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Chapter 370
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MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 371
Cassia looked around the restaurant again. Holding her back so straight and being on her guard was exhausting. like her see-sawing emotions. One minute she’d feel herself start to open, like a flower turning towards the sun, and the next she’d remember and close up. Calix was so much harder to handle when he was Cassia had been about to say nice things to herself, but he wasn’t even being particularly nice; he was being polite and civil, and she was like a pathetic mouse, picking up crumbs.The dinner had been exquisite, and the surroundings were beautiful. They’d been treated like royalty since they’d arrived. But this seesawing wouldn’t stop. As if a force bigger than her was playing with her like a puppet on a string. What made it even harder was that their conversation hadn’t strayed into any dangerous areas, and she’d found herself genuinely enjoying talking to him. She felt herself relaxing, ever so slightly. I was even laughing briefly at one point, which felt great after weeks
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 372
She came to in the most horrific, undignified fashion, hunched over a toilet bowl, her whole upper body dripping wet, retching. Calix was behind her, holding her hair back as life slammed back into her and she emptied her stomach. Finally it was over. She was shaking all over violently. She felt herself being pulled back up and a wet cloth over her face and neck. It felt wonderful. Then she was sitting on his lap and being held very firmly against a broad chest until the shaking started to subside. She finally managed faintly, ‘Where…where are we?’A rumble came from under her cheek. "In the staff toilet of the restaurant."Cassia closed her eyes and clung to Calix. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry…’When she opened them again, she took in the shower and realized that he must have had to put her underneath it to wake her up somehow. She pulled back.‘I’m so sorry…’‘Don’t be. Cassia, what the hell was that?’ His voice was harsh. ‘For goodness’ sake, woman, if you’re allergic to liqueur or coffee, wh
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 373
When Cassia woke the next morning, her stomach muscles felt tender. She must have sensed something because just as she came fully awake, her door opened. Calix. Dressed and looking fresh and bright. Clean shaven. Her belly tightened and she pulled the sheet up around her neck.He walked in and opened the curtains that covered the French doors leading onto her veranda. He stood looking out for a minute, hands stuck deep in his pockets, and then turned around. "How are you feeling today?""Much better," she said, "thank you." I’m—’He slashed a hand in the air. Don’t say sorry, Cassia; you couldn’t help it. You must have some kind of sensitivity to liqueurs. Maybe the shellfishYou mean a sensitivity to the past!She watched warily as he came close to the bed. He looked so tall, imposing, and masculine.‘I’m afraid I have to go to London for a couple of days. One of our ships has had a mutiny of sorts among the crew…’ His mouth quirked. ‘It would appear that only I can sort it out.’Cas
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 374
Unmistakable pride shone from Thea’s face. The past took on a different hue immediately. The person that Calix had become when his father died had been born out of great responsibility and necessity; not a greedy desire to make money. Cassia felt ill again. She looked at Thea with stricken eyes.‘My parents…they threw him out of the house. I’ll never forget it.’Thea nodded. ‘I thought so.’ She shook her head at Cassia’s look. ‘No, he didn’t tell me, but I knew something bad had happened over there. He never mentioned your family again. And, in truth, you, your parents, your cousins were all the family he really had.’Cassia felt numb. more than numb. She’d known they’d always been close, but he’d always seemed so... self-sufficient. He’d always held something back. He’d never talked about his own family. Not really. For the first time, she could see how it could have been possible for her parents to judge him so harshly if they’d felt they hadn’t known him that well.It was so much w
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 375
And suddenly, it didn’t matter right at that moment why she was there, because all Cassia was aware of was his thigh between hers and how she ached to feel more, to experience him fully. She could have tried to run away, but she might as well be running from herself. Maybe if he’d come out with clothes on, maybe this heated insanity wouldn’t have taken over her body and soul... But to have seen him naked...With a guttural, broken moan of something in Greek, he bent his head and took her mouth in an onslaught so savage and so passionate that Cassia’s head almost exploded with the feeling. Electricity coursed through her body. Unable to resist the overwhelming need, she strained to meet him on tiptoe, wrapping her arms around his neck. She ached to be closer and welcomed his thigh between hers, trapping it. She could feel the moist expression of her lust between her thighs, moistening her pants, and she moved subtly against him. The pulse between her legs beat for release.He tore his
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 376
He saw a glistening in her eyes, and then she reached up and pulled him down on top of her, her hands on his shoulders, blindly searching for his mouth.When he pulled back, the brightness was gone from her eyes, as though he’d imagined it. From length to length, they touched. He was careful to keep his full weight off her. There was a possessive heaviness between her thighs. He skimmed a hand down her chest, fingers circling her breasts. They thrust upward, two perfect mounds with small, pebble-hard tips. As his hand closed around her, fingers teasing, pulling at the peak, he could see her back arch and stomach contract.‘Calix…please…’He bent down, and his mouth and tongue laved and suckled. First one breast, then the other. Her hands clutched his head, directing and guiding him.With his other hand, he reached down over the soft mound of her belly, felt the flare of her hips, and went under her knickers. The hair was soft and springy. He took her knickers with him and could feel her
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 377
