The Sheik and the Bought Bride Read Free

his voice low.
    The guards grabbed Dean, who whimpered and pleaded, and dragged him out. The door closed behind him.
    “What will you do to save your father?” he asked.
    “Whatever you ask.”
    Something flickered in her blue eyes. Had he been a kinder man, he would have assumed fear. But he hadn’t been kind for many years now.
    “It must be difficult for you, a woman alone, to make her way in a man’s world,” he said, ignoring the growing need pounding through his body. Even disheveled and taken from her bed, she appealed to him. “The equality you took for granted in America is more difficult to find here. Yet you have done well. You’ve been Nadim’s assistant for some time now.”
    “Two years.”
    “A pity about his engagement.”
    “He seems very happy.”
    “But you are not. All your plans…crushed.”
    Her spine stiffened. She stared him in the eye. “That has nothing to do with my father.”
    “Are you so sure? Perhaps you are eager to try to win me instead. What an excellent opportunity this must be for you. To present yourself dressed as you are? To beg?”
    She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m dressed like this because your guards wouldn’t let me put on regular clothes.”
    “And this is how you sleep each night? I think not.”
    “Then you need to go check my closet.” Anger added force to her voice. “You think I’m trying to seduce you? That when I woke up and saw five guards standing around my bed I thought it was my lucky day? Oh, goody. Now I get a shot at Prince Kateb? And then they stood there while I flipped through my wardrobe and found something appropriate?”
    She dropped her arms to her side. “No, wait. I know. I actually dress like this every night hoping my father, whom I haven’t seen in years, happens to come by where he getsin a card game with you so he can cheat and then you send for me. Thank goodness all my plans are finally working out.”
    She had a point, he thought grudgingly. Not that he would admit that to her. And she had spirit, which appealed to him nearly as much as her body.
    “Do you deny you wished to marry Nadim?” he demanded.
    The fight seemed to go out of her. “I wouldn’t have said no,” she admitted, staring at the floor. “But it’s not what you think. It was about security. Princes don’t get divorced. At least not here.”
    “But you have no feelings for him.”
    “He’s very nice.”
    Kateb waited.
    She raised her head and glared at him. “What do you want from me? Am I to be punished because I fantasized about marrying a prince? Fine. Do what you want. You have all the power here. Right now I’m more concerned about my father.”
    “Why?”
    “Because he’s my father.”
    “That isn’t the reason. I saw how you looked at him. You resent him for putting you in this position. You are angry with him.”
    “He’s still my father.”
    Kateb allowed the silence to weigh on her. She stood her ground, meeting his gaze, not speaking. Whatever else there was, she would not tell him. Interesting.
    “Will you take his place?” he asked softly.
    “Yes.”
    “In jail?”
    She swallowed. He could smell her fear.
    “Yes.”
    “Life there is harsh. Unpleasant.”
    “I made a promise.”
    The words seemed forced out of her. He knew he had won something important but couldn’t say what.
    A promise. What did a woman like her know about promises?
    He stared into her eyes and saw a lifetime of weariness there. Her soul was old beyond her years. Or was he simply looking for a reason because that appealed to him more than the reality of a mercenary woman taking advantage of the situation?
    If only Cantara were here, with him. She would know the truth. But if she were still here, he would not be in this situation. He would not need a night of cards to fill his hours. He would not have to face the darkness that surrounded him. The emptiness.
    “Your father attempted to steal from me,” Kateb said coldly. “Had I not caught