Free The Sheik's Arranged Marriage by Susan Mallery Page A

naked and doing things together. To be honest, some of the positions had terrified her. She wasn’t that flexible and if she was, wouldn’t they put a strain on her back?
    “I—I didn’t study anything else,” she said, backing away from him. Her leg hit a low table, and she found herself stumbling back as she lost her balance. She landed on a pile of cushions.
    She pushed herself into a kneeling position and fought back the tears burning in her eyes. “Look, we have to talk about it,” she said.
    “What it are you referring to?”
    “That ‘it.”’ She pointed to the bed on which he sat. “I can’t do this. I can’t have sex with a stranger.”
    “I told you, that’s not expected.”
    “Good, because I really need to get to know you better.” Like for the next five years, she thought.
    “Fine.” He drew in a deep breath. “Heidi, I’m not interested in terrifying you. This isn’t going to be horrible.”
    “I appreciate your faith in me, but I think it’s a little misplaced.” She steeled herself to speak the absolute truth. He was her husband, and he deserved that much from her. “I don’t plan to enjoy sex. I mean, I’ve never understood the point of it. To me, marriage is more a spiritual and mental union between two people.”
    Jamal stared at her without saying a word. His expression tightened a little, but otherwise he seemed fine. Maybe he would understand, she thought hopefully.
    She swallowed, then continued. “I’ve always believed that any physical passion is highly overrated. There was a show on cable a few years back. They remade Pride and Prejudice, which is this terrific book. Anyway, the hero, Mr. Darcy, is the most wonderfully kind man and perfect husband. He really respects the heroine. He’s gracious and well mannered and restrained.” She smiled at the memory of how he looked at Elisabeth Bennett—complete infatuation combined with great longing. “He was fabulous and all I’ve ever wanted in man.”
    “You’re in love with a character in a book?”
    His voice didn’t exactly thunder in the tent, but it was close enough to make Heidi shiver.
    “No, of course not. He’s just different from other men.”
    “That could be because he’s not real.”
    She shook her head. “You’re missing my point.”
    “Oh, please. Enlighten me.”
    Heidi tried to figure out what Jamal was thinking, but his face was completely blank.
    “I absolutely intend to respect your animal passions,” she assured him. “But I’m hoping that we can eventually rise above them to a higher form of marriage.”
    Jamal rose slowly to his feet. He carefully set the champagne glass on the table, then turned to the bed. In one quickly powerful movement, he stripped away the top layer of covers.
    “Worry not, my good wife,” he growled as he turned to face her. “I promise not to offend you with my animal passions or any other part of myself. I’ll sleep on the floor tonight, and when we return to the palace in the morning, I will be most careful to stay out of your way.”
    Heidi supervised the last of her belongings as they were transferred into Jamal’s suite. At first she’d thought it might be better to stay in the harem but that would have required explanations she was not prepared to make.
    As far as wedding nights went, theirs had been less than perfect. The worst part was, she couldn’t figure out what exactly had gone wrong.
    Obviously Jamal had been angered by her talk of Mr. Darcy and her hopes that their marriage would move to a higher plane…one that didn’t involve physical intimacy. But she wasn’t talking about now. Maybe she hadn’t made it clear that she intended to do her wifely duty for as long as it took for him to be satisfied. Surely in a year or two he would be willing to put all that behind him. But Jamal had overreacted to her thoughts on the subject, and now they weren’t even speaking.
    She sighed as she remembered the silent ride back to the palace. His