A Whisper of Disgrace(19)

‘And no woman wants a man who is so arrogant that he doesn’t realise what a jerk he’s being!’

‘A jerk?’ he ground out. ‘You dare to call the sheikh of Zahrastan a jerk?’

‘I do when it happens to be true.’

His eyes narrowed, but he could not deny the rush of blood to his groin, because her unprecedented insolence was inexplicably turning him on. ‘And tell me this, Rosa Corretti—are you always so outspoken?’

In truth, no—she wasn’t. The old Rosa was often button-lipped and uptight. She never voiced the scandalous thoughts which sometimes plagued her because that was the way she’d been brought up. To be serene and calm and ladylike. To hide her feelings behind a polished exterior. But what had been the point of playing her obedient role to perfection when everyone else had been deceiving her?

This man Kulal had deceived her too. He hadn’t bothered telling her he was engaged to be married when he had practically glued himself to her on the dance floor, so why on earth would she tread carefully to spare his feelings? She doubted whether he had any!

‘My outspokenness is irrelevant,’ she snapped. ‘And you haven’t explained why you’ve made this astonishing proposal of marriage.’

‘To protect my reputation,’ he said.

She gave a short laugh. So he was self-serving as well as arrogant. ‘Surprise, surprise.’

‘And to protect yours.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

There was a pause while he chose his words, though he was finding it difficult to keep the irritation from his voice. ‘My brother has found out that we spent the night together, so the information is out there. From what I understand, your own family is pretty good at information gathering.’ He glanced at her from beneath the half-shuttered lids of his eyes as he watched her body tense. ‘How do you think they might react if they discover you’ve been sleeping with an Arabian prince?’

She shuddered to think how they’d react if she’d been sleeping with anyone. ‘But we didn’t sleep together!’ she hissed. ‘You know we didn’t.’

‘And you think anyone is likely to believe that?’

Distractedly, Rosa rubbed the palm of her hand back and forth over her lips as his words hit home. With a shudder, she tried to imagine Alessandro and Santo’s reaction to the news that their baby sister had been behaving like a puttana. The family would still be reeling from her mother’s shocking disclosure—which would probably make their reaction even harsher than normal. She was still a Corretti, wasn’t she? And a female Corretti, to boot. Bottom line was that her innocence would be seen as having been compromised, and all hell would be let loose. She could imagine them sending out a gang of heavies to bring her back again. Even worse—they might come and get her themselves.

‘Mannaggia,’ she whispered unthinkingly. ‘What a fool I have been.’

It occurred to Kulal that not once during the entire conversation had she made any attempt to flirt with him, nor to show any kind of gratitude that he was offering a solution to her predicament. Why, she barely seemed aware of the bed in one corner of the room—a fact which was now beginning to dominate his thoughts. If it had been anyone else, he would have taken her into his arms and started to kiss her, but her face was so full of a simmering rage that he thought it unwise to try. He was beginning to realise that the situation was balanced on a knife edge, and that now he wanted her to agree to a plan which had initially repulsed him.

Because Kulal was an expert at finding the good in a bad situation. It was what had sustained him during his lonely childhood. He had refused to dwell on the fact that his mother’s love had been brutally torn from him, and to focus instead on the unparalleled freedom which he had enjoyed within the palace walls. He had learnt to be utterly self-sufficient and hit out at anyone who should ever dare to pity him.

Now he looked at Rosa Corretti and thought about the benefits of having her as his wife. He thought about what enjoyment her curvaceous beauty would afford him. A body which he had touched only briefly would become his to play with as he pleased! And once his passion for her had worn off, he could send her on her way.

‘A short marriage which can be dissolved once the dust has settled,’ he elaborated. ‘A marriage which could be beneficial to us both.’

She had lifted her head and was staring at him as if she was seeing him for the first time and didn’t very much like what she saw.