Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [98]
He nodded, thinking that he of all people knew that. “And?”
She looked away briefly and then directed her eyes to him. “And the more I know, the more my husband will appreciate me.”
His brows rose. “And why wouldn’t he appreciate you? You will be his wife.”
She hesitated before giving him an answer, and he figured she was trying to decide how much information to share with him. “It will be an arranged marriage, which is not uncommon in my country. The man I am to marry will be allowed to have a mistress, as many as he wants. Although it is our way, I’m too possessive to accept something like that. I thought I would be able to, however, I know I won’t and unfortunately, it will cause problems with my marriage.”
Yes, it will cause problems, he thought. It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest she get over it because he would have a mistress. In fact he would have more than one. No wife could compete with a mistress when it came to bedroom skills and shouldn’t even try. Everyone had their roles. A wife was a wife and a mistress was a mistress. A man would not expect his wife to behave like a mistress.
“Do you want to cause problems in your marriage?” he decided to ask.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “But I can’t settle for anything less than a man who will be faithful to me. That is why I want to learn everything I can.”
He felt he needed her to understand. She was setting herself up for failure. “Even if I agree to what you’re asking, you will never learn everything, Jo.”
A determined look settled on her face. “As long as I know what’s important to him. It shouldn’t be hard to keep him happy because of his age. He’s old.”
Rasheed raised a brow. “He’s old?”
“Yes, he’s fifteen years older than me, so I would expect most of his good days are gone already, over and done with. So I wouldn’t have to know a whole lot to keep him happy. Just the right stuff.”
Rasheed didn’t say anything. He hadn’t recovered from what she’d said about his age. “How old is he?” He knew the answer but asked anyway.
“Thirty-nine.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think that’s old.”
Johari wrinkled her nose. “I disagree,” she said, as if she had made up her mind about it and it wouldn’t be changed.
“If he’s had mistresses for as long as I’ve heard he’s had them,” she went on, “then he’s probably well worn-out by now, although I’m sure he probably doesn’t think so. I need to convince him that he is and from now on, I will be enough for him. But I’ll need to back up that claim with knowledge of the things a man would like.”
Her voice had gotten stronger. Was filled with more conviction, he thought. He tried to keep the hard line from forming on his lips, but more than anything he needed to make her see reason. He had no problems teaching her anything she wanted to learn, but he didn’t want her to be disillusioned and think for one minute it would matter in the bedroom. The bottom line was that he intended to keep his mistresses.
He pulled in a deep breath. It seemed that Johari was going to be more trouble than he originally thought. What she was thinking was utter nonsense, a waste of good time and energy…on her part but not on his. He would enjoy every moment teaching her things. But in essence it wouldn’t change a thing, although she assumed she could wrap him in so much pleasure that he’d be convinced he only needed a wife and no one else. He shook his head. For the love of Allah, there wasn’t that much pleasure in the world.
That realization played on his conscience. Could he let her believe that? He looked at her and decided, yes, he could. It would be a hard lesson but one she deserved for not returning home to plan their wedding. Had she done the right thing, neither of them would be here now.
“So that is my condition, Monty. Will you take it?”
Rasheed felt it was time he taught his rebellious fiancée a few important lessons and he would enjoy doing so. In the end, when he revealed his