“I don’t trust myself not to stab you if we’re in private,” she told him pleasantly as she picked up her bagel and began to munch on it.
His eyes rounded before he laughed.
“Rachel, you are very refreshing. Do you know that? I am unused to women taking such liberties in the way in which they speak to me.”
“Well, then, you haven’t been hanging out in America long enough.”
“No. I’m unable to be here for the length of time I originally planned. I have obligations at home, a country in upheaval since the death of my father, and a brother who is on a vendetta,” he said, thanking the waitress when she set down his coffee.
“You lost your father?” she asked, her voice softening for a moment.
“Yes, about a month before I met you,” he replied.
“I’m sorry, Ian,” Rachel told him. That explained a bit about his desperation when they were together, maybe why he’d been so eager to be with a stranger. It didn’t explain her own behavior, but it was obvious that he had been grieving and using sex as a way to deal with that pain.
If she hadn’t been using him as well, she might have been offended, but as it was, she couldn’t take too much of a stance.
“He was a great king,” Ian said.
“I’m sure he was a great father, too.”
“Yes, he did a good job of ruling his home and his country.”
“That doesn’t sound like a father. That sounds like a tyrant,” she replied, even more worried now that this man was her child’s father.
“You compare the king to a tyrant?” he gasped.
“Oh, come on, Ian. You are much too outraged over a little comment. I wasn’t calling your daddy a tyrant. Sheesh.” She blew out her breath, then returned to her bagel.
“It will do you good to be in my country. Obviously you need to have some manners taught to you,” he said with a smirk, quickly recovering from his shock over her unrestrained tongue.
Rachel felt her blood boil.
“I can’t believe you just said that. Seriously, Ian, I don’t want to keep our child away from you, but I swear, if you make such insulting comments around him, I will chop off your head. My parents taught me that men and women are equal. I don’t know what kind of archaic country you run, but you won’t turn my child into a chauvinist pig,” she said.
“I will enjoy taming you, Rachel. But I do hope you keep some of that fire — for the bedroom, of course.”
“I’m done with this conversation. You’re the man — pay the bill!” she snapped, and then rose from the table and walked away.
How had she thought they could have a normal conversation? What had she gotten herself into by sleeping with a stranger? Her brother was going to kill her, kill Ian, maybe just throttle them all and call it good.
“We weren’t done speaking yet,” Ian said when he caught up to her on the sidewalk.
“You might not have been done, but I was,” she informed him. She tugged against the hand he’d placed on her arm.
Suddenly, she was lifted in his arms and he was carrying her between two buildings, leaving them in a quiet alcove. She seriously thought about screaming bloody murder.
“Listen for two seconds,” he commanded.
She was so shocked by his tone that her mouth fell open and no sound emerged from her throat.
“That’s better,” he said. “I can tolerate a certain amount of insolence because you do carry my child, but there are also some things on which I must insist. You will marry me — and I will play an active part in raising the future king. Once you accept this, it will be much easier on all of us.”
His body was pressing her against the wall, and though she felt a small measure of desire, anger was quickly overriding it.
“If you don’t release me right now, I’ll have you arrested for assault and kidnapping,” she snapped.
“As a foreign head of state, I have immunity under international law. Good luck with that.”
His confident smirk sent her over the edge and Rachel struggled against him, ready to do damage to any part of his body that she could get her hands on.
Ian leaned down and closed his mouth over hers, knocking her breath out from shock as his tongue slid along her lips. Before she could bite him, he pulled back.
“I won’t leave without you, Rachel.” By the look in his eyes, she could see that he was deadly serious.
“Well, then, welcome to America,” Rachel replied. She’d finally got enough room to lift her knee, and she slammed it against his groin, making him double over in agony.
Before he had a chance to react, Rachel sprinted from the alley and hailed a cab. She was long gone before he emerged from the dark alley. That was probably a really good thing for her.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Shane
As the stun-gun prong plunged into Lia’s delicate skin, Shane saw red. Time for talking was over.
Three men had approached, and of course, the maggots had gone straight for Lia. They were now circling around Shane, knowing he wasn’t as easy a target.
“You need to get away from Andino,” the largest man in the group said, menace clearly written on his face.
“You’re going to pay for hurting my woman,” Shane growled, taking a step back so he could have all of the men in his line of vision.
“What do you think you’re going to do about it?” another of the men said and guffawed.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to have a real good time with your woman. She seems like quite the little peach,” the group’s obvious leader said. He threw a leer in Lia’s direction.
Their circling had pushed the group of men, including Shane, back farther into the alley, blocking them from the view of the passing people on the street — not that anyone had jumped in to help thus far. Shane didn’t think anyone was planning to call the cops or come to their assistance any time soon.
Not that he needed help.
When the man turned toward Lia, taking his eyes off Shane, he made his first mistake. Never take your eye off the threat.
Shane rushed him, and the man turned back just in time to see Shane’s fist slamming toward his jaw.
One hit. That was all it took for him to knock the burly man out.
His friends gasped in shock. Obviously, people didn’t take down their leader so easily. They eyed Shane warily as they pulled out baleful blades.