For Duty's Sake

“I do,” he gritted out. “You are my wife.”

It was romantic really, though she wasn’t about to admit it. “Possessive.”

“Yes.”

“I came to you in a wedding gown and you made me promises you never spoke out loud,” she guessed. “It was the only way you would accept the gift of my virginity.”

“Yes.”

She smiled.

He growled. “I am an old-fashioned man, but I am not naff.”

Angele suppressed the desire to giggle. He sounded so put-upon. “No, I’d never accuse you of being sappy.” But she couldn’t deny the old-fashioned label.

Even Elsa had been an example of that. Zahir had been a man in his sexual prime when he signed the agreement for their eventual marriage. He needed a sexual outlet and he’d looked for one.

Angele had no doubt he hadn’t expected to feel anything real for Elsa, or for the affair to last as long as it did. Knowing he had cared so much, that Elsa had been able to hurt him, hurt Angele. However, it was over and he was truly hers now, in every way.

“Does the future king of Zahir allow another man to determine the parameters of his life?” she challenged.

“I made a promise.”

“Not to take advantage, but how is it taking advantage when in your heart, I’m already your wife?”

“And in your heart?” it was his turn to challenge.

She could give him nothing less than the truth. “I’m yours, Zahir. I always have been.”

“That’s not what you said in your letter, or that press release.”

“I wanted to give you your freedom.”

“So I could find true love.”

She was sure he meant to say the words true love with more sarcasm, but his tone carried more confusion than cynicism.

And suddenly, she realized something very important. Just because he was not in love with her did not mean Zahir did not need her love. In fact, she was no longer fully convinced he did not love her, either. After some fashion anyway. There was something there, something she did not yet understand, but she was determined to.

“You hold yourself back from me,” she said, not as an accusation but as bait.

She needed to understand this complicated man. Angele would be the first to admit, she’d been so blinded by her own emotions, she had all but ignored his.

One thing had remained true for ten years, though. This man had always intended to marry her and by his own admission, he had intended to bring his formidable honor to bear in remaining faithful to her.

“I would say you are the one that has put up walls between us.” He frowned, though he did not move away from her.

If she didn’t know better, she would think he was no more capable of doing so than she was.

“You think?” she asked, wanting…maybe even needing to hear this from his mouth.

“You used to love me.”

“I still do.” And denying it to both of them was doing nothing but hurting the man she had no desire to hurt and herself.

She hadn’t shocked him with her request they make love, but her words of love made him jerk back as if struck. “No, you do not.”

She moved closer again, so their bodies were less than a breath apart. “I do.”