The Sheikh's Secret Babies(24)

Jaul breathed in very slow and deep, broad chest expanding below the T-shirt. ‘If the children are to take their proper place in the royal family I cannot give you a divorce now,’ he explained tautly. ‘I can get away with producing a wife and children like rabbits out of a hat and people will understand because my father’s prejudice against Western women was well-known. But for the sake of the family and my country I cannot throw in an immediate divorce—’

Without the smallest warning, Chrissie felt ready to scream with vexation because it seemed to her that they were programmed to be at odds with each other. She had lain awake the night before remembering how she had foolishly threatened to make getting a divorce difficult for Jaul and she had seen no sense in taking such a stance. Surely it was wiser for her to agree to a quick divorce and move on with her life? Why the heck would she want to prolong that process and leave herself neither married nor single purely for the sake of causing Jaul some temporary aggravation? In the end she had decided that a quick divorce would be best for both of them, particularly if she was going to have to share the twins with Jaul.

‘I’m sorry,’ Chrissie now said flatly. ‘But I do want a divorce and I can have one whether you like it or not. I’m afraid I don’t owe you or your country anything—’

Jaul shifted a graceful hand in a silencing motion. ‘Perhaps I phrased this in the wrong way. I’m asking you to give our marriage another try—’

Chrissie set down her cup with a jolt and stood up. ‘No,’ she said, refusing to even think about that suggestion. ‘Too much of my life has been screwed up by you and I want my independence back—’

‘Even if it’s at the cost of your children?’

‘That’s not a fair question. I have done everything possible to be a good mother—’

‘Tarif is the heir to my throne. I must take him home with me,’ Jaul murmured very quietly. ‘I do not want to part him from you or his sister but it is my duty to raise my heir—’

Chrissie’s knees wobbled and every ounce of colour had leached from her drawn cheeks. He was talking about taking Tarif back to Marwan as if that were already a done deal. Did that mean he had already established that he had that right? Her stomach dive-bombed and her throat convulsed. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You’re asking me to give our marriage another go because you want the kids, not me—’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Jaul urged with sardonic bite. ‘I wanted you back the moment I laid eyes on you again. You’re like my “fatal attraction” in life and I very much suspect that that works both ways.’

‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Chrissie demanded tempestuously, breasts heaving below her top.

Lustrous dark eyes flickered pure gold. ‘You want me too,’ Jaul framed silkily. ‘You want me so much you’re eaten up with it and I’m the same—’

‘That’s the biggest piece of nonsense I’ve ever heard!’ Chrissie proclaimed furiously.

‘You need me to prove it?’ Jaul launched back at her, dark eyes blazing threat.

‘You couldn’t prove it because it isn’t true!’ Chrissie argued. ‘I’ve moved on way past you...’

‘In what way?’ Jaul demanded.

Her temper was jumping up and down inside her like a screaming child because she had suffered so much because of him and that he should show up again and start laying down the law about his wants, his needs was too much for her to bear.

‘I’ve been with other men,’ she lied with deliberation, knowing how possessive he was, how jealous, how all-consuming his passion could be...and knowing just how to hurt.

‘I expected that,’ Jaul framed in a harsh undertone. ‘You didn’t need to spell it out—’

But Chrissie had watched him pale below his vibrant skin and it made her feel like a total bitch, especially when she was lying, but it seemed so important to her right then to drive a wedge between them, to prove that she was completely free of him and what they had once shared. ‘So, you see, I don’t want you the way I once did.’

Burning bright golden eyes trailed over her from the crown of her head right down to her curling toes and she felt her body react the way it always did around Jaul. Her breasts swelled in a bra that suddenly felt too tight, her nipples pinching taut while lower down she felt hot and moist.

‘And you are one hundred per cent certain of that, are you?’ Jaul seethed as he stalked closer. ‘So certain you won’t even give me a chance?’