Chapter six

On their first date, Jamal had kissed Rebecca, and a whole new level of attraction had surged through her. She had felt things she had never felt before; her whole body had lit up like a blazing torch in his arms, and from then on, that kiss became the standard against which she measured all others. None of the men she dated afterward ever came close. And that last kiss in his hotel suite had proved that Jamal still had the power to make her want to tear his clothes off. Uneasy with that reality, Rebecca paced the floor.

Since agreeing to marry him, she had only spoken to Jamal a handful of times on the phone. He had returned to his country while she had been busy taking care of her parents, dealing with the wedding planner, and convincing her business partner, Bella, to hire someone to take her place instead of asking Rebecca to sell her share of the business.

At least she would still have the shop to return to in a year's time, she reflected ruefully.

Would it even take a year for Jamal to get his revenge and then get bored with her? What else could be motivating him? She was convinced that if he had slept with her three years earlier, he would have lost interest. Back then, her awkward rejection of his proposal had made him icily outraged. He hadn't been prepared for it, even though she was in love with him, she had doubts about whether she could successfully live in his world.

Although she had clumsily expressed her misgivings and insulted him, her concerns had been genuine. She was also disappointed to learn that he had buried any ability to become emotionally attached to a woman with his first wife and child.

It amazed her that Jamal's desire for her body could act as such a powerful incentive. How would he react when she proved inexperienced in his bed? Was sex really that important to him? Offering her marriage on that basis seemed crazy, especially since he presumably had no intention of establishing a normal marital relationship. In a year at most, it would be over, and she would be a divorcee back home with her disappointed parents, probably using the excuse that their differences in background and culture were too great to overcome.

A year was such a short time, she told herself. Surely it would pass quickly. Though a split second later, she conceded that time never passed quickly when you were unhappy. She hoped Jamal would put more effort into their marriage than his current approach suggested.

"You need to get up," Bella urged Rebecca, shaking her awake from a deep, dreamless sleep.

Rebecca looked up drowsily at her best friend, a blonde with a spiky short haircut and bright brown eyes that were currently frowning. She was bemused by her tone.

Bella had stayed over, and they had stayed up late, relaxing and chatting.

"What time is it?" Rebecca asked groggily.

"Only seven," Bella said ruefully. "My dad brought the morning papers, and then the phone started ringing off the hook. It’s like all hell has broken loose."

Rebecca sat up and grabbed her robe. "What are you talking about? It’s my wedding day… isn’t it?" she asked in a daze.

"You should go downstairs. I’ll stay up here and be tactful," Bella said, looking uncomfortable. "My dad already went home. There’s a completely ridiculous story about you in the newspaper, and your parents are upset. Plus, there’s a whole pack of photographers on the drive, and I think one of them is practically glued to the doorbell. I don’t know how you slept through it all."

"Blame the large glasses of wine we shared," Rebecca said as she stumbled into the bathroom to freshen up before heading downstairs. She noticed the curtains were still drawn in the lounge and over the glass-panelled front door, keeping the house shrouded in dimness. The phone was off the hook, and the doorbell was ringing nonstop, but it was being ignored. Inside the kitchen was a deathly silence, broken only by the sight of her mother wiping tears from her eyes and her father looking tense and flushed with annoyance.

"What on earth has happened?" Rebecca whispered.

"Read this," her father said, shoving the newspaper towards her with a look of angry disgust.

It was a double-page spread in the *Daily Shout*, the UK’s most sensationalist tabloid known for its celebrity scandals. Rebecca was baffled; there was nothing in her life that could have drawn such salacious media attention, aside from her upcoming wedding. She froze as she recognized the photos scattered across the article.

"Where did they get these photos?" she demanded, her voice shaking. The images included one of her at eighteen in a bikini on a Spanish beach, another of her as a toddler in her mother’s arms, and yet another of her in school uniform.

"Nathan must have taken them from the albums in the trunk in our bedroom," Sarah said heavily, ignoring Negan's immediate denial. "It’s the only explanation."

"Why on earth would Nathan launch a vicious attack on his sister on her wedding day?" Negan demanded.

"Because he’s bitter and a sleazy story like this would have paid him a lot of money," Sarah said quietly, her voice filled with pain. "He probably exaggerated a lot to get a bigger payout."

"Let’s not jump to conclusions without proof," Negan urged uneasily.

"How much proof do you need, Negan? He’s moved into a flat we didn’t know he owned, and he texted you that he’d gone skiing yesterday. Where did he get the money for that?" Sarah sighed. "I hope you don’t take this newspaper seriously."

Rebecca was staring at a colorful image of herself dressed provocatively in a short black leather skirt and a low-cut lace top with fake black wings, taken at a Halloween party the previous year. Beside it was a photo of a man she didn’t recognize, labeled "Ex-boyfriend: Jackson matt." Who on earth was Jackson matt? Her eyes finally fell on the headline: "**THE SEX EXPLOITS OF A FUTURE QUEEN REVEALED**

"Exploits? What exploits?" Rebecca said, her stomach churning as she began to read. The article was full of outrageous lies about her attending sex parties and being a "woman with a voracious appetite for sex and new experiences." She was completely shocked.

"Is it all lies?" Negan asked darkly. "Who is this Jackson Matt ? Why have we never heard of him before?"

"Probably because I’ve never heard of him either," Rebecca said, her voice tight as she continued reading. "I’ve never met him and certainly never gone out with him. Apparently, he used to own a nightclub in London that just closed down. I’m sure the paper doesn’t actually know anything true about me."

Just as she finished speaking, a large man in a dark suit knocked loudly on the back door. As her father moved to answer it, assuming it was another reporter, Rebecca glanced outside and saw Jamal standing in the middle of their large back lawn, clearly having used the back entrance to avoid the photographers at the front.

"It’s Jamal," Rebecca said, her voice filled with warning.

**Rebecca’s mother, Sarah, flustered, opened the back door with a nervous twitter.** “Oh, well, the more the merrier… but isn’t the bridegroom supposed to stay away from the bride before the wedding?”

Jamal stood outside, flanked by five massive bodyguards who seemed as solid as tanks. He wore an exquisitely tailored grey pinstripe suit that accentuated his tall, broad-shouldered physique and lean hips. His dark golden eyes met Rebecca’s with an intense, almost unblinking gaze. Despite the turmoil of the moment, he was still as breathtakingly handsome as ever. Rebecca had seen before how little his mood affected his magnetic allure, even when he had been quietly seething at her rejection years ago.

As Jamal walked into the kitchen, he gave a strained yet polite nod to Rebecca’s parents. Sarah’s husband, Negan, was noisily crumpling the offending newspaper and tossing it into the bin, though his eyes never left Rebecca.

Rebecca, caught off guard in her cozy tartan pajamas and an old fleece robe, felt a deep flush of embarrassment. She had no makeup on, and the sight of Jamal was a harsh contrast to her disheveled appearance. She cursed him for not calling ahead; although the landline was off the hook, he had her cell number and had chosen to use the element of surprise.

Sex parties? After reading that ludicrous claim in the newspaper, Rebecca was convinced that nothing in life would ever surprise her again. It was clear that Jamal had seen the same scandalous article. Was he planning to call off the wedding? The thought struck her with a sharp pang of anxiety, revealing that, despite everything, she had started to accept the idea of marrying him.