She wasn’t sure what made her glance up as she waited for another tick to be placed against her name on yet another clipboard in the hands of a flint-faced guard. Was it animal instinct? An invisible bond? Or a silent whisper, she mused romantically, to take her mind off the compelling individual staring down in her direction.
‘Come up,’ Sheikh Khalid indicated with a jerk of his chin, before stepping back into the shadows behind the rail on the top deck.
* * *
Triumph surged through him as Millie boarded the Sapphire. He’d known she’d come back. He’d been waiting for her. She wasn’t stupid. Millie knew there was something he hadn’t told her and she couldn’t take the chance he’d sail away. She wasn’t here to sell herself for information. Millie wasn’t like her mother with desperation as her only driver. She was a seeker of justice and truth, and she was principled. The urge to protect her was stronger than ever, as were his feelings of guilt. The chemistry between them was insane. Raw, physical hunger surged through his body, a warning to protect her from him, as well as the past. Whatever she was expecting him to tell her tonight, he would not destroy her with the truth. It was so much worse than she could imagine. Millie had forged a new life, and he was glad of it. There was nothing to be gained by making her look back at the past.
Millie was intuitive as well as beautiful, and she was right to come here tonight. As she had suspected, the Sapphire would be leaving King’s Dock soon. Spending these last few hours in her company would have to be enough. But as she ran up the companionway towards him, he thought there was only one way, a visceral way, to get Millie out of his system. Unfortunately, that was an indulgence he must deny himself. There were other pleasures to distract him. He’d been away from the desert too long. A Bedouin at heart, he would always be restless, and had never craved the challenge of his native land more.
When she appeared framed in the doorway, it was as if the air changed and freshened all around him. Waiting until her eyes had adjusted to the much dimmer lights on this deck, she appeared ethereal and vulnerable. He knew nothing could be further from the truth. Millie was no victim. She was very much together, and tonight determination showed in her expression as if she believed destiny was on her side.
‘Over here,’ he called out.
Her chin lifted and her gaze landed squarely on his face. His biggest problem was remembering she was innocent in all things, as a fierce carnal hunger did its best to wipe out his previous saintly thoughts.
* * *
I know what I’m doing, Millie intoned silently as the security guard who had accompanied her on board the Sapphire retreated and the door closed behind him with a soft click, leaving her on a deserted deck with only his most regal majesty, Sheikh Khalid of Khalifa, for company. Security had improved over the years, she’d noticed as she’d passed through the ship. The party that she and her mother had attended had been a free-for-all, but tonight a good mix of people, who could enjoy themselves without getting drunk, were hosted and protected, rather than guarded, by the Sheikh’s most excellent staff. But that didn’t make her soften towards him. She would settle for nothing less than the truth. He could forget the edited version. Learning what had really happened that night was the only reason she was back here.
The only reason?
‘Welcome,’ he said.
As his husky and seductive tone took a leisurely stroll across her senses, she told herself firmly that Sheikh Khalid was nothing like his brother, and she was safe. Sheikh Khalid had let her mother down, but had saved Millie. Would he save her again by filling in those gaps that had lashed her with guilt for eight long years?
She was here in search of the truth, but also, Millie silently admitted as she raised her face to his, because she couldn’t stay away. There was something between them that wouldn’t allow her to. The Sapphire was in dock. Sheikh Khalid was close, and, as many times as she told herself that she couldn’t miss this opportunity, it was far, far more than that. She couldn’t breathe easy. She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t function properly. Only when she knew everything would they part and go their separate ways.
And was that all it was?
That was all it could be, she told herself as his dark, all-seeing eyes drilled down into hers. What else could it be? Arousal, sadness, guilt and anger collided inside her, making her long and loathe, and feel a type of passion she had never experienced before. They had no future together. That was the bottom line. Even if she could get past her simmering suspicion that he could have done more to save her mother, they were worlds apart, with an unbridgeable gulf between them.
But as the Sheikh’s confidence and sexual energy enveloped her in erotic heat, she became more confused than ever. He was so big, so brazenly masculine; in every way, he was different, and on a completely different scale from other men. She trembled with awareness of his brute strength. Sheikh Khalid had no need of royal robes to stamp him with the majesty of power. His authority was unparalleled. And there was a part of her, a reckless part, that wanted nothing more than to battle with him.
Go head to head, at least, she reasoned. That was why she was here, after all.
‘We’ll talk inside,’ he said, leading the way into the shadows of his apartment on board the Sapphire.
She had started to follow, but for some reason stepped back instead of forward, and managed to trip over a cleat sticking up from the deck. His reflexes were lightning fast. Whirling around as she yelped and stumbled, he yanked her hard against his chest.
‘Steady,’ he murmured as their bodies collided.
It was a few moments before he released her, and she was in no hurry to move away. ‘What do you really want?’ he asked, staring deep into her eyes. ‘What do you want of me, Millie Dillinger?’
Her only thought was, You. And the truth shocked her. She had been fighting her attraction to him since the moment they met again, Millie realised now, but this was something more, so much more. The worst of it was, he gave a smile as if he knew.
