by Lynne Graham
‘Very little. He has no interest in the details. Let me be blunt—you are the answer to Zayn’s every prayer,’ Rafiq declared with amusement. ‘With me married and on track to have an heir, he finally has the freedom to do as he likes. He will join the army, train at Sandhurst, abseil down cliffs, shoot and blow up things. The active life of a professional soldier has always been his dream, but it was deemed too dangerous for the younger son who still had to marry and produce an heir and he was barred from it until now.’
‘It’s good to know that our…er…misfortune will bring someone else a happy result.’
‘Our children are not a misfortune,’ Rafiq sliced in with ruthless bite, grasping her slender fingers in emphasis, and then his ebony brows shot up and knotted into a frown. ‘Your skin is like ice…why didn’t you tell me that you were so cold?’ he demanded, vaulting upright and carrying her up with him in the sudden movement. ‘We’ll use the tent.’
He urged her inside and she blinked rapidly, momentarily blinded by the brilliance of the many intricate jewelled glass lanterns that hung from the poles above them and sprinkled the soft rugs on the floor with slanting shards of rainbow colour. He tugged her down onto an opulent sofa scattered with cushions and rubbed her slender spine as if he could somehow force heat into her chilled bones.
Taking in her luxury surroundings, she laughed. ‘Your people can’t really have carted around all this furniture when they travelled into the desert.’
‘Of course not, but this is what my father taught the staff at Alihreza to do. He never set foot out in the desert without insisting on every possible comfort,’ Rafiq told her wryly, arranging a velvet throw round her shoulders and then laughing as he looked down at her, touching the pink tip of her small nose. ‘You’re bundled up in so much cloth you look like a baby being swaddled!’
Izzy gazed up into stunning dark golden eyes fringed with black curling lashes and her heart skipped an entire beat, her body engulfed by such a wash of heat that she broke out in nervous perspiration and quickly shrugged her shoulders to emerge from the cocoon of cloth she was wrapped in. ‘Just being in here warms me up,’ she muttered awkwardly, ducking her head down to break that visual connection in case he guessed what being that close to him did to her wretched hormones.
Long brown fingers pushed up her chin and their eyes met again, colour warming her cheeks, her lips softly parting. A growl broke free low in his throat as he scanned that pink pouting invitation and his mouth crashed down on hers with a raw hunger that stole her breath away.
‘I’m burning up for you,’ he breathed raggedly as he finally wrenched his mouth from hers to allow her to catch her breath.
Staring at him, Izzy sucked in oxygen like a drowning swimmer until instinct drove her back for more of his mouth, hunger sizzling through her like a forest fire that had only required a spark to blaze. Her hands slid up over his shoulders and locked in the lush depths of his hair, a gasp sounding from her as his tongue tangled with hers and then plunged deep, sending a piercing shard of need arrowing to the very heart of her.
Without warning, she was on her back on the sofa and Rafiq was engaged in impatiently extracting her from her clothes and removing his own. Nothing had ever felt so desperate for her as that overpowering need to feel his skin against her skin.
‘We weren’t going to do this,’ Rafiq growled the reminder as he straddled her in the act of pulling off his T-shirt before jerking down the zip on his jeans.
‘Shut up,’ Izzy said resolutely, running exploring hands appreciatively up over his bare bronzed torso and rejoicing in the sheer heat and masculinity of him.
Rafiq came down to her again like a man compelled by an unseen force, seeking her parted lips again, fiercely exploring and plundering. Izzy moaned low in the back of her throat as his wide chest crushed her throbbing nipples and his pelvis sank into contact with hers but she still had way too many clothes on and her hips bucked upward as she fought to shimmy out of her tailored wool trousers. Rafiq rolled off her onto the floor with a stifled groan. ‘This is crazy!’ he ground out in frustration.
Izzy rolled upright and shimmied with shameless haste out of her trousers. ‘Only if you overthink it.’
‘I always overthink stuff,’ Rafiq admitted hoarsely.
