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‘I don’thaveany feelings for you, other than desire,’ he responded softly, before quickly tempering his words—presumably when he saw the look of dismay she must have failed to hide. ‘Well, I do. I like you—’
‘You hardly know me,’ she objected, wondering why his brutal words had hurt so much.
‘I have good instincts around people.’
‘That’s hardly the basis for everlasting bliss, is it?’
‘But I don’t believe in everlasting bliss, Grace. And that isn’t the type of marriage I’m talking about.’ He paused, as if painstakingly selecting which words would cause the least offence. ‘I’m proposing an expedient arrangement which could benefit both of us.’
In spite of everything, her interest was spiked and, even though she told herself she was simply gearing herself up to get knocked back again, Grace stared at him from between hooded eyes. ‘Go on.’
‘You know that job I was telling you about? The royal trip I have coming up?’
‘I’m very pleased your career seems to be doing so well, Odysseus, but I don’t see what that has to do with me.’
He gave a lazy smile, as if her feistiness was turning him on. ‘I don’t know how up to speed you are with Tuloranka, but the regime only changed a couple of years ago. King Kaliman is dragging the country into the twenty-first century, but much of its ethos remains entrenched in the past, and it’s a struggle.’
‘Thanks for the lesson in world affairs,’ she offered drily. ‘But what does this have to do with your bizarre proposal?’
There was a pause. ‘Because while I am there, I must observe the country’s draconian laws. As a guest of the King and a single man, I will be unable to have sex outside marriage.’ There was a pause and now his eyes glittered, like sunlight on a blue glacier. ‘You are obviously inexperienced, Grace, but you must have noticed by now that I find you utterly irresistible. You are fire to my blood,’ he concluded huskily.
As his words sank in, she stiffened. ‘You mean it isn’t like that for you with everyone?’ she asked, genuinely taken aback.
‘No. It isn’t.’ He nodded his dark head reflectively. ‘Perhaps it the knowledge that I am the only man to have ever physically possessed you which is so endlessly provocative.’
‘Odysseus!’ she said, but the darkening of her eyes belied her shocked response.
He shrugged. ‘I know it is an unfashionable and anachronistic point of view, but it’s the way I feel.’ There was a pause. ‘Or perhaps my year-long celibacy is the real reason why I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.’
Grace tried to remain calm, although her head was buzzing like a jarful of wasps. Why on earth had someone as sexy and as gorgeous as Odysseus Diamides been celibate for a whole year? ‘But… I mean…why?’ she questioned. ‘What made you swear off women like that?’
‘It wasn’t a big deal,’ he growled. ‘And as a lesson in self-control it was exemplary.’
‘But that wasn’t the only reason?’ she fished.
‘Well, no,’ he conceded. ‘I happen to have a very low boredom threshold and the predictability of women had begun to irritate me. Particularly, their incessant demands for things I wasn’t prepared to give.’
‘Such as?’
‘Well,love, mostly.’
‘Because you don’t believe in love?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Most emphatically, I don’t.’
She sucked in a deep breath, trying not to act as if she was hurt by that sardonic statement, because she had no right to be. ‘So…you want to marry me because you’re obsessed by my body and this way you can have sex in a strict country without offending anyone, have I got that right?’
‘Pretty much,neh,’ he purred. ‘But perhaps it will have another benefit, and the marriage will put an end to the endless speculation about why I have never taken a bride. Every interview I’ve ever given always starts off with that same damned question and it drives me mad.’ He tilted her chin with his finger and his deep voice grew smoky. ‘So why not enjoy our remarkable chemistry until it burns itself out?’
‘And is that…inevitable?’ she questioned carefully. ‘That it will burn itself out?’
‘Always. Attraction is like oil. A finite source.’ He shrugged again, as if the death of desire were of no consequence.
‘So what’s in it for me, Odysseus?’ she asked, qualifying her question when she saw the outraged expression on his face. ‘Oh, I get that most women would probably bite your hand off to be your wife, but you’ve hardly bombarded me with inducements, have you?’
‘Then why don’t I spell it out for you in more favourable terms?’ he suggested softly. ‘As my wife, you will receive an allowance that will more than cover the cost of your grandmother’s care and, when we divorce, you will walk away with a generous settlement. Which means you don’t have to go and work for someone like Contarini ever again.’ A note of something implacable entered his voice. ‘You can do whatever you want to do. Use your degree. Become a linguist. Travel the world. I’m setting you free, Grace.’
‘But why?’ she asked bluntly. ‘Why would you do that?’