Desert King, Pregnant Mistress(17)

His face softened as he looked at her. 'And you're beautiful,' he said, kissing, stroking, and reassuring her.

He  wanted Beth to feel like the most cherished woman on the face of the   earth, which was how he felt about her. Yes, he wanted her, but each   time he brought her into his arms it was as if his world exploded with   possibilities. Kissing her tenderly, he cupped her face and stared into   her eyes, and what he saw there told him she felt the same.

They  made love until the setting sun had thrown its last dart into the   estuary, and reflection off the glass had bathed the room in crimson   light. They slept a little, and when Beth finally woke it was to find   Khal staring down at her. 'What?' she murmured, groggily, reaching up to   touch his face.                       
       
           



       

'I was just thinking,' he said softly, 'that I  can't wait for you to  take a proper look around the apartment, and see  if you could be happy  here … '

Frowning as she tried to compute Khal's words, Beth tried to stop him getting out of bed. 'Do we have to do that now?'

'I'm impatient,' he said. 'I just want to be sure you like it before I sign it over to you.'

'Before you what?' She was fully awake now.

Khal looked at her. 'Why are you so surprised?'

'I  would have thought that was obvious,' she said. 'I don't want a   penthouse. I don't want anything from you.' She could tell from the   expression on Khal's face that she might have been talking gibberish,   but then he never had seen the gulf between them. Slipping out of bed,   she grabbed a robe. 'You can't hand over a property to me as if it's a   sweater you're tired of!'

'I'm not tired of it, I bought it for you.'

'You  bought it for me?' Beth clutched the top of her head as if she had  to  contain all the confused thoughts jostling inside there. 'Are you  mad?'

Khal  ignored this. 'It's a good investment,' he said, swinging out of  bed.  'But, if you don't like it, we'll look for something else.'


'I don't want anything else-I don't want this-'

'You must have somewhere suitable to live.'

'Why  must I?' Beth's hackles rose as the penny dropped. 'What do you  mean  "somewhere suitable", Khal?' she said tightly. 'I already have a  house.'

'And where is it?'

As  Khal's drew himself up, she felt like stamping on his toes to bring  him  down to earth. Okay, her small modern townhouse wasn't a palace or a   penthouse like this, but it was her home. And there were special  reasons  why it meant so much to her. She had received a surprise legacy  on her  twenty-first birthday from the father she'd never known. She  had stared  at the cheque when it had arrived from the solicitors for a  long time,  knowing she would have given it back in a second to know her  father, and  that it was too late. She wasn't about to throw that away  as if it  meant nothing. 'My home might not be what you're used to,' she  told  Khal. 'But it's all mine. Well, mine and the mortgage company's.'

'And this penthouse could be yours without a mortgage.'

'If I agree to what?'

She  stood there with a look of anger and disappointment on her face.  'For  goodness' sake, Beth! I'm giving you a penthouse. How much more  can you  ask of me?'

And there was the rub, Beth thought sadly. Khal  wanted to give her so  much in the monetary sense, but in her eyes his  gift was valueless.

'If you want something bigger-something with a proper garden-'

'Khal,  stop this! I don't need expensive gifts from you. That's not  what I  want-' Beth stopped in case her feelings for him poured out.

'Then what do you want?' he demanded with exasperation.

They  were so far apart in outlook, in everything that really mattered,  he  would never understand. She settled for, 'My house suits me fine,  and I  don't need anywhere else to live.'

'We'll discuss this when you've calmed down.'

'No, we won't,' Beth said firmly. 'Where I live isn't up for negotiation.'

'But things have changed now.'

'What's  changed? What do you mean, things have changed now? Oh, I see,'  Beth  said as the penny dropped. 'You're assuming that wherever I live  can't  possibly be upmarket enough for the ruler of Q'Adar to visit when  he's  in town … '

'That's not what I said.'