Izzy had the cure for him, she decided as she sank down on her knees in front of him and tugged at the waistband of his jeans. The boxers went down with them, exposing the thick length of him. She licked her lips and just went for the challenge, hoping enthusiasm was more important than experience and from his first husky sound of pleasure she was lost in a sensual daze.
‘I want to come inside you,’ Rafiq husked, his deep voice soft and hoarse as he pulled her back up to face him again.
Unexpectedly, he then dropped down on his knees to peel her panties out of his path and nuzzle against the tender flesh between her slender thighs. All control was torn from her as he explored the swollen dampness at her core where she was so unbearably sensitive.
Izzy quivered with excitement and shook until he lifted her, hands cupping her hips and, in a feat of strength that took her breath away, brought her down on him with an urgent hiss, his body meeting hers and thrusting home with an efficiency that sent her heart racing like a bullet. He went down on the floor and hooked her legs over his shoulders and began to move with awesome speed and ferocity, grinding down into her receptive body with all the urgent demand and force she craved. As frantic as he was in that driving need for completion, she writhed under him in a frenzy, rising up to welcome every thrust.
The pressure tightening within her was an uncontrollable force of nature that dominated everything. When he sent her soaring and, with a harsh gasp of completion, buried his face in her tumbled hair, she felt as though she blacked out at the apex of her climax because it was so blinding, so utterly intense. Shaken by that raw physical intensity, she trembled as spasms of delight continued to ripple through her in pulsating waves.
Rafiq lifted himself off her in a fluid movement and then hunkered down to lift her up into his arms.
He stalked into the bathing facilities tacked onto the back of the tent and pressed the shower lever. Water streamed down her overheated body, plunging her from one temperature into coolness. She shivered and used the shower gel to freshen herself up as quickly as she could. As she emerged, Rafiq engulfed her in a giant towel and dried her off.
‘I was rough. Did I hurt you?’ Rafiq murmured, those glorious eyes locked to her and visibly anxious.
‘No, I love your passion,’ she confided in an involuntary rush, still stunned by the entire experience they had shared.
‘And I yours,’ Rafiq murmured thickly, scooping her damp naked body into his arms and holding her close. ‘But I didn’t intend this to happen.’
‘Shush…’ Izzy urged, resting a finger against his wide sensual mouth.
‘I thought we could manage our relationship most effectively by becoming friends.’
Izzy rolled her eyes as he tugged a throw over her to keep her warm. ‘We’re never going to be friends. I’m too attracted to you,’ she told him baldly, shaken by her own boldness but preferring to be honest. ‘I know that’s a complication we don’t need but, since you seem to be feeling the same way, we might as well just go with the flow for the present.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever gone with the flow with anything,’ Rafiq admitted, black lashes lowering over his beautiful dark golden eyes as he studied her. ‘How attracted is attracted?’
‘Hungry for compliments…right?’ Izzy grinned up at him, absolutely charmed by that need she saw in him then while she was in her relaxed state and able to be observant.
‘It is a serious challenge for me to keep distance between us,’ Rafiq confessed.
‘Well, we just lost that battle,’ Izzy pointed out without too much concern, relieved as she was to know that he was strugglin
g with the concept of a platonic bond in the same way that she was. ‘You’re accustomed to rules and following them. But you can’t make decisions on my behalf. I couldn’t do friends with you right now…maybe some time in the future when we’re a little more distant from recent events. Let’s just keep it casual.’
Rafiq released his breath on a slow measured hiss. In relationships, he preferred a pre-set agenda with every aspect carefully considered in advance. That approach left little room for misunderstandings or sudden emotional squalls. In comparison, he had never extended casual to more than one night with a woman and to be married and involved in a casual sexual relationship with his wife struck him as all kinds of wrong and dangerous, indeed much more likely to cause confusion and toxic feelings when they finally separated. And yet he still wanted her, he wanted Izzy more than he had ever wanted anything, and the knowledge that she carried his children only turned him on even more and made it even harder to take a step back. He lounged back on the sofa, cradling her in his arms, and struggled to relax while his libido was stirring him again to renewed hunger for her.
