The Sheik's Son (31 page)

His dress and manners spoke of a man sure of himself who was destined for something grand. He would be a sheik in his own right once his father died. A sheik. It sounded so foreign and exotic.

She had read the exciting novel
One Thousand and One nights,
Arab stories which had been translated into French. Sebastian would be the sheik he was destined to be and she would be his Queen Scheherazade, except she would not be the expert storyteller weaving fantastic stories to avoid execution. No. She would be his wife in all forms. She would be beside him to help him rule. She would love him. She would give him heirs and they would live happily ever after.

Sophie snapped out of her reverie as Alain made another discovery, placing it in his coat pocket.

Love him
? Sophie focused on the green park below and thought of her words. Yes. She did love him. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to rule with him and make him a great, respected leader. She wanted to be with him always. Suddenly she wanted to cry. She should not have done this.

She should not have let the inspector manipulate her this way. She should have gone to Sebastian and asked for his help. She should have let him take care of this and trusted him to do the right thing. Breaking into her father’s office, even to stop a criminal, was the wrong thing to do. Sophie felt frustrated at her helplessness.

“Let’s go. We’re done,” Alain hissed at her in the dark office.

Sophie picked up the lantern and moved to the door. Opening it slowly, she looked out and, seeing no one, she exited the office. Alain followed her, relocking the door with his tools.

“Come.” They moved through the hallways the same way they had entered, with a silent shadow following them.

Alain took the lantern from her when they parted in the street. “This was a good night’s work.”

Sophie nodded and turned to part from him.

“If and when I need you again, it will be the same as before. I will send you a note.” He spoke quietly.

“What? I thought you said once you find the papers, this is at an end!” she argued.

“Indeed. But this is just the beginning. Think of all the offices and information we have access to. No one will question you and I can bring Paris to heel.” He seemed to gloat.

“There is no
we
, inspector. I helped you this once. I won’t do it again.” She was irritated. He had lied to her.

Alain smiled in the dark street. The lantern threw shadows on his face and he seemed demonic. “You will. You have no choice,
madame
.”

Sophie wanted to rake her nails over his demon face but he made a mocking bow and turned away from her.

Sebastian watched the couple part on the street and he took a carriage home.

***

Sophie wearily entered the darkened house. She had given in to tears on the carriage ride home and cursed the feeling of powerlessness. She made her way slowly up the stairs.

It was almost midnight so she knew she would have to undress herself as she would not wake Marie. She closed the door to her room and almost sagged against it.

She was foolish and naïve. She should have stopped it all before it began. She had only herself to blame. The fire was burning low in the fireplace and she didn’t even stoke it. She moved to her dressing table, standing before it.

She knew once the inspector achieved his desired commissioner status, he would become nothing more than a power-hungry monster who she’d helped create. She pulled the combs from her hair and threw them onto her dressing table.

“
Bonsoir
,” came the quiet, masculine voice.

Sophie whirled around to find Sebastian in the corner of her room on the small couch that overlooked the garden.

“Sebastian.”

“Wife,” he returned.

“What are you doing here? It’s so late,” she asked.

“Yes it is. Very late. I could ask you the same question.”

“I was dining with my father and grandmother. I left word with Marie. Didn’t she tell you?”

“No. I haven’t seen Marie.”

“And you? Where have you been?” she questioned him.

Sebastian smiled. Two could play this little farce. “With Etienne.”

Sophie felt the table under her fingers and watched as his eyes moved over her.

“Is that a mourning gown?” he asked, wondering what she would say in return.

“Yes. It is. I-I was thinking of having it dyed another color. I wanted to see if it still fit.”

“Does it?”

“What?” she asked.

“Still fit?”

“Yes.” She breathed out.

Sophie moved to the mirror to check the back of her dress. The mourning gown was a particularly cumbersome gown with dozens of buttons down the back instead of laces. Marie had helped her into it, but it would take some maneuvering to undo the buttons alone.

