answer was a trap but she gave it anyway.
“Yes.”
His voice turned even more menacing and she shivered with fright. “Anything at all?”
“Damn you Kalim.” He was playing with her like a cat playing with a mouse before it gobbled it up. “Yes anything at all.”
“Very well.” His eyes blazed with cynical triumph. “Marriage.”
No her mind screamed. Not even for Tom could she do that. At that moment she fervently wished she could faint. She had expected him to offer her an affair or maybe a subtle form of revenge but never marriage, but wouldn’t marriage to him be the biggest torture of all.
Maybe if she told him the truth of her relationship to Tom. A shudder shook her frame. No that would give him even more power over her.
“Marriage.” Shock was running through her veins making her feel ill. “To you?”
“Of course to me. You don’t think I meant your lover do you?” He spat the word lover out making it sound dirty and sordid.
What was she going to do? To be married to Kalim. Her greatest wish come true but also her biggest nightmare. Nervous perspiration beaded her upper lip and neck and she began to tremble.
Her legs turned into spaghetti and she collapsed on to the sofa. The robe fell open exposing her creamy breasts. She did not notice but he did and he sucked in a sharp breath.
She raised her eyes to his forbidding features. “Please don’t do this.”
“Yes or no Shannon. One way or the other.” His voice sounded like the last trumpet of doom to her ears.
She sent up a silent prayer. “I have no choice. Yes.” As soon as she uttered the words her stomach plummeted and she felt as if she had jumped out of an airplane without a parachute.
Kalim relaxed. He had achieved his purpose. “Let us understand each other. Bennett is not released until after we reach Rentanof. Then he will be escorted over the border and told never to return or he will die. You will not see him or communicate with him in any way from this moment on. You will do what I tell you when I tell you and the first time you displease me I will have you sent to one of the houses in the city. Do we understand each other?”
Shannon was seething. She was barely restraining her impulse to jump up and scratch his eyes out. Yet she knew she would do nothing.
He meant every word he had said, she knew that. She had felt his anger and bitterness from the minute she had spoken to him on the footpath outside and now she had given him the weapon to vent his feelings of vengeance on her.
At the moment he held the upper hand and she would do exactly as she was told but she had no intention of making it easy for him. Let him think that Tom was her lover and maybe his pain would be as great as her heartache.
Mutinous eyes lifted and settled on his face. “Yes. Damn you yes. But I’ll never forgive you for this and if I get the slightest chance to escape I will take it, and I will make sure that you never find me again.”
“I would have been disappointed had you reacted any differently.” She almost fainted when he leaned down and kissed her gently on her gaping mouth. “But make no mistake my Shannon. This time you will not be given the chance to escape.”
Her limbs began to tremble as if she had a bad case of fever and the room whirled around her dizzy head. Nausea rose into her throat and threatened to choke her.
“I’m going to be sick.”
She jumped off the sofa and raced into the bathroom her hand clamped tightly over her mouth.
Kalim watched her back disappear and felt as guilty as hell because he had made her ill. The least he could do was to go in there and help her whether she wanted his help or not.
His lips twisted into a grimace as he followed her into the bathroom collecting a warm facecloth as he walked past the bathtub.
Shannon sat back on her heels waiting for the shudders to stop. A large brown hand came over her shoulder and gently wiped her face with the warm cloth. Her startled gaze flew to Kalim who was kneeling beside her with a look of tender concern on his face.
“What are you doing?” she asked her voice barely above a whisper.
He smiled ruefully. “Cleaning you up. Are you finished?”
She nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Can you stand?”
She glared at him with exasperation. “Of course I can stand I’m twenty-five not in my dotage.”
He chuckled and her heart missed a beat. “Well come on then.” He rose to his feet and held his hand out smiling down at her. After a slight hesitation she placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “Can you mange by yourself or do you want me to help you?”
“Such solicitude,” she mocked with biting sarcasm. “Must protect your investment mustn’t you? It wouldn’t do to have me ill. There would be no reas---“
“That’s enough!” His harsh voice interrupted her outburst, the smile disappearing from his face to be replaced with a haughty anger. “I may not be your favorite person at the moment but I demand you show me respect. I have never done anything to you to give you a reason not to respect me.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “What do you call blackmail and kidnapping? Good deeds?”
“Who is kidnapping you?” He shook his head in a negative gesture. “Not me.”
“In a way you are. I wouldn’t be going with you if it wasn’t for Tom.”
His expression turned savage and his eyes darkened with rage. “You would be well advised not to mention your lover’s name in my presence. It was your decision to accept my offer I did not twist your arm.” He threw the facecloth savagely into the vanity sink and strode toward the door. He paused in the doorway but did not turn around. “I’m sorry I made you ill,” he murmured huskily and walked out of the room closing the door with a quiet click.
Shannon stared at the door with her mouth hanging open. For goodness sake he was an enigma. She would never understand him. Just how well did she really know him? She had thought she knew him very well indeed but now she was not so sure. During the two weeks they were engaged they had shared a lot of fun and laughter and endless sessions of love making but she was beginning to suspect that she had not known Kalim the person.
When she eventually walked back into the sitting room Hassam was speaking on the telephone in a language she did not understand and there was no sign of Kalim. A frown settled on her brow as she glanced around the room. Now where had he gone?
Hassam smiled warmly at her as she wandered across to the sofa and sat down beside him. She curled her legs underneath her and waited patiently for him to complete his call.
“Where’s Kalim?” she asked as soon as he replaced the receiver on its cradle.
He nodded his head toward his bedroom. “In there making a call to Rentanof. I was using this phone
