Page 25 of The Innocent Carrying His Legacy

But you don’t matter, do you? You never have.

‘Excuse me,’ Ivy managed to force out, suddenly desperate to be out of this room and away from him. Away from the temptation to punch his stupid face in. ‘I’ve lost my appetite.’

Then she surged to her feet and stormed out.

CHAPTER SIX

‘I’MSORRY,SIR,’ the guard said, clearly trying to be diplomatic. ‘But she still says no.’

Nazir had returned to the fortress after a couple of days in Mahassa, where he’d had a few meetings with Inaris’s top military commanders. The Sultan wasnothappy about Nazir’s powerful private army and there had been veiled threats about what would happen if he didn’t disband it. The situation had been complicated by the fact that Inaris’s government was perfectly happy for Nazir’s army to remain since Nazir poured most of his considerable funds back into the country for the people’s benefit.

It was also further complicated by the fact that he’d been distracted during the meetings due to one small English fury who’d not been best pleased with his so-called ‘interference’ in her life and who’d now refused to see him for two days straight.

Nazir dismissed the guard and then, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to concentrate, dismissed the two aides he’d been discussing a couple of possible new contracts with too.

Then he stood in his office considering what to do.

He’d already made arrangements for a quick marriage and that would take place in a week or so, which left him not much time in which to convince her to agree to this of her own free will.

Intellectually, he knew that she wasn’t one of his men and as such couldn’t simply be ordered around, but he’d expected that she’d accept the inevitability of what was going to happen and act accordingly.

Apparently not.

He shouldn’t have been so blunt at their dinner. Then again, he was a soldier, and being blunt was all he knew. Plus, he didn’t want her arguing with him since arguing only made that intense, possessive feeling inside him worse, and he knew what happened when he let his baser emotions get the better of him.

It had been his jealousy and impulsiveness that had led to his mother’s exile from Inaris and had left his father’s career in ruins, and that had been a hard lesson to learn. But learn it he had and he couldn’t afford to fall back into old patterns again, which meant that while arguing with Ivy might excite the hunter in him, he couldn’t allow it to get out of hand. He’d slipped once already when he’d grabbed her in the salon and run his hand over the curve of her stomach where his child lay.

He should have stopped himself, but he hadn’t, simply unable to quell the possessive need to touch her. She hadn’t pulled away. She’d let him stroke her, the sweet heat of her body warming his palm. Her eyes had gone so wide, the clear copper darkening and turning smoky as he’d run his hand over her. She’d trembled and there had been fear in her gaze. Yet that fear had more to do with her own response to his touch than it had to do with him, he was sure.

An inexperienced woman, clearly. Not his favourite, of course, but inexperience could be overcome. He’d just have to go carefully. In fact, he was going to have to do everything carefully if he wanted to get her to the altar, especially since he didn’t much like the idea of forcing her there.

You’re going to have to seduce her there then.

Nazir wasn’t in the habit of seducing women. They either wanted him or they didn’t and if they didn’t, he wasn’t interested. He’d never once come across a woman he wanted that he couldn’t have. He’d never once come across anything he couldn’t have, to be fair, or at least not since he’d become an adult. There had been plenty of things he’d wanted as a child that he hadn’t got—the softness of a mother’s embrace, the warmth of her smile, his hand in hers—so these days he either took what he wanted or he simply didn’t want it. It made everything a hell of a lot easier.

But Ivy Dean... She was different. He wanted her and yet she stubbornly refused to do what he said, and normally that would mean he’d lose interest. Yet she was carrying his child and far from losing interest, her refusal only made him want her more.

What a cliché he was.

He paced around his office a bit, going over the issue in his head, trying to get a game plan together. No, he didn’t like the idea of forcing her into marriage, since that wouldn’t exactly make her receptive to sharing his bed, so it was looking as if seduction was the way to go.

Well, he could do that. He did like a challenge, after all.

Heated anticipation began to coil inside him, an excitement he hadn’t felt in far too long. Not a good sign perhaps, but then again, his control was exceptional. And besides, he could allow himself a little excitement surely? He so rarely felt it these days, so why not?

First, though, if he was going to do any seducing, he was going to have to get the little fury to see him, and that would be a challenge. She’d probably hold out indefinitely given what she’d already displayed of her stubborn nature, and he didn’t have that kind of time. He’d allowed her a couple of days to sulk so far, but his patience wasn’t limitless. Perhaps he’d have to insist.

Nazir made a few more arrangements, issued a few more orders, then strode from his office, making his way to the harem. He had guards on the doors twenty-four-seven, as well as a few more high-tech measures for added safety, and, after a brief conversation with the guards to make sure everything was secure, he let himself into the cool, airy corridors beyond the doors.

The tiled hallways and the sounds of the fountains reminded him of his mother, even though he hadn’t been born when she’d been here, as if somehow her presence still lingered...

Maybe he shouldn’t have told Ivy about her. Yet there hadn’t been any reasonnotto. His parentage wasn’t a secret. Everyone in the entire country knew who he was. He wasn’t anyone’s dirty secret any more. And though his father might have been ashamed of him, Nazir’s existence being the embodiment of his father’s weakness, he wasn’t ashamed. He refused to be. He’d spent his life lurking in the shadows of the palace, always on the outside looking in, watching his half-brother get all the attention from their mother while he got nothing. He’d been raised by a series of nannies hired by his father who had strict rules for how his son should be treated. He was not to be indulged in any way. Emotions were the enemy; self-control was paramount.

Yet he’d always burned hot, even as a child, all those emotions seething beneath his skin, all that love and hate and jealousy and rage. He’d had to learn to contain them, make sure they didn’t get out, because that heat had the potential to shatter lives if he wasn’t careful. And shatter them he had. Eventually.

He moved into the salon, checking to make sure there weren’t any small figures lurking by the skirting, but the room was empty. Then he heard voices filtering through the open French doors that led out onto the colonnade, a woman’s light, slightly smoky tones speaking English.

He went out, stepping into the shade of the colonnade that surrounded the little courtyard. In the middle of it where the fountain sat was Ivy, standing beside one of his gardeners and talking as the man pruned one of the graceful jacaranda trees that shaded the fountain. The gardener spoke no English but that didn’t seem to concern either Ivy or the gardener, the pair of them somehow communicating through lots of nodding and pointing.

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