His facial features barely moved, but Shantra detected the amusement lurking there. “It hadn’t even been considered until you brought it up. But since you so eloquently put the idea into my head, I will thank you.”
Her mouth fell open with that explanation. She couldn’t believe it. She’d done this to herself? She’d planted the idea in his head and now he was moving forward? “You weren’t in Kilar with my brother to discuss marriage?”
He shook his head. “The thought hadn’t even entered my mind. Nor your brother’s, from what I could gather. But once you brought it up, we both agreed that it was an excellent idea.”
She shook her head back and forth. “So this mess is all my doing,” she said.
“I wouldn’t consider it a mess. In fact, it all ties together into a neat package,” and his eyes moved slowly down her figure.
“Stop that,” she whispered, her body tingling even more.
His only response was another lifting of that dark, sardonic eyebrow.
Shantra shifted uncomfortably and tried to pull his hands away from her hips so that she could slide to the seat next to him. “I really need…”
“You need to stay right where you are,” he argued, before she could finish her statement. “I like you here.”
Shantra bit her lower lip. “And my feelings in the matter are irrelevant?”
“You like sitting here as well.” His hand moved to her stocking covered knee. “Shall I show you how much you are enjoying it?” he offered.
Shantra gasped and pulled his hand away. “Please,” she begged, her mind already spinning away from her control. “I can’t think properly when you do things like that.” She shouldn’t have mentioned that because the heat in his eyes only increased. “Don’t look at me like that,” she whispered, shifting on his legs.
His response was a deep chuckle. “One thing you must learn, Shantra, is that I don’t take orders very well.” And his hand slid along her outer thigh, causing her to gasp with surprise and excitement.
“Please!” she gasped, grabbing onto his fingers while her eyes begged. “I don’t understand.”
He shifted his hand away and seemed to relax against the cushions of the car. “You will,” he told her with absolute confidence. “But we have arrived.”
Shantra quickly shifted off of his lap, relieved when he allowed her to move. She didn’t want his bodyguards, or hers for that matter, to see her on the man’s lap. Especially when things were so undecided.
“We’re not finished with this discussion,” she muttered when he put a hand to the small of her back and led her into the hotel. They were in the middle of the elegant lobby when she stopped and looked around. This wasn’t her hotel! In fact, she had no idea where they were! “And what are we doing here?”
“We’re having lunch, as I promised.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think…”
“You will move your things to my suite and your bodyguards can shift to my responsibility,” he told her as he walked swiftly through the hotel.
She was having trouble keeping up with his longer stride as well as all of the changes he was demanding. “I don’t think so,” she told him when they were in the elevators and the doors closed behind them.
Laithir looked down at the top of her dark head, his body reacting to her loveliness as well as her innocence. He was equally astounded to discover that he was also enjoying her defiance. He wouldn’t allow the insanity of his first marriage, but he liked that this curvaceous female thought she could call the shots. It amused him that she would even try, and he found that he respected her more because of it.
Once they were in the penthouse, he walked her out onto the terrace that was filled with lush vegetation and a table set for two, complete with chilled white wine.
Shantra looked around, delighted with the setting. “This is beautiful,” she told him.
“I’m glad that you like it,” he replied, moving around her and pouring the wine. “Tell me about your day,” he commanded.
Shantra took the wine but her eyes narrowed up at him. “Any chance you could rephrase that into a question instead of a command?
He laughed again. “Would that make you feel more in control?” he offered.
She shrugged her shoulder and walked away from him. “I’m saying that it irritates me that you think I might actually respond to commands.” She sipped her wine and glared up at him. “Just as you told me earlier, I don’t take orders well. So perhaps we finally have something in common after all.”