Cassia woke with the first tentative light of dawn streaming into the room. She was on her side, facing Calix. Just a hair’s breadth away from touching, they were so close that if she sucked in a deep breath, her breasts would touch his chest. She looked at his face, which looked so much younger and vulnerable in repose. None of the phenomenally successful businessmen were in evidence, and it reminded her so much of the young man she’d known that a lump formed in her throat. A completely unbidden, monumental wave of tenderness and something else washed over her, and she went stiff with instant panic. No, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow it to rise. She knew if she did that, she would be admitting something that would have the potential to devastate her life even beyond what she already knew to be possible.She reasoned with herself that it was completely understandable that all these feelings would be emerging. How many people got to realize their dreams and long-held fantasies? And what a
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 378
Calix said nothing for a while on the drive to wherever he was taking her. Cassia was wary. She’d made her getaway from the bedroom that morning as an act of self-protection. Could he be angry because she hadn’t been there when he’d woken up? But surely that’s all he’d wanted? Sex. She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d expected her to go back to her own room afterwards, to come to him only as some kind of concubine. And then she coloured as she remembered how tired she’d been afterwards, how she hadn’t been able to move another muscle…She looked over. His profile was grim. His jaw was stern. She felt like reaching across and kissing that jaw, making him relax and teasing him into a smile; like the one she’d seen earlier, which had been for Thea, not her. He hated her. She knew he did. Despite what he’d said, he had to. She represented such an awful time in his life, when everything had conspired against him and he’d been totally alone against them all. She had to turn and look away again
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MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 440
He moved suddenly, turned to her, and gripped her arms; she glimpsed the desperation in his eyes as he dragged her against his chest. "I will do whatever it takes to win you back, Kalila." "You are my wife, the love of my life, and I won’t let you go." His warm breath fanning the curls that framed her face, he pressed his lips to her temple, his eyes briefly closing as if in pain."I have told my father to name his brother Sulim as the interim ruler of Qubbah in the event of his dying before Hazem comes of age." Kate stared at him, shocked beyond words. "But... but why?" she finally stumbled.I thought that you were to rule until Hazem was older. "You are the King’s only son, and it is your duty." Ahsan shook his head. "My first duty is to my wife, and my father agrees." Even if he did not, I would still be here for you."Don't you understand, Kalila?" he asked urgently. "You are more important to me than Qubbah, my father, everything." You, me, and Hazem are a family, and the only thin
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 439
The still silence in the garden that followed his astounding statement was broken by the piercingly sweet song of a blackbird. Kate licked her suddenly dry lips, her heart beating so fast she was sure it would explode. "I don’t understand.""It’s quite simple." He sounded impatient and stared at her haughtily. But to her amazement, streaks of dull color highlighted his cheekbones, and his eyes veered from hers as if he were afraid to meet her gaze. "I love you, Kate."Her rebuttal was fierce and immediate. "No, you don’t.""I should have known you would want to argue about it, Kalila." A little of his tension left him, and his smile stole her breath."You don’t love me," she said again. It was probably some cruel trick, and she had more sense than to be fooled. "You married me for Hazem." You love Farrah. Malika said so.Malika said a lot of things, most of them untrue. Ahsan’s voice was suddenly harsh."But not the things she said about me," Kate said thickly. "My mother was a prosti
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 438
The blue sky was dotted with cotton wool clouds, and the warm breeze carried a scent of lavender and old-fashioned roses. There was no place on earth more beautiful than Ingledean on a spring day, Kate mused—except an oasis in the middle of the desert, where palm trees provided shade from the scorching sun and an azure pool glinted beneath a cloudless sky.She had been home for a month—although Ingledean no longer felt like home without Hazem. The image of his huge brown eyes and impish smile caused the familiar agonizing pain in her chest, and she bit down hard on her lip, tasted blood, and cursed the tears that slid unchecked down her face. She couldn’t cry forever. Somehow she was going to have to find the strength to move on, pick up the threads of her life, or maybe make a new one, far away from Ingledean and all its memories. But since she had left Qubbah, a terrible lassitude had settled on her, and she could not plan anything when the only two people she loved were far away on
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 437
In less than an hour, she was expected to attend the lavish dinner organized in honor of King Kabir’s recovery and his return as supreme ruler of Qubbah. And somehow she was going to have to do so without revealing that she was breaking up inside, which Kate acknowledged despairingly as she stared in the mirror at her paper-white face and red-rimmed eyes.When she first returned to the palace after her explosive confrontation with Malika, she locked herself in her dressing room and recalled, in stunned disbelief, everything the young Arab woman had told her. Could it be true? Had Ahsan always intended to divorce her once he’d gained custody of Hazem and marry his beautiful advisor?She did not know how long she’d sat there, but eventually her maid had knocked on the door and reminded her that it was time to prepare for the banquet. She should have made the excuse that she was ill—no one who saw her pallor would fail to believe her. But the steely backbone of pride that had seen her th
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Despite the warmth of the early-evening sunshine, Kate shivered. "You’re talking nonsense," she said firmly, striving to sound confident despite the sudden lurch of her heart. She was perfectly aware of why Ahsan had married her, but he had given no hint that he wanted a divorce. Ahsan told me he was never engaged to you. She lifted her chin and glared at Malika, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach."He wasn’t," Malika agreed, looking surprised. "I was engaged to Farhan; Ahsan was engaged to Farrah."The world seemed to tilt alarmingly for a few seconds, and Kate actually gripped the edge of the wall for support. Ahsan and Farrah! It couldn’t possibly be true, could it? "Jamila told me that Ahsan was in love with his fiancée," she said faintly. "She doesn’t know why the marriage didn’t take place."Malika gave a careless shrug. ‘Jamila knows. Everyone at the palace knows that Ahsan adored Farrah and that she eloped with his brother on the eve of their wedding.
