The Sheik's Arranged Marriage (16 page)

“Have you seen a man before?” he asked.

She shook her head. He pulled down his slacks and briefs in one quick movement,
then
slid onto the bed. He stretched out on his back.

“Go ahead and look,” he offered. “Get comfortable with me. You can touch me if you’d like.”

“Oh.” Touching?
Her?

She raised herself up on her elbow and gazed at his body. He was fit and tanned with long, lean muscles. His shoulders were powerful. His chest tapered into a narrow waist and hips. Her gaze followed the dark line of hair that bisected his belly and led directly to his arousal.

Heidi stared. It was bigger than she’d imagined, and thrusting up toward the ceiling. The shape was not unappealing. It was darker than the rest of him.

Slowly, carefully, prepared to pull back at any minute, she stretched out her fingers and tentatively touched him. He was soft and hot, yet underneath was pulsing steel. She’d thought he might be damp or feel weird, but the skin was dry, and she liked the way her fingers around him made him tense and groan low in his throat. She experimented with moving slowly, then speeding up. He seemed to really like the—

“Enough,” he said, grabbing her wrist and holding her still. “That lesson is for another time.”

What lesson?
she
wanted to ask. Instead, she found herself on her back in the center of the mattress. Jamal knelt between her thighs. He was touching her again, the way he had before. The steady caressing left her breathless and damp. Her hips pulsed in time with the movement of his fingers, and she felt herself beginning the journey again.

But before she could reach her completion, he stopped what he was doing and started kissing her. She liked the kissing as well, so she didn’t complain. His tongue was in her mouth, teasing her and—

She felt a probing against her woman’s place. The blunt pressure wasn’t from his fingers. No, something larger sought entrance. He reached down and guided himself into her. She could feel herself stretching. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t pleasant either.

“Don’t tense,” he told her, his voice hoarse. “I know it’s uncomfortable, but it will get better, I promise. Just relax. Once I’m inside, I’ll stop until you get used to me.”

She wanted to push him away, but instead she did as he’d requested. She breathed in and out, focusing only on his kiss, while between her legs he slowly filled her body.

He stopped sooner than she thought he would. She was about to say it wasn’t so bad when there was a sharp pain. Heidi cried out. Jamal gave one more thrust and was still.

“That’s all,” he said, raining kisses on her face. “That’s the worst of it.”

Tears stung in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “It’s not so bad,” she murmured.

He smiled ruefully. “As I mentioned before, you’re a lousy liar. But that’s a good thing in a wife.” He braced his weight on his knees and forearms and stared into her eyes. “Remember what it was like before? When I was touching you there?”

She nodded slowly, not willing to give anything away if it meant he was going to hurt her again.

“Remember how it felt?” he asked.
“My fingers moving against you.
The pressure building and building.
You were so wet and hot, and I didn’t want it to ever end.”

She felt herself growing warm right now. “I remember,” she said quietly.

“It’s going to feel that way again,” he promised.
“When I’m inside of you.
Probably not this time, but soon.
That’s the point, Heidi. It’s good for both of us.”

His words had reminded her of those incredible minutes in his arms. Magically, the tension flowed out of her so that he didn’t seem quite so huge inside. At least it wasn’t as uncomfortable. When he began to move, she found herself enjoying the sensation. In and out, slowly, so slowly that she wanted him to go faster.
Paradise
was a long way off, but she could see the potential.
As Jamal had told her, if not this time, then soon.

He began to move faster. His expression tightened. “I can’t—” he gasped. “I can’t hold back.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about, but she found herself needing to reassure him. “I’m fine. Don’t hold back.”

He dropped his head and kissed her neck. Then his entire body tensed as he buried himself deeply inside of her. He gasped her name and went still.

She held him close, feeling the last, lingering tremors of his muscles. They had done it. They’d made love. She was no longer a virgin, and Jamal was at last her true husband. She was a little sore and sex wasn’t what she thought it would be. Fortunately, it had been better than she’d imagined.

Jamal rose from the bed and collected a washcloth from the bathroom. He gently wiped away the faint traces of blood on both of them,
then
helped her under the covers.

“Now you are mine,” he told her in the darkness as he pulled her against him.

A smile touched her lips. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she belonged.

Jamal stared into the darkness. Heidi slept at his side, but he hadn’t been able to close his eyes. He wanted to believe what had just happened—he desperately needed it to be true. Had it been a onetime occurrence, or was Heidi truly different from Yasmin?

She’d responded, he reminded himself. On this very bed with his fingers touching her intimately, she’d climaxed. He’d seen the surprise and the passion in her expression. He’d felt the contraction of her muscles against his fingers.

He told himself it wasn’t important, yet he couldn’t stop the pleasure and pride that filled him. In all the years he’d been married to Yasmin, she’d never once reacted in the same way. Most of the time she never got damp or the least bit swollen. For her, sex had been a chore.

At the time he’d told himself it wasn’t his
fault, that
it didn’t matter. People were different, and the fact that his wife hadn’t enjoyed sexual relations didn’t reflect on him. He’d repeated the words over and over, but he’d never believed them. He’d always thought he was doing something wrong. That if he could just figure out what she wanted, he could make her happy. And he’d been right. What she’d wanted was to be left alone, and as soon as he’d done that, she’d been pleased.

