Chapter four

Back then, he had been inexperienced, having only ever slept with the wife he married at eighteen. He had wanted Rebecca, and she had wanted him, but he believed it would be dishonorable to become intimate with her before marriage. Thanks to Rebecca’s rejection, he was no longer that innocent, he reflected. His wide, sensual mouth narrowed and compressed as he wondered if she was deliberately playing the temptress, as women often did with him, to divert and attract him.

“No, you are not that clueless,” Rebecca retorted, feelingly pushing her slender hands down on the arms of the chair to rise and confront him. “You know very well I’m asking you to show some compassion for my parents’ predicament.”

The swishing of her brown shinny hair as it swung around her shoulders caught his attention, his gaze lingering on the rosy color warming her delicate features, highlighting the sapphire brilliance of her eyes. “In what way? And what are you offering me in return?” Jamal murmured dryly. “Don’t you think that in the complete loss of that loan, I’ve already paid dearly for my act of generosity towards your family?”

Rebecca's face burned with embarrassment at his blunt question, feeling as if he had slapped her. She couldn’t factor in that angle when asking him for yet another favor. "Yes, you've paid a high price... we all have, but you should have considered the consequences when you gave Nathan that loan."

"Before you accuse me of your brother's deceit and provoke my anger," Jamal said smoothly, his dark golden eyes fixed on her with predatory force, silencing her suddenly, "think about what you're asking for. Some form of forgiveness, which I've already stated is impossible? Or are you asking me to waste more money on your family?"

Rebecca turned pale, shame and anxiety mixing to stir nausea in her stomach. She understood his point completely and couldn’t bring herself to outright ask him for money to help her parents because it seemed so wrong, indeed quite outrageous in the circumstances. For the first time, she questioned why she had approached him in the first place and why she had allowed Nathan to influence her attitude. Surely, had she taken the time to think things through, she would have recognized that asking Jamal for more financial help would be indefensible?

"I'm just asking you to show some compassion, not for Nathan or me but for my parents," she finished weakly, too mortified to meet his intense gaze, knowing it would only intensify her awareness of the humiliating role she had allowed her brother to push her into accepting. For a moment, she almost mentioned her parents' current health problems but bit her tongue, convinced that playing for Jamal's pity would only shame her and her family more.

"Nicely put," Jamal countered with a sardonic edge, his dark eyes glittering like knives. "You know how wealthy I am, and like many others, you expect me to come to the rescue. And I have to ask you, especially when you have the nerve to ask me to go against my principles, what am I to receive in return?"

The suffocating tension tightened Rebecca's throat. She turned away, sank into her seat again, and lifted her coffee cup like a tiny shield. "In return? Anything I can offer," she muttered unevenly, knowing she had nothing to offer but gratitude and feeling deeply embarrassed by that reality.

"Are you offering me sex?" Jamal inquired lazily. For a split second, confronted with that shocking question, Rebecca wondered if she would agree to such a degrading act of intimacy if it could magically restore her parents' lives to normal. The answer came quickly and clearly in her mind. Color surged across her cheeks and ran up in a tide of pink to her hairline while her coffee cup rattled on the saucer as her hand trembled.

"I can get sex anywhere, anytime I want," Jamal mocked.

"I wasn't going to offer it," Rebecca told him with as much dignity as she could muster, her teeth gritting against his arrogant self-assurance. Nevertheless, she suspected he was simply stating the situation as it was. He was exceptionally good-looking and shockingly rich, even without considering the thrill some women might get from bedding a powerful man. She was quite sure that willing women queued up for the privilege of being with him, and her conviction that he was an almost irresistible package only angered her more.

Surprisingly for a man so aware of the high value of sex, Jamal believed Rebecca because he couldn't imagine a truly sophisticated woman still blushing the way she did. But the imagery in his mind was far from sophisticated, and he knew from the intense male burn of his rapidly awakening desire that if she had offered, he would have said yes, and to hell with whether such ignoble behavior would be beneath him.

That realization shook him because while sex was easily available to Jamal and an appetite he couldn't ignore, he had never viewed it as a special or greatly prized pleasure. But for some reason, when he looked at Rebecca Green, his body hummed with the expectation of extraordinary pleasure because it was the passion in her volatile nature that had drawn him to her from the start.

He crushed that exciting fantasy at its source, reminding himself that he needed a wife and a child much more than he needed a passionate mistress. On that thought, he stiffened, unable to overlook the reality that if she had said yes when he asked her to marry him, he would most likely have been a father again by now. All the old dark anger and bitterness he had buried stirred deep inside him once more, razor-edged thoughts of his unresolved desire for her taunting his ferocious pride.

He had never desired a woman as intensely as he had once desired Rebecca Green, and she was the only woman he had ever wanted but never had. Perhaps that was the key to her lingering allure, he thought with a sense of self-disgust at such a personal weakness, and it made sense that familiarity would soon turn into disdain. That belief comforted him, offering the hope that in time he would forget about her and how she had once affected him so negatively. Life was too short for regrets and 'what ifs.' He would eventually tire of her. He always did because women could be very predictable. She would be his final act of defiance against the traditional, respectable future of marriage and children that awaited him. He would enjoy himself for a while, and then he would fulfill his duties by settling down with a wife and having children, he swore to himself.

