Free The Disgraced Princess by Robyn Donald

their breaths harmonised and slowly, slowly they coasted down that long slope to reality.
    Gerd turned on his side and hooked his finger underher chin, tilting her face so that he could scan it, raptor’s eyes metallic, like frozen fire.
    He said something—from its tone, an oath—in Carathian, and as her eyes widened rasped in English, ‘Damn it, why didn’t you tell me?’
    Rosie couldn’t think of anything sensible to say. How could she have been so, so abandoned , so lost in his arms she’d neglected the one thing her mother had impressed on her—to make sure there would be no possibility of a child?
    After several moments of taut silence he asked coldly, ‘Are you using any sort of protection at all?’
    She refused to lie. ‘No, and I didn’t need to, did I? You did.’
    â€˜I might not have,’ he ground out. ‘What would you have done, then?’
    â€˜OK, so I behaved like an idiot,’ she said, her lovely glow dissipating into desolation under the icy onslaught of his anger. ‘Probably because I was certain you’d be more careful.’
    He swore again and let her go as though she disgusted him. ‘And why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’
    Sick at heart, Rosie angled her chin away from him. It took every ounce of courage she possessed to say in a steady voice, ‘It wasn’t important.’
    For some reason that made him even more angry. ‘Not important ?’ he snarled. ‘Of course it was important; if you didn’t think so you’d have leapt into bed with any one of the men you’ve been connected to.’
    Again there didn’t seem to be an answer. To tell him the truth—that if she couldn’t have him she wanted nobody—was out of the question, so she shrugged. ‘Forheaven’s sake, it’s not an issue. I’ve always done what I thought was right for me.’
    He leaned back against the pillows. Rosie glanced sideways, saw his arrogant profile silhouetted against the light from the open door, and in spite of everything her pulse started to quicken again; he looked magnificent, big and handsome and furious.
    Hastily she turned her face away again.
    He enquired icily, ‘How could making love with me be right for you?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said without thinking, and because that made her seem a complete fool she went on quickly, ‘Oh, stop being so—so macho about this. I just didn’t think it was necessary to tell you.’ Colour heated her skin and she finished in a smoky voice, ‘Besides, I wasn’t thinking clearly at all—not after that first kiss, anyway.’
    His eyes narrowed. ‘I’m delighted to hear that,’ he said with chilling courtesy. ‘But condoms are not foolproof.’
    Well, of course that was what he was worried about. What else?
    A sense of self-preservation forced her to hide her bleakness with an airy tone. ‘I can easily see a doctor and get protection. But if you want to call things off, I’ll understand.’
    After all, he’d thought he’d be embarking on an affair with a woman of experience. Possibly he found her caresses incredibly gauche and dull.
    Her words were followed by an edged silence before he turned his head and surveyed the length of her body. Rosie’s skin prickled at that slow, almost insultingscrutiny, but deep inside her a humiliating heat began to smoulder into life.
    â€˜No,’ he said silkily. ‘We made a deal, remember? That we’d see where this goes.’
    â€˜I—yes, but you thought you were dealing with someone who knew what she was doing. Your reaction tells me you’re not happy—’
    â€˜Only because you didn’t tell me,’ he interrupted, running a deliberate finger around the ivory curve of one breast, the light, tantalising caress tightening her skin and stirring a swift, heated response.