The Sultan's Virgin Bride: A story of lust, loyalty and passionate resentment. (6 page)

“I
don’t
know you at all,” she retorted quickly, but her body was beginning to shiver in response to the contact with his rock hard frame. His woody, masculine fragrance made her pulse race.

“You know that I desire you. You know that I am respecting your wish to decide when we consummate our union.” He lowered his mouth, so close that he was almost able to kiss her. “You know that when we do, it will be very, very satisfying. You have never known the sensations I can give you. The pleasure of two bodies moving as one, perfectly in time, anticipating one another’s needs to deliver pleasure.”

Her breath hitched in her throat. But his words from the night of their marriage had lodged in her brain, and nothing could free them. She shook her head. She had to give him credit for trying to make the best of a bad situation. But how he must resent her! He had married her simply to remove the threat of civic disharmony. He had sacrificed his right to choose his own bride because of what was best for his country.

She focussed on a point over his shoulder. “I should get back to the palace. I have an early start tomorrow.”

Mentally, he groaned, but outwardly, he seemed nonplussed. He put a deferential hand in the small of her back, to guide her back to the opening in the houses. “What is your early start?”

She flicked a nervous glance up at him. Her whole body felt alight with raging fire. Had he really been able to switch off his desire so easily? “A breakfast with your mother and cousins. I am officially to be welcomed by the women of the family.” It was a farce. They expected to welcome a happy bride, and instead, they were getting Eleanor. A woman stoically resisting her husband’s charms because she’d heard him admit that he pretty much hated her.

Aki looked at her with an apologetic expression. “My mother is rather… intense at times.”

Eleanor angled him a curious look. “She seems fine to me.”

“Oh, she’s harmless. She will, however, take every opportunity to remind you of your responsibility to secure our royal future.”

“Ah. I see.” Her cheeks flushed, and she worried at her lower lip. “The baby issue.”

“It is not for my mother to impose her thoughts. You are my Emira, Eleanor. You do not have to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

She stopped walking in the middle of the narrow path between the buildings. It was dark, and it was quiet. “I can’t just
ignore
your mother though! She’s your
mother!
”

“She deserves to be ignored, if she is pressuring you,” he murmured darkly.

He had told himself he’d be patient. But he was desperate to pull Eleanor back into his arms and kiss her senseless. He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “No one deserves to be treated with contempt,” she responded crossly, a little line creased between her brows. “At least, not for asking what is a perfectly normal question. After all, you and I are strangers who married. Who wouldn’t presume that a baby was part of the equation? That an heir was your primary concern in marrying me.” Her breath was shallow in her chest. Anxiety was making her skin tingle.

“Why I married you is no one’s business,” he responded, and he allowed himself to put his hands on her hips and feel the warmth of her skin.

“I’ll be able to handle her,” she said quietly, distracted from their conversation by the knowledge that they were completely alone, and that he was touching her.

“I have no doubt.” She’d torn shreds off him on the night of their wedding and he hadn’t forgotten. She looked up at him, and silently, she was imploring him to kiss her. It was wrong. It was confusing. He’d said such horrible things about her to his friend Ryan, but her body didn’t seem to be getting the message.

He lifted a hand to her hair and ran a finger over the crown of braids. “You know, when I first met you, I thought you were so American.”

“I am American,” she said, ignoring the way her heart was thudding in her chest.

“You are also Talinese. And tonight you look very… regal.”

Her heart turned over in her chest.

“And very young.” He sighed heavily, as he lowered his mouth to hers. He had intended only to brush his lips against hers, but the moment their flesh connected, he felt electrified. He groaned in his throat as he deepened the kiss, plundering her mouth as he wanted to her body. Her hands lifted of their own accord to the side of his face. His stubble was rough beneath her fingers.

It lasted only a minute, but it was long enough for Eleanor to know she would weaken sooner than she wanted to. Denying herself what she wanted didn’t seem noble any more. And she wasn’t sure she cared enough for her self-esteem to keep resisting her husband.

She lifted fingers that shook slightly to her lips. They tingled beneath her touch.

“Aki,” she said quietly, her eyes searching his.

“I know, I know.” He shook his head and looked down the narrow path. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

“I… that’s not what I was going to say.”

“Wasn’t it?” He fixed her with a direct stare. “I gave you my word that I would respect your conditions. It is important to me to honor that. I am a man of my word,
azeezi.
”

She swallowed convulsively. “You also said you’d … find other ways to … umm…”.

She flushed to the roots of her hair, and despite his misgivings about what had just happened, he couldn’t help but smile at her naivety. “That I’d replace you with someone who was willing to sleep with me?”

“Yes,” she said on a rush of breath. “Exactly.”

He shrugged. “I was angry. I spoke without properly examining my wishes.”

She nodded, surprised by the admission of fault. “So you haven’t? Or, you won’t?”

He moved a little closer, so that Eleanor’s face was just an inch from his. “I haven’t. And I won’t.” A frown seemed to flicker across his expression, as though his words came as a surprise to him, as much as they did Eleanor.

What if she told him what she’d caught him saying about her? Perhaps he would apologise? Perhaps it would be something else he’d said without thinking it through properly. She opened her mouth but couldn’t make herself admit that she’d overheard such horrible things about herself coming from his mouth. She shook her head and shrugged. “Okay.” She forced a smile to her face. “I really have to get back now.”

She had been about to say something else. Something momentous. Aki had felt her prepare herself; had seen the way she’d stolen herself to speak, and then changed her mind at the last minute. As they drove back to the palace in silence, he felt his mood darken. Why had his wife got under his skin in this way? When they’d married, he’d had her stored perfectly in a box. He knew she was simple, and vapid, and probably boring. Passably attractive. But now, after one argument, he felt like she was taking over his mind, both waking and not. He wanted her physically, but the fact she was withholding herself from him made him wonder about her in other ways too.