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 435
He was suddenly aware that the children had finished their dance and everyone was waiting for his response. Kate had turned her head to him, frowning at his inattention, and he quickly clapped his hands in applause. Once the dancers had filed out of the marquee, his personal assistant Zaid appeared at his side and informed him that a group of local potters had brought their best work for his gracious inspection. Stifling a sigh, he led the royal party out into the blazing sunshine.The garden party continued all afternoon, and Ahsan was not in the best of moods when he strode back to the palace. He suddenly realized that he was too far ahead and slowed his pace, waiting for Kate to catch up with him. He frowned when he noted how pale she looked beneath her wide-brimmed hat. She made no attempt to speed up, and the dejected droop of her shoulders fueled his impatience."I appreciate that an afternoon spent admiring traditional crafts and customs is not likely to top your list of exciti
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 434
Her feet briefly touched the floor, and he spun her around, tugged her zip down her spine, and removed her dress before she had time to catch her breath. Her bra went the same way before he lifted her again and threw her onto the bed as if she were a rag doll, his eyes glittering with a mixture of anger and sexual hunger that made Kate’s stomach dip."At night, I’m happy to give you all the attention you could possibly want," he growled, his shoes, trousers, and shirt hitting the floor with barely controlled savagery until he stood in his silk boxers. "This is the only bed you’ll ever sleep in." The boxers joined the rest of his clothes, revealing his powerful, unashamedly aroused body in all its glory. "But I wouldn’t bank on sleeping for many hours yet."Kate stared up at him, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she struggled to control the wild excitement that was pounding through her veins. She was conscious that she was wearing nothing but a pair of tiny lace pants and the pric
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 433
Clearly embarrassed, Aaliyah determinedly changed the subject to Hazem and how fast he was growing. But although Kate smiled and made token conversation, her mind was whirling. If Malika’s family had expected her to marry Ahsan, was she the woman he had been engaged to years ago—the woman Jamila had said he had loved? But, if so, why had they not married? It didn’t make sense, and she brooded miserably as she stared at Ahsan. He was smiling at Malika and clearly enjoying her company. Perhaps they had argued and broken off their engagement. Was he now regretting his lost chance to marry a beautiful, clever Arab girl who would have made him the perfect wife?From that moment on, the party became a blur of faces and stilted conversation with people she had never met before. She was sure they viewed her as an oddity, with her pale skin and vivid hair—and her glaring lack of sophistication. But until his father had recovered, Ahsan was king, and one of her wifely duties outside of the bedr
MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE Chapter 432
As Ahsan had predicted, his team of advisors was waiting for him when they arrived back at the palace. Even on the journey across the desert, he’d had his mobile phone clamped to his ear, and Kate had sat silently beside him, lost in her thoughts. The honeymoon was over, and he had made it abundantly clear that he now saw her role as his wife as a walk-on part—or perhaps a lie-down part, she thought bitterly. But what had she expected? She had married him for Hazem, and he had married her for sex, and they had each gotten what they wanted.At least she had Hazem, she told herself later that evening, when she tucked the toddler into bed. She had missed him desperately, and his evident delight that she was back was a comforting balm to her raw emotions. She was Ahsan’s wife, a member of the Royal Family of Qubbah, and no one could ever take him away from her now.But as she prepared for the state banquet, her insecurities returned, and she felt sick with nerves. She had been horrified w
