her? For an instant, her heart—
Libby clamped down on her emotions. He could manipulate her so easily. It had to end.
I locked my heart away from you, she wanted to scream. And I was right.
Instead, she barely kept from grinding her teeth. "I won't be manipulated by you anymore."
"It's true. I lied to you. Perhaps you will never forgive me. But why did my lies not make you fall in love with me?"
"I could never love you. We could never be partners. We're not right for each other."
"I think that I was not good enough for you."
"How can you say that? You're educated, handsome, smart and loyal—when you want to be." She clamped her mouth shut before she went on with her laundry list of the man's good points. After everything that had happened, how could she still believe that he had any?
"So I am good enough for you—then the truth is that you secretly believe you are not good enough for me."
"I don't—"
She didn’t finish the sentence, but broke off when Rasyn strode toward her. Without warning, the air electrified. Sensual memories flashed through her mind with stunning intensity. His naked skin on hers. His scent covering her. The heat of friction between them. The release of their passions.
He looked down on her, his black eyes like holes in the night, pulling her toward their endless depths. The heat of his body drew away the evening's chill, but the temperature wasn't what made her shiver.
A few small inches separated them. The wind caught her robe and brushed it against the fabric of his jeans. For Libby, time slowed. In that endless frozen instant, she couldn't think of anything but how close his body was to hers.
She stared at his sensuous lips, slightly parted as if to dip down and steal—or demand—a kiss. Fire lit her belly at the thought of his unshaven cheek rasping the skin of her neck. Or her inner thigh.
A light gust twisted a lock of her hair down over her eye. Rasyn raised his hand and swiped it out of her vision.
Libby trembled, knowing that even the tiniest caress of those strong fingers that had given her so much pleasure in the past would push her over the edge and into his arms.
“Are you sure we are not right for each other? Will you deny yourself this pleasure for the rest of your life?” Rasyn stepped back.
The air between them cooled.
Other memories washed over her. Every lie he'd ever told her. The effortless ease with which he'd manipulated her.
She ran her fingers over the divorce papers. "I'll have these translated before I sign. At least there's one thing I can thank you for. The valuable lesson in not trusting people."
A muscle in his jaw clenched. "Of all things, I regret that the most. Take your anger out on me, but do not lose your open heart, even if you never open it to me."
Libby was so angry she nearly swore at him. "Why would you want anything to do with my heart?"
A long moment passed before he spoke. "Can't you guess? Somewhere in acting as though I was in love with you, the lie became real for me."
Love. The word, on his lips, made her stomach turn over in queasy rebellion. There was only one reason he would say such a thing.
She took a calming breath before speaking. "How convenient that marriage with me would reunite Abbas with the Sabr Valley. And admitting that we aren't divorced is an excellent ploy to convince me of your sincerity. Now get out of my room."
Chapter Sixteen
Sitting in the same room as him was slow torture, like a dull headache that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much aspirin a person took. The only thing that kept Libby to her studies in Prince Hani's well-stocked Western-style library was the knowledge that she was now responsible for the health and happiness of the hundred thousand citizens of the Sabr Valley.
Becoming responsible for her new people offered her the hard work she longed for. She had to learn Arabic so that she could communicate with them. She wouldn’t let anything come between her and being a good servant to those people who lived in her newly formed country. For them, she would put up with Rasyn sitting twenty feet away, pouring over his books, and with his long discussions of leadership with Prince Hani.
The prince claimed that Rasyn had asked to study statecraft under him. King Anwar was recovering, he