Surely it was just that she was keeping him at a distance. Once he’d indulged his desire and slept with her, this fascination would be at an end. His original opinion was correct. They had little in common. Besides that, she was the daughter of his enemy. Her family had represented a sleeping threat to him for as long as he’d known. It was impossible for him to start feeling anything for her other than a combination of disdain and acceptance.

Fortified, he said a brief good night to Eleanor and disappeared to his office. She was his wife, but she was not entitled to take over his thoughts.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Why don’t you come back over here? I miss you.”

She could hear the weight of worry in her sister’s silence. “I can’t. Jak’s too busy.” Her voice was quiet. Cracked. Eleanor’s heart swelled with sympathy.

“If Jak’s so busy, he might not even notice you’re gone.”

It was a lie. Jak knew everything about Michelle’s schedule. Eleanor wouldn’t put it past her brother in law to have micro-chipped his obedient wife.

“It’s because he is so busy that I can’t possibly leave him. You know how he counts on me.”

Eleanor compressed her lips. He counted on her to iron his shirts, cook his dinner and be his verbal punching bag whenever he was in a bad mood. Which was more often than not, she suspected. “Shell,” she said with a sigh, sitting down on the edge of her bed and staring out at the sun-drenched garden below. A colourful bird danced before her eyes and then perched on a small twig in a large green bush.

“Don’t.” Michelle’s voice was shaken. “I can’t take it today.”

“Why not today?” She asked, honing in on her use of the betraying word. “What’s happened?”

Like a clam, she closed down. “Nothing! God. If I’d known I was in for an inquisition, I wouldn’t have called you.”

Tears filled Eleanor’s eyes. The sense of helplessness was extreme. To see the person she loved most in the world in obvious pain, and be powerless to help her, was a form of torture. “But you did call me. You wanted to talk to me.”

“Not about… anything in particular,” Michelle insisted. “It’s just been a while. I wanted to catch up on your news.” There was a pause, and Eleanor worried that Michelle was fighting tears. “How’s life as a fully fledged Queen?”

Eleanor fiddled with the corner of her duvet. “It’s good. Fine.”

“Oh? Now who’s keeping secrets?”

She expelled a steady breath. “It’s boring, if I’m honest. Apparently I’m not expected to do much more than attend official functions and get busy making babies.” She winced at her insensitivity. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just because Jak and I aren’t ready for a pregnancy doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be thrilled for you.”

Eleanor ground her teeth together and resisted the urge to point out that Michelle had wanted a baby for years. It was the way of their relationship. Michelle accepted Jak’s unreasonable behaviour and dressed it up as ‘their’ choice, rather than allow him to bear the brunt of family disapproval. But it was wearing thin for Eleanor. “I didn’t mean that we’re having a baby, Shell. I just mean that I don’t seem to have much to offer besides my womb.” And even that was tinged for her now. What had he said? That he wished his heir was not to be of the Rami family?

“That’s ridiculous,” Michelle retorted hotly. “Have you talked to Aki?”

Eleanor watched as the little bird began to pull at a piece of leaf with its grey beak. Tenaciously, he worked the springy greenery until it gave a little. “Not yet.”

“Why not?”

That was an excellent question. Eleanor thought about it for hours after disconnecting the call with Michelle. He was her husband. She’d come to his country. She was living in his palace. She’d attended every function she’d been expected to appear at. All without complaint. But what did he think she was doing with her time, besides that? Yet another week had passed since their wedding, and she’d barely seen him.

Since that one bone-melting kiss in the walkway, they’d said perhaps twenty words to one another.

“Ellie? Why don’t you just talk to him?”

Eleanor let out a slow sigh. “He’s the Sultan. Not my personal diary manager. It’s not up to him to keep me entertained.”

“He’s your husband.”

How could Eleanor begin to explain? Her position felt tenuous at the best of times. “I’ll think about it.” She rung off with a small frown on her face. Beyond her window, the day was warm and clear. Not as hot as the last few days, there was a slight breeze rustling the palm fronds. With a grunt of frustration she reached for a hat and pushed out of her room. Immediately, two attendants fell into step beside her.

It added to her already frayed temperament. “I’m fine.” She said dismissively. “I’m only going into the palace grounds. Please let me be.”

She stalked away before they could argue.

In the fortnight since marrying Aki, she’d gathered little bits and pieces of information. She knew the palace was centuries old; that it sat on a piece of land that was considered to be sacred to the Talinese. That it was designed with war in mind, with walls that were reinforced with four layers of stone beneath the marble façade. She knew that the same springs of water that served parts of the capital also serviced the palace, meaning the garden was lush and verdant even in the middle of a heatwave in the desert.

She’d looked out at the grove of fruit trees beside the palace for days now. Apples and oranges jostled with figs and bananas. Eleanor plucked an apple from a tree, wiped it in her hands and then took a bite. The crunch was satisfying; the flavour delicious. She made a small sound of pleasure as a little juice dribbled down her chin. It could have been the beauty of the day, but she could have sworn the apple was imbued with special sweetness.

She nibbled it down to its core as she walked, then tossed it beneath another tree. The action knocked loose a different fruit. One she hadn’t seen in her life. Curious, she bent down and picked it up, and turned it over in her hands. It was a dark green, almost grey, with a furry skin and little bumps at irregular intervals. She brought it to her face and sniffed it. The fragrance was nice. Sweet like honey. As she lifted it again, preparing to bite it, a voice caught her attention.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Irrationally guilty, she spun around to see Aki’s friend Ryan walking indolently towards her.