuckles.

The heat in her stomach warmed further and glowed, and seemed to wrap itself around her heart, making her ribs feel tight.

The guilt twisted, though, when he raised his head, his expression tense.

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