The Tarnished Jewel of Jazaar

by Susanna Carr

  Fear twisted inside her. Zoe had never felt so vulnerable. So exposed. He knew the truth about her. She could tell before he said the words through his clenched teeth.

  “You were no virgin.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ZOE couldn’t escape. She was defenseless on her back and Nadir hovered above her. His hands were flattened on the floor, trapping her.

  Her heart pounded so fiercely that it hurt. She had bared herself to him and was now unprotected. Her body still pulsed from his touch. She cautiously met his glare.

  Nadir’s dark mood was almost tangible. Zoe couldn’t believe that only moments ago he had caressed her so gently, so lovingly.

  She wanted to hide. Just disappear. She wished she could close her eyes, but that wouldn’t save her.

  She knew she shouldn’t have allowed him to get this close to her. His tenderness was all pretend, and even though she had recognized his strategy she had still fallen for it. Why? Was it because for one moment she hadn’t felt so alone? So unlovable?

  Tears stung the back of her eyes. She was pathetic. Stupid. When would she ever learn? Men were only nice to her when they wanted something.

  Nadir must have sensed her loneliness and used it to his advantage. And, like a fool, she’d let him. Her self-disgust pricked at her like a thousand needles. Now she had to suffer the consequences.

  “Answer me, Zoe,” he said in a low growl.

  She pushed at his arms but he was too strong. “Get off,” she said through clenched teeth.

  Nadir scoffed at her demand. “Not a chance.”

  “How dare you make that kind of accusation?” she asked. Denial was the only strategy she could think of, even though Nadir knew the truth.

  “That’s not going to work,” he said. “I know you weren’t a virgin. There was no barrier or resistance. You felt no pain, and I’m sure there will be no blood to prove your innocence.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “You don’t want to push your luck with me. Start talking. What made you think you could get away with this?”

  Her heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to burst out of her chest. “I don’t know why you would say such a thing.”

  Nadir’s eyes narrowed. “Did you think that I wouldn’t notice?” he asked as he tilted his hips against her. Zoe gasped as her body responded. “That you could hide your reactions?”

  She was appalled at the way her flesh clung to him. She hated the way she felt vibrantly alive when Nadir touched her. All her senses should be on the defense, ready to fight or flee. Didn’t her survival instinct tell her that Nadir could destroy her without breaking a sweat?

  “Fine!” she bit out as the dread and fear threatened to smother her. Keeping up the pretense would only make things worse. Zoe sagged against the pillow underneath her. She looked away as she confessed. “I wasn’t a virgin.”

  The silence was thick and heavy. Zoe bit her lip as coldness seeped into her bones. What was going to happen to her? What was Nadir going to do? She wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to face her future.

  Zoe blinked frantically as the tears threatened to fall. “Would you get off me … please?” she asked, her voice wavering.

  She felt Nadir hesitate. He wasn’t going to listen, she decided. He had her cornered and it was against his nature to give her any relief. To her surprise, Nadir reluctantly pulled away and stood up.

  But then, why would he want to touch her? She wasn’t the perfect Jazaari bride, and she was hardly a worthy opponent. Why put any effort into intimidating her when she’d already given him the answer he was seeking?

  “Do you have a boyfriend? A lover?” Nadir asked, his movements sharp and aggressive as he adjusted his clothes. “Is he still in the picture?”

  She hadn’t expected him to ask. Why would he care? “No,” she said as she slowly sat up. But she wasn’t sure if that was the truth. Musad was the past yet he still threatened her future.

  “I want the truth, Zoe. I don’t want any ex-lovers hanging around. You now belong to me.”

  Oh, she should have known. Men were all the same. Let’s not consider how the secret had serious repercussions for her. All Nadir was worried about was his territory. Some guy had stolen what Nadir thought was his. Some guy had got to his woman first.

