Sheikh's Princess Of Convenience. Dani Collins

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      “It’s highly practical and a good match.” He had spent much of the night reasoning that out, determined emotions wouldn’t enter into this arrangement. “You’ll see,” he assured her. Her flair of passion could wait for the bedroom.

      “I will not see!”

      “Quiet.” Zufar held up a hand, rising to his feet.

      Galila rushed forward and brushed it down.

      “Don’t tell me to be quiet,” she hissed. “I will decide whom I marry. And while it’s a kind offer—” she said in a scathing tone that suggested she found Karim’s proposal anything but, she stared Karim right in the eye as she said emphatically, “No.”

      Her crackling heat reached toward him, licking at the walls he forced himself to keep firmly in place.

      “Clearly your sister has a mind of her own.” She was the kind of handful he would normally avoid, but greater things were at risk than his preference for a drama-free existence. “Was that the problem with your first bride?” Karim asked Zufar with a blithe kick below the belt. “Is that why she ran off with your brother?”

      “What?” Zufar’s voice cracked like a whip, but Karim kept his gaze on his intended bride, watching her flush of temper pale to horror.

      “Half brother, I mean,” he corrected himself very casually, despite feeling nothing of the sort. This was high-stakes gambling with a pair of twos he was bluffing into a straight flush.

      “Galila.” Zufar’s tone was deadly enough that Karim shifted his attention—and the position of his body—to easily insert himself between the two if necessary.

      Incensed as her brother looked, he didn’t look violent. And culpable as Galila grew, she didn’t look scared. She was glaring blame at Karim.

      “Why are you doing this?” Her voice was tight and quiet.

      “I am in need of a wife. Or so my government takes every opportunity to inform me.” It wasn’t a lie. “You are of suitable... What was the word you used when describing your mother’s lover? Station? Stature. That was it.”

      “This goes beyond even your usual nonsense,” Zufar said in a tone graveled with fury. “A moment ago, you didn’t even know his name, yet you talked to him about our family’s most intimate business?”

      “I was drunk.” She looked away, cheeks glowing with guilt and shame. “That’s not an excuse, but it’s been a very trying time, Zufar. You know it has. For all of us.”

      Zufar’s eyes narrowed on her and his cheeks hollowed, almost as if he might accept that as reason enough for her imprudent behavior.

      “Allow me to assure you,” Karim said with scalpel like precision, “that if you agree to our marriage, your family’s secrets will stay between us.”

      The siblings stood in thunderous astonishment for a few moments.

      “And if I don’t agree to the marriage?” Zufar asked, but Karim could see they both already knew the answer.

      “Blackmail?” Galila asked with quiet outrage. “Why would you stoop so low? Why do you have to?” she challenged sharply.

      He didn’t. He hadn’t made marriage a priority for a number of reasons, most of them superficial and convenience-related. He was a workaholic who barely had time for his mother, who still very much needed him. Women expected things. Displays of emotion. Intimacy that went beyond the physical.

      “I’m not going to hurt you, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Karim scoffed. “I’ll treat you as gently and carefully as the pretty little bird you are.”

      “In a gilded cage? You know, you could ask me to marry you, not trap me into it.”

      “Will you marry me?”

      “No. I would never have anything to do with someone as calculating and ruthless as you are.”

      “You already know me so well, Princess, you’re practically made for me. It certainly seemed that way last night.”

      Zufar made a noise of outrage while Galila stomped her foot, blushing deep into her open collar.

      “Stop talking about that! There are other women,” Galila insisted. “Pick one.”

      “I want you.”

      “I won’t do it.”

      Karim only swung his attention back toward her brother. “I’ve made it clear what I’m prepared to do to get her.”

      “Why? What else do you want?” Zufar flared his nostrils in fury.

      Above all, Karim wanted to forestall any speculation about who might be the mysterious man their mother had fallen for. If it became known that Queen Namani’s lover had been his father, King Jamil, the news would not only destroy his mother, but it would rock both kingdoms right down to their foundations. Not to mention what this newly discovered half brother might do with the knowledge.

      So Karim only asked, “Is it so remarkable I might want her?”

      “You didn’t even introduce yourself. Last night was a setup,” Zufar said.

      “Oh, thank you very much,” Galila interjected hotly, but hurt and accusation lingered behind her glossy eyes as she glared at Karim. “I don’t care what you threaten. I’m not some camel you’re trading.”

      Karim had given his explanation some thought as he had lain awake last night, having anticipated that Zufar would be a man of intelligence, capable of seeing his sister was being used for reasons that went beyond her obvious charms.

      “I’m not the only man who noticed last night that the princess is very beautiful,” he said to Zufar. “She’s unmarried and much is changing in Khalia with you taking your father’s place. An alliance with the sister of the new king could only be an advantage to me.”

      “And you think I want to form an alliance with a man of your methods?” Zufar scoffed.

      “If I’m married to your sister, yes. I think we will both work toward aligning our countries’ goals. And I believe, in the long run, you’ll appreciate my methods. I’m saving you months of fielding offers from lesser men and having to play politics in refusing them.”

      “Such magnanimity,” Zufar said with venom-like sarcasm, adding darkly, “But I can’t refute the logic.”

      “Try harder, Zufar,” Galila said scathingly. “Because I won’t marry him and you can’t make me.”

      “I’m your king, Galila.” He said it flatly, but not unkindly.

      As she tried to stare down her brother, her cross expression slowly faded into something disconcerted. She clearly began to realize what she was up against and grew pale.

      “Zufar, you can’t.”

      “I am not Mommy and Daddy whom you can manipulate with СКАЧАТЬ