But Heidi wasn’t like Yasmin. She’d been aroused and had climaxed their first time together. Just thinking about how she’d felt when he’d touched her and been inside of her had him hard and wanting.

He reminded himself that it was late, and she would probably be sore, but he couldn’t help turning toward her and pulling her close. She stirred sleepily.

“Jamal? What is it?”

“Nothing,” he murmured even as he began to kiss her neck.

She laughed softly. “Hmm. Something rather hard and impressive is poking my thigh. It doesn’t feel like nothing.”

She moved closer and slipped her leg over his hips, bringing her center against his arousal.

He shuddered. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

“Tell me.”

He looked at her in the darkness, barely able to make out the details of her face. “I want you again.”

He saw her smile. “You know, I sort of guessed that. The funny thing is, I want you, too.”

Heidi woke to a sun-filled room. She knew without glancing at the clock that it was already midmorning. She also knew she was alone.

Sometime early she’d sensed more than heard Jamal get up to start his day. He’d held her and kissed her, then had urged her to go back to sleep. That he would see her later.

She sat up and stretched, then smiled when she saw the single red rose resting on the pillow beside her. Jamal was an incredible lover, she thought as she picked up the flower and sniffed its lovely scent.
Thoughtful, caring and very skilled.
The second time they’d made love had been even better than the first. He’d used his fingers on her again and she’d climaxed even more quickly. Then, when he’d been inside of her, she’d felt herself
getting
close to her release.

Soon, he’d promised her. She would know that particular pleasure very, very soon.

“I don’t want to wait,” Heidi said to herself as she slid out of bed and made her way back to her own room. To be honest, she wanted it all and she wanted it now! In less than a night, she’d grown greedy.

The thought delighted her, as did her knowledge that she and Jamal had fit well together. She’d enjoyed being in his arms and having him close to her. She smiled. When she’d first read the books
Fatima
had given her, she’d been shocked and embarrassed. Now the thought of doing all those things with Jamal excited her. Maybe she should show him some of the pictures and find out what he preferred. Maybe—

She stepped into her bedroom and came to a stop. Sitting in the center of the bed was a paper-wrapped package. The same package Madam Monique had given her the previous afternoon.
Her veils.
Veils that she would wear as Honey.

There was no Dance of the Seven Veils, which Jamal probably knew. But in the movies, the dance was a slow seduction with the sheer layers being removed one by one. The message was clear. Her husband wanted to be seduced…but not by her.

“But I am Honey,” she whispered into the empty room. “So he does want me to seduce him.”

Except Jamal didn’t know she was Honey, which meant he was sexually interested in another woman.
Which made her want to kill him.

To make everything even more confusing, there was a part of her that was excited about doing the dance. She thought it would be sexy and fun, and she longed to feel her feminine power, perhaps for the first time in her life. Was that wrong?

Heidi pressed her lips together. There were too many questions and not enough answers. The situation had just gotten too complicated for her. She needed expert help.

Thirty minutes later she stepped into Dora’s office and sank onto one of the plush sofas in the corner. Her sister-in-law settled next to her.

“You look radiant and worried,” Dora said, angling toward her on the cushion. “It’s an interesting combination.”

“Radiant, huh?”

Heidi was pleased. She’d had a feeling that the lovemaking showed on her face, but she hadn’t been sure.

“Absolutely.
And while that’s nice, I’m more concerned about the worried part. What’s wrong?”

It was a simple question. One Heidi had been asking herself. The problem was she still didn’t have any answers. “I hate that Jamal has a mistress,” she said slowly. “Yet, I’m the mistress, so what does it matter, right? I mean, he’s seeing another woman, but that woman is me, so he’s obviously attracted to me in different ways. But I hate that he sees her, even if it’s me.”

Dora frowned. Her brown eyes regarded Heidi thoughtfully. “Excuse me for saying it this way, but you’ve got yourself in a hell of a mess.”

Heidi sighed. “Tell me about it. How do I fix the problem?”

Her sister-in-law smiled. “I have no idea. I don’t have any answers. But I do have another question for you. What do you want?”

“
Fatima
asked me that when this all started,” Heidi said slowly.

“And you didn’t have an answer then. Do you now?”

What did she want? Heidi thought about her life—all the changes since she’d returned to El Bahar. She had her work, which she loved, a place in the palace, a husband who…who…She had a husband who had the potential to be her whole world. Jamal was good and kind and fun to be with and very sexy and…

“I love him,” she said, her voice filled with wonder.
Of course.
Why hadn’t she seen it before? “I love him, and I want to be with him always. I want him to love me back.”

“Then come clean and tell him the truth. Take it from there.”

The truth?
Heidi wasn’t so sure. Would Jamal appreciate why she’d pretended to be someone else? Would he be angry? They’d only become lovers last night; she wasn’t sure she wanted to disrupt their honeymoon so soon. Besides, telling him about her deception was not going to make him receptive to hearing that she loved him.

