He knew of course that she was lying, but it angered him so that he wanted only to wound her. “So it was all an act?”
“Yes.”
Kamal reached out, grasped her upper arm, and jerked her toward him. “Listen well, Arabella. What I decide to do about your parents has nothing to do with what occurred between us last night. I can have you whenever it pleases me. You are my slave, my high-and-mighty lady, here for my pleasure. If I wished to spread your legs right now, I could do so.”
She threw back her head and said with deadly calm, “If you do, I will fight you. I will not act again to make you feel the marvelous lover.” She felt his fingers tighten painfully on her arm and thought vaguely that she would bear bruises. “Are you such a savage that you must prove to me that you are the stronger?”
He shoved her arm away from him and rose from the bed to stare down at her. “It would appear you are the fool, my lady. How could you expect honor from a savage? Why did you not attempt to seal your bargain before you lost your maidenhead?”
She stared at him dumbly.
“You no longer have anything unusual to offer, Arabella.”
“I was a fool, wasn’t I, ever to believe that I could expect anything from you but an animal’s savagery?”
Kamal turned quickly away from her and rang the bell beside his bed. “When next you decide to use pretense to gain your ends, my lady, take care who your victim is. Not all men are weak fools to be manipulated by a woman.”
Ali appeared in the doorway.
Kamal did not look at her, merely waved his arm toward her. “Assist the lady back to the harem, Ali, though I doubt she can successfully use her wiles on Raj.”
God, what a fool she had been. All for naught—all for naught. She pulled the sheet around her and rose from the bed.
“You will pay for your dishonor, you miserable barbarian.” She ignored Ali’s gasp and marched from Kamal’s chamber, chin high, the white sheet trailing after her.
Kamal threw himself back down on the bed and pillowed his head on his crossed arms. Had she truly expected him to yield to her wishes, besotted by her beauty and her body? He realized that her actions had been clumsily innocent and free of guile. She had not had the experience to bind him to her, to make her demands so that he could gracefully succumb to her. She was a woman of extremes, he thought, and she knew no middle ground. His eyes fell to the bloodstains on the sheet. He had been a fool to take her. Indeed, when he had realized she was a virgin, he had not wanted to harm her. It had been she who had seduced him, all for her own ends. He dismissed from his mind his own angry words hurled at her, and slowly allowed his fury at her to build as he remembered her insults.
Lella found Arabella curled up like a hurt child on her narrow bed. She knew, as did every other woman in Kamal’s harem, that Arabella had spent the night in Kamal’s bed. She had also heard of her return just after dawn, not in Kamal’s company, but in Ali’s.
“It gained you nothing,” she said.
“No,” she said finally, still burrowed against the wall, “it gained me less than nothing.”
“So what will you do? Stay hidden from the world and mourn the loss of your virginity? That is a coward’s way.”
Arabella turned slowly, stung by Lella’s harsh words. “I would that you leave me alone,” she said dully.
“Why? So you can sulk in private? How, Arabella, could you have been such a fool?”
Tears glistened in Arabella’s eyes, and she angrily dashed them away with the back of her hand. “I was a woman—he made me so, and thus, I suppose, a fool. A weak, pliable fool until morning brought me reason. Then it was too late and I had not the talent to bargain with him.”
“I gather you angered him?”
“I have but to open my mouth and he is angered. I have not the wit, as I said, to pretend, to say honeyed things, and gain my way.”
Lella closed her fingers around Arabella’s hand. “Well, it will do you no good to remain in hiding. Elena is busy proclaiming in that smug way of hers that Kamal was displeased with you. Surely you do not wish—” Lella broke off. “You startled me, Raj.” She smiled at the eunuch, who stood in the open doorway. “What is the matter? Why do you look so grim?”
Raj drew a deep breath. “His highness,” he said slowly, his eyes upon Arabella, “has decided on his revenge.”
Arabella only stared at him.
“What do you mean, Raj?” Lella asked.
“His highness has ordered me to have all his women present for his inspection. He has informed me that he wishes to select his mate for this night.”
“But he has never done that before,” Lella said, pulling herself clumsily to her feet.
“No,” Raj said slowly, “he hasn’t. I can only assume that what passed between Lady Arabella and him last night has brought this to pass.”