Hidden in the Sheikh's Harem: Christmas at the Castello(18)

Nadir's expression grew stern. 'Bloody hell. I believed you when you  said you hadn't slept with her. I should have known when I saw you in  the garden-'

'That was nothing.'

'Nothing? Two more minutes and you would have ripped her clothes off.'

Zach drew his eyes away from Farah and regarded his brother. 'More like  one, but that's not why I have to marry her. And I didn't lie. Nothing  has actually happened between us.' Well, nothing if you ignored the  unexpected make-out session in the alleyway or his subsequent fantasies  in the shower. Not to mention what he'd been about to do to her in the  garden. 'I have not slept with her. Not in the biblical sense, anyway.'

'Then we'll get you out of this.'

Zach could see Nadir readying himself to go into problem-solving mode  but Zach's attention was elsewhere. Which was why he only vaguely heard  the mention of war, peace and love. And he knew his brother wasn't doing  a book review.

He swung back to Nadir. 'What about love?'

Nadir sighed impatiently. 'You said that was the only reason you would marry-if you were in love.'

Yeah, that was what he'd said once. But honour and integrity were just  as important and he wasn't about to let this little spitfire who knew  obscure facts about Roman history, and who intrigued him and made him  laugh as no other woman ever had, take that from him. 'Excuse me,' he  said to his brother, crossing the room before he'd even registered his  intention.                       
       
           



       

His icy gaze went to the idiot's, his hand to Farah's elbow. 'This meeting is over,' he informed the tense trio.

Of course, she tried to pull away from him. 'I told my father-'

'I will marry your daughter.' He spoke over the top of her, clasping her elbow more firmly.

'Never thought I'd see the day a Darkhan would do the right thing,' the old man preached.

'Only because you probably don't recognise the gesture.'

Farah's knight-errant cleared his throat. 'I don't-'

Zach turned on Amir as he squared off against him and was clearly about  to spill his guts. 'You are about to lose your head if you're not  careful,' he bit out. 'Guards, put them in prison,' he ordered softly.

At the mention of prison his newly acquired fiancée came to life once more. 'No!'

She pulled out of his hold and rushed to stand in front of the two men  like Joan of Arc facing off against the English at Orleans. 'You can't  send them to prison.'

Any other time her loyalty might have impressed him. Just not this time. 'And just how do you propose to stop me?'

'Zach...' He heard his brother's cautioning tone but ignored it.

'Not even you could lock up your own father-in-law,' she announced belligerently.

Her father stiffened. 'That's enough, Farah!' he scolded. 'I don't need you to fight my battles for me.'

Zach stared at the woman in front of him, all willowy and beautiful, a  touch of vulnerability in her eyes most would probably have missed. He'd  noticed it earlier as well, when her father had insulted her, and it  had made him want to protect her then, as it did now.

Unable to stop himself, he reached out and ran the back of his knuckles  down the smooth line of her cheek. Her breath hitched and he didn't  miss that, either. 'So tough, my little spitfire,' he murmured. 'So  passionate.'

She knocked his hand away. 'About things I care about, yes.' Her voice was husky and made his body ache to have her.

'Hell.' His brother's low curse spoke volumes. 'She has a point, Zach,  and I need to get back to Imogen. I'll let you go, Hajjar,' his brother  informed the older man. 'But you put one foot out of line and I'll haul  you into prison so fast your head will spin.'

A lead silence filled the room.

'Come, Farah,' her father finally said with a regal dignity that made Zach want to laugh. 'I will take you home.'

'No, you won't,' Zach found himself saying. He smiled. 'Your daughter  is now my fiancée and that means she's mine to do with as I please.'





      CHAPTER NINE

WITH THE RUSH of adrenaline behind him, Zach was seriously starting to  question his sanity. He'd just committed himself to marry a woman he  barely knew. A woman he didn't even like!

He stormed down the corridor with said woman in tow. How had this  happened? One minute he'd been celebrating not only his brother's  wedding but also the fact that Nadir had agreed to take the throne and  the next he was...he was...getting married? Any minute now and he was  sure doctors in white coats were going to come rushing around the corner  looking for him.