"That's unfortunate," Jamal responded to her proud declaration that she had not been offering him sex. "Because the one thing you say you would not offer is the only thing I want from you."

Rebecca felt extreme disconcertion as she mentally dissected his words several times to convince herself that she had not misunderstood his meaning. He was telling her that he still found her attractive and that the only thing he wanted from her was sex. How dared he admit that with such smooth and shameless coolness? Heat warmed her cheeks again and spread down between her breasts as she bit back furious words of reproach and struggled to breathe normally. "I can't believe you just said that to me."

"Deception would be of little use to you at this point," Jamal countered quietly. "Whatever else I may be guilty of, you can trust me to always tell you the truth."

For a moment, Rebecca froze, recalling the last unforgettable occasion when he had told her the truth—that he did not love her and never would. It was a hauntingly brutal moment that had tainted every memory of him with pain and a deep sense of humiliation. She often thought that lies would have been kinder, only to realize they would have made her unhappier in the end. She would have married him and ultimately ended up miserable.

"I want you in my bed," Jamal admitted with unblemished coolness. "In return, I will ensure that your parents' financial status is restored to what it was before Nathan's mismanagement ruined their security."

"I want you in my bed." A tingling sensation curled like a flame low in her pelvis, and Rebecca shifted uneasily in her seat, trying not to imagine what it would be like to share Jamal's bed. Wide-eyed and feeling hot inside skin that suddenly felt tight over her bones, she focused on his undoubtedly handmade leather shoes and kept her ready tongue firmly between her teeth. She was fighting her own natural instincts harder with every passing second. She could have asked him if he was joking and instantly rejected such a shocking proposal. She could have made a scene and stormed out in an impressive temper. But Rebecca had a strong streak of caution and practicality, and she was all too aware that Jamal was the only person in a position to help her family.

"That's immoral," she declared half under her breath, unable to resist making that accusation. "You're inviting me to sell myself to you."

"I'm offering you the only rescue bid you're likely to receive. It is for you to choose whether or not you will accept my proposition," Jamal contradicted, shutting out every protest from his clean-living conservative soul and refusing to listen. One final act of rebellion, he reminded himself doggedly. And didn't she deserve it for the games she had played three years back when she had lured him in with the promise of her passion and her beautiful body and falsely encouraged him to believe that she genuinely cared for him?

"How long would you envision this... arrangement lasting?" Rebecca prompted, her voice high and tight with strain, as she could barely credit that after three years apart she could even be having such a conversation with him.

"A year?" Jamal murmured, disconcerted by the speed with which that time period had suggested itself to him and wondering where that idea had come from. After all, he had never kept a single mistress for as long as a year. His interest in a woman faded within months of bedding her, even though he saw comparatively little of his lovers. At the same time, he tried and failed to picture Rebecca in the Dubai apartment while wondering if word of an Englishwoman's presence there would be more likely to leak to the press. Just as quickly, he realized that the Dubai option would be a bad idea. And that indeed he had a much better idea in the offing, one that would make the punishment fit the crime.

I apologize for the oversight. Let's paraphrase the chapter using different words while maintaining the same meaning and changing the names as requested:

"For the sake of appearances, we'll tie the knot," Jamal declared without hesitation.

"Tying the knot?" Rebecca exclaimed incredulously.

"I'm avoiding scandal. Marrying you, even if we divorce after a year, is a safer, more acceptable option for my reputation. Plus, it gives me the freedom to be with you whenever I please," Jamal smoothly reasoned, his conscience eased by this solution. Marrying her wouldn't be breaking any rules or taking advantage, he reassured himself. It felt liberating what a bit of unconventional thinking could achieve.

Feeling like she'd gone ten rounds with a prizefighter, Rebecca stood and placed her coffee cup down. Marry Jamal? Embrace what she'd turned down years ago? The idea was daunting. "I can't do it. I can't marry you."

Raw anger surged through Jamal's lean, powerful frame, his tawny eyes gleaming with intensity. "You have twelve hours to reconsider," he stated with a cutting edge. "If I don't hear from you by then, I'll take that as a no."

Rebecca's feet felt glued to the carpet, her eyes fixed on his hard, dark features. Dismay pierced her, reminding her that rejecting this marriage proposal, her parents' only lifeline, might not be wise.

"Twelve hours is too short," she stalled, buying herself time.

"It's more than generous," Jamal insisted.

Rebecca turned pale. "Even when you know you've already won?" she whispered, the pros and cons swirling in her mind, leaving her no escape from the inevitable.

Jamal could restore her parents' security, undoing the damage Nathan caused. He was her family's only hope. How could she walk away, leaving them to struggle? The burden of the consequences rested heavily on her shoulders.

Jamal moved closer with the grace of a predator. "Have I convinced you?"

"How can I refuse?" Rebecca asked, her voice trembling. "My parents don't deserve this hardship. They shouldn't have to deal with Nathan's mess and financial ruin."

Jamal gently took her hand in his, pulling her nearer.

"So, will you marry me?" he asked.

"But it won't work, even for a year," Rebecca protested weakly. "I won't fit into your world."

Eyes glowing like embers gazed intensely at her troubled countenance. "You'll be perfect in my bed," he assured her, and as panic and a sudden awareness of his attraction tensed every muscle in her body, Rebecca realized that was the sole thought occupying his mind.