Chapter 399

• "I am offering you a chance to resume your life without the responsibilities of caring for a child who is not yours," Ahsan replied with deadly calm—in direct contrast to the fury flashing in her eyes. "You are young and extraordinarily beautiful," he observed clinically, his voice devoid of emotion. "And, since my brother’s death, single." Although he would bet his personal fortune that she would not remain so for long, he thought grimly, watching the faint tremor of her lower lip and imagining the velvet softness of her mouth beneath his. "I imagine dating with a toddler in tow could be rather... inhibiting," he sarcastically remarked.
• "I have no intention of dating anyone," Kate choked, still reeling from his description of her as beautiful. As astounding as it seemed, the sheikh appeared to find her attractive—but from the coldness of his tone, he clearly resented his awareness of her. "I haven’t even thought about anything like that..." Hazem was her world, and there was no room in her heart for anyone but him.
• "Perhaps not yet," Ahsan conceded. "It's only been three weeks since my brother died."But at some point, you will want to satisfy your sexual urges. "I would guess that you possess a deeply sensual nature," he remarked, in that same coldly clinical tone that was so at odds with the heat in his gaze as he trailed a blatantly appreciative path down her body. "Hazem will become an encumbrance, and I refuse to allow him to spend his childhood forced to vie for your attention with your latest lover."