A Whisper of Disgrace(18)

‘Why are you so interested in me?’ she whispered.

Kulal’s mouth flattened into an uncompromising line. Time to destroy any emerging fantasies which might destabilise what he was about to say. ‘I’m not interested in you, habeebi,’ he said softly. ‘But more in what we can offer each other.’

Beneath the slippery fabric of her gown, Rosa felt the prickling of her skin and she wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear. Was he going to suggest that they continue where they’d left off the other day, when they were so rudely interrupted in the garden of his hotel villa? And if he did say that … if he pulled her in his arms and kissed her with the same kind of hungry passion she’d tasted the other day, would she honestly be able to push him away?

The words seemed to be having difficulty leaving her mouth, but she knew she had to say them. ‘What kind of offer?’

Kulal’s lips curved into a smile of satisfaction as he read the unmistakable signs of sexual desire on her face, and knew he was home and dry.

‘My offer of marriage,’ he said.

His words echoed around the room and a feeling of unreality began to wash over Rosa as she stared into his black eyes. She tried to wonder what it would be like if he’d made his suggestion with some degree of affection, rather than with that cruel and calculating expression. But she was a Corretti, wasn’t she? And therefore ideally equipped to deal with his proposal in the same businesslike way as he’d made it.

‘Marry you?’ she said drily. ‘Don’t you have someone more suitable you could ask? Perhaps somebody you’ve known longer than five minutes, in a relationship which is founded on more than lust and insults?’

Briefly, Kulal thought of Ayesha and wondered whether now was the time to reveal his broken engagement. In terms of getting the Corretti girl to agree to his plan, surely it would be better to keep it secret? But he remembered the bitterness on her face as she’d spoken disparagingly about ‘secrets’ and figured that she was bound to find out some time. Far better it came from him than from some mischievous news source.

‘Actually, I had a fiancée,’ he said. ‘Until very recently.’

Rosa’s eyes narrowed. ‘How recently?’

There was a pause. ‘Until yesterday.’

The brutal time scale meant that no mental calculations were necessary and she stared at him in disbelief. ‘You mean you … you made love to me when you were engaged to another woman?’

He gave a short laugh. ‘I don’t classify kissing someone who has just hurled themselves into my arms as “making love.”‘

‘You bastard,’ she said quietly. ‘You complete and utter bastard. You know damned well that if I hadn’t been drunk then, you would have ended up in my bed that night.’

Kulal only just managed to repress a shudder. It was outrageous that he was going to have to marry a woman like this. A woman who showed no shame about spreading her favours so widely. Yes, he liked his lovers to be liberated—of course he did—but a wife was something completely different. That a royal prince should take such a tramp as his bride was unthinkable! Until he reminded himself that this was intended to be nothing but a temporary marriage and that her virtue was irrelevant. He remembered the way she’d kissed him. The way she’d pressed her delicious body into his so her magnificent breasts had flattened against his chest. At least she would come to the bridal chamber with a satisfying degree of sexual knowledge.

‘I was behaving no differently to how men have always behaved,’ he drawled.

‘You mean you expected your fiancée to ignore your outrageous behaviour?’

‘I expected my fiancée to know nothing about what I was doing,’ he said. ‘But it seems I was wrong. And it also seems she didn’t understand that a man owes it to his future bride to gain as much experience as possible before he takes her innocence on their wedding night.’

Rosa almost laughed at his insolence. ‘Is that supposed to be a joke?’

‘What’s funny about it?’

‘You’re making it sound as if you were doing her a favour by sleeping with as many women as possible.’

‘That is one way of looking at it,’ he agreed seriously. ‘And it is certainly a valid point. Generations of men from all cultures have taken a comprehensive amount of lovers before tying themselves down to marriage. For no woman wants a man who is a novice in the art of lovemaking.’