But she’d been a virgin. He’d been her first lover and she’d resisted him initially. She’d fought him.
It didn’t make sense.
“Are you going to answer my first question?” he demanded.
“What was it?” she asked, her beautiful, chocolate eyes wide with…fear? Awareness?
Both, he decided. And something else. Something that didn’t make sense.
“Why are you marrying a man who gives you fake jewels?”
Her mouth fell open and he thought about kissing her, feeling her lips tremble under his until his kiss reassured her.
Hell, had he made a fool of himself? He’d never acted like that around a woman, but there’d been something about Cassy that…he’d felt comfortable around her. They’d discussed things, topics he never would have talked about with his other lovers.
Hell, he’d never really conversed with his other lovers. The women in his past had been selected for one thing, and one thing only. Sex. Easing the sexual tension. He was a man with a powerful sex drive. No woman had ever been able to soothe that raging beast.
Until he’d met Cassy. Everything about the woman soothed and yet stirred him. Even now, he wanted her. Knowing that she’d given herself to another man, he still wanted her. Yes, he wanted to obliterate that man from her world, claim Cassy and be her man. But if she loved this other man…?
“It isn’t fake,” she asserted.
There! Something in her eyes! He didn’t understand what was going on, but something didn’t add up.
And he was going to find out what it was. Cassy wasn’t telling him the truth. They’d been together for only three days, but they’d been days where they’d spent all of their time together. He’d gotten to know her well enough to tell when she wasn’t being honest. And his instincts were yelling that she was lying through her pretty, white teeth.
“What aren’t you telling me?” he asked, moving closer.
Cassy stumbled backwards, but the conference room table was behind her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t escape. “Don’t do this, Nasir,” she murmured with a breathless quality to her voice that she hated.
He only smiled, watching her reaction closely. “Don’t do what?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over her ring. “Congratulations on your engagement. When is the wedding?”
Cassy swallowed. She hated this! She hated lying! Especially to him! But it was necessary. “It doesn’t matter. You got what you wanted and then left me. I was dismissed. So how about if I just say, ‘you are dismissed’ back to you, and you can go on your merry way?”
She jerked her wrist away and moved back, unconcerned that she’d messed up the leather chairs that had been placed carefully at each place around the table. It was more important that she get away.
“What are you talking about? When did I dismiss you?” he demanded harshly.
Cassy wrapped her arms around herself and turned away, hiding her face. “That last morning. You were gone when I woke up.”
His eyes narrowed and he realized that… she was hurt? But, he’d left a note for her! He’d told her that he would meet her in London or she could stay at the house! She was the one who had left. She’d left and ignored his request! Damn her, what game was she playing now?
Slicing his hand through the air, as if that would stop her rejection, he glared at her. “No Cassandra! I had business to attend to. You should understand that. You of all people should have understood.”
She turned around to face him, taking a deep breath. “Yes. I understand.”
His eyes narrowed and he moved closer, daring her to step away. He suddenly realized that she was trembling. With anger? Or something else? He wasn’t sure but he wasn’t leaving until he knew what was going on! “Explain exactly what you understand,” he commanded.
Her chin went up a notch. “You wanted sex from me. You got it. When you grew bored, you moved on. I understand.” Her voice cracked, telling him clearly that she truly didn’t understand. She didn’t understand anything!
He wouldn’t deny that he’d wanted sex. Hell, he wanted her even now! He’d wanted this damn woman every day and every night since she’d run away. Why the hell did she think he was here now?
Even his presence here angered him. He felt like she was pulling him in. He was always in control, always the one to end things. Until Cassy. Damn her! “Yes. And it was good. Great! I want to make love to you again. That isn’t a crime.”
She ignored the way her body reacted to his words. She wasn’t going there! No way! “The sex was fine,” she finally admitted, turning away and rubbing her forehead. Nasir had to go and she suspected that the only way she could get him out of her life was to be honest with him.
“The sex was more than fine, Cassandra! Don’t you dare try to convince me that anything we did together was simply ‘fine’ because we both know better.”
Unfortunately, honesty was hard. Especially with a man as powerful and intriguing as Nasir. She frowned at him, refusing to let him pull her down again. “I know,” she finally replied and turned away again, gripping the back of one of the leather chairs. “I didn’t like the way you dismissed me.”
He saw the hurt in the way she held herself so stiffly. He also noticed the tears glistening in her eyes and his anger abruptly dissipated. This was the soft, gentle woman he remembered from Zurich. Nasir stepped closer, taking her hands and pulling her around so he could see her face. Trying to see in her eyes what she was feeling, to understand what she was telling him. He gentled his tone. “How did I do that, little one?” he asked.
Cassy shook her head, hating the weakness that was seeping into her body with his gentle tone. She couldn’t let him do this to her. It had been too hard to get over him the last time. “Don’t call me that! I’m not little, I’m not skinny, and your tone implies that I’m your woman. I’m not!”
“You were,” he asserted firmly.