'It's what you meant,  though.' Firming her lips, Beth turned away. She  didn't know when she  had felt so hurt. 'If you think I'm going to  become your mistress-'

'Think again?'

Khal's  face had turned colder than Beth had ever seen it, and though  she could  never agree to this it was a stark reminder that people  devoted their  lives to the ruler of Q'Adar, and considered themselves  fortunate to be  able to do so.                       
       
           



       

She only had herself to blame for falling in love  with him, Beth  thought, hugging herself unhappily as she turned away.  And she was  twice the fool for imagining Khal might love her. 'I can't  do this,  Khal.' She could never agree to become just another one of his   possessions. 'I can never be the woman you want me to be.'

Beth  wondered why it was so quiet, and why Khal hadn't answered her.  When she  turned, she saw he was on his way to take a shower. She felt a  chill  pass over her as he paused and turned to face her at the door.  'There's  another bathroom over there,' he said, pointing across the  room. 'Use it  and then let yourself out.'

Her jaw dropped. For once she was  lost for words. She was stunned,  angry, hurt, bewildered … and, most of  all, full of grief and loss. How  could a life that had felt so full only  moments before feel so empty  now? How had this happened? How had she  allowed this to happen? How in  her wildest dreams had she imagined the  ruler of Q'Adar could ever love  her as she loved him? Burying her head  in her hands, Beth realised  that her overriding feeling was shame.  Everything in Khal's life came  easily to him, and she had made herself  available like all the rest. So  much for all those brave thoughts at the  ball-she had fallen into bed  with him as eagerly as any of the other  women there might have done.  And now … ? It had taken a single act of  defiance on her part for Khal to  discard her like a pair of ill-fitting  shoes.



His timing was out. Everything was out. His world  was off-kilter. How  else could he explain exiting his bathroom at the  same time as Beth? He  was still battling his internal demons, wondering  where he'd gone  wrong. He'd bought her the best property in the whole of  Liverpool and  she'd rejected him. She had rejected him. 'My apologies,'  he heard  himself say stiffly. 'I thought you would have gone home by  now.'

'It's usual in Liverpool for a host to make sure their  guest gets home  safely,' she told him tightly, with not one iota of her  courage  stripped away. 'Can you call a taxi, or shall I?'

Her  steady gaze shamed him. He was so accustomed to having a car at the  kerb  everywhere he went, it hadn't occurred to him to call a taxi for  Beth.  And it was dark outside now. What had he been thinking? 'Of  course I'll  call a taxi for you.' His voice reflected anger with  himself, but she  wasn't to know that. 'Or you could use my car.'

One taupe brow rose. 'A taxi will be fine for me, thank you.' Her lips pressed together as she held his gaze.

For  once he didn't know what to say and just made the call. He had been   confident of her enthusiasm for his scheme. He had believed this to be   the perfect solution. 'What's wrong with you, Beth?' he said as soon  as  he finished the call.

'What's wrong with me? No, don't answer  that,' she told him. 'I know  what's wrong with me. I'm naïve-and that's  just for starters.'

'You must have known-'

'Why you brought me here? You're right, I should have known. I should have expected it, because that's all I am to you.'

'Beth,' he warned.

'Don't "Beth" me!'

'Look what I'm offering you … '

'You're  offering me nothing,' she said angrily. 'And the saddest thing  of all  is you can't see it. You've killed off any hope of a future we  ever had  today. You've suffocated my love for you beneath your gross  gift of a  fabulously expensive penthouse, when an ice cream would have  made me  happy.'

'Don't be so ridiculous! I'll buy you anything you want.'

'But  not this!' She gestured wildly, crying now. 'You're trying to buy  me,  Khal, and I can't be bought. You think you're offering me a   million-pound home, while I think you're trying to turn my life into a   theme park for you to dip into whenever you feel like playing at being   an ordinary person. But when you tire of that, Khal, when you don your   crown and forget about me, what am I supposed to do then?'