The cause of his immense irritation tugged against his hold. 'I'm tired of you dragging me around like this.'

Zach tightened his grip. 'Not as tired as I am of having to do it.'

Especially when they were in this predicament because she hadn't spoken up and admitted that nothing had happened between them.

Nothing? his conscience mocked.

A growl rose up in his throat. A few kisses did not require a marriage  proposal. In the West they might not, but in Bakaan a man didn't trifle  with a woman unless he was serious.

But marry Farah Hajjar?

Zach inwardly cursed himself. All his life he'd ignored the exotic  Bakaani girls who had thrown themselves in his path with one purpose in  mind. All his life, until this one. And she hadn't even thrown herself  at him. No. She'd done something much worse: she'd kidnapped him. Or her  father had.

He still didn't know why the old man had done it, although he could  guess. With Zach's father gone, Hajjar had probably hoped to destabilise  the country and attempt a coup. The thought was as ludicrous as his  suggestion that Zach marry his daughter. And then another possibility  hit him and his whole body went still.

Farah squeaked as she nearly ran into him from behind. Zach stared at  her. Was that why Hajjar had done it? To get the two of them together so  that they were forced to marry and get a Hajjar on the throne any way  possible? His rational side discounted the idea as absurd-the Hajjars  had hated the Darkhans since the dawn of time-but he'd underestimated  Farah once before and had the scar on his arm to show for it. Had he  underestimated her father, as well?                       
       
           



       

'We need to talk.' He pushed open the door to his apartment.

Farah glanced up at him as she swept past. 'I couldn't agree more.'

Dismissing his guards with a nod, Zach followed her inside. He bypassed  his sofas, headed straight for his wet bar and grabbed a crystal  decanter half filled with whisky. 'Drink?'

She eyed the offer disparagingly. 'I thought you wanted to talk.'

He downed a finger of Scotch. 'I'd like to dull the pain first.'

'We're not really getting married, you know.'

'We're not?' He added ice to the glass this time before leaning back  against the bar, taking in her rigid stance. 'That whole thing was just  an act back there? Damn, I wish I'd known. I would have organised party  music.'

Her soft lips pinched together. 'Don't you know that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit?'

'It's fitting, then,' he drawled. 'Since I can't remember feeling this low before.'

'You and me both,' she said on a rush, sinking down onto one of the  sofas and removing her heels; her sigh of pleasure hitting him exactly  where he didn't need it to right now.

'You know, if you drop the kidnapping charges I could probably get my  father to withdraw his demands that we marry.' Her pleading look was one  of innocence and hope and for a fleeting moment he had to fight the  urge to go and comfort her.

Clearing his head with another dose of alcohol, he cast her a cynical  smile. 'Oh, I'm sure you'd like that,' he bit out. 'But it's not that  simple any more.'

'I don't see why not.'

'Because your lack of a convincing denial that I have dishonoured you  has set something bigger than the two of us in motion. But then, maybe  you knew that all along,' he added softly.

'Knew what?'

Zach paced to shake off the adrenaline that surged through him. Her  puzzled expression was either genuine or a good act. His money was on  the latter. 'Marrying me has enormous benefits.'

'Like what?' She gave a derisive snort. 'Being close to your enormous ego?'

Unable to remember another woman who had dared to speak to him with  such disdain, he stopped in front of her, forcing her to have to look a  long way up to meet his gaze. 'Money. Power.' He gritted his teeth. 'A  Hajjar potentially on the throne one day.'

Instead of being intimidated by him, she just looked annoyed. 'If  you're implying that my father wanted this to happen...' She wrinkled  her nose. 'That's ludicrous. He loathes your family.'

'He loathes that my family is on the throne, and now we're to be married. A bit opportune, don't you think?'

'No, I don't think that at all, and if you thought about it logically  you'd know it's not true. My father is stuck in the past and thinks that  all women need a man to take care of them. That's the only thing that's  going on here.'