The Sultan's Reluctant Princess Read online

  Did Olivia?

  Did she know sex was all he could ever offer? That sex was all he would ever allow himself to want from her?

  Or was she a ‘happily ever after’ kind of girl, holding out for the perfect, magical romance to sweep her off her feet.

  “Olivia,” he said gruffly, looking at her pink face, her pupils dilated. His intentions were honourable. He wanted to protect her. But as he opened his mouth to lay out the framework of what he could see happening between them, her fingers freed him from his pants. She wrapped her hands around his length, tossing her head back with complete satisfaction as they felt his hard arousal.

  “I need you,” she ground out, lifting her hips so that he was only one thrust from joining with her.

  He swore softly in his own tongue, and reached across her for protection. Avoiding unwanted complications had been drummed into him as soon as he’d become sexually active. His crown deserved better than an unwanted bastard. His obligation to his royal position was immense.

  “This is just sex, Olivia,” he managed to say, as he paused at her entrance. “You are very beautiful, but all that I’m offering is sex. You get that?”

  His breath was coming in spurts; his passion matching hers.

  Olivia nodded. She didn’t want to question why his words felt like acid was being dribbled across her skin. She kept her eyes lowered for fear they might show how his words had hurt her. “You think you’re just using me for sex?” She asked, surprised at how normal her words sounded. “Think again, your highness. It’s the other way around.”

  He lifted his head in surprise, and she took advantage of the moment to push him backwards, so that she was on top of him. She lowered herself onto his erection, groaning as he filled her completely.

  She had caught him off guard, her apparent acceptance of his callous statement shocking him, and disappointing him, too. It had given her temporary control, but he took it back immediately, rolling her back beneath him and pushing his full length deep inside her. Her eyes widened as her body stretched and expanded to meet his. Her muscles tightened around him, making him exclaim in response to the depth of his pleasure.

  He was an incredible lover. Within the briefest of moments, she felt her whole body begin to reverberate with a sense of desperation like nothing she’d ever known.

  She dug her toes into the soft mattress and lifted her pelvis, moaning over and over as her nerve endings began to burn. She exploded with a loud cry, digging her nails into his shoulders as she fell apart, shaking from top to toe with pleasure.

  Tamir’s expression showed pleasure mixed with arrogance. Her orgasm was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. And it was only the beginning for them. He had all night. He ran a palm down her naked torso, between the valley of her breasts and her indented waist, loving the way her skin was textured by goosebumps.

  His eyes met hers, challenging her and silently demanding to know how she felt.

  As though she understood, Olivia lifted her palms to his face and let a slow smile spread across her features. She had a dimple in her cheek. How had he just noticed it? He lowered his mouth and kissed it tenderly.

  “You are all right?” He asked quietly, as he shifted inside of her, stoking her flames anew. How could she still be aroused? Her pleasure had been satiated, yet lust deluged through her veins.

  She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Better than that.”

  “I am pleased.” He increased his tempo, making her whole body shudder in response. “Come to Talidar with me.”

  Olivia laughed. “I can’t.” But she was tempted. It was just sex, and lust, making her yearn for more and more of this and him, but the instinct was one she was loathe to ignore. “I really can’t.”

  He pulled at her nipple, making her cry out as a sharp needle of pleasure drove through her. Her body was hot and cold, frozen but aflame. She groaned as his fingers continued to tease her sensitive skin. “Tamir…” She called out, wrapping her legs tightly around his midsection as though she were drowning and he her only salvation.

  Her ears were ringing, buzzing; a noise that wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t until Tamir swore that she realised a phone was ringing, somewhere. Somewhere close by. Without breaking the sweet invasion of her body, he reached across for the black telephone beside the bed. His eyes were dark as they studied her passion-ravaged face.

  He spoke in his own language. His hands, against her breast, stilled.