“You’re hesitating,” Dora observed. “You don’t want to tell him?”

“I don’t know. We’re just starting to figure out the marriage. I’m not sure I’m ready to drop the bombshell.”

There was also the matter of Yasmin, Heidi thought, even though she wasn’t about to share that with her sister-in-law. If she could continue to be with Jamal intimately and things were good between them, perhaps she had a chance at winning a small piece of his heart. She knew that he would always love his late wife, but she didn’t mind that, as long as he loved her, too.

But would he see it that way? Would he think she’d been trying to trick him into loving only her?

“When do you see him again with you being Honey?” Dora asked.

“In two days.” Heidi looked at her and smiled shyly. “I’m supposed to do a veil dance for him.”

“Oh, really.
Sounds interesting.”

Heidi nodded. “Oddly enough, I’m sort of excited about doing it for him.
Which is part of what makes everything so confusing.
How can I want him to give up Honey when I like being her?”

“Why don’t you do the dance and see how it goes?” Dora suggested. “If you still like being the mistress and the wife, then keep the secret a little longer. If you can’t keep up the pretense, then come clean.”

“You have a point,” Heidi said. “If I don’t know what I want to do, the best course of action is to wait and decide later.”

She and Dora chatted for a few more minutes,
then
Heidi left and headed for her own office. Realizing she loved her husband had changed everything. It made their lovemaking more precious, but it made everything else more difficult. How angry would he be when he found out she’d tricked him with Honey? What if he never forgave her? What if he liked Honey more? What if—

“Stop,” she told herself as she pushed open the door to her office. “You’re making yourself crazy.”

And the proof was right in front of her, she thought as she stared in amazement. Where just the day before had been furniture and files and bookcases stood an empty room.

“Princess Heidi,” one of the secretaries said, walking into the room. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you arrive. I’ve been watching for you, but I had a phone call. Please forgive me.”

Heidi gave the young woman a quick smile.
“Sure, no problem.
But maybe you could tell me where my office went?”

The woman laughed. “It’s just down the hall. Please follow me.”

Heidi was still shaking her head as she trailed after the secretary. She’d been moved?
But why?
It didn’t make any sense. “Did the king come by?” she asked. “Am I taking up too much
room.
Does someone else need it more and should I…”

Her voice trailed off as they came to a stop in front of double doors. The secretary pushed open the right one and Heidi stepped into a large, bright office. She recognized her rather worn furniture, pieces she’d picked out herself from the storeroom. Her files were in place, as were her books. The only thing different was the large picture window at a right angle to her chair.

Instead of a view of the back gardens, she could now see to the edge of the world. Blue
ocean
twinkled at her over the tops of the trees. The sky was an even deeper color, clear and endless.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why was I moved here?”

The woman smiled and motioned to the spray of flowers sitting in the center of her desk. A small card had been tucked between two white orchids.

For my princess, who longs for a window overlooking the
ocean.
The note was signed with the letter J.

“Jamal,” she breathed.

“Yes,
Your
Highness. It’s so romantic. He showed up early this morning with a crew of men and arranged to have everything moved. We were very careful to put things back where you left them so nothing should be out of place.”

Heidi glanced at her. “Thank you so much for telling me,” she said.

The woman nodded and left.

Heidi made her way around the large space. She touched her desk, the back of her chair,
then
walked to the window. She remembered her pitiful lie about working in her bedroom because she’d wanted to be able to see the water.
Jamal had listened and moved her here as a lovely surprise.

She clutched his note to her chest and gave a little laugh. Surely his wonderful gesture meant that he cared about her. It probably wasn’t love, but it was a start. If she was very lucky, she might just be able to win her handsome husband for her very own. With time, he might start to love her back.

But not if he found out she was lying to him. So she had to be very careful and make sure he never learned she was the mysterious Honey Martin who planned to seduce him with her own version of the Dance of the Seven Veils.

Heidi moved slowly in the center of the room. The portable CD player in the corner pulsed with the sound of drums and bells. The steady beat had already started to increase as she shook her hips.

Jamal sat on the sofa and told himself
no matter what happened, he wouldn’t smile
. He knew that she wouldn’t understand that he was as charmed as he’d ever been and instead might think he was laughing at her.

His wife was many wonderful things, but she wasn’t a dancer, he thought as he followed her movements. She was awkward and unfamiliar with the steps of the dance. He saw where she had to pause to remember and then improvised to catch up with the music. But none of that mattered. To him, she was a mysteriously beautiful creature, and he was grateful to have her in his life.

Sunlight spilled in through the French doors of the suite, illuminating her pale skin. She wore her hair long. There weren’t curls today. Veils covered her body, but they were sheer enough that he could see the beaded bra and panties underneath. She danced for him, barefoot, smiling, and she was the most erotic vision he’d ever seen.

He wanted her with a desperation he’d never allowed himself before. The urge to take her right there, to grab her and pull her down onto the sofa, nearly overwhelmed him. He forced himself to stay still, to hold his desire in check. Because he wanted her to think she’d won him on her own.
Because she was the courtesan, not because she was his wife.
This was her game and he was determined that she would win.