The Prince & the Pregnant Princess Read Online Free

said, leaning against the railing and striving for casual. “Is it something tall men do instinctively or is it more of a princely art?”
    His gaze narrowed. “You still have not learned to curb your tongue. As a woman, you should know better.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You left out the word mere, and that’s what really gives the sentence its spice. As a mere woman, I should know better.”
    “Exactly.”
    His agreement didn’t make her feel very charitable or friendly. “ Sadik , you’ve got to get some different material. It’s the new millennium. Women now have brains and we use them. Or didn’t you get the memo?”
    He seemed to loom a little more aggressively. “I am Prince Sadik of Bahania . You will not speak to me this way. You must learn your place.”
    “Last time I checked, my place was about ten feet away.” She nodded toward her room. “So I do know it, and I have to say, it’s lovely.”
    He took a half step closer, which made him way too close. Then he glared at her and growled. Cleo couldn’t believe it. There was an honest-to-goodness growling noise in his throat.
    A shiver tripped up her spine and made her shiver. On the one hand she was pleased to know that she could still bug him. On the other hand, being this close to him made it hard to think and to breathe. Not a good combination.
    He glared at her, and she glared right back. No way was she going to let him know how much he’d hurt her. There had been at least 120 nights since she’d last seen him, and she would bet she’d cried herself to sleep at least seventy of them. Which made her mad at both him and herself.
    The trick was to make sure he never found out that he had ever mattered. Oh, and not to let him know she was pregnant.
    “When do you plan to apologize for leaving my bed?” he asked.
    The question stunned her. She stared at him for several seconds as the words chased themselves around in her head. Was he crazy? It was a horrible time to suddenly remember she wore panties, a nightgown and a robe. Little protection against Sadik’s masculine charms.
    “I have nothing to apologize for. I was ready to end things, so I left.”
    The muscle in his jaw tightened. “No woman leaves my bed without being asked.”
    His arrogance really got on her nerves. “Apparently that’s not completely true, as I left before you asked. And while we’re on the subject of apologies, where’s mine?”
    The tight jaw muscles twitched. “For what?”
    He spoke through clenched teeth. It was a neat trick, she thought.
    “Why am I not surprised that you don’t get it,” she said more to herself than to him. “It’s so typically male.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “You gave me jewelry, Sadik . After we made love, you offered me expensive gifts. It’s not like we had an actual relationship and cared about each other.”
    Okay, she’d cared about him, but he didn’t have to know that. “It was a little too much like leaving money on the nightstand. I may not be a royal princess, but that’s no excuse to offer payment for services.”
    She had the pleasure of seeing Sadik look completely stunned. His jaw unclenched, and for a second she thought his mouth might drop open.
    “Those gifts were not a payment,” he said, obviously seething with barely controlled rage. “They were an expression of my honor at the treasure being offered.”
    Cleo had to turn that sentence over a couple of times before it made anything close to sense. By treasure did he actually mean sex? “In case you hadn’t noticed, I wasn’t a virgin. There wasn’t any treasure involved. Which you knew, by the way, because we talked about it before we—”
    He kissed her. Cleo was unprepared, and Sadik moved so quickly she didn’t have any warning. One second she’d been talking and the next, he took her in his arms and drew her close.
    The feel of his strong body against her own caused all the air to rush from her lungs. She gasped