“How much do you know about me? You clearly investigated me before crashing the reception.”
He guided her to the nearest couch, pulled her down on it with him. “Investigations provide only broad lines that can be interpreted in different ways that can all turn out to be wrong. You tell me what’s accurate.”
Shuddering as his power and warmth encompassed her, she leaned against the dark brown velvet couch. She hoped she didn’t look as swooning as she felt as she gazed up at him.
“I am the very definition of loose in my region. From leaving my family at eighteen to live in another country, to supporting myself ever since, to making success and autonomy my life goal, to being a divorcée who hasn’t returned home in penance, seeking the shelter of her family and the forgiveness of society, I’m the cautionary tale mothers tell their little daughters. Anything bad that ever befell me is advertised as punishment for my sins.”
His expression hardened with her every word, until his face seemed to be hewn from granite. “Everything you just mentioned, everything you achieved and are, makes you only enterprising and powerful, a role model all women in and out of your region should aspire to emulate.”
She let loose an incredulous laugh. At his imperiously questioning look she explained, “It’s just funny to hear you say what my baby sisters always do. But they are incapable of being impartial when it comes to me.”
“I’m totally partial when it comes to you. I also happen to be absolutely right.”
She again barely stopped herself from doing something impulsive. That was, more so than coming up to this suite. Something like throwing herself against his massive chest and smothering him in kisses. Which she might end up doing soon. Exposure to him was chipping away at any control she had left.
Watching her with that intensity that compromised her will, he said, “Your sisters are astute young ladies for making you their role model. You’re the perfect one.”
She waved his words away. “Let’s not exaggerate, okay? I’d just die if they followed in some of my footsteps.”
“Why? You’re not proud of your achievements?”
“Those I’m proud of. I’m not proud of my mistakes.”
“What are those? A failed, short-lived marriage? You think that disqualifies you as an inspiration?”
“Catastrophic choices certainly do. In my bid for freedom and independence, I made more than one. Like marrying the first man who seemed to be the opposite of the chauvinistic men I was used to, and finding out very soon he had equally objectionable traits, only on the other side of the spectrum. But whether I deserved it or not, I was their role model, and I strove to fill my position. The one thing I mourned most about being forced to marry Hassan was that I could no longer be that to them.”
“You’ll always be what your sisters look up to.” He loomed over her as he sat up, his gaze seething with something she could only think was affront on her behalf. “Now tell me exactly how Hassan is forcing you into marriage. Leave out nothing.”
Taking a huge breath, she started explaining everything.
He listened, his focus on her so total, it made it hard to speak. But she did, and she left nothing out as he’d demanded.
His expression grew almost scary as he listened, but he remained silent even after she finished, until she started to vibrate with tension. What if, now that he knew the extent of Zafrana’s debts, he realized he couldn’t do anything for her and apologized for giving her false hope?
Then he finally spoke, his voice a blade. “I knew about the debts, but I didn’t know they were that crippling, or that the internal situation in Zafrana was that volatile.”
“Father wouldn’t have thought of asking me to do this for anything less.”
He raised his hand, his jaw muscles bunching. “Nothing is worth imposing on you in any way, let alone sacrificing you. He should have sacrificed himself.”
“He would have if it would have solved the problem.”
“He should have considered any measures but bartering you to that old goat.”
She burst out laughing. At his grim frown, she spluttered, “That’s exactly what I called him earlier this evening to Zeena.” At the growing thundercloud that gripped his face, she sobered. “What would you have done?”
“You don’t want to know.”
She gasped, for those five words painted a clear picture. This man was as deadly as she’d thought earlier, and not figuratively. He was no stranger to eliminating enemies. Even with his own hands.
Before she could process what kind of disaster she might have instigated by seeking his intervention, he demanded, “I need the specifics of those debts.”
She latched on to the relatively innocuous subject. “Of course. You need to know everything before deciding whether you can help, or even if you’d want to.”
He shot her one of those authoritatively reprimanding glances. “Those specifics have no bearing on my decision. That was final since the moment I gave you my word. They are only for devising the most effective attack.”
She shot up straight. “Attack?”
His eyes became icy emeralds. “There will be extreme measures employed in releasing Zafrana from Saraya’s shackles.”
Her heart hammered in dismay. “Define extreme.”
“Eliminating the problem at the source.”
“And how would you do that?”
“That’s my business.”
“Actually, it’s mine, too. Mine, mainly. I’m the one who asked for this, and if you’re going to do anything to...to hurt Hassan, I’d have to withdraw my request.”
“You care what happens to him?”
“No, but I don’t want him to meet with an unnatural end, either. For Saraya. For Najeeb. For peace’s sake.”
She thought his eyes flared at Najeeb’s mention, but he only said, “Peace is always achieved after a war. A war always comes with heavy losses.”
“I don’t want freedom that comes at such a price.”
“You think I’d kill him, don’t you?”
“You sure made it sound like that.”
“His demise can be easily arranged.” As she started to splutter in alarm, his lips twisted in a lethal smile. “But it just happens I’m not considering liquidating him. Just his chokehold over Zafrana, and with it, most of his assets.”
She held his gaze until she decided he was telling the truth, then collapsed back in relief. “For a moment there I thought I’d just signed Hassan’s death warrant.”
“It is the preferable, cleaner solution.” As her heart pounded again, he added, “But I won’t let him off that easy. Hassan’s actions deserve protracted punishment before I even consider granting him reprieve.”
“You still make it sound as if you’ll end up offing him!” When he only shrugged, she sat up again and threw her hands up in the air. “Ya Ullah...I can’t believe we’re sitting here haggling over the pros and cons of assassinating Hassan.”
“To off him or not to off him, that is the question.”
That, and his bedeviling expression, made her burst out laughing. “You fiend! You had me going there.” Melting back again, she grinned. “So what do you intend to do, for real?”
“Which part of that’s my business don’t you get? You made the demand, now sit back while I take care of it as I see fit.”
“Beggars