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Rashad lost colour below his bronzed skin, his strong facial bones tightening, because in truth he was in deep shock at as unfolding He was a very private man Even as a child he had been forced by circus absolutely to himself And in all his life nobody had ever been able to read him as accurately as she just had and it made him feel exposed as the fraud he sometimes feared that he was He had done his duty, he conceded bitterly, but clearly he had not done it well enough to convince his bride ‘Why would you think such a thing of me?’

‘If you lie to me now, it will be the last straw!’ Polly warned him shakily ‘I deserve the truth’

Rashad angled his proud dark head back in the sulfed theround Polly could hear the ti the shore outside and, inside her own body, she could feel the quickened apprehensive beat of her heart

‘For me, the last straould be that you have married me today and now, quite independent of any reason or discussion, have decided that you will refuse to consue!’ he bit out rawly ‘That, by any standards, is unacceptable’

His roughened intonation made Polly flinch at the standoff she had hoped to avoid by explaining her feelings ‘Trust ait all down to sex!’ she shot back bitterly ‘Of course you can’t get nant if we don’t have sex, so I suppose that has to be your rounds for complaint—’

‘I’ve had enough of this,’ Rashad ground out abruptly, tooat him to allow him the calm and patience req

uired to deal with an e out’

Polly was stunned by the idea that he would simply walk out on a row ‘You can’t just walk out… Where are you going to go, for goodness’ sake? We’re on a beach surrounded by desert in the middle of nowhere! And ill people think?’ she exclaimed in sudden consternation

‘Let me see…’ Rashad inclined his handsome dark head to one side in a way that aze unhidden ‘They will think that a honeymoon baby is unlikely,’ he breathed curtly ‘But thankfully they will not know that my bride refused me!’

He strode through a connecting door she hadn’t noticed until that precise moment and the door thudded shut in his wake The silence that spread around Polly then felt claustrophobic and, her throat tight and dry, she collapsed down on the side of the bed, her lower limbs limp as noodles What had she done? she asked herself in belated consternation What on earth had she done? The right thing? Or the wrong thing?

In the rooe so emotionally powerful it disturbed even him But he never ever lost his teulate any potentially dangerous outburst had been beaten into hiht hiht himself to quell the passion that fired him and…and walk away But the look on his bride’s face when he’d walked away had been frankly incredulous Too late he was discovering the downside to ue with him

As he paced, on several occasions he strode back towards the door that separated their rooer to defend hiain What, after all, could he say to her? That the knowledge he was on show in front of cameras invariably paralysed him with unease? That such intense attention had never been welcome to him and that her ability to behave with cool nor, was supposed to be stronger than that, more disciplined, more able to perfor was not supposed to be introspective or eurehead, a flawless roleleader While Rashad reiterated his stringent uncle’s most frequent directives inside his own head, he continued to pace in raging frustration

He had ner who had fired an erotic hunger in hi he had ever expected or even wanted to feel In such a situation, it was downright unnerving and absolutely outrageous to positively crave another opportunity to argue with her Tearing his attention from the door between them, he ripped off his cere He had stayed long enough out of view not to rouse household corimly as he left the room and strode down to the stables

At least his horse wasn’t going to ask him unanswerable questions and pick up on his deficiencies, he reflected with bitter hued, furious at that de reality In truth his previous experience with Western wo more than that But he did have considerable experience of being denied sex That Polly should do that to hinised that she felt the saed and frustrated hi

What did she want from him? What the hell did she expect from him? So, he had acted weird?