...She noticed he looked uncomfortable. Good. At least they both felt the same way. “My father wants it to be done naturally. Many lab experiments have been performed over the years and they’ve all failed. He believes there’s a better chance the, er, sperm will take if it’s done traditionally.”

His head dropped back and he stared up at the ceiling, looking extremely put out. She couldn’t blame him, but they needed to do this. Though he didn’t fully understand the importance of this future child to her people, she did. The Taysir race depended on her to help carry on their race. She was only one woman, but at least she was a start.

Her father had already subtly threatened her if the results weren’t to his liking. Sera had to get pregnant. And she needed Kadar to impregnate her. There wasn’t another option.

“Well, then, I guess we should get this over with.”

She startled, hating the resignation in his tone, wishing she could be anywhere but here. Sighing, she turned and faced the giant bed she slept in every night. It suddenly looked imposing, scary. She heard his footsteps approach, could literally feel the man standing behind her, and her skin prickled with heat.

“How should we do this, Princess?”

How she wished he’d been the one to take the lead. “We should turn out the lights, undress, and get into bed. I was hoping you could take the initiative after that.”

“You really want the lights off?”

Sera whirled upon him, indignant he would even ask. Watching her with those intense brown eyes, his expression was dark, smoldering. Sexy. A shiver slithered down her spine. No way could she look at that devastating face during such an intimate act and stay composed. “I don’t think it’s necessary to leave them on, do you? It’s probably not…proper.”

“Whatever you say.” Was that disappointment in his eyes?

No, it couldn’t be.

She went to the bedside table and pressed a button. The room immediately shrouded in darkness and she released a soft sigh of relief. Though she could still feel his presence, hear his breathing, smell his delicious scent, at least she didn’t have to look at him.

He intimated her so much she felt inadequate, foolish. She needed to feign confidence to get through this night, pretend she knew what she was doing.

Clothes rustled in the darkness and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The man was undressing and she realized she needed to do so as well. Luckily enough the dress would slip off with ease, but she didn’t count on the elaborate hair style getting in the way. A hair style he didn’t even get the chance to appreciate.

Slipping her arms out of the dress, she tried to tug it off over her head, but it was no use. She needed to yank all of the pins out of her thick hair for it to come undone and it would take forever. She whimpered in frustration, inwardly cursing her sister’s competence.

“You all right, Princess?”

His deep voice reached across the bed as if to caress her and she shook her head, not wanting to have such silly thoughts. The man didn’t care about her, wasn’t interested. She needed to stop pretending there was something more.

“Nothing of your concern,” she finally said, immediately hating the haughty tone to her voice.

Sera reached around and pulled the pins out of her hair one by one, grimacing with each tug. How many did Anna put in her hair anyway? And exactly how long was this going to take?

“Do you need help?” He stood directly behind her and she closed her eyes, wondering if he was already naked. Not that she could see him.