Scandal: His Majesty's Love-Child by Annie West

Author:Annie West [Annie West ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408919026
Publisher: Harlequin Mills and Boon Ltd.

CHAPTER EIGHT

FOR the first time Tahir relished the fact he was King.

Because Annalisa couldn’t escape till he was ready to let her go. He could demand her obedience.

Because he revelled in the power it gave him over this one woman. He felt a ripple of primitive pleasure any civilised man should abhor.

What did that say about him?

He scrubbed a hand over his face. Why couldn’t the elders and citizens of Qusay understand they supported a flawed man as their monarch?

He remembered the dismay on Annalisa’s face when she’d learned who he was. Busy in her outlying province, with her packing and her goodbyes, she’d heard Kareef had renounced the kingship, but not what had followed.

She hadn’t known Tahir’s identity.

The doubts that had swarmed on hearing her revelation had disintegrated in the face of her shock. Cynicism engendered by grasping lovers and false paternity suits had melted as he’d watched her struggle with the gravity of her situation.

Pregnant with the monarch’s child.

No wonder she’d paled. She’d swayed, the dazed look in her velvet eyes evoking a protectiveness he’d known only once before. When he’d deliberately invited her scorn at the oasis so she could be free of him.

If only he still had such strength of mind.

He stared across the shadowed bedroom, past billowing curtains drawn aside to let in sweet night air. Moonlight covered the wide bed, gleamed on pale bare arms, caressed the dark fall of long hair across the pillow.

What sort of man was he?

One who couldn’t master himself to keep away from a woman who despised him. Had he no shame? No scruples?

Yielding to temptation was a speciality of his.

Unable to sleep after hours working on official documents, he’d given in to restlessness and prowled the corridors. Only to find himself outside the suite set aside for the woman who was officially his mother’s guest.

Here he was, a voyeur, rooted to the spot by the sight of her, fast asleep. She didn’t wear silk or lace like his usual lovers. Just a white cotton nightshirt. Yet she looked utterly seductive and he was hard with wanting.

Tahir passed his hand over his face again. An honourable man wouldn’t have entered her chamber.

He’d given up being honourable a lifetime ago.

His lips twisted in a savage grimace. What irony he should be named Tahir: ‘pure’. He hadn’t been pure in thought, word or deed since adolescence.

What business had he in this woman’s chamber? A woman who was decent and trusting.

‘Who is it?’ Her voice was a thready whisper.

He stepped forward into silvery light.

‘It’s only me.’ His mouth tightened derisively. That was meant to reassure her?

‘What do you want?’ She curled higher in the bed, drawing the sheet to her chin. Her defensive move amused and annoyed him. He hadn’t yet stooped to attacking unwilling women.

‘To see you.’ It was simply the truth. But the need that had dragged him from the other side of the palace was neither simple nor straightforward.

In the dark he felt her regard, saw her lift her chin belligerently.

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