LYNNE GRAHAM - Magnates - Desert Prince, Bride of Innocence

‘I wasn’t expecting our next meeting to happen in a public place,’ Elinor remarked, only recalling the two bulky bodyguards occupying the lift with them after she had spoken.

‘Be grateful for it,’ Jasim breathed with roughened bite.

The raw anger in his hard gaze sent a spooky chill down her taut spinal cord. Even so, Elinor could not resist shrugging a slim shoulder in dismissal of that masculine warning. ‘We have nothing to say to each other.’

‘On the contrary,’ Jasim contradicted icily. ‘I have a great deal to say to you.’

Infuriated by his patronising tone of address, Elinor breathed in deep, because while she could easily have matched that assurance she was not looking forward to the inevitable confrontation. He was a rat, a dangerously clever, unfeeling and unscrupulous rat, who had brazenly played on her trust and naivety to get her into bed. Her face burned at the humiliating recollection of what an easy touch she had proved to be. At the same time, however, there was one subject that she felt she had to tackle.

‘I was very sorry to hear of your brother’s death,’ she remarked stiffly, recollecting how shocked and upset she had been to read about Prince Murad’s sudden death from a heart attack the previous year.

‘We were all shocked. Murad had a health check every few months but nothing irregular was ever identified,’ Jasim proffered grimly. ‘He was a bitter loss.’

Elinor had felt sad when she had read about the older man’s demise and then rather guilty when, soon afterwards, she had gone out and sold the diamond engagement ring she had inherited from her mother, Rose. The eye-watering value of the ring had astonished her and she had used the proceeds to buy the flat she currently shared with her friends. The security of a decent roof over her head had made single parenthood seem less intimidating.

She entered the crèche at a smart pace. The manageress, Olivia, had been pre-warned and was waiting at the entrance for them. Jasim was quick to engage her in well-bred conversation.

Elinor, however, was in panic mode. Spotting Sami reclining in a baby seat and playing with a brightly coloured toy, Elinor went straight to her son and released his safety belt to lift him. Sami chortled with pleasure and opened his arms wide. Anxious tears prickled the back of Elinor’s eyes as her arms closed round his precious weight and warmth.

‘Elinor …’ Olivia called. ‘You can go into my office if you like.’

The older woman’s eyes were bright with curiosity. Elinor evaded them, pacing back towards Jasim’s tall, darkly handsome figure with extreme reluctance. But he wasn’t looking at her. His entire attention was welded to the little boy she held and when she got close he startled her by reaching out. ‘Let me hold my son,’ he urged with unconcealed impatience.

Elinor saw comprehension fly into Olivia’s face, only to unleash an even more avid expression of curiosity. Although she had no desire to let go of Sami, she did not want to risk a scene that might upset her child. And Jasim, she registered as she clashed with his expectant dark eyes, was very likely to fight hard for what he wanted. She waited until she was inside the older woman’s office before handing Sami over. Jasim’s hand inadvertently brushed her arm and she was so aware of him that she was vaguely surprised not to see fingerprints left behind on her skin. Jasim clasped the little boy with care and held him out to examine, keenly scrutinising every inch of Sami’s fearless little face. There was a quality of bemusement and wonder in Jasim’s stern gaze that unsettled Elinor and made her feel very uncomfortable. Brown eyes sparkling, Sami smiled at Jasim and made no objection when Jasim brought him closer. His father’s confident handling made it clear that he was no stranger to young children.

‘He is the only boy born in my family for many years,’ Jasim said gravely. ‘It is a crime that we have been unable to celebrate his birth.’

A … crime ? Well, that was certainly letting her know how he felt and more than hinted at the weight of blame he intended to foist on her. Resentment stirred like a knife twisting inside her and her soft mouth compressed into a mutinous line. ‘If Sami wasn’t present, I would tell you exactly how I feel about you—’

Jasim elevated a sardonic ebony brow, for he was astonished by the attack. ‘Do you think I am interested in such a dialogue after you walked out on our marriage?’

An involuntary sour laugh fell from Elinor’s lips. ‘Marriage?’ she repeated drily. ‘ What marriage? It was as much of a fake and an insult as your supposed interest in m—’

‘Meaning?’ Jasim queried, angling his handsome head back as Sami sank an inquisitive little hand into his father’s luxuriant cropped black hair and yanked hard.

‘Sami, stop that …’ Elinor instructed, leaning forward to detach Sami’s grasping fingers from his father’s hair.

‘He can do as he likes with me,’ Jasim countered squarely.

Elinor slung her child’s father a look of flagrant loathing.

‘Like you do? Your brother’s wife comes to you with some absurd tale of her husband being led astray by the nanny and you leap right in and seduce me to order? Were you proud of the lines you spun me to get me into bed?’ she condemned in a voice that was starting to shake with betraying emotion. ‘What sort of a real man uses a woman like that? How could you sink that low?’

The healthy glow of his complexion had receded while his fabulous bone structure clenched taut. His dark deep set eyes flared bright as flames and he did not back down an inch. ‘You eavesdropped on Yaminah that day. She was hysterical. I did wonder if you had overheard something—’

‘I wasn’t going to stay with you anyway,’ Elinor told him vehemently. ‘Not with the way you were treating me! I’ve got more pride than that, pregnant or otherwise, Your Royal Highness, and the last thing I needed was a reluctant liar of a bridegroom!’

‘Silence!’ Jasim bit out with ferocious disdain, every inch of his rigid bearing telegraphing his outrage at the abuse she was unleashing on him. ‘I will not tolerate being spoken to like that!’

In the smouldering silence that stretched, Sami suddenly burst into noisy tears and stretched his little arms out pathetically to Elinor for comfort.

‘Now look what you’ve done!’ Elinor shot at Jasim furiously as she summarily snatched her son from his grasp. ‘You’ve frightened him.’

‘Your lack of control and manners did that,’ Jasim contradicted without hesitation.

‘Manners?’ Elinor gasped. ‘You can talk about manners after what you did to me?’

‘Enough,’ Jasim told her with icy restraint. ‘I’ll see you at the town house at seven this evening. I’ll send a car for you.’

Elinor banded both arms round Sami in a protective gesture as she recognised in dismay that he clearly already knew where she lived. ‘Don’t bother. I won’t come.’

‘You’re my wife,’ Jasim breathed in a low-pitched growl.

Elinor spun away from him over to the window. ‘We’re still married?’ she prompted tightly.

‘Of course we are still married.’ A lean hand curved to her slim shoulder to turn her back to him. Brilliant dark eyes assailed hers with cool purpose while the achingly familiar scent of his citrus-based cologne drifted into her nostrils. ‘And I want my wife and my child back.’

‘That’s out of the question.’ Elinor rested her chin on Sami’s fluffy black curls and studied Jasim wide-eyed over her child’s head because she didn’t understand where he was coming from. Why would he say such a thing? He could only be saying it because he wanted Sami. As the silence deepened his shrewd gaze looked directly into hers.