The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress Page 0,46

her for what she"d done and her lies. His conscience had beaten him up several times over throughout the flight to London. For the past several months, she"d continuously disobeyed him, flaunted his rules, ignored him, berated him, tempted him beyond any other woman"s ability to lure himand then he"d discovered that she"d lied to him. That she was not who she"d portrayed herself to be was the ultimate insult.

Now, hearing her explanation and realizing what impact the guards had had on her life before he"d met her, his conscience was slightly appeased. It also helpedwhen she"d told him that no other man had ever kissed her. He was undeniably a sexist that liked…no was proud…of the fact that no other man had even touched her before him. This beauty was completely his in every sense of the word.

He had no regrets for her upbringing for he realized at that moment, that the guards she"d stated had made her life so miserable, had only protected her for him all these years. Knowing that, he knew exactly what he wanted. And she"d just inadvertently handed him the wayon a silver platter although she didn"t know it.

“So you didn"t lie to me deliberately?” he asked.

Electra stormed over to him and punched him in the chest. Unfortunately, he had so much muscle, it hurt her and barely even registered on his arrogantface. “You jerk! Didn"t you listen to anything I said? All I wanted was a normal life! I wanted what my friends had.”

“And what was that?” he asked, reaching down to take her hand and massage the fist he could tell was aching from her angry outburst.

She tried to pull her hand from his grasp but he held her firmly, kneading the flesh gently to ease the pain. “I wanted a boyfriend, freedom to get into trouble and figure out life for myself. I wanted to date and be excited about my first kiss and my first lover. I wanted to get a job and have all the struggles and victories other people have.”

“Ah, but you aren"t normal, Electra,” he said. “By the way, I like that name much better than Ellie. What made you come up with such a commonplace, calm name like Ellie anyway? It never suited you.”

She pulled her hand away and stepped back but she was only mildly irritated that he didn"t like her assumed name. “I like that name. It made me feel normal.”

He sighed heavily and turned to face her, leaning back against the sofa and sliding his hands into his pockets as he surveyed her with new eyes. Eyes that saw more than she wanted him to see. “Therein lies the problem. You are not normal. You are special.”

She rolled her eyes at his comments, immediately dismissing it as just tripe he was trying to dish out to her to appease her anger. “Oh, pish.” She paced back and forth in front of the sofa, her agitation making her movements jerky. “Flattery will get you no where with me. I have all the normal feelings of any other female. Probably a lot more insecurities though since I never was able to chase boys or see if they really liked me.”

“And that"s all my fault?” he asked, hiding his amusement on his face but she could see it in his eyes.

Her han ds balled into fists by her side but she didn"t take another swing at him, knowing it would hurt her more than him. “Yes, you arrogant jerk! And don"t you dare laugh at me. You don"t know what it"s like to be guarded all the time…” she started to say but then stopped and caught herself. “Well, okay, perhaps you do know what it"s like. But you always had women around you. You never knew what it was like to be the only female in the school where the boys were afraid to approach. I didn"t go to my prom or any of the school dances. I never went to the movies and had sweaty palms, in anticipation of that first kiss with your new boyfriend. I wanted it so desperately but each time I tried to contact you, to beg you to pull back the body guards who were destroying my life, you ignored me.”

“I was willing to meet you several weeks ago. In fact, I made time in my schedule just to speak with you.”

Electra blushed at the memory of their first meeting. “I hate you for bringing that up,” she countered,