"Oh yes, the setup." The words were bit out. "Let's talk about the setup. How long has this plot been brewing in your tiny brain?"

"Since the day I ran away from your agent in London," she said. "I knew what I was going to do. I just didn't know how I was going to do it."

"But I'm sure it came to you soon. You're nothing if not innovative."

"It wasn't that easy." She smiled a little sadly. "I think the most difficult part was the waiting. There were so many years to get through before I could even think of beginning."

"Well, when you got around to it you made up for lost time." He glared down at her. "I don't like being lied to."

"I know that." She moistened her lips nervously. "But I couldn't think of any other way."

"Any other way than pretending to be one step above a whore? Well, let me congratulate you, Pandora. You played your role exceedingly well. You obviously have a flair for the vocation."

She flinched. "I did what I had to do. The only way I could be sure you'd take me to bed was if I was . . . experienced because that's the only type of women you let into your life." She shrugged. "I thought if I sounded like a gold digger it would make you feel safer."

"Safer?" His tone was incredulous.

She lifted her chin. "Safer," she repeated distinctly. "You're afraid of me, Philip. You always have been. You were so afraid of me that you had to send me away to England." Her lips twisted bitterly. "You would have sent me to Timbuktu if you could have resolved it with your conscience."

"I sent you to England because you were fifteen years old and becoming a hoyden."

She shook her head. "You sent me there because you cared about me." She made a helpless little motion with her hand. "Oh, I don't mean romantically. I know what a scrawny mess I was then. But you did care for me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Maybe you even loved me. I think there's a good chance that you did. It was too strong, wasn't it? You wouldn't let yourself love any woman. You use them, but you won't let yourself love them."

His face was expressionless. "If you know that, then aren't you a bit of a fool to let yourself be used by such a ruthless womanizer?"

"Perhaps." Her eyes glistened with tears. "But I didn't have any choice. I love you."

"Stop saying that!" he said with soft violence. "You don't love me. You developed some sort of fixation on me when you were a child and never got over it. You always were the most obstinately single-minded person I've ever had the misfortune to know." He gestured to the bed. "And this was nothing but a pleasurable sexual episode."

"The hell it was!" She was up on her knees on the bed. "That wasn't 'pleasurable,' that was beautiful. Don't you dare call it anything else!"

"Ah! The real Pandora is finally emerging. How did you manage to suppress that wild streak beneath your Khadim disguise?"

"It wasn't easy," she said tersely. Her face was still stormy. "I knew I'd have to time it just right or give myself away. But that's not what we're talking about. What happened here was beautiful. Say it, Philip."

"It was beautiful," he said gently. "But that doesn't mean it was made in heaven. Sex isn't love. Pandora."

"I know the difference," she said. "I've always known it. It's you who's wearing the blinders." She drew a deep breath. "It's time you took them off. We've wasted too many years already. We're not getting any younger, Philip."

He had to smother a smile. She looked little more than a child draped to the shoulders in the satin sheet, with her enormous dark eyes so earnest. Where had his anger gone? A moment ago he had been furious. Why couldn't he ever hold on to that anger where Pandora was concerned? "Have you considered the possibility that it's you who's wearing the blinders?"

"No." She bit her lower lip. "I can't begin to have doubts now. I won't let myself. Everything would be empty if I did." She shook her head. "I know you too well to believe that."

"You don't know anything about me," he said roughly. He stood up and jammed his hands into the pockets of his velour robe. "Nothing. You've blown me up into some kind of fantasy figure."

"I know everything about you," she said clearly. "Everything. I've made a study of you since I was twelve years old, when you saved me from getting my throat slit in the bazaar. Would you like me to tell you what I know about you, Philip?"

"I'd be fascinated."

"You're self-indulgent, sensual, arrogant, and much too accustomed to getting your own way," she said calmly. "You're also highly intelligent, have a wonderful sense of humor, and are practically a workaholic when it comes to bettering the lot of the people here in Sedikhan."

His eyes narrowed. "Go on."

She moistened her lips. "You're a magnificent horseman and kind to animals. You won't permit yourself many friends, but you're intensely loyal to those you do have." Her lips twisted with pain. "However, you don't permit women to share your friendship. I think I was as close as you've gotten there." She paused. Oh dear, here goes. "Not that I can blame you. With a mother like Helena Lavade, it's amazing that you're as tolerant of women as you are."

He stiffened. "I don't believe I like being probed to that extent."

"You have a perfect right to resent it. Just as I had a right to resent that detective report you had drawn up on me. Only my excuse for prying was more valid. I knew I was going to have a battle on my hands, and I needed all the ammunition I could get."

"And what do you think you've found out about my twisted psyche? Perhaps you should have turned your talents toward being a psychologist instead of a rock singer."

She ignored his sarcasm. She had known he would become defensive when she brought Helena Lavade into the conversation. "I found out you'd been hurt," she said quietly. "Your mother was an exceptionally beautiful woman as well as an extremely ambitious one. Helena was half-Sedikhan and half-English, and she was a Khadim. She wanted power and became your father's mistress. That was only the first step in her plan. Helena made sure that she became pregnant by your father. Then she demanded marriage as well as a great deal of money. She knew he wanted a son and she threatened abortion If he didn't give in to her demands." Pandora shook her head. "She should have known better. From what I've heard, your father was a great deal like you. He married her all right, but he refused to pay the blackmail, imprisoned her in her quarters, and had her watched like a hawk until you were born. She was furious and full of hate. She managed to escape a few weeks after you were born and took you with her. She was very clever, and the sheikh didn't find the two of you for almost eight years. Then he divorced Helena and brought you back to Sedikhan." She met his gaze. "I don't know what she did to you in those years, but the stories I heard in the bazaar weren't pretty. She couldn't punish your father so she punished you." Her hands suddenly clenched on the satin sheet. "I would have killed her," she said fiercely.

"Would you?" There was a curious tenderness in his face. "You always were a protective little thing." His expression hardened. "That was a long time ago. I have no need of either vengeance or sympathy now." He paused before adding deliberately, "And I have no need of you, Pandora."