Sebastian watched her unbutton one, then two buttons of the dress, but it was difficult alone. He rose and moved to her as Sophie watched him in the mirror. His dark hair was uncombed and he wore only his breeches and white shirt, untied at the neck.

He spoke in her ear. “Let me.”

She watched him in the mirror as his hands went to her back. She felt the first one pop open as he unbuttoned it.

He had beat her home intentionally. He had wanted to wait inside her room and see her face as she entered from the evening. He doubted the man was her lover. After following her, he had waited outside the door of the office and only heard the rustling of papers once they had entered together. There had been no conversation and the entire evening had him baffled. What on earth was she doing?

Their eyes met in the mirror as he unbuttoned another two and each pop could be heard. He moved directly behind her and his hands moved her hips so that she was directly in front of him. She placed her hands on the small vanity table to steady herself. Suddenly his mouth touched her neck as he undid another button.

She trembled. “Bash.”

“Yes?”

“I can do them,” she said softly.

“I suppose you could. But it wouldn’t be this fun.”

Another button and then another, and each time he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and then to the side of her neck, causing goose bumps to break out along her arms. She bit her bottom lip to stop the moan that almost escaped her lips.

When there were only a few more buttons left at the bottom of the gown, he ripped the dress off her, causing the buttons to fly off, and the gown pooled at her feet. He spun her around to face him.

“Bash!” she cried.

“It can be mended,” he said harshly as he pushed her bottom onto the table and moved between her legs.

His cupped the back of her head and pulled her to him. His warm lips were on hers as his tongue pressed into her soft mouth. His fingers threaded into her hair as Sophie moved her hands onto Sebastian’s shoulders and wrapped her legs around him.

“I don’t care about the dress.” Sophie took a shallow breath; the corset constricted her breathing and he watched her breasts rise and fall above the corset line.

He pressed kiss after hot kiss onto the tops of her breasts and pulled her tightly into him as she bounced against the tabletop and pressed a hand into the mirror behind her to steady herself.

Several items from the dressing table fell to the floor and a floral smell filled the room as her perfume bottle toppled over.

“I’ll replace it,” he told her as he bit her ear.

She shuddered in his arms. He could still see her walking with the unknown man in the hallway of the building and the thought of her giving herself to another man drove him over the edge. He was done playing the gentleman.

He pulled the laces from the back of the corset and pulled it up and over her head. She was only wearing her thin cotton shift and he pressed it up along her calves and thighs.

“Sebastian,” she breathed against him.

“No other man will have you, Sophie. No one. I won’t allow it.” Their eyes met.

“I don’t want anyone else, Bash.”

He closed his eyes.
Deceiver
.

She wrapped her legs around him as he backed her up against the mirror, placing one hand on it to steady himself. He stared at his reflection for a brief second. He looked savage and almost barbaric in the darkness. What was he doing? Taking what he wanted. He was taking what he wanted. He pulled Sophie into his arms and carried her to the bed. As he placed her on the bed, he stood before her, shrugging out of his clothes.

Sebastian watched as Sophie lifted the shift above her head and lay back against the bed, pale and naked. She was slender but with feminine curves and hair like a dark flame.

He moved towards her and was on top of her, kissing her lips and smoothing her hair back from her face. He moved between her legs, telling himself to go slow. He did not want to ruin anything for her as he knew with certainty he would be her first man. He vowed that he would be the last as well.

“Sophie,” he murmured.

He was still angry with her but there would be time for questions and answers later. She arched into him and wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel the weight of him and remembered the chateau when he had covered her.

She moved her hands to touch his back and buttocks as he was kissing her neck and mouth, trying to slow everything down. He wanted nothing more than to pound into her but he willed himself to be gentle.

“Bash,” she said breathlessly.

The incredible sensations were all new to her and the feelings were intense. She could feel him moving between her legs and there was a thickness pressing into her. She felt him inside her, stuffing her fully and filling the emptiness, and then a sharp pain.

