The Sheikh Who Blackmailed Her: Desert Prince, Blackmailed Bride / The Sheikh and the Bought Bride / At the Sheikh's Bidding

‘That will not happen again,’ he said with a formal inclination of his head. ‘As delightful as the diversion was.’

In order to make true his promise Rafiq knew he would have to take care to keep her literally at arm’s length in future. For some reason his brain ceased to function around her.

He was still shocked to the core that for the first time in his life he had permitted carnal need to overrule common sense and logic.

‘I think we should focus on the matter in hand. It is your wish to save your brother from a life behind bars?’

She gave an incredulous snort. ‘You were serious? You’re saying that if I agree to marry your brother the charges against Paul will go away?’

‘In essence, yes.’

‘You want me to marry your brother. So what was that?’ Her hand went to her lips. They still felt swollen and oversensitive. ‘A test run?’ she suggested bitterly. ‘The royal bedroom test? Did I pass?’

Gabby took an involuntary step back as fury flashed in his eyes, the pewter flecks disappearing as they darkened.

‘That was a mistake,’ he gritted through clenched teeth.

Mistake! This man was a master of understatement. ‘On that at least we are in total agreement.’

‘We will discuss it no more.’

Gabby, who hadn’t planned to discuss it all, stuck out her chin and tried to match his nonchalant uninterest in the subject. ‘Fine by me.’

‘I appreciate this is not a decision you can take lightly, and I would like to be able to give you more time, but the fact is time is the one luxury I do not have.’

Her anger fell away, to be replaced by the cold chill of dread. ‘Don’t say that,’ she begged in a stricken whisper.

This was the point where Rafiq could no longer pretend he was not playing dirty, so he stifled his natural sense of fair play and said, ‘When you are making your decision remember that although obviously I cannot anticipate the judicial process …’

The blatant hypocrisy made her smile ironically. If he wasn’t the law then he was definitely above it. ‘Of course not,’ she drawled.

‘It seems likely, given the zero tolerance stance we take on drugs, that your brother will spend the next twenty to twenty-five years behind bars.’

Gabby’s air of moral superiority evaporated. Her stomach churned sickly as an image of her sibling spending all those years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit rose up before her.

‘You’re actually asking me to …?’ She stopped and angled a bewildered look at his face. ‘But why me?’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not exactly queen material. I’m sure you have a little black book filled with high-born virgins who would stab each other in the back to wear a crown.’

‘Things have moved on since the little black book.’

‘You’re computerised? How progressive,’ she drawled sarcastically. ‘Then go open a file and look for another sacrificial lamb.’

‘If you decide to make the sacrifice you would be spending the next twenty-five years living in some luxury. You would be respected, and you would have a position of power and influence that most people can only dream of.’

‘I have never dreamt of power and influence.’

His perfect mouth twisted into an ironic smile. ‘Think about it now,’ he suggested.

‘What about your brother? Doesn’t he have a say?’

His nonplussed expression drew a frustrated groan of impatience from Gabby.

‘What,’ she asked, spelling it out slowly, ‘if he doesn’t want to marry me? He might hate me on sight. You cannot make him marry me,’ she added, when there was no corresponding glimmer of recognition in his unblinking regard. ‘Unless you plan to blackmail him too?’

‘My brother has lived the lifestyle of a playboy but he is aware of his responsibilities.’

‘So you do plan to blackmail him?’

His bared his teeth in a white wolfish grin that to Gabby seemed utterly ruthless.

‘I am hoping it will not be necessary.’

‘Because he’ll take one look at me and fall passionately in love?’

Instead of laughing, he swept his eyes from her feet to the top of her silky head.

‘It is a possibility.’ One that ought to fill him if not with joy then certainly satisfaction. But instead Rafiq was conscious of a vague sense of discontent.

Her lips twisted into a grimace. ‘Right!’ Now she knew he was being sarcastic, and his fixed, unblinking regard began to make her feel uncomfortable.

‘You should not bite your nails.’

‘I do not—’ She stopped and realised that her finger was in her mouth. ‘See—I’m a social liability.’

‘I’m sure you can be very charming when you want to be.’ The idea of her being charming to his brother caused Rafiq’s vague discontent to escalate into strong displeasure.

‘My brother, Gabriella, is not only a much nicer person than me—’

‘Not exactly a big ask.’

‘—he is quite … malleable.’

‘You mean if you tell him to marry me he will?’

‘I would not be that unsubtle. And I think you underestimate yourself …’ he chided.

‘You do know you have the moral scruples of a snake, don’t you?’

His taunting smile died, and the expression that replaced it was implacable. ‘I have no time for scruples, Gabriella. You and I, we both understand what few do in this world.’

‘What is that?’

‘Duty. How many sisters would have done what you have to save their brother from the consequences of his own foolish actions? You are a woman of resources, resolve and inner strength. You could never marry a man who is strong.’

‘You mean a man like you?’

He looked startled by the suggestion. ‘You and I?’ he echoed, his eyes slowly tracing the wilful curve of her full upper lip. He released a scornful laugh and shook his head. ‘It would be a total disaster.’

While his incredulous response irritated her, Gabby could not disagree with his scathing analysis. ‘It would be a head-on collision,’ she said, thinking of that kiss. That had been quite a collision.