Forbidden: The Billionaire's Virgin Princess by Lucy MonroeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
3 ⭐⭐⭐ - OK decent reads.
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Sebastian Hawk. The last person she expected to see at this moment in her life. The last man she expected, or wanted, to see ever again.
Soaring through the air like a bird diving for its prey, memories from eight years before flooded Lina’s mind in a reel-to-reel play of her time with Sebastian Hawk.
She did study, just not nearly as much as he believed. However, like her father and far too many other men from her country, her guard did not believe a woman could get the grades she did without putting a huge effort into the task.
Sure, at first, when she’d been sent away from all that she knew, she’d felt abandoned. But as she’d grown older, she’d realized her parents’ lack of interest in her daily life was to her benefit. They were very conservative and that attitude influenced their Americanized relatives they’d placed her with at the tender age of six.
The plan had been for him to confer with her bodyguard and then arrange to “bump into” the princess on her way out of the library later.
Did anyone in the princess’s life know who she really was and how she amused herself?
However, he would only take it so far. He didn’t do long-term and for so many reasons, Lina was not a candidate for a short-term affair.
His liaisons with women were just that. Commitment free, exchanges of pleasure without any false protestations of emotion. He didn’t even have female friends. He had no interest in getting serious with a woman. In any guise. Ever.
He wasn’t risking its reputation for a woman. No matter how enticing she was.
She did not remember her parents ever touching her with affection, and knew for a fact her father had never once given her any recognition as anything but his inferior female offspring.
Maybe he needed a vacation. One filled with discreet liaisons that would rid his mind of his…the princess’s image.
Hawk hadn’t had a virgin since high school. He had a strict policy of keeping his liaisons limited to experienced women who weren’t looking for a relationship much less a lifelong commitment.
He leaned down and took her bottom lip between his teeth. He sucked on it gently as she made a soft, surprised sound.
He gave into the silent plea in her gaze and kissed her, taking her mouth fully with lips, teeth and tongue. She whimpered, her body writhing in unconscious abandon against him.
“Ah, Lina. You are so responsive. I want to touch you all over.”
But Lina wasn’t like his other women. Not only was she a virgin, but she was a client. She would think sex meant happily ever after, but he didn’t do permanent.
What he had just done with Lina was stupid from every side.
SHE tried to burrow back into his arms, but he shook his head, a look of disgust on his face as he pushed her away.
“So, the threat has been neutralized and my assignment here is done?”
“So, everything was a big deception. You weren’t my friend…my anything.” “The deception was necessary.” “No, it wasn’t.” Pain lanced through her, but she wasn’t going to let that comment slide. “You could have told me the truth.”
To deliver her to her family to marry the Playboy Prince. Okay, so he didn’t understand why King Fahd bin Latif had arranged Lina’s marriage to a sheikh who didn’t seem able to keep his scandals out of the newspaper, but it wasn’t Hawk’s job to judge the actions of his clients. He’d taken on an assignment and he would see it to completion.
She’d loved a lie anyway. It wasn’t as if anything about the man had been real eight years ago.
I learned all I needed to know about how much you respected my privacy and personal rights eight years ago. You showed me then that you would do or say anything to get the job done. I fully expect you to do the same this time around.”
She wanted love in her marriage, or she preferred to remain unattached. If she had children, she was determined to give them a different upbringing than she had had. No matter how much her aunt and uncle had loved her, Lina had never been able to completely dismiss her parents’ rejection.
“No, sweetheart. We can’t.” Then he said the one thing that for him was irrefutable. “You belong to another man.”
Lina’s gaze could have frozen lava as she put more distance between them. “Even if I had agreed to marry a man, I wouldn’t belong to him like a pet dog. We might conceivably belong to each other in an emotional sense, but my commitment would be just that. A commitment, not a contract of indenture. And in this case, I did not agree to marry anyone. I am not engaged and I have made no promises of fidelity. If I had, rest assured I would not be in this bathroom with you.”
But Sebastian’s betrayal had destroyed her ability to trust. Both her own judgment and in the honesty of men who expressed interest in her.
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