and, despite whatever else I think of him, he is a good ruler. He wants to secure the future for his people. A future both you and I are duty-bound to play a part in.’
‘I am not returning to Barazbin with you out of any sense of loyalty or duty to your people...’
His words cut across hers. ‘They are your people too.’
She took a deep breath, composed herself and spoke with as much regal dignity as possible. ‘I am returning because you have blackmailed me, using a young boy who is in desperate need of help. That is the only reason I am going anywhere with you, Kazim. Don’t ever forget that.’
Not because I am still in love with you.
He rubbed his finger and thumb over his jawline as he took in her words, the shadow of stubble rasping, snagging her attention. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, irritation clear in his voice as he leant towards her. ‘It is not blackmail. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. One we will both gain from.’
How could he possibly believe that, when he’d plainly stated he would walk away from her and from Claude if she didn’t agree to return to Barazbin with him?
She looked at him, aware of the hum of the jet’s engine, taking her on the first part of her journey back to his country, a place she didn’t want to go. And she was going because he held all the cards, wielded all the power.
‘It’s blackmail, Kazim. And you know it.’
FROM THE HOTEL WINDOW Amber studied the view of London, desperate to do anything other than face Kazim as he shut the door of their suite. The flight from Paris had been short, but she was so tired, so emotionally exhausted, she might as well have flown around the world. Not a word had been exchanged since she’d accused him of blackmail. He’d read over papers until they’d touched down in London, his silence brooding and ominous.
‘We have a dinner engagement this evening. I trust you have something befitting your position to wear.’
His voice held an irascible tone and she turned from the window and stared at him.
He looked tired. Something tightened inside her, just as it had done that first moment she’d seen him on their wedding day. His raw masculinity then had robbed her of the ability to think clearly and now she wondered if it had all gone wrong from that moment. Had she fallen in love with the man she wanted him to be rather than the man he was?
‘If you had told me I would need evening wear I could have packed something for the occasion.’ Precisely what that would have been, she didn’t know. Nothing in her wardrobe would have been remotely suitable for dining out in public with a man such as Kazim. She’d left the glamour of a desert princess behind to take on a normal life. And she’d achieved that, proved to herself she could survive—until Kazim’s arrival had sent the first blocks of her new life tumbling down. ‘I’ll stay here. You go.’
She turned her back on him and focused again on the view of Knightsbridge bathed in sunshine. Every time she looked at Kazim, a tingle of awareness slipped down her spine and when his gaze met hers that tingle intensified, just as it had done from the moment they had first met.
As Amber continued to study the view Kazim’s silence almost frazzled the air but, as far as she was concerned, it was settled. She wasn’t going with him this evening. Determined that she wouldn’t be swayed from this decision, she folded her arms across her chest, ignoring the urge to turn and look at him again. But it was too much and finally she gave into the temptation. When she turned round it was to find him looking at her, his eyes narrowed, his stance regal and loaded with authority.
He was the epitome of power, his shoulders broad enough to carry the burdens his position in life had given him, but, as a man, his tall figure held an air of isolation. Did he ever let people close?
‘Are you determined to cause trouble, Amber?’ Command rang in every word he spoke. ‘You are my wife. My princess and, as such, you will go where I go—at least until we return to Barazbin.’
That told her enough. As soon as he returned to his homeland she would be forced into the role of dutiful wife and once again be surplus to requirements, but she had to go if she wanted Claude to get the treatment he needed. Even though Annie didn’t yet know what chance her son had, Amber couldn’t deny him. Once the treatment was over she’d leave, return to Paris and Annie’s unwavering friendship. Why stay with a man who didn’t even like her, let alone love her? One who’d shredded her heart as if it were nothing more than waste paper.
‘Well, you’ll just have to go alone tonight because even if I did have something befitting my position to wear, I would rather stay here.’ She knew she shouldn’t be provoking him, but she couldn’t help it. Just because he was a desert prince didn’t mean he could order her around, especially as he’d been constantly reminding her she was his princess.
Her heart rate accelerated and butterflies took flight in her stomach as he walked across the room. His strikingly handsome face was marred by a thunderous expression as he came close to her. ‘We made a deal, yet already you think you can assert authority over me.’
She stood her ground despite wanting to slip past him. ‘I have not yet received any kind of indication that you have honoured your side of the deal, as you call it.’
‘Is my word not enough for you?’ he said as he walked away again, giving her the impression of an animal trapped in captivity, stalking the perimeter of its reduced territory.
She looked at his broad shoulders, tight and firmly set. He had exploded into her life again, opening up wounds which had only just begun to heal, and the only way she could tolerate it was to know that he would keep his promise of helping Claude.
‘No, it isn’t,’ she snapped, the rush of humiliation sweeping away rational thought. He’d married her, rejected and abandoned her. ‘Why should I trust you at all when you detest me so much you couldn’t stand to be near me? You couldn’t get me out of your life fast enough.’
She bit back her grief and anger, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. Just being near him muddled her mind. Suddenly it was all too much and she rushed past him, grabbed her handbag and headed for the door as fast as she could. She couldn’t stay in this room a moment longer with him. Her emotions were in turmoil. Emotions she’d thought she had well and truly under control were now running riot inside her.
She still had feelings for him, despite all he’d done. Feelings which meant she couldn’t risk staying a moment longer with him in the suite, even with its capacious luxury.
‘Where are you going?’ His deep voice rang with command, but she didn’t stop.
‘Shopping. Anything to keep His Supreme Highness happy.’
‘Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Amber,’ he said as he crossed the room, joining her at the door.
Her heart sank. Couldn’t she go out alone now? Was this an example of what her life in Barazbin would be like? A return to the restrictions of bodyguards and servants. ‘I’m quite capable of going shopping on my own.’ She tossed the words at him and forced a smile.
‘You can’t just wander the streets of London without security
