Free The Pirate Prince (Pirate's Booty Series, Book Five) by Temple Hogan Page A

me,” she wheedled beguilingly.
    “I have never loved you,” he answered implacably.
    Kamilah snatched her hand from his and slapped him across the cheek.
    “I’ll leave you to your privacy,” Azara said stiffly, sick at heart that she’d witnessed such an intimate scene between Rajak and this beautiful woman.
    “No,” Kamilah said, stepping in front of her. “I want you to stay and see how it is between Rajak and me. You will never be able to win him from me, because, despite what he says, he loves me and he always will.”
    Rajak took hold of her shoulders and turned her toward the door. “You will leave, now. You shouldn’t have come here. It does no good.”
    She shook herself free of him. “I have also come to reclaim my belongings,” she said, tossing her head.
    Rajak looked at the servant who’d entered the room and stood waiting quietly in the midst of such chaos.
    “She came to live here,” the servant explained, keeping his head bowed. “She said you had decreed it. I did not know what to do.”
    “Now, you do,” Rajak said sharply. “Help her gather her things and see she’s taken back to Port Dauphin.” He turned back to Kamilah. “Do you still have the house I provided for you or have you sold it?”
    “I have a better place to stay,” she said. “Boghos has offered me his home.”
    “Boghos? Surely, you would not consider going with a man like him?” Rajak said, drawing his fine eyebrows together in a scowl.
    “Are you jealous?” Kamilah asked the very thing Azara had wondered.
    “You may go where you choose,” Rajak snapped and walked to the door. “Kalari!”
    At once the handsome young man entered.
    “I heard she was here and thought you might need me,” he explained to Rajak.
    “Escort her back to Port Dauphin. I will send her belongings as soon as they’ve been gathered.” He turned back to Kamilah. “This is over, once and for all. Don’t approach me again, or I’ll have you exiled from the island.”
    Kamilah raised her chin defiantly. “With Boghos, the lord of the island, I am protected from your threats,” she said and spat at him before flouncing from the room.
    Rajak wiped away the spittle and turned to Azara, his eyes nearly black in his lingering fury.
    “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said, crossing to take her hands.
    She pulled them away. “I’m glad I did. It has shown me a new side to you. One, that in my naiveté, I hadn’t suspected.”
    “Don’t judge me too harshly,” he urged, “until you know all the facts.”
    “Then tell me so I may understand what all this means.” Her gaze moved over his face.
    She saw the anger, the male stubbornness that she’d often seen in her father. His silence confirmed her suspicions. He was a man and he ruled a world of his own making while she, as a mere woman, must accept what men decreed. The fact that she was a princess made no difference.
    “I will trouble you no further,” she said, keeping her voice even and her head high. “Please have your servants show me to my rooms.”
    Without waiting for his reply, she walked rapidly into the hall where her attendants and Rajak’s servants huddled, uncertain what to do. Azara was aware that he followed close behind. He escorted her to the bottom of the curving stairs and took her arm so she was forced to look at him.
    “I’d planned a different homecoming,” he said, his voice ragged, his expression closed and guarded.
    “So had I,” she answered and pulled away from him.
    He motioned to one of his servants. A young woman stepped forward, offered a tentative smile and led the way up the beautiful staircase. Azara was well aware that Rajak stood at the bottom, watching them ascend, but she didn’t look back. Instead, she pulled her veil closer about her head to hide the tracks of tears down her cheeks.

 

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    A pleasant breeze blew from the balcony, cooling the spacious rooms and caressing the skin like a