“That’s fine, but you don’t need to be quite so aggressive. A little kindness and courtesy can go a long way.”
“I thought I was being kind and courteous by sending coffee to you.”
“Yes, but then you ruined it by ordering me to join you, tacking on a warning not to be late. It would have been much nicer if you’d simply asked me to join you in thirty minutes.”
“Kings do not ask, Jemma. They command.”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t marry a king. I married a man. That is, if we are truly married...”
“We are married. Quite married. As married as one can be in Saidia,” he said, cutting her off, and walking back toward her. “But if it takes our consummating the marriage to feel married, then so be it. Tonight I will take you to my bed and there won’t be any question in your mind afterwards.”
“That’s not what I want!”
“How do you know? You’ve never been in my bed. I think once you are there, you’ll like it very much.” And then he was gone.
* * *
The next half hour seemed endless to Jemma. He was planning on consummating the marriage tonight?
But she didn’t even know him.
She couldn’t imagine having sex with him.
He couldn’t be serious.
And yet here she was, in the Kasbah, being waited on hand and foot, so she didn’t doubt him anymore. He wasn’t a man who made jokes. He meant what he said, which meant...
He intended to bed her tonight.
Jemma’s clothes from last night had been washed and dried and returned to her. She dressed in the short skirt and blouse, and then slipped her feet into her high wedges. Her hair was wild, a thick tangle of waves from falling asleep with it still wet, and she subdued the waves as best as she could, pulling the long mass into a ponytail and then adding some fat silver bangles to her wrist and simple silver hoops to her ears. Not very fancy but it was the best she could do.
And then the maid knocked on the door. She’d returned to escort Jemma to lunch, leading her through the maze of hallways and halls to a door that led outside to a beautiful walled garden shaded by palms with a tiled fountain in the center of the courtyard.
Mikael was already there, waiting for her.
“I recognize those clothes,” he said.
“It’s all I have with me.”
“I had some gowns put in your wardrobe.”
“I didn’t see them,” she answered, aware that she hadn’t looked, either.
He was silent a moment, studying her. “We need to talk, but you also need to eat, so we shall sit, and eat, and talk and hopefully become better acquainted so this wedding night will be more...comfortable...for you.”
She made a soft sound of protest. “I don’t think eating and talking will make anything about tonight comfortable. I can’t believe this is real. Can’t believe any of this is happening. I didn’t say any vows. I didn’t agree to anything.”
“You didn’t have to. I claimed you and that was all that was needed. My word is law.”
“That makes for a very quick and convenient ceremony.”
“The ceremony might be quick, but the honeymoon isn’t. We will stay together here for sixteen days before we return to my palace in the capitol.”
“You don’t even like me. How can you contemplate bedding me?”
His lips quirked. It was as close to a smile as she had ever seen from him. “You are not an unattractive woman, Jemma. And I’m sure you are quite aware that a man can desire a woman without engaging one’s emotions.”
“So when you bed me tonight, it will be without tenderness or passion.”
“If you are worried about the act itself, you needn’t be. I am a skillful lover. I will take my time and be sure to satisfy your needs. It wouldn’t be a proper honeymoon if I didn’t.”
A proper honeymoon.
A proper honeymoon was the trip to Bali with Damien. They’d already booked their air and hotels when he’d broken it off. She’d planned a wedding that hadn’t taken place. And now she was married without a wedding and trapped here for a honeymoon she didn’t want.
Her eyes burned. Her throat ached. Jemma blinked and looked away, across the courtyard, to the splashing fountain. The water danced and trickled and it amazed her that the water could be so light and tinkling when her heart felt so heavy and broken.
“I don’t want to be pleasured,” she whispered, reaching up to brush away a tear before it could fall. “I don’t want any of this.”
“You will become less resistant to the idea as time goes on.”
She choked on a hysterical laugh as she glanced at him. “You think?”