LITMIR.BIZ

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his experience a trouble shared was not a trouble halved and he preferred to gloss over such issues. Without skipping a beat, he deftly changed the subject. ‘My father should have told me that there was a smaller property here now,’ Raj breathed. ‘As he only comes here alone, there may only be one bedroom.’

      ‘Oh, let’s not get into that debate again!’ Zoe carolled with a comically exaggerated shudder that locked his eyes to her animated face. ‘We’re adults, we’ll get by, even if you make me sleep on the floor!’

      Her green eyes could dance like emeralds tumbling in sunlight, Raj noted abstractedly, settling a hand to her spine to guide her down the path because it was dark and she could hardly move in her high heels without stumbling on the stony surface beneath their feet. He had watched her throughout the day, had been forced to watch her teeter and sway and steady herself on furniture every time she lost her balance. She might continually wear high heels but had evidently not yet learned how to comfortably walk in them. The idea of her falling and hurting herself made him want to go into her wardrobe and burn every one of those preposterous shoes. It was an odd thought to have and he tagged it as such and frowned in bemusement.

      ‘You know, I wouldn’t do that.’

      ‘You’re not sleeping on the floor either!’ Zoe warned him as they approached the well-lit front door. A lovely wrap-around veranda fronted the building and their protection team surged ahead of them to check that the house was safe. ‘Where have you been spending the night since we got married?’

      ‘My office.’

      ‘Is there a bed there?’

      Raj shrugged a broad shoulder. ‘A sofa,’ he admitted grudgingly.

      Zoe gritted her teeth in annoyance. ‘Are you that scared of me?’

      Dark colour scored the hard, slanted lines of Raj’s spectacular cheekbones and his stunning eyes flashed gold with angry disbelief. At that optimum moment the protection team reappeared to usher them inside. It didn’t take long to explore the interior of the beach house. There was a surprisingly large contemporary ground-floor living area and a winding staircase led upstairs to a spacious bedroom and bathroom.

      ‘There’s no kitchen!’ Zoe exclaimed abruptly, glancing out at the walled swimming pool beyond the patio doors. ‘How are we supposed to eat here?’

      ‘The staff stay in a new accommodation block built behind the hill and cater to our needs from there,’ Raj told her. ‘Meals will be delivered. It’s not a very practical arrangement but my father enjoys his solitude.’

      ‘I’m starving,’ Zoe admitted.

      ‘I will order a meal.’

      ‘I’ll go for a shower and change into something more comfortable,’ Zoe said cheerfully.

      She was halfway up the stairs when Raj spoke again. ‘I am not scared of you, nor was I implying that you would choose to tempt me into breaking my promise,’ he assured her levelly. ‘But it annoys me that my father is making it so difficult for me to offer you the privacy I swore to give you.’

      ‘And why is he doing that?’ Zoe prompted, tipping her head to gaze down at him, her cheeks warm from his misapprehensions about her. No, she wouldn’t ever set out to deliberately tempt him but she was painfully conscious that she wanted him to make some kind of move on her because she was keen to explore the way he made her feel. It was just sex, she told herself guiltily, sexual urges tugging at her hormones, and there was nothing more normal than that, she told herself in urgent addition, nothing to be ashamed of in such fantasies. It was simply her bad luck that she was married to an honourable male who believed in keeping his promises and not taking advantage. Luckily for her, she could not even imagine a scenario where she would tell him honestly how she felt and, for that reason, the humiliation of making a total fool of herself over him was unlikely.

      In the meantime, all she could freely do was glory in the sheer physical beauty of Raj, his wonderful broad-shouldered, lean-hipped and long-legged physique that magnetically glued her attention to him, the dark deep-set eyes that were silver starlight when he stared up at her, his perfect golden features taut. Heaven knew, he was gorgeous and it was little wonder she was obsessed, she conceded ruefully. He had broken through her barriers, made her experience feelings she had never known she could feel, but he hadn’t intended to do that and now she was stuck with the rules according to Raj, which had about as much give in them as steel bars.

      ‘My father believes you could be my perfect for ever wife. He’s hoping for more than a pretend marriage from us and obviously he’s doomed to disappointment,’ Raj extended drily.

      ‘Oh...’ Deprived of speech by that piece of bluntness and stung by the assurance that she was safe for ever from being asked to entertain the idea of something other than a pretend marriage, Zoe sped on into the bedroom.

      There was so much she didn’t know about Raj, she reflected. All she had were the bare bones of his background and the fact that his first love had cheated on him. At least, she was assuming that Nabila had been his first love but, really, what did she know? Little more than was available on the Marabanian website about the royal family. And ignorance was not bliss. Raj had frozen and backed off the instant she’d asked about his mother. Nabila wasn’t the only no-go zone; his mother clearly was as well. Zoe heaved a sigh as she showered, wondering what had made Raj quite so complex and reserved.

      Raj glanced up from his laptop as Zoe reappeared downstairs, clad in some kind of pastel floaty dress that bared most of her shoulders and a slender length of shapely leg. Not even the most severe critic could have deemed the outfit provocative, but her pert little breasts shifted as she completed the last step and he went instantly hard, cursing his libido and the fierce desire he was holding back that was becoming harder and harder to contain. Most probably he would need her covered from head to toe not to be affected, he conceded wryly, and what good would that do when he had already seen her virtually naked and could summon up that mental image even faster? He clenched his teeth together, hating the sense of weakness she inflicted. It was weak to want what he knew he shouldn’t have. He prided himself on being stronger and more intelligent than that.

      Nabila had been enough of a mistake to scar a man for life, a warning that his judgement wasn’t infallible, that people lied and cheated to get what they wanted or merely to make a good impression and cover up the less presentable parts of their character. But, at least, he no longer carried resentment where Nabila was concerned, he reflected absently. Time had healed his bitterness and maturity had taught him more about human nature. Even so, the very prospect of having to deal with Nabila in any form, most particularly in a professional capacity in the company of others, was deeply distasteful to him. It was even more offensive to him that Nabila had dared to approach his wife and introduce herself. That had been brazen and, although he knew that Nabila could be utterly brazen and calculating, he could not begin to understand why she had made such an inappropriate move.

      ‘Wow...look at the food!’ Zoe whispered in wonderment as she glimpsed the array of dishes spread across the low table in front of him. ‘You should’ve started without me.’

      ‘I do have some manners,’ Raj told her huskily, amusement glimmering in his shrewd gaze.

      ‘I never said you didn’t,’ she muttered in some embarrassment, lifting a plate to serve herself and watching him follow suit. ‘But I did take ages in the shower.’

      Raj could have done without that visual of her tiny, delicately curved body streaming with water. ‘I had a shower before we left the palace.’

      ‘I didn’t have time and it was so warm in that car even with the air conditioning.’ She sighed. ‘So, I’m about to ask you to be straight with me on certain issues because if you aren’t I could slip up and say something embarrassing to the wrong person,’ she pointed out, trotting out the excuse she had come up with in the shower to make Raj talk about what he didn’t want to talk about. ‘Who was your mother?’

      Raj tensed and swallowed hard. ‘She was a nobody in the eyes

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