  Zoe felt jittery as dark emotions tore at her. Destructive emotions. She needed to play it safe, beg for mercy and promise him anything. But it was as if her body rejected the idea and she was on automatic pilot to crash and burn.

  “Belong? Are you serious?” she asked bitingly. She didn’t belong to anyone or anyplace. No one wanted her; they only wanted to use her temporarily.

  Zoe quickly pulled up the strap of her negligee to cover herself. “Why don’t you give me a list of all the women you have slept with? Just so I know in case I bump into them.”

  Nadir slowly placed his hands on his hips in classic battle stance. “How many men have you had sex with?”

  Oh, this was getting worse and worse. Zoe knew she should have bitten her tongue and listened to his ranting until he’d exhausted his anger. She just couldn’t stop herself.

  “How many, Zoe?” His low, raspy voice made her shiver.

  “One. Just one,” she said unwillingly as she rose to her feet. It had only taken one man to ruin her life. She really knew how to choose them.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Of course. She couldn’t possibly be telling the truth. Zoe clenched her teeth and righteous anger bubbled inside her. It stood to reason that since she wasn’t a virgin she must be promiscuous. “Don’t judge me by your standards.”

  A dull red flushed Nadir’s high cheekbones. She could tell that he was reining in his temper. “I didn’t pretend to be an innocent,” he pointed out.

  “You didn’t have to, did you?” He was a sheikh and followed different rules. She, on the other hand, had to be as pure as snow. “But I never said I was a virgin. You assumed.”

  “You played the part perfectly,” Nadir said and bowed his head in deference to her acting abilities. One look into her brown eyes and he had been willing to believe anything.

  He had been so patient, Nadir thought with disgust as he started to pace around the room. All this time he’d thought Zoe was shy about this rite of passage. She’d seemed uncertain about how he made her feel. Almost frightened by the intense power of those sensations. He was a fool.

  No, he was worse. Nadir bowed his head as he struggled with an ugly truth about himself. From the time he was in his teens he’d truly believed he was a modern man. While he was bound to his homeland, he didn’t blindly follow its customs. He questioned everything, participated only in the traditions that made sense to him, and was determined to make changes in the name of progress.

  Yet the moment he’d realized Zoe wasn’t a virgin he hadn’t felt very civilized. His primal instincts roared to erase any other claim on her. Wipe out her memories of her first lover. Obliterate the other man’s existence.

  Nadir inhaled deeply and rubbed his hands over his face. He was not like his barbaric ancestors. He was not going to be ruled by primitive customs or his emotions.

  But his greatest challenge would be the fierce attraction he felt for Zoe. He should have stopped the moment he discovered she wasn’t a virgin, but he had been driven by an uncontrollable need. He’d had to make Zoe his.

  She had a past. A love-life. That changed everything. Zoe wasn’t a naïve virgin he could seduce into obedience. She wouldn’t blindly follow his command after a few caresses and sweet words. She would not go quietly to his mountain palace. And he didn’t think he could stay away from her.

  Even now he was tempted to bed her again. This time he wanted to strip her bare and have her chant his name. Possess her body and soul. She didn’t need to touch him and still he wanted to press her against his chest, kiss her senseless and fall into bed.

  Nadir had never thought any woman would hold this kind of power over
him—especially his arranged bride. Zoe had no idea of her sexual magnetism, for which he was thankful. If she discovered the power she wielded he would be lost. He needed to master this potentially dangerous need quickly.

  He stepped in front of the window and looked out into the star-studded night. It was better if he wasn’t looking at Zoe, wasn’t inhaling her scent or remembering the softness of her skin while he tried to decide his next move.

  Zoe wasn’t a virgin. He was disappointed that he wasn’t her first, but her lack of virginity wasn’t a crime. Was this the reason why she kept trying to run away? Did she think he would annul the marriage and have her caned?

  Of course she did. He was The Beast, after all. She probably thought he would wield the cane himself.