  Olivia hardly knew him. Not really. But when his face flickered, she somehow understood that the news he’d received was bad. Serious. He concealed the reaction quickly enough, and ended the call. But Olivia stared up at him, worry evident in her symmetrical face. “What is it?”

  He shook his head; his mouth was a grim line in his face.

  “Tamir?”

  “No. Not now.” He thrust deeper inside her. He was not gentle, he was perfectly firm and demanding. And if possible, the second time Olivia found pleasure in Tamir’s arms, it was an even greater experience than the first. This time, her whole body seemed to sing, and fly high above the earth. She was floating over London, higher and higher into the heavens, on a wave of pure, cloud like delirium. Tamir erupted with her, holding her to him as his body shook from the force of his own orgasm.

  Olivia had never had truly great sex. She’d experienced that awkward, ‘I want it to work because I think you’re nice’ kind of sex, and drunken, ‘I can’t believe my boyfriend left me when he was supposed to propose’ kind of sex. Never, ever, had she known animalistic, passion-fuelled, ‘just because I want you’ sex. Until that moment.

  She scarcely wanted to breathe, lest it break the incredible magic of that moment. Her hands ran down his back, tenderly. Though he’d made sure she understood that they were sharing a ‘just sex’ relationship, her body still craved the intimacy that followed such an intense coming together.

  But this man was not any man! She couldn’t expect him to lay with her and cuddle. And it would be better for her pride if she were the one to end things. Yes. She had to appear nonchalant and unconcerned, even though the thought of never seeing him again filled her with a stone cold sense of dread. She cleared her throat.

  “I didn’t come here for that, but it was… lovely.” She inwardly cringed at the pathetically unsuitable word. Saying what they’d just shared was ‘lovely’, was like saying the nights were dark or the winters cold. She tried again. “I’m glad that happened. But I should go now.”

  He pushed up onto his elbow, his eyes flashing as he stared down at her face. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw derision there. Condemnation.

  Something strange flicked inside of her.

  “Tamir?”

  “I’m afraid we have a problem.”

  Her hands were still wrapped around his back. She forced herself to let them drop to her sides now. “What problem?” She asked calmly, though her heart was popping like a firecracker.

  “You’re a thief, and a liar, and I cannot let you go anywhere.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “WHAT?” She pushed at his shoulders, but he didn’t move. He was still inside of her, her body was sapped of energy by the pleasure he’d exerted over her, and he was calling her names she just didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?”

  “Was this all part of your plan, Olivia?”

  His voice was so cold. None of the delicious melting warmth she’d come to expect. It still had the power to send shivers down her spine, but for entirely different reasons.

  “Was what part of my plan?”

  “Do not keep lying to me.”

  “I don’t understand.” Her frown was a nervous flicker. “I really don’t. Start at the beginning. What am I supposed to have stolen? What have I lied about?”

  “Not you,” he contracted harshly. “Your friend.”

  “Jack?” Her heart turned over with fear. She closed her eyes as the reality of what might have happened sunk in. Her words had a strangled de
sperate quality to them. “Please, Tamir. Just tell me what’s going on.”

  “Worse than stealing from a man like me is lying about it after the fact.”

  Panic made her voice high pitched. “No. Get off me.” She pushed at his shoulders again, but still he didn’t move. Instead, he shifted his weight, sending waves of traitorous pleasure tingling through her.

  “At least I know you enjoyed your part in the duplicitous plan.”

  “I wasn’t part of any plan,” she whispered, mortified to find her body responding to his. Mortified to feel herself lifting her hips, digging her feet into the mattress and lifting her knees to the ceiling, to take him deeper.

  His laugh was soft. Soft and accusing. “There will be time for that. Plenty of time, it turns out.” He pressed his lips against her breast, and this time, he sucked at her pink flesh until he was close to crossing the line between pleasure and pain. He moved his mouth higher just when she could handle no more, and he kissed her neck, hard, tasting and sucking until he left a bright pink cluster of blood just beneath the surface.

  “What are you doing?” Olivia demanded fiercely, lifting her hand to her neck.

