Page 101 of Thief of Hearts

Zain closed the door and I headed to the washroom. I wanted to clean off the stink of tonight, get it out of my hair and off my skin and—

His hand closed around my arm and I had to stop myself from punching him for daring to touch me. He must have had a reason. He pulled me in close and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. I was too shocked to do anything but stand there.

Then he whispered in my ear.

“Time to pretend.”

Chapter Thirty

“Pretend what?” I demanded.

“Pretend that I am your manservant who lives only for your pleasure. That painting over there. Don’t stare. Do you see a set of eyes that blink?”

Zain began to kiss my neck, giving me a way to tilt my head to the side so that I could look at the painting. I scanned each face until I found—there. He was right.

Someone was watching us.

I was so very tired of people spying on me. “If I had a dagger, I would stab them.”

“It’s not their fault.” He breathed the words over my skin, and I inadvertently closed my eyes against the delicious sensation. “It’s most likely a servant who has been ordered to verify our affair.”

“Why?”

“Thieves collect secrets. Especially ones they can use against people.”

It was difficult to concentrate on what he was saying because the way he dragged his lips across my throat . . . “What secret? They already know about ‘us’ and have threatened to tell Xander.”

“The king will need witnesses,” he murmured into my collarbone. “A servant tonight, and then a nobleman tomorrow so that they can testify against you.”

“Isn’t Actos married?” I asked. Why would the Ilionian queen “cheating” be such an issue when it obviously wasn’t for him?

“And everyone knows it, including his wife. It’s not a secret. You, on the other hand—word has spread about how much the king and queen of Ilion adore one another. If this were real, it would be an incredible piece of leverage to have.”

His hand moved up my back until it was between my shoulder blades and he urged me forward, pressing me against his chest.

My brain whited out at the contact. Then his hand went to the base of my skull, holding it in place, and I lost the ability to control my neck.

“Just because you’re my ‘manservant’ doesn’t mean that we have to do it every night.” Surely there would be some nights when we were just tired.

“We don’t have that option as you spent the evening bragging about my prowess to the king.”

But I had only done that to keep the king from throwing his concubines at me.

“If Actos believes that we are not together,” he said, “that we have been attempting to trick him, my fear is that he will try and make you his newest concubine.”

“But . . .” It was difficult to speak when he was running his lips around the outside of my ear. “But Lia’s married.”

“That wouldn’t stop a man like him. Thieves are a covetous and jealous lot. We want what we are told we can’t have.”

Then he moved my sleeve aside so that he could kiss along my clavicle, over to my shoulder, and I told myself that I should not be having this kind of reaction to something so small and innocent.

I wanted to push against his chest and have him step back so that my head would clear, but all I managed to do was touch him. “What are you saying?” My mouth was so dry, my throat as parched as it had been traveling to Epirius. “We have to have sex to throw them off?”

A piece of me was thrilled with this notion. Having to have sex with Zain because we had no other choice? That wouldn’t count! I could still be furious with him later!

“Things don’t have to go that far. We’ll take it very slow and try to bore them.”

Then he did step back and took both my hands in his. He led me over to the bed and had me sit on the edge. I realized that from this angle, the spy would only be able to see me and my reactions, and not what Zain was doing.