in and out of his life in a few short hours. If he had been able to look into the future—if he’d known that their single night in Sardinia would have ended with her as his new Queen in this amazing golden palace—would he still have gone ahead and had sex with her?
Of course he wouldn’t.
Would she?
But the crazy thing was that Hannah couldn’t find herself regretting that night—and not just because Kulal had introduced her to a physical pleasure she was discovering hadn’t been a one-off. It was more than that. Because already she felt a fierce love for the new life growing inside her—so how could she possibly have regrets?
‘Hannah,’ he said sternly, as if he’d guessed she was miles away. ‘Pay attention.’
With a shy smile, she opened her mouth to his and that was when sensation took over, obliterating all thought and replacing it with feeling. She swallowed as his moist tip nudged against her and gasped as he eased himself inside her molten heat.
‘No protection,’ he exclaimed as he stilled inside her and gave an exultant sigh. ‘Just you and me, with nothing in between us.’
She knew his words were supposed to be erotic, but Hannah felt deeply emotional as he filled her with his hard length and began to move. She’d wondered if making love while she was pregnant would feel any different, but the blissful truth was that it felt amazing. Maybe even better than that blissful night in Sardinia. It certainly felt more intimate. Almost too intimate. She clung to him as his thrusts deepened and she felt the tantalising build of orgasm, but she was so intent on kissing him that it seemed to creep up on her by stealth, so that when pleasure came, she cried out his name in a way she hadn’t planned, the gasped word echoing around the vast bedchamber so that it sounded like some sort of prayer. Was she imagining the sudden tension in his body before his movements resumed and he shuddered out his own release?
Afterwards, she waited for him to say something, because she had no idea about post-sex protocol, especially between a man and a woman who’d been forced to marry. Did they act as if today had been no big deal? Did she try to explain that the curiously vulnerable way she’d called out his name hadn’t actually meant anything? She waited for some sort of reassuring hug, but instead he rolled away from her, his hot black gaze briefly roving over her rounded curves, before lying on his back, his breathing still ragged.
‘So...’ She cleared her throat. ‘All in all, I thought today went off quite well, didn’t you?’
He could hear the faltering delivery of her words and a battery of responses ran through Kulal’s mind, but he took his time before selecting one. Should he tell her he’d felt nothing but duty as he had exchanged those meaningless vows? Yet the truth was that he’d been almost comfortable with that, because he was familiar with detachment and he enjoyed the barrier it created between him and the rest of the world. That part had all gone according to plan and afterwards, at the reception, he had acknowledged the congratulations offered by the Sheikhs and Sultans of adjoining regions, knowing that his royal line would be continued. Again, so far, so expected.
But when he had brought his new wife to bed...
He swallowed.
When he had stripped away her constricting bridal gown to reveal the cushioned flesh which had burgeoned so much since last time he’d seen it and which had welcomed him so eagerly, he hadn’t felt quite so detached then, had he? He told himself it was because he’d never had unprotected sex with a woman before and that was the reason why it had felt so...
He stared at the dappled rose light which flickered across the ceiling.
So what?
As if he’d never been that close to a woman before—which in one sense was true, because he’d never had sex without the obligatory thin layer of latex. Was that the reason why he had felt so alive and so vital? Why his heart was still pounding fit to burst in his chest? It had been the most incredible sexual experience of his life, yet he couldn’t deny that his response had the potential to add complications to his life. Especially if Hannah got the wrong idea. He didn’t want his new bride to think his rapturous reaction meant anything more than an amazing orgasm.
Because that was all it had been.
All it ever could be.
Kulal stifled a sigh. Once he had found out about her pregnancy, he’d been determined to keep his baby and known it would make more sense if Hannah was around, too. It would certainly make it easier. But while he was prepared to be reasonable to get her to stay, he would not lie to her. Because lies could seep into people’s lives like poison. They could darken everything they touched. And the first lie was always the most dangerous. The gentle tap which would send the whole line of dominoes tumbling down...
‘Not as bad as I expected,’ he said, turning his head to look at her. ‘I think it served its purpose, don’t you?’
‘Oh.’
Her voice sounded muffled and he didn’t have to see her face crumple to sense her disappointment. That much was evident from the sudden slump of her shoulders and the way she’d started chewing her lip. Was she secretly longing for him to adorn the day with romantic embellishments which didn’t exist? Or was she trying to guilt-trip him—even though she’d known the score from the very start?
‘What did you want me to say, Hannah?’ he demanded. ‘That it was the most wonderful day of my life?’
‘No, of course not.’
He saw the confusion which had clouded her eyes and fury at being hit by another wave of guilt prompted his next words. ‘To go through a marriage I didn’t particularly want—you think that gives me pleasure?’
His words were harsh but honest, and he thought she might turn away from him. To lie there trembling with silent resentment. And wasn’t that what he wanted her to do? To draw a line in the sand between them that she would never dare cross again. But she just kept staring at him, those aquamarine eyes so wide and dark in the rosy tint of the lamplight, as if she was summoning up the courage to say something he wouldn’t want to hear.
She cleared her throat. ‘So are you against marriage generally?’
Kulal’s mouth hardened. Too right he didn’t want to hear it—the question he’d been asked a million times, usually by women on the make. One he always slapped down as coldly and as finally as possible. But Hannah was not one of those women; she was his wife. She had succeeded where so many had failed and he couldn’t slap her down, not completely.
‘A man in my position is always expected to marry,’ he said. ‘But I saw no urgency to do so. For someone who doesn’t believe in love, it was always going to be an academic exercise of settling down to produce a family at the optimum time.’
‘And what would you consider to be the optimum time?’ she echoed cautiously.
‘Never?’ he questioned sarcastically.
‘Kulal, I’m serious.’
He shrugged. ‘In perhaps a decade and a half, when I had reached fifty years and sown every last wild oat.’
‘So this early and unwanted marriage has prevented you from having hundreds of different relationships? All those wild oats which will remain unsown.’
‘I am not totally indiscriminate, Hannah,’ he said gravely.
‘But all that...all that unexplored opportunity,’ she breathed. ‘Won’t it make you resentful?’
Kulal frowned, feeling momentarily wrong-footed. Surely she was the one who was supposed to be feeling resentful—not turning it around so that she was coolly interrogating him. ‘I have no intention of straying, if that’s what you’re getting at. Infidelity is something I am vehemently opposed to—despite many of my royal peers feeling it their right to keep a mistress.’
He saw the surprise on her