She pressed against his shoulder in a cry and he soothed her.

“It’s all right, shhh,” he told her softly before pulling back and sliding in and out of her.

It was a delicious feeling and Sebastian felt her tightness surround him. She was slick, wet and warm, and felt like heaven.

He took a stiff nipple into his mouth and she groaned at the pleasure. She felt the waves of pleasure wash over her and she gave herself to it.

“Bash,” she sighed.

He set the rhythm faster and faster, but not wanting to hurt her as she would be sore from her first time. She gasped and cried out once, turning her head away. It was not an intense orgasm but once he felt her shudder, he emptied his seed deep within her. After his orgasm she felt him pull out of her and rest beside her.

He moved to her side but kept a possessive arm around her as she turned to him. She looked at her husband and he met her gaze but neither spoke.

No annulment now
, he thought, smiling in the dark.

Chapter 24

Sebastian was watching himself through the mirror but nothing was as it should be. Sophie was lying on the bed but the man next to her wore a great black coat, as had the man in the government building.

His hands were deathly white and they wandered over her body even as she gave in to him. He watched through the mirror as the black coat covered the couple on the bed and her breathy sighs filled the room.

He tried to advance toward them to tear them apart but realized with horror that he was not looking through the mirror; rather, he was inside the mirror. He couldn’t get to them. He began to beat his fists upon the glass but it only caused small wounds to break out on his fists. The blood smeared the glass even as he called out to her.

“Sophie!” he yelled hoarsely. “Sophie!”

He awoke with a start. The room was cold and the sun was beginning its ascent into the sky. The room had a silver sheen to it and he saw and felt Sophie curled up next to him, her hair a flame against the white pillow.

He drew a finger along her naked back and she turned to him. Her hazel eyes were sleepy and her face smooth and innocent. He had taken her virginity last night, so now an annulment was not possible. He didn’t care. He wanted Sophie beside him and he would keep her at all costs.

He moved toward her and bent his head to nibble on her ear and neck as she giggled like a girl, stretching her legs and arms. He covered her body with his and pressed slowly into her as she gasped.

“Am I hurting you?” He cursed himself. He should have remembered her body wasn’t used to this.

Sophie winced slightly but shook her head. “No. It feels tender down there, but no pain.”

He moved ever so gently in and out of her body in a fluid motion as Sophie gasped and arched her hips.

“Oh, Bash. It feels wonderful,” she told him, closing her eyes in pleasure.

Sebastian smiled as he gazed down at his young wife. He wanted her like this, always hungry for more and for him. He would never want it any other way.

She moaned softly as he set a soothing pace of pressing deep inside her and then pulling out. His shaft filled her completely and then he pulled out until just the tip of it rimmed her and then deep inside again until he felt the seed building inside him. As he emptied his seed, he knew that if a child was conceived he would be pleased.

They lay together in the bed for several minutes before Sebastian kissed her forehead and began to dress in his clothes from the night before.

“I’m not one to mince words, Sophie,” he told her, his tone serious.

Sophie had been lying in bed reliving the two encounters with her husband when he spoke. She turned to him, lying on her stomach with her palms on the pillow supporting her head.

She frowned. “Yes?”

“We need to discuss last night.” He moved over to her dressing table and picked up the brush and comb that had fallen to the floor the night before.

He bent over and retrieved the perfume bottle, which had indeed toppled over, its contents spilled out.

“Last night?” Sophie asked, confused. “Do you usually talk about your encounters? What do I say? I have no comparison.”

Sebastian almost laughed. “No, we don’t need to talk about it, and you will never have another man to compare me to. I’m not talking about us, Sophie. I’m talking about the government building and the man in the black coat.”

Sophie turned pale as she watched her husband return her perfume bottle to its rightful place. He looked into the mirror and saw her reaction.