She sniffed, shaking her head. “Not anymore.”
“Because I left to attend to business?”
She shook her head, jerking her hand away so she could wipe the tears from her cheeks. They only showed her weakness and she needed to be strong, now more than ever. “No, Nasir. Because you left without a word. I woke up and you were gone. I was greeted by your housekeeper asking me what I would like for breakfast and that your driver was waiting to take me to the airport and your pilot was standing by to fly me home.”
He shrugged. “Is there a problem with that?”
She looked up at him, stunned and horrified. “You really have no idea how that could make a woman feel, do you?”
He shook his head. “I ensured for your safety and wellbeing. What is wrong with that?” he demanded, his confusion increasing. He’d gone out of his way to make sure that she was treated with respect.
“It was rude and insulting!” she snapped back at him, furious that she had to spell it out. “It made me feel insignificant! You were a selfish jerk who was finished with me, so you had your staff get rid of me.”
He shook his head, not sure why she felt that way. “I never said I was finished with you,” he growled right back.
She shook her head, furious right back at him. “You didn’t need to say the words. Your actions spoke for you and I got the message. Loud and clear!”
“Let me get this straight. You were so angry with the fact that I didn’t tell you myself that an issue had come up so you ran off, ignored my letter and phone calls, and forced me to confront you in your place of work.” He stepped even closer. “I have so much respect for you, my dear, that I even invented a legal issue so that you wouldn’t be embarrassed at work!”
Cassy’s mouth fell open. Could he be telling the truth? “You haven’t called me! Not once!”
He rolled his eyes. “I called you many times, with no answer. I even had my assistant call here at work to make sure you arrived home safely after rejecting my pilot’s assistance.”
Those calls! The out of area calls! “Oh no!” she lifte
d her phone and flipped through the received calls. “Is this your phone number?” she asked, realizing she might have been in the wrong here.
He glanced down. “Yes. That is my number. My personal number, which is why it comes up as ‘out of area’. There are security issues that…” he stopped and looked around, registering that they were talking about sensitive issues in her employer’s conference room. “Wait. We can’t have this conversation here.” He pressed a button on his phone. A moment later, the secret door opened. “Come,” he put a hand to the small of her back. Cassy went with him simply because she didn’t have a choice. The hand to the small of her back propelled her through the secret door regardless of her resistance.
To his aide he said, “Contact her supervisor and come up with some story. Ms. Flemming is coming with me.”
Cassy shook her head. “I can’t just leave with you!” she gasped, stepping out of his reach before they reached the hallway where she’d be lost. She had no idea where that hallway led to or where it came out. This was all so…crazy!
“We’re going to discuss this misunderstanding, Cassandra,” he explained firmly. “We can do it here where one of your co-workers might interrupt and ask uncomfortable questions, or we can do it in a more private setting.”
Cassy looked into his eyes and knew that he wouldn’t accept option C, which was that they go their separate ways. And if she were being completely honest with herself, she wanted to understand what was going on as well. The phone calls and…had that really been Nasir coming out of her building several weeks ago?
He didn’t wait for her to answer her this time. Instead, he led her through the secret entrance. They were whisked down in a private elevator to the parking garage. At least, she assumed it was the parking garage. It looked like it, but this area was shut off from the main parking area. Only a limousine and four black SUVs were parked here. Obviously, this was a private entrance for those clients that needed extra security precautions.
Cassy barely uttered a word when the door to the limousine was closed by his security personnel and the vehicles moved out of the parking garage and into the heavy London traffic.
Within ten minutes, they were in a beautiful hotel suite that was about twenty times the size of her apartment. Maybe even larger.
Looking around at the beautiful views of the city skyline and the expensive furniture, Cassy refused to be impressed. She’d been awed by his Zurich home, but that had been the site of his callous treatment of her that morning. She wasn’t going to be impressed, intimidated, or overwhelmed. Not again!
Moving to the middle of the beautifully decorated living room, she turned and glared up at him, ensuring that she stayed several feet away. “Okay, I’m here. What do you want to know?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her stomach and backing away from him.
Nasir glared right back at her but she wasn’t taking it tonight. She was still angry, still hurt, and still pregnant!
“Why didn’t you allow my pilot to fly you home? Why did you take a commercial flight?”
She shrugged and put the sofa between them, her pride coming to her rescue. “Because of the way you dismissed me. I wasn’t a charity case. I got home on my own steam. I don’t need you or your money, your ridiculous plane or your staff. I wasn’t going to bother you. You didn’t need to sic them all on me to make sure I didn’t follow you back to your country.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not a stalker. I understood that, when you weren’t there the following morning, that we were finished.”
Nasir rubbed a hand over his face, guilty that she’d translated his actions in such a way. “Cassy, I promise you, that was not the message I wrote in that note,” he told her urgently.
Cassy shrugged. She’d been dismissed. That was it. “It doesn’t matter now, does it?” she muttered, glaring back up at him, trying desperately hard to hide her feelings for this man. “I think it would be better if we just…moved on.”