‘You’re so tense,’ Izzy sighed against his chest, revelling in the damp musky scent of his skin, one hand idly stroking a satin-smooth shoulder. ‘Tell me about your parents. What’s your last memory of them?’
Rafiq groaned at that unfortunate question, which nobody had ever asked him before, but he was in the mood to be honest, shedding the guilt that that recollection always imbued him with. ‘I was hiding behind a pillar and listening to them having a violent argument about the fact that my mother was pregnant with Zayn. She wanted a divorce and an abortion. She didn’t want another child.’
‘Good grief…’ Izzy whispered, lifting her head to look down at him, concern palpable in her troubled blue eyes. ‘What age were you?’
‘Ten or so.’ Rafiq compressed his lips, feeling his tension drain away as he shared that memory. ‘I was spying on them because my parents were virtually strangers to me. They spent almost all their time abroad and I was insanely curious about them.’
‘Naturally you were. Does Zayn know about what you overheard?’
‘Of course not. I would never have shared that scene or what was said then with him.’
‘Why didn’t they take you abroad with them?’
‘A child wouldn’t have fitted in with their lifestyles. My father was an unrepentant drug addict and my mother loved to party. Neither of them had any desire to settle down and be parents. By that stage my mother was tired of my father’s infidelities and she wanted out of the marriage, but if she divorced him without his agreement, she would have lost the unlimited spending power she enjoyed and in the end she couldn’t face that prospect.’
‘So, they stayed together,’ Izzy gathered.
‘And she died of pre-eclampsia when Zayn was born. My father was negligent in not ensuring that she had the very best medical care. But by then they were already living separate lives.’
‘Why was he like that? So uncaring?’
‘I don’t know. His mother died young and his father was elderly, which meant that he was only twenty when he came to the throne, too immature to have such power and wealth. He neglected his duties to chase a jet-set lifestyle across Europe and quickly fell into drugs. He built Alihreza because he was getting pressure to spend more time in Zenara, and he could only face that if he could have a very private bolt-hole where he could continue to indulge in drugs and sex.’
‘Did he die from an overdose?’ Izzy whispered.
‘No, someone poisoned him, which is why I have a food taster.’
‘A food taster?’ she gasped in disbelief. ‘But those times I cooked for you…’
‘I broke the rules set by the executive council for my upbringing,’ Rafiq murmured with amusement glinting in his dark golden eyes. ‘How could I have explained a food taster while I was posing as an ordinary businessman?’
‘Why was he poisoned?’ A shiver ran through Izzy. ‘That’s seriously scary.’
‘He had made so many enemies. He was a notorious womaniser. He slept with just about every woman around him and it’s unlikely that they were all willing partners. I’ve always believed that it was a revenge killing. His death was exhaustively investigated but nobody was ever brought to trial. Now may we please talk about something else? I have answered all your questions.’
Izzy had lots more to ask but she suppressed the words bubbling in her throat because she could see that trudging through that weighty back story of his had loaded him down with unhappy recollections. And she didn’t blame him—she really didn’t blame him. Although he had been born into almost unimaginable status and wealth, he had not enjoyed the love, support and security that all children needed to thrive.
‘So, both your parents were gone and that’s why your uncle had to raise you and your brother,’ she summed up quietly.
‘And we could not have had a better guardian,’ Rafiq sighed. ‘Becoming Regent and agreeing to raise his nephews was a huge responsibility for Jalil to take on and he has never been a man who enjoyed the limelight, yet he did it because he felt it was his duty.’
Gently settling her down on the sofa, he stood up and began to get dressed. ‘Let’s return to the palace,’ he urged. ‘It’s getting late and you must be tired.’