  “Hush, Azeezi. I am marking you as mine. You know it, and I know it, and unless you wear the clothes I give you, everyone in Talidar will know it.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “That’s barbaric,” she whispered, digging her fingers into the mark. “God. I haven’t had a lovebite since high school. What’s wrong with you?”

  His smile was marred by cruelty. “You do not even know what a serious position you are in, do you?”

  “I’m not in any position,” she said with a calmness that she was nowhere near feeling.

  “You are in my embassy, and subject to my laws.”

  Olivia felt something heavy lodge in her gut. She swore to herself and shook her head. “So?”

  “So, when you and your friend came here and decided to steal irreplaceable Talidarian jewels, you enabled me to punish you in accordance with Talidarian laws.”

  She closed her eyes again. What had Jack done? She thought of her friend, her confusing bizarre kleptomaniac friend, and groaned. “Jack’s… he’s… sometimes he does this. He does it for fun. He would have returned whatever it is he took. He doesn’t need the money. I’m sorry. I really am, but he’s actually very harmless.”

  “Harmless?” Tamir laughed, but it was without humour. “The tiara he placed into his jacket is worth over two million pounds. It is five hundred years old, and an item of great cultural significance. Do you really think his attempt to remove it from the embassy will be seen as harmless by anyone in my government?”

  Olivia shook her head. “You have to let me explain. He isn’t a thief. He really isn’t.”

  “The facts seem to state otherwise.”

  “Yes, I know, but you have to believe me, Tamir. Please. I promise he would have returned it.”

  “Do you know what the punishment for such theft is in my country?”

  “No,” she whispered, her eyes wide. She realised that he was still inside of her, and she shoved his shoulders, hard. His chest was a wall of stone, impenetrable. He looked at her derisively for a moment, then eased himself away from her. Stark naked, he crossed the room and collected her clothes. He threw them onto the bed, beside Olivia’s naked form.

  “Get dressed. You will find out soon enough.”

  “Tamir,” she cried, her anguish obvious. “Please stop being so angry and talk to me!”

  “Angry?” He shook his head. “I’m not angry. I’m furious, but sadly, I’m not surprised. I’ve never known a woman who hasn’t seen me as an opportunity for financial gain. Most of my lovers have just enjoyed royal gifts. You’re the first to brazenly steal. And such a big prize, too. What was the plan, Olivia? To sell the tiara on the black market? And then what would you have done with the money?”

  Olivia was shivering all over. Not from pleasure now, but from shock.

  “And this is why you were so keen to climb into my bed? To distract me so that your friend could attempt to make off with a priceless piece of Talidarian history?”

  “No!” She shouted, jumping off the bed and stalking across to him. She grabbed his elbow and turned him to face her. “You’re so wrong, Tamir.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I had no idea what Jack was planning. I came here because I wanted to be with you.”

  He raked his eyes down her body, from her crumpled face to her splendidly naked figure. He subjected her to a slow, insolent inspection, then turned away from her.

  “You’re the one who invited Jack,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her body.

  “Yes. I stupidly thought it would make you feel more at ease. I didn’t, for a second, think you might use my invitation to steal from me.” He turned back to her, his dark eyes accusing. “At least you were good in bed. That’s some small compensation for the fact that you’re a lying bitch.”

  It hurt. It wounded her deeply. To the core of her being, she felt sad and sore. “I swear, Tamir, I never planned this. I would never…”

  He held a hand up to silence her. And she was shocked enough to obey. “Enough. It is done. All that remains is to consider a suitable punishment.”

  She swallowed and looked, unseeing, towards the window. Towards freedom. “And that is?”

  “Such a brazen attempted theft is punishable by life imprisonment. If you’re lucky. There will be some in my government who will push for this to be seen as a capital crime.”

  “A capital crime?” She whispered, reaching out to the wall for support. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m deadly serious,” he commented scathingly. “If you will forgive the pun.”