He stepped closer to her. “It isn’t over, Cassy,” he told her firmly.
“It is over,” she told him, her hand absently straying to her stomach, but she quickly pulled back, startled that she’d made such a mistake.
Should she tell him about the pregnancy? Was it fair to keep him away from his child?
How would she feel if the roles were reversed?
That thought definitely put the issue into perspective! She knew that she would feel horrible. Outraged.
Cassy looked up at him, still unsure.
“What just went through your mind, Cassy?” he asked and she cringed when she noticed the way his eyes had narrowed. Sharpened.
Cassy looked up at him, startled because he was no longer on the other side of the room. He was standing right next to her and she could feel that heat, the pull between their bodies that never seemed to dissipate.
She had to fight it. Gritting her teeth, she backed away. “Nothing.”
He hesitated for a long moment, his eyes watching her features. Then he shook his head. “It was definitely something,” he countered and shifted around so that she was pinned against the back of the sofa. “Talk to me.”
She shook her head, still trying to resist him. She had to be strong! This wasn’t going to work! They were from two different worlds and their lives needed to remain that way. “No. We talked that weekend we were together and, in the end, it was pointless.”
He reached up, touching her cheek, then trailed his fingers down the overly sensitive skin on her neck and she shivered, remembering how he had used touch to seduce her. Just as he was doing now. “Stop,” she gasped, but the words were too soft. She grabbed his hand, pulling his fingers away from her neck.
He smiled slightly. “I don’t think I can,” he told her and bent lower, his lips nibbling along her neck, right where his fingers had been. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he urged. His hand skimmed down her arm and Cassy had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from moaning out loud.
“I’m not thinking,” she whispered, then froze at the honest statement. She definitely hadn’t meant to say that out loud!
“Why is that?” he asked, his lips nibbling a bit more before moving lower to her shoulder. She suddenly realized that her wool jacket was no longer buttoned up. Nor was she wearing it! Oh, he was good!
Cassy spun around, thinking to get out of his arms. “Nasir, I can’t do this.”
“Why not?” he asked even as his hands slid higher, keeping her within the circle of his arms.
“Because…” she couldn’t think. Not when he was doing things like that. And his hands! Good grief! Those hands could….
“Because I’m engaged!” she gasped and tore herself out of his arms. It was such a horrible lie, but Cassy was desperate now. Besides, the way things were going, she would be in his bed in no time flat. Just like the last time.
Stepping back, she was relieved when he allowed her some space. “I can’t do this, Nasir! I can’t have sex with you again and then deal with the guilt and the humiliation once you decide you’re finished with me. Besides, you hurt me when you left me. I felt…something for you. Something that I didn’t want to feel but…that just makes this so much harder.” She saw the fury in his eyes and shook her head. “I can’t! That’s not who I am, how I’m made.”
The decision to tell him about the baby was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. This was survival. “Please, don’t touch me.” She took a deep breath and stepped further back. “I understand that you play by different rules Nasir, but please understand what I’m used to. My parents were married for thirty years. I’m an only child and, in my world, people stay together. They support each other. They are there for each other no matter what. What we shared…it meant something to me. Our time together was special.”
“We can be together, Cassy. Just say the word and I’ll make it happen.”
She shook her head, not wanting a short-term affair. Not with her emotions involved. “That’s not good enough for me.” She
took a deep breath. “I can’t do that. Not to myself.” She bowed her head again. “This is going to give you more information than I want you to know, but I was devastated when you weren’t with me that last morning. I was humiliated and hurt. I felt like a prostitute that you’d hired for those few days.” She lifted her hand to stop his argument. “You even paid for my time through my firm. If that’s not prostitution, then I don’t know what is,” she told him. Staring into his eyes now, Cassy didn’t even try to hide her tears. “You paid for services rendered.”
“That’s not the way it was! I paid for your hourly rate so that your firm wouldn’t ask any questions about our time together.”
She smiled slightly, accepting that, in his world, that was okay. “That’s probably just the way you do business.”
“Exactly,” he said with a dismissive shrug.
She smiled slightly, and bowed her head. “I can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“Do business that way.”
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Cassy, I’m not sure what you want from me! I know what I want from you, but you keep pulling away from me and I’m confused. I need clarity.”
His words startled her and she blinked up at him. “What do you mean?”
He threw up his hands in exasperation. “I want you in my life, Cassandra!”
As she watched him, she realized that he was being completely honest with her. “This is how you conduct all of your affairs with women?”
His hands fisted on his hips as he glared down at her. “No! What we have together is different.”
She stepped forward almost against her will. “Nasir, I don’t understand what you’re asking of me here. You want an affair, but you don’t want an affair. You want me to spell things out for you but, I’m just…I don’t understand.”
He sighed. “I want all of you, Cassandra. No holding back.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Nasir, I can’t do that. Can we just…talk about this?”
Unexpectedly Expecting the Sheik's Baby (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 6) Page 14
