“I do not think I am imagining this.” He lifted his hand and gently eased hers aside, so that he could place his fingertips on her frantic pulse. “The moment you saw me, you were… curious about me.”
Her betraying pulse sped up. “Of course. You scared the hell out of me,” she lied.
“No.” He demurred with a lazy flicker of his lips, as though he knew how absurd that was. He deliberately moved his body closer so that it touched hers completely. “You were curious about me sexually. You are so tiny, and I am so large.”
She shook her head, but his words instantly sent a spiral of sensation unfurling through her. “No. And you shouldn’t be talking like this.” She looked around nervously, earning a flicker of amusement from him.
“We are alone. And I can speak however I want. I can do whatever I want.”
A frisson of awareness ran down her spine. “Is that a threat?”
His laugh was a low rumble. “No. It is a promise. I have never taken a woman against her will.” He shifted his hips slightly, so that his arousal was pressed close to her pelvis. “I have never needed to.”
“Is this how you operate? You cruise the local jails looking for women who take your fancy?”
Again, he laughed, and it made her heart sink. He knew that she thought he was gorgeous. He thought she would be easy. The certainty inspired a courage she didn’t know possible. She raised her hands and pressed them, hard, against his chest.
“Don’t laugh at me. This is hugely unethical.” She darted her tongue out and licked her lower lip. “I am scared and I am terrified and I amunder arrest!I don’t know how to organise a lawyer, or who I should speak to, and you – his royal highness Sheikh Radiz Zamin, have kidnapped me and propositioned me in the space of one afternoon.” Annoyingly, tears stung her eyes. “I haven’t eaten properly in three days. I haven’t bathed. I’ve barely slept. I feel sick. I feel tired. And you expect me to what? Jump into bed with you?” She pushed at his chest again, harder this time, letting all her frustrations come out through her palms. But it was a frustration aimed at herself. An anger at herself for wanting him in the most confusing of situations. “I don’t know what kind of women you usually hit on, but perhaps they’re cowered into some kind of obedience. I do not intend to be.”
Radiz had never, in his entire life, borne the brunt of such obvious disdain. It sobered him instantly. What the hell had come over him? To proposition her as he haddone had reeked of impropriety. Contrary to what she might think, he had never behaved in a manner such as this.
He withdrew immediately, his face showing his self-disgust. “You are right, madam, and I apologise. I am usually in far better control of my instincts.” He lowered his head in a deferential nod. “You do not need to be afraid. The charges against you are serious, but my initial offer stands. Once you have explained the motives of your theft, I will look at having these charges changed to something more suitable.”
She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head. “Do not interrupt me, Miranda. I am not used to being lectured. Even less so to being interrupted.”
Anger made her eyes spark. Terror and desire made her stomach clench. “But Ican’ttell you anything. What are the penalties for what I did? Really? And don’t just say life imprisonment.”
“Life imprisonment, or death..”
“Death?” She shivered involuntarily, her eyes blinking closed. “That’s archaic.”
“Yes. I have been trying, without success, to repeal this penalty. However, as you have shrewdly observed, even my power is not absolute.”
“You should charge prosecutors with conspiracy to murder,” she muttered, wrapping her arms around her chest.
He did not wish to get into an argument with her on the evils of capital punishment. Particularly not when they were on the same side of the fence on the matter.
“Or what? I sleep with you, and all is forgiven?”
He froze. It had been a stupid suggestion, but now that she’d mentioned it again, he found himself captivated by the idea. Could he really want her that badly? His voice was thick with hesitation. “No, not necessarily.”
“No?”
“No. It would depend on how well matched we are.”
“I… what the hell do you mean?”
His lips twisted in a small sign of appreciation. “I am not an easy man to please, Miranda. Your willingness to come to bed with me would not be enough.”
She laughed, but it was completely self-conscious. “So what? If I’m average in bed, then the original charges stand?”
“Something like that,” he murmured, wondering distractedly just what exactly hadgot into him. Hadn’t he just decided this was a terrible idea? An idea completely beneath him?
“Well,” she said with a caustic shrug, “it would be a big gamble to take.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.” But her body was over-heating with the promise of what could be between them.
“Ah, yes, but the penalties if we do not…”
“Yes.” She nodded, grabbing at the flimsy excuse with both hands. After all, everything she knew from Steph convinced her that Radiz was a deeply moral man, despite his reputation for toughness. “The penalties.” Miranda knew she would never sleep with a man to save her own skin. Not even to save the skin of a valued friend. But the way Radiz had set her pulse skittering was intoxicating.
