Midnight in the Harem: For Duty's Sake / Banished to the Harem / The Tarnished Jewel of Jazaar

“You’re a pragmatist with a terrifying ability to gauge human nature and use your observations to best effect.”

“You do not believe me sincere?”

“I believe you were thinking of me, but we both know the reason for that, and it didn’t have a thing to do with some romantic longing to see me.”

“Define romance. Our last night together was not so forgettable.”

Her hand settled against her stomach and she frowned. “No, it really wasn’t.” “That bothers you.”

She sighed, looking out the tinted windows at the traffic surrounding them. “It doesn’t matter.” “I assure you, it does.” “No, it really doesn’t.” “I know you think—”

“Look, let’s just stop this politically motivated seduction, all right?” Despite her confident words—if possible, she looked even more fragile and out of sorts than before. “It’s a waste of both our time and your efforts.”

“You are so certain I cannot sway your mind?” “You don’t need to. If you agree to certain conditions, I will marry you.”

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_8c05c4e2-281a-587e-95bc-9322cdbea3cd)

ZAHIR waited for Angele to take the words back, or at the very least, enumerate these said conditions. But she simply stared off into space, breathing shallowly.

“This is unexpected,” he said finally when it became apparent she had nothing else to add.

In fact, he was so stunned his usually facile brain had the speed of cold honey in processing her immediate capitulation.

“Disappointed?”

Oddly he was. And not a little bit wary as well.

“I am aware you love me,” he said, feeling his way in a blind negotiation he had not expected in any form at this stage. “I still believed your pride too wounded to make our reconciliation an easy one.”

She laughed humorlessly. “You believe I’m agreeing to marry you because I love you?”

“Why else?” The prospect she had suddenly decided to submit to duty was not the comfortable thought it should be.

“We didn’t use condoms that night.”

His brow wrinkled as he tried to catch her point.

“So?”

“So.” She rolled her eyes and waved at her stomach as if that was answer enough.

His brain had no trouble catching up this time and the implication stole all the air from his lungs.

“Surely you were on the pill, or some other form of birth control. You planned the night well ahead of time.” He’d been certain of that during their night together and even more convinced after seeing her letters to the kings and polished press release she’d left behind.

“Yes, I planned it. No, I didn’t go on the pill as part of my preparations.” Self-loathing laced her voice. “I should have … I realize that now.”

“Why the hell not?” he demanded, his voice raised in a way he never allowed.

“I don’t know. It wasn’t rational. I know that, but I thought … one night. I was a virgin, disgustingly naive. I wouldn’t get pregnant.” She frowned. “I thought you’d use condoms.”

He ignored the last statement and concentrated on the ones that came before it. “You are too smart for that.”

She glared at him and then seemed to deflate. “Yes, I am. There’s no excuse. I really just thought … I don’t know. I’ve tried to understand why I didn’t say anything when you didn’t use a condom, but my excuses are feeble and stupid. Even to me.”

“You expected me to use condoms?” He couldn’t dismiss the claim a second time.

Her brow furrowed as if she didn’t understand his question. “Well, yes.”

“Why?”

“Why not? We weren’t lovers. For all intents and purposes, what we had was a one-night stand.”

“What we had was a premature wedding night,” he practically shouted and then took a deep breath in shock at himself.

She waved her hand in dismissal, apparently unmoved by his loss of cool. “Call it what you like, but I expected you to use condoms and when you didn’t … Well, that first time, I was just so lost to the moment and afterward, I thought the damage was already done.”

“Damage is right.”

That brought the glare back, but there was something else in her expression, something he couldn’t quite name. “What is your problem? You’re getting your way.”

“You think this is me getting my way? My first child has been conceived without the benefit of a wedding ceremony. I have spent my entire life protecting my family from scandal and now it will visit itself on my child. He or she will forever carry the stigma.”

“Please. This isn’t the Middle Ages.”

“If this child is my heir, his throne could be called into question.” He cursed, using more than one language and feeling like that still was not enough to express his fury at the current development.

“Do a DNA test.”

He drew himself up and scowled. “I do not doubt his paternity.”

“I know that.” She rolled her eyes. “I meant so there could be no question of the baby’s parentage to others. Anyway, it might be a girl.”

“Yes, because the men in my family are so good at fathering female offspring.” They hadn’t done so in five generations that he knew of, not in his direct lineage anyway.

She turned an interesting shade of green and started taking more rapid shallow breaths.

“Are you well?” What the hell was he asking? She was pregnant. Of course she was not well.

“Morning sickness,” she gasped between breaths.

“It is nowhere near morning.”

“The baby doesn’t seem to care.”

“This is not acceptable.”

She cringed, her expression filling with too many emotions to name. “You don’t want the baby?”