His eyes burned into hers, seeking truth, doubting her integrity. ‘You want another way to resolve things between us,’ he said softly, a dangerous glitter leaping into the black blaze. ‘Something other than the justice of the rat-hole.’
‘Your justice is blind.’
‘Then open my eyes, Amanda...by dancing for me.’
He was calling her bluff. If she didn’t do better than the dancer she had chosen for him in Fisa, she would end up in the rat-hole. Amanda figured she had one advantage. However bad her dancing might be, he would not be bored if she could stir the desire he was so determinedly repressing.
‘How many veils would you allow me?’ she asked.
He raised one finger.
It didn’t give her much to use in the way of teasing or tantalising. Not that she was particularly adept at that. In fact, she wasn’t adept at all in the ancient art of seduction. But she would try.
This was more a mental challenge than a physical one, she assured herself. If she was to prolong her time with him while she danced, what she needed was the longest veil in the world. She also needed time to learn what had to be done.
‘Agreed,’ she said. Already she was quickly plotting a few more moves she could make to break down his present resistance to her.
His eyes narrowed into slits. He obviously didn’t trust her one bit. ‘Do not think my admiration for your cleverness will cloud my vision, Amanda. You have much to prove to me. As a woman.’
The rat-hole wouldn’t have proved anything, Amanda thought petulantly, but she wisely held her tongue on that matter. She had won a stay in judgement. Better to leave him now while the going was good.
‘I’ll need time to prepare,’ she said.
‘Undoubtedly,’ he dryly agreed, stepping back and waving her to join her escort again. ‘Send a messenger to me when you are ready. Remember I await the outcome of your...plan...with some disbelief.’
‘Thank you for the reprieve,’ Amanda said with every air of confidence, and gave Mr Kozim a friendly nod as she resumed her place in the middle of her elite squad of soldiers.
The command was given to return her to her quarters.
Amanda found her legs were quite wobbly once they had left the library but she managed to keep them moving, one after the other, until they had traversed the necessary distance.
After all, a princess didn’t collapse in a heap when the going got rough. A princess was supposed to be tough. A princess held her head high and sailed through the storm to a safe port.
If she was to be a princess she had to find precisely the right sail to get her there.
Amanda’s practical mind descended from the clouds.
It wasn’t the right sail she needed.
It was the right veil!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KNOWING she had been officially proclaimed a princess gave Amanda the confidence to issue a few orders.
For a start, she was not going to be pushed around by a pack of women who thought they knew more about her body than she did. She took a leaf out of Xa Shiraq’s book. They could carry out her will instead.
Once she was back in the royal quarters, she ordered a good solid brunch; sausage, fried tomatoes and a piece of buttered toast. After the episode with the sheikh she was not hungry but she forced herself to eat some fruit to stiffen up her wobbly knees. If she was to deliver the performance of her life, energy was a necessary requirement.
The matter of the veil was more complex. Amanda ordered bolts of filmy cloth in shades of blue and green and silver to be brought to her. They were the colours he had suggested at Fisa.
Amanda intended to please. She had a vested interest in pleasing him. If she could, she would make him eat his words about her not knowing anything about a man’s pleasure.
In a way, Xa Shiraq was right. Amanda had received no advice on such matters from her mother who had died before Amanda had reached the age of puberty.
At the school she had attended during her teenage years, the list of attainments thought desirable for a modern woman did not include any knowledge on how to please a man. The general attitude was that if it did happen, it would occur naturally all by itself.
The natural occurrences that had come Amanda’s way in later years had not taught her much. She hadn’t been particularly pleased herself, and it seemed that all that was required of her was her consent. Being kissed by Xa Shiraq had been totally different to anything she had experienced before.