‘We have a dinner engagement this evening. I trust you have something befitting your position to wear.’
His voice held an irascible tone and she turned from the window and stared at him.
He looked tired. Something tightened inside her, just as it had done that first moment she’d seen him on their wedding day. His raw masculinity then had robbed her of the ability to think clearly and now she wondered if it had all gone wrong from that moment. Had she fallen in love with the man she wanted him to be rather than the man he was?
‘If you had told me I would need evening wear I could have packed something for the occasion.’ Precisely what that would have been, she didn’t know. Nothing in her wardrobe would have been remotely suitable for dining out in public with a man such as Kazim. She’d left the glamour of a desert princess behind to take on a normal life. And she’d achieved that, proved to herself she could survive—until Kazim’s arrival had sent the first blocks of her new life tumbling down. ‘I’ll stay here. You go.’
She turned her back on him and focused again on the view of Knightsbridge bathed in sunshine. Every time she looked at Kazim, a tingle of awareness slipped down her spine and when his gaze met hers that tingle intensified, just as it had done from the moment they had first met.
As Amber continued to study the view Kazim’s silence almost frazzled the air but, as far as she was concerned, it was settled. She wasn’t going with him this evening. Determined that she wouldn’t be swayed from this decision, she folded her arms across her chest, ignoring the urge to turn and look at him again. But it was too much and finally she gave into the temptation. When she turned round it was to find him looking at her, his eyes narrowed, his stance regal and loaded with authority.
He was the epitome of power, his shoulders broad enough to carry the burdens his position in life had given him, but, as a man, his tall figure held an air of isolation. Did he ever let people close?
‘Are you determined to cause trouble, Amber?’ Command rang in every word he spoke. ‘You are my wife. My princess and, as such, you will go where I go—at least until we return to Barazbin.’
That told her enough. As soon as he returned to his homeland she would be forced into the role of dutiful wife and once again be surplus to requirements, but she had to go if she wanted Claude to get the treatment he needed. Even though Annie didn’t yet know what chance her son had, Amber couldn’t deny him. Once the treatment was over she’d leave, return to Paris and Annie’s unwavering friendship. Why stay with a man who didn’t even like her, let alone love her? One who’d shredded her heart as if it were nothing more than waste paper.
‘Well, you’ll just have to go alone tonight because even if I did have something befitting my position to wear, I would rather stay here.’ She knew she shouldn’t be provoking him, but she couldn’t help it. Just because he was a desert prince didn’t mean he could order her around, especially as he’d been constantly reminding her she was his princess.
Her heart rate accelerated and butterflies took flight in her stomach as he walked across the room. His strikingly handsome face was marred by a thunderous expression as he came close to her. ‘We made a deal, yet already you think you can assert authority over me.’
She stood her ground despite wanting to slip past him. ‘I have not yet received any kind of indication that you have honoured your side of the deal, as you call it.’
‘Is my word not enough for you?’ he said as he walked away again, giving her the impression of an animal trapped in captivity, stalking the perimeter of its reduced territory.
She looked at his broad shoulders, tight and firmly set. He had exploded into her life again, opening up wounds which had only just begun to heal, and the only way she could tolerate it was to know that he would keep his promise of helping Claude.
‘No, it isn’t,’ she snapped, the rush of humiliation sweeping away rational thought. He’d married her, rejected and abandoned her. ‘Why should I trust you at all when you detest me so much you couldn’t stand to be near me? You couldn’t get me out of your life fast enough.’
She bit back her grief and anger, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. Just being near him muddled her mind. Suddenly it was all too much and she rushed past him, grabbed her handbag and headed for the door as fast as she could. She couldn’t stay in this room a moment longer with him. Her emotions were in turmoil. Emotions she’d thought she had well and truly under control were now running riot inside her.
She still had feelings for him, despite all he’d done. Feelings which meant she couldn’t risk staying a moment longer with him in the suite, even with its capacious luxury.
‘Where are you going?’ His deep voice rang with command, but she didn’t stop.
‘Shopping. Anything to keep His Supreme Highness happy.’
‘Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Amber,’ he said as he crossed the room, joining her at the door.
Her heart sank. Couldn’t she go out alone now? Was this an example of what her life in Barazbin would be like? A return to the restrictions of bodyguards and servants. ‘I’m quite capable of going shopping on my own.’ She tossed the words at him and forced a smile.
‘You can’t just wander the streets of London without security or an escort. You’re a princess.’ He marched alongside her as they made their way to the lift.
‘How dare you?’ She rounded on him. ‘I’ve been wandering the streets of Paris for the last few months, no thanks to you. I’m sure I can manage to go out alone and buy a dress in London.’
‘Don’t be so dramatic. You make it sound like you were destitute, when the reality was very different.’ He turned as the lift doors opened, walking in without a backward glance, obviously intent on being her escort and security.
More infuriated than she’d ever been, she marched in after him. ‘What do you mean: “the reality was very different”?’ she asked as the lift enclosed them, wishing he wouldn’t keep alluding to such things. If he’d thought she would approach him after that night and ask for financial support he didn’t know her at all.
An uneasy feeling settled over her, as if he was waiting for her to trip up. He obviously didn’t believe a word she said.
‘You are a princess, and you should be living like one—no matter where that is.’ His gaze held hers as he folded his arms across his chest and nonchalantly leaned against the polished lift wall, as if having such discussions in a lift were part of everyday life.
Shocked to the core, she could only stand and look at him, but his changing expression showed he was fast losing patience. He talked as if he’d given her vast sums of money, as if such an act had appeased the guilt of his rejection. Last night she’d pushed aside those suggestions that she’d been given money without much thought, but now it niggled in her mind.
Now wasn’t the time to ask questions. He obviously thought she was trying to get as much money from him as possible. Why disabuse him of that opinion when it might just be what she needed? If he thought that was what she was doing, then getting him to agree to a divorce would be much easier, especially since she’d finally accepted the truth, despite how she felt about him—she needed to be completely free of him.
‘Obviously your idea of how a princess lives is different to mine,’ she taunted him, pleased when he drew in a sharp breath. Let him think she’d spent all his money. She didn’t want it and she didn’t want him. The important thing was to be able to make Claude well. That was all that mattered right now and she’d do well to remember that when her heart hammered as soon as he came close.
‘At least we both know where we stand now.’ His voice was harsh and he looked away