  Maybe he could use that to his advantage? Would she behave like a proper Jazaari woman to appease him? Just until the last wedding ceremony?

  He turned and leaned against the window to study her. Her hair was mussed from his fingers, her lips red and swollen from his mouth. She had one hand on her shoulder and the other one wrapped around her waist. The self-protective gesture was no use; he still remembered her sensual beauty and how her skin tasted.

  He dragged his gaze to her eyes. He saw hurt and anger. And something else. Zoe held a few more secrets. The possibility burned through him like acid. Those secrets could blow up in his face. He needed to go on the offense.

  “Who knows the truth about you?” The tribe might have set him up with an impure bride just to test how he would react. “The elders?”

  She looked at him as if he was crazy. “Hell, no.”

  “Are you sure?” He wouldn’t expose Zoe’s secret, but it could cost him if someone else knew it.

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “If they did I would have been caned and I’d bear the scars.”

  That was true. His chest had clenched with anguish when he’d first seen her scars and burn marks. He had wanted to hunt down those who had made her suffer and punish them without mercy. The marks on her skin were from years of brutal hardship and abuse, but they didn’t come from a cane or whip.

  “You realize this is a reason to annul the marriage?” he said. He fought to keep his tone impersonal. If she thought she was safe because he couldn’t afford to offend the tribe, he needed to scare her.

  Zoe flinched as if she had been punched. “An annulment?” she whispered as the color leeched from her face. She looked wounded. “You would do that to me?”

  He wasn’t going to feel guilty. “It’s in the marriage contract.”

  Zoe’s features tightened as she glared at him. “I don’t believe you.” She took a step forward and pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re just trying to scare me because you know I can’t read it. I should have known you’d use that information against me.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. He had to be ruthless and he wasn’t going to apologize for it. “I’m telling the truth,” he said. “According to the contract, you entered the marriage on fraudulent grounds.”

  “What man in this century would end a marriage because his wife isn’t a virgin?”

  He wouldn’t end a marriage because of that. The political repercussions from another annulment would be catastrophic. He felt as if he had more to lose than Zoe, but he couldn’t show it. He didn’t want to give her any ammunition.

  “You entered this marriage with a lie.” Nadir gestured at the door. “No Jazaari man would stay with a woman he couldn’t trust.”

  “You’re right.” She tossed her hands up in the air with anger. “Most of the men I know don’t understand the meaning of commitment.”

  Nadir threaded his hands through his hair and laced them behind his head. He found it hard to breathe as heaviness lay on his chest. He knew he had to see this marriage through, but he had to wonder if that was what Zoe was betting on. Was this why she had accepted marrying The Beast? Because he couldn’t risk another annulment?

  Nadir studied her intently. No, if she knew why he needed this marriage to work she would have used that already in her argument. But from the look in her eyes, Zoe seemed more interested in hiding her reasons for marrying him.

  “What?” Zoe asked as she broke eye contact. “What is it?”

  He tilted his head as he studied her demeanor. She was holding something back. “What else are you hiding?”

  She jutted out her chin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not hiding anything.”

  Yes, she was. “Are you sure?” he asked as dread knotted in his chest and pressed against his ribs. “Nothing like a baby?”

  “A baby?” She was visibly shocked. “You think I’m pregnant?”

  Nadir shrugged and breathed a little easier. His accusation had shocked her. She couldn’t have faked that reaction. If it wasn’t a baby, what was she hiding?

  Zoe’s eyes widened with horror. “Do I look pregnant?”

  “You look guilty.”

  “So let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Zoe said with exaggerated care. “Because I’m not a virgin I must be a slut. And you think that because I had sex in the past I must be pregnant now?”

  He raised one eyebrow as he watched her bristle with indignation. “Sex is the way to get pregnant.”

  “I’m not pregnant,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “And I should take your word for it?” He gestured at her. “Based on your record of honesty?”

  She tossed her head back, her long brown hair cascading down her shoulders. “I’ll gladly take a pregnancy test. Right now if I have to.”

