Modern Romance July 2018 Books 5-8 Collection. Annie West

hadn’t stopped him. He’d been intent on his own pleasure.

      She’d been the one at his beck and call. What right had he to seduce the woman who’d been sent to him as an innocent girl? The woman he knew felt indebted to him!

      The woman whose name and chance of ever finding a decent Halarqi husband one day would be destroyed if such stories got out.

      Swearing, Sayid stalked down the side of the courtyard, then back again and again, seeking a way to protect Lina. Knowing whatever he did it was too late. The damage was done.

      An hour ago he’d bragged that he liked solving problems. Now he needed to be innovative to redress a wrong he’d caused.

      Bile seared his throat.

      The cleaner might have said the words but it was Sayid who’d done the damage. Times might have changed yet Halarqi society would be unrelenting in its disapproval of a woman it saw as his whore. Look at how Lina’s mother had been treated, just because she’d been a dancer.

      He’d been pacing the corridor for a lifetime it seemed when the answer came to him. So simple, so effective, it hit him like a flash of lightning. Sayid’s mouth curved into a taut, hard smile. Relief surged, and determination.

      He swung round and strode to his office. He had arrangements to make.

      * * *

      ‘You wanted to see me?’ Lina did her best to sound nonchalant, but her heart tripped over itself. Sayid never sent for her. He went out of his way to maintain the appearance of distance between them.

      Yet this morning as she’d sat sewing, they’d talked and, she couldn’t explain it, but something had changed. He’d changed. She’d sensed a softening, an understanding that surely had been about more than sex.

      Perhaps Sayid would suggest they share more than her allotted week. Because he’d begun to feel...

      Her gaze fixed on Sayid, standing by the window of his library, staring over the sprawling city. His hands were behind his back and his feet planted wide. His strong jaw was tight, his brow furrowed.

      Was she kidding herself? That indefinable shift between them—had she been the only one to feel it? Had it been imagination? Or worse, wishful thinking?

      ‘Yes. Come in, please.’ His eyes met hers, their dark glitter sending inevitable tremors through her. They were alone yet Lina couldn’t read his expression. It wasn’t desire, nor anything as tender as she thought she’d seen earlier. As for shared laughter...definitely not.

      Whatever the reason he’d sent for her, it was serious.

      Lina crossed the room, halting a few steps away. Even now, alone in a room where no one, not even his secretary, would interrupt without knocking, Sayid kept his distance. Lina’s smile froze in place.

      Had she really expected him to haul her close like he did when they were in his quarters? Then they were Lina and Sayid. But everywhere else, they were Emir and subject, guardian and ward.

      Lina linked her hands before her and waited, telling herself it didn’t matter that he didn’t embrace her.

      Lying to herself as usual.

      She didn’t know how much longer she could play this game of pretending not to care. Not when she cared too much, wanted too much.

      She forced herself to speak, since Sayid seemed to be brooding on his own thoughts.

      ‘And you wanted to see me because...?’

      A skewed smile lifted his mouth at one corner. ‘No one else speaks to me the way you do. Do you know that?’

      Lina swallowed the retort that she hoped not. She was his lover after all. Instead she merely tilted her head questioningly.

      ‘It’s about our...arrangement,’ he said finally.

      She couldn’t help it. Her heart leapt. This morning she’d believed he shared some of the emotional attachment she felt. Now, staring up at his still features, the idea seemed ridiculous, yet hope lingered. Perhaps he was going to admit he wanted her to stay longer. And if she stayed longer, who knew what might happen?

      ‘Yes?’ She licked suddenly dry lips and Sayid’s gaze dropped to the movement. The air thickened. Or was that her heart labouring?

      ‘It’s no longer appropriate.’ His hands flexed at his sides and Lina sensed he held himself still despite a strong urge for action.

      ‘Not appropriate?’ Her voice was anything but even.

      Her heart pounded right up in her throat. Excitement soared despite her stern attempts to stay calm. Did he feel what she did? Was it possible Sayid had begun to care for her? Not as a ward or a responsibility, but as his love?

      She pressed her lips together, waiting. She sensed her future happiness rested on his words.

      ‘That’s right.’ He smiled down at her but curiously, Lina didn’t read happiness in his expression, just determination. ‘I want you to marry me.’

       CHAPTER TWELVE

      THEY WERE WORDS she’d never thought to hear. Yet she’d dreamed of them. They reverberated through her whole being. Lina’s pulse pounded an ecstatic rhythm.

      But even as her body buzzed with the intense rush of awed delight, she stood, rooted to the floor. For something wasn’t right. Sayid’s stance, his tone, his expression, didn’t ring true.

      On the verge of tumbling forward into his arms, Lina stopped herself, frozen in place like her lover.

      He didn’t look like her lover now. There was no desire in his eyes, no smile, either indulgent or predatory. No warmth.

      Definitely no love.

      He looked hard and unemotional. Determined and ruthless. Even a little fierce.

      Lina rocked back on her heels, swallowing the scratchy mass of emotion blocking her throat. It didn’t take intuition to know something was wrong.

      Yet it took everything she had not to go to him, rest her head on his wide chest and say yes.

      If she closed her eyes and concentrated on his words she might convince herself this was the beginning of her happy ever after. Only for a moment. Sayid looked so rigid the illusion shattered.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Sorry?’ Grooves lined his forehead as if no one had ever questioned him before. Maybe they hadn’t since he became Emir.

      ‘Why do you want me to marry you?’

      Blank eyes stared down at her and Lina’s nape prickled as every fine hair stood erect in premonition. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good.

      ‘Isn’t it enough that I want it?’ Surprise flashed in his eyes and hauteur laced his tone. Those aristocratic features tightened and apprehension washed through her. Sayid wasn’t only her lover but her ruler. A man with the power to change her life for ever.

      But he’d already done that. He’d set her free.

      Lina met his eyes steadily despite the staccato rattle of her heart and the desperate heave of lungs that couldn’t drag in enough oxygen.

      ‘I didn’t know you were thinking of marriage.’ She’d heard whispers that the elders were talking about the need for a royal heir, but the consensus was that Sayid had no inclination to marry yet.

      One dark eyebrow rose as if in surprise at her temerity. ‘Yet I am.’ He paused and seemed to gather himself. This time his smile almost reached his eyes. ‘I want you as my wife.’

      Again the urge to fall into his embrace was almost irresistible. It would have been, Lina knew, if he’d opened his arms. She was strong but not that