  “No!” She was shaking from shock. “I won’t forgive you anything!”

  “I do not believe you have much right to act like a wounded victim here, Olivia. For though Jack took the jewel, you are far more culpable in my eyes. You were willing to have sex with a man simply to give your friend the cover to steal. That is far worse. Have you no pride? No self-respect?”

  Olivia was shaking so violently she thought she might pass out. “How dare you?” She demanded fiercely, but her heart was withering and shrivelling into a little mound of dust in her chest. Dead and buried, she might as well be likewise.

  “How dare I what? Tell you what I think of you?”

  “You were the one who made this about sex. You’re the one who approached me. I would never even have even known you if you hadn’t stalked me at the show.”

  His grin was ironic. “And I wish that were the case, believe me. However, you took your opportunity and attempted to steal from me. So, I have no choice now but to turn you over to my security chief.”

  His words were like tiny little bullets, hitting her again and again. The information he’d poured on her swarmed into a tangled mess, combining with the insults to make her feel utterly lost. “How did you find this out?”

  “The phone call.”

  She groaned. “That phone call? And you still… we still… you still finished what we were doing.”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t see the point in wasting the opportunity.”

  “You’re disgusting,” she shouted. But her anger with him was morphing into something else. She looked around, saw a white painted door and sprinted to it. She pushed it inwards, opening to a bathroom. She only just made it to the toilet before she was sick. She heaved over it, curling her hair around her palm while her body physically repelled everything she’d just heard, and what they’d just done. She purged as though it could wipe the slate clean.

  It couldn’t of course.

  And when she was finished, her body completely emptied, she lifted her pale face to find Tamir leaning against the doorjamb watching her. His expression was unmoved. He held a towel to her, which she snatched angrily.

  “Get dressed. My security chief is waiting.”

  Olivia splashed water on her face. Ice cold water. She hoped it would bring sensat
ion back to her, but she still felt numb through. She grabbed for a towel on the back of the door, only it turned out to be a robe. She shrugged it on, hating the way her stomach clenched with desire when the faint scent of Tamir assailed her nostrils.

  She stormed back into his room and saw that he had dressed. He was wearing a suit, and his hands were thrust deep into his pockets as he stared out of one of the windows. He was so breathtakingly handsome that she almost forgot her rage. Almost, but not quite.

  “What did you mean? About what I would wear in Talidar?”

  He turned slowly, and in that brief moment, she saw emotion in his expression. It was gone again almost instantly. “That you will have to face consequences for these crimes.”

  She nodded. “I understand that. I expect I’ll also get a chance to state my case.”

  His laugh was a harsh bark. “State your case? There is no justification for what you and your friend attempted to do today.”

  Bloody Jack, she thought angrily. What was he thinking? “Where’s Jack now?”

  Tamir’s eyes flashed. “He’s with my security chief. Waiting for you.”

  “Tamir,” she walked to him slowly, and put a hand on his arm. He looked down at it as though she were diseased. She tried not to care. She had to get through to him. “Tamir, please. Let me try to explain.”

  “No.”

  “I can’t go to Talidar.” Her voice cracked. “I have people who need me here. I have a job.”

  “All things you should have considered before launching into a life of crime.”

  “But I’m not! I didn’t!” She shook his arm, trying to get him to look at her. “I have to stay in London.”

  “Why, Olivia? Why must you?”

  She closed her eyes and swallowed. Her face was pale, and she had no idea how Tamir was staring at her. How he looked at her fine features and marvelled at her beauty, despite the way he despised her actions.

  “My mother needs me,” she whispered. “I can’t leave her.”

  “Your mother?” He demanded, his disbelief obvious in the scathing tone of his voice.

  She nodded, without opening her eyes. She had to be honest with this man, even though he didn’t deserve to know anything about her private life. If she lied she might lose everything. “Yes. She’s sick, Tamir. And I help her. I help her with her medication and her daily tasks.”