  “Excuse me if I don’t call the front desk and request a pregnancy test on the second day of my honeymoon.”

  “I’m not hiding a pregnancy.” She flattened her hand against her chest as if she was making a pledge. “I would never do that. Not to a man or to a child.”

  That was one point in her favor, but it didn’t mean he was going to instantly trust her. “That’s very admirable of you,” he said with deep sarcasm, “but you haven’t been totally honest with me.”

  “I’m sorry that I’m not a perfect Jazaari bride fit for a sheikh,” she said bitterly. “But you are no prize either.”

  He took a step toward her. “Pardon?”

  “Why did I think you would keep your promise?”

  “What are saying? I always keep my promises.” Nadir cupped his hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “My word is my bond.”

  She shrugged off his hand. “You promised we wouldn’t have sex until I was ready. You seduced me tonight and you broke your promise.”

  He wasn’t going to be blamed for that. “You could have stopped me at any time.”

  Zoe arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “We both know that isn’t true.”

  Nadir clenched his jaw. Perhaps she was aware that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He needed to keep his distance. He didn’t trust her, but more importantly he didn’t trust himself.

  He needed to focus on the fact that Zoe was still hiding something from him. “The only reason you extracted the promise from me was so that I wouldn’t find out you weren’t a virgin.”

  She nodded slowly in agreement. “That’s true.”

  Her confession surprised him. Why was she suddenly so free with the truth? It made him more suspicious than when she boldly lied to him.

  “You knew there was a risk that I would discover the truth,” he added. “You had to have known that an annulment was a possible outcome.”

  “I had hoped you wouldn’t discover it until after the last wedding ceremony.”

  That made sense. After the last ceremony it would have been almost impossible to divorce. “When I was stuck with you?”

  “When we were stuck with each other,” she corrected him. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. “Just give it to me straight, Nadir. What are you going to do?”

  He didn’t know. He needed this marriage, but he didn’t trust Zoe. Even though he planned to stow her away in a remote palace, he would s
till be married to her.

  She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Are you going to punish me for an action I made before I met you?”

  She thought he was upset that she wasn’t a virgin. He’d let her think that while he tried to uncover her other secrets. “It’s not your right to ask me.”

  “It is my right!” Anger flashed in her eyes as she stomped her foot on the floor. “Your decision will cast my future.”

  “You should have thought about that before you slept with me or the man before me!”

  “Really?” She planted her hands on her hips. “What would you have done in my position? How would you have brought up the subject?”

  “It’s a waste of time to think about,” he said as he walked past the low table. “What is done is done.”

  The pillows by the table snagged his attention. Hell, what had he been thinking, taking his bride on the floor? It wasn’t how he had planned the night.

  He halted abruptly when it occurred to him. The seduction hadn’t gone as planned. He hadn’t used any protection.

  Nadir closed his eyes and bunched his hands into fists as he fought the alarm zigzagging through his veins. There was a chance that Zoe might be pregnant with his child.

  That changed everything. Even if he was ready to face the wrath of an influential tribe for annulling yet another marriage, he couldn’t do that to his child.

  He had to see this through and bind himself to a woman he didn’t trust. His mind was numb from the injustice of it all. Deep down he knew the Fates were punishing him for the way he’d handled his first wedding night.

  “Nadir, what is it?” Zoe asked right behind him.

  “I’m leaving.” He needed to think this through and consider his options. He already knew he would remain married to Zoe. He just wasn’t ready to voice it.

  “Where are you going?” she asked anxiously.

  “I’ll find another place to stay for the night,” he said as he made his way to the door. He needed to think before he made his next move.

  Zoe yanked at his arm. “You can’t do that!”

  He looked down at her hands covered in henna designs clenching his shirtsleeve. “Why not?” he asked dully as heavy emotions battered inside him. “Are you worried about your reputation?”