Farah tried not to be pleased at causing him some measure of discomfort. ‘Just leave me with your guards. I’m sure we can find some way to occupy ourselves.’
‘No doubt,’ he murmured. ‘But I have no wish to have to discipline any more of my men.’
‘Am I really so dangerous, Prince Zachim?’
His mouth kicked up into that crooked grin that made her heart trip just a little. ‘More like troublesome.’
‘My father won’t take the bait, you know,’ she asserted, hoping that it was true.
‘We’ll see.’
Farah gnashed her teeth together at his cavalier attitude. He was so cool as to appear almost bored, but why wouldn’t he be? It wasn’t his life hanging in the balance.
‘In the meantime, Isla and Carine are here to prepare you to be my guest at the wedding.’
Farah’s eyes cut to both the women and for the first time she noticed that they were carrying towels and drawstring bags that held goodness knew what.
‘And you will cooperate this time.’
The prince’s insolent drawl brought her eyes back to his. He looked hard and unyielding, as if she had no choice in the matter. ‘There is no—’
‘Way you’re going to attend?’ He flicked his hand in her direction as if she were an irritating insect. ‘Yes, I know.’ He walked towards her and raised his hand to stay the women, who immediately obeyed. Farah’s eyes narrowed and she forced herself to remain rigid as he took the last two steps into her personal space. ‘But you will. And you will behave.’
As she was about to tell him to go to hell, he shook his head slowly. ‘I can of course just lock you in a cell. Or perhaps it would be better to chain you to your bed. I’d hate you to be uncomfortable.’
The air between them grew thicker, making it harder for her to breathe, and Farah automatically stepped back from him. ‘It would be better than having to endure your company for the night.’
She heard one of the women gasp. The prince’s eyes narrowed. ‘But who said anything about you being alone in that big harem bed?’
A dark, thrilling desire rose up inside of Farah as her head filled with all sorts of debasing images of her shackled to a bed with the prince gloriously naked and aroused in front of her. On top of her. Inside of her. Because he would be glorious naked; he would be... Farah clamped down on the thoughts running amok inside her head and tried to think straight.
‘What if I apologise on behalf of my father?’ she gushed, finally prepared to humiliate herself and bow and scrape for this man if it meant she could get her father out of trouble and her life back to normal. ‘What if I make up for what he did in some way?’
He leaned back against the cabinet behind him, his fingers tapping a lazy beat against the curved wood. ‘What did you have in mind, habiba?’
Farah glanced at the maids. ‘I could work for you. I could cook or clean or—’
‘I already have enough staff in my employ.’
She bit her lip. ‘I could...’ She wracked her brain to come up with something else. Surely there was something? ‘I could train your horses. Your camels.’
‘The palace no longer keeps camels and my horses are well taken care of.’
‘Damn it, surely there is something you need?’
His gaze ran over her body, lighting a fiery path as it went. ‘Keep going, I’m sure you’ll hit on something mutually agreeable at some point.’
Farah frowned. Did he mean...?
You wanted everything you just got...and if you try to tell me otherwise I’ll strip you naked and prove you wrong.
Farah’s face flamed hotly as his words in the alleyway came back to her. ‘Not that!’ she cried. ‘Never that!’
‘Then we have nothing to discuss,’ he said in a bored tone.
‘You are every bit the tyrant your father was,’ she accused, turning away from him.
Embarrassment and despair swamped her. If she had been a man, this whole situation would never have happened. She would have been by her father’s side when he’d come upon the prince’s SUV and been able to talk sense into him. And she certainly would never have given into this man’s challenge and tried to feed him. What had she been thinking?
About his mouth, a little voice reminded her. You were thinking about his dreamy mouth.
Self-disgusted, she was about to stalk over to her bedroom when the prince grabbed her and swung her back to face him, his fingertips digging into her upper arms.