But Izzy wasn’t tired. As she was shuttled back along a rough track in a four-wheel drive, Izzy’s brain was teeming with thoughts. They had become intimate again. She hadn’t planned that, hadn’t truly had time to consider that aspect of their marriage because one minute they had been two separate people and the next they had been married. Keeping it casual wouldn’t come naturally to her, she acknowledged ruefully. But, somehow, she had found herself saying what she believed that Rafiq needed to hear to relax with her.
He had felt trapped in his first unhappy marriage. He hadn’t said so, but she had guessed how he felt about those years, years spent with a woman she didn’t believe he had loved. She definitely didn’t want him to feel trapped with her. She wasn’t going to attach strings just because sex with Rafiq was mind-blowing. She wasn’t about to tell him that though, wasn’t an idiot. What had started out as a random, utterly unexpected first-time sexual experience had turned into something more for her, but she wasn’t about to share that either. Her feelings were getting deep and complicated where he was concerned. Feelings that made her feel attached and involved in a way she was terrified of being but somehow couldn’t help, feelings that were stronger than common sense and self-preservation. But was that really so surprising when the man she had married was also the father of the twins she carried?
Right now, her hormones had to be firing on all cylinders because of the pregnancy, she reasoned anxiously, and that might well be why her emotions were all over the place. It was even possible that she could be imagining the sense of attachment pulling at her.
Closing a firm hand over hers, Rafiq urged her into his bedroom with him and closed the door.
‘What am I doing in here?’ she muttered. ‘I thought you liked your privacy.’
‘Not when you’re around,’ Rafiq said succinctly, staring down at her with hooded dark golden eyes alight with sexual heat, his well-defined jaw line taut and beginning to shadow with stubble, accentuating his beautiful mouth. He looked so hot, her knees wobbled, butterflies flying loose in her stomach. ‘Give me one good reason why I’d want to sleep alone.’
‘Thought you preferred it that way.’
‘Thought the same about you,’ Rafiq incised, lean brown fingers rising to frame her flushed face. ‘Got that wrong, very wrong.’
Enthralled by the dark liquid sexiness of his deep voice, Izzy tilted her head back to have a better view of him and that was a mistake because her mouth ran dry when she met the scorching heat of his appraisal. Her body reacted instantly, nipples tightening, pelvis clenching, that hollow ache between her thighs stirring afre
sh.
‘Five minutes after I have you, I want you again,’ Rafiq husked.
Her hands lifted and settled at his narrow waist to steady herself and she shifted closer, feeling the heat of his lean, powerful physique soak through the barrier of their clothes. She shivered, the strength of the pull he exercised over her unnerving her as she tried to fight it. It was the work of an instant for him to haul her fully into his arms and detach her from the cloak she had been wrapped in, casting it aside to unbutton the tunic she wore beneath.
‘Rafiq…’ she began.
‘Tell me you don’t want me.’
Her breath snarled up in her throat because she couldn’t lie to him, couldn’t lie to herself, had never in her life before realised that hunger could be so overwhelming that she could barely think, never mind speak in the grip of it. ‘Can’t do that,’ she muttered in a pained whisper.
He gathered her up into his arms and brought her down on the big bed. ‘A little taste of you only makes me want more. It makes me greedy.’
As his lips closed around a straining pink nipple, her spine arched, and she gasped helplessly in response. Shimmering dark golden eyes surrounded by dense black lashes gripped hers and her heartbeat hammered, liquid heat shooting straight to her core. He spread her over the bed and worked a skilled path down over her squirming body, teasing at the more receptive spots, lingering at his leisure when her response was more immediate, toying with her as her movements grew more agitated. It was a slow burning torment after the swift release he had granted her earlier when his dominant masculinity had been exactly what she craved.
Her control was hanging by a thread, tiny tremors rippling through her as she stayed poised on the edge of climax, frantically seeking that ultimate goal. He swiped his tongue across her exquisitely sensitive bud and her whole body rose in a whoosh of sensation, fierce arousal linking with bone-deep craving and the clenching tightness in her pelvis to combine in a rapturous rush of pleasure that sent her careening into space, splintering delight shockwaving through every sense.