Freeing herself, she pulled away. At best he must think her gauche, and at worst he might think her her mother’s daughter. Even in the middle of these two poles apart was a world of ‘you’re wasting the best chance you ever had to clear your mother’s name’.
‘I don’t know what happened that night,’ she said, feeling she must say something. ‘But I can tell you this. My mother wasn’t weak, she was desperate, and vulnerable, and your brother took advantage of that.’
‘We need to talk,’ the Sheikh told her in a calm, unthreatening voice.
‘Too much has been brushed under the carpet,’ she continued as soon as they were inside.
They were in a lovely room, she registered vaguely; it might have been called a snug in a cosy, suburban home, and was the first real sign that the imposing figure towering over her relaxed occasionally. Enough to tell her the truth? That remained to be seen.
‘You seem so sure that things have been hidden from you,’ he said, indicating that she should sit on one of the two facing sofas.
She remained standing. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
‘Maybe you’re overthinking things,’ he suggested, staring down. ‘And maybe you’re not telling me all of the truth.’
Something flickered in his eyes, suggesting she’d hit the mark.
‘And maybe I’m trying to protect you,’ he countered softly.
‘Perhaps that’s what you’d like me to think.’
‘You’re beautiful.’
As he murmured this, she drew her head back and gave him one of her looks. ‘I came here for a serious discussion.’
Which was true, but a thrill of excitement still ripped through her as the Sheikh’s hard mouth tugged in the faintest of smiles. ‘I’m being absolutely serious,’ he assured her at the same mesmerising low volume.
There was a scar that cut down the side of his cheek to h
is mouth, she noticed now. His stubble usually covered it, but he must have shaved quite recently for the party. Or for her? The party, Millie told herself firmly as she progressed the thought; everyone had some sort of scar, it was just that some hid them better than others.
‘We have all evening to talk,’ he said with an easy shrug.
Talk, when she was drowning in testosterone?
Millie could have stepped away when he reached out to find the clip in her hair and release it, but she didn’t, and long, silken skeins fell tumbling to her waist.
‘Beautiful,’ he whispered again as he tossed the clip aside. He combed his fingers through her hair, soothing and exciting her in turn, but she tossed her head, as if pleasure were a sin. ‘Guilt?’ he asked. ‘Why, when you’ve no reason to feel guilty? Desire is a natural human emotion—’
‘That I can resist,’ she assured him as she stepped away.
He laughed softly and saw her hesitation. ‘You have the same spirit I loved eight years ago.’
‘Spirit prompted by my desperate concern for my mother,’ she reminded him. ‘You promised to go back on board and save her.’
‘I did all I could,’ he said steadily. Her voice was shaking with emotion. Too much had been bottled up inside Millie for too long. He could imagine the child growing to be a woman, and never once losing control, because if she did the grief would break her. He wanted to comfort her and make love to her all at one and the same time, but his self-control would not allow it.
‘So, what do you want of me, Millie Dillinger?’
‘I might ask you the same question,’ she fired back with surprising passion.
That was it. The dam was breached. ‘I want you,’ he said.
Millie gasped. Sheikh Khalid wanted her. This was every dream come true, and every nightmare made real. Guilt and desire battled inside her. His grip was both gentle and firm. She wanted this, wanted him. He was holding her in front of him with a message in his eyes that even a relative innocent like Millie could not possibly misinterpret, and that message surged through her senses, urging her to act. He wanted her. She wanted him. As amazing as it seemed to someone whose sexual experience was limited to a few fumbles in the back of a car, Sheikh Khalid wanted to seduce her, and she wanted to be seduced. To be introduced to the world of sensuality she’d only dreamed about, by a man who could teach her everything, was—
Madness.
‘I should go—’
‘And find out nothing?’ he said.
What was he talking about now? That night? Or sex? She shook her head, as if to shake some sense into it, but primal hunger was a merciless force. What harm could one night do? And once they were truly intimate who knew what she might learn?
I’m going to interrogate him as he seduces me? Did she seriously expect Sheikh Khalid to betray his brother?
‘Well?’ he prompted. ‘Are you staying?’
‘I think you underestimate me,’ she said tensely.
‘That’s not an answer.’ And then he laughed, a blaze of strong white teeth against his swarthy skin. ‘I would never make that mistake, Millie, but I suspect you might.’
The Sheikh’s face was dangerously close as he dipped his head. She didn’t know what to expect and remained frozen as he brushed her lips with his. But frozen wasn’t an option for more than a split second, as he tested and teased and made every atom in her being long for more.
She had thought she was stronger than this, but she had never encountered a force of nature like Khalid before. From teasing, he moved seamlessly to kissing and with so great a skill that she could never have been prepared for it. Even in her most erotic ramblings, she could never have dreamed this. When he pressed her back against the wall, animal instinct consumed her, until there was only one thought in her head, and that was for him to take her. She wanted everything he had to give, the searing kisses, the physical pleasure. The past was obliterated by the searing heat of the present as Khalid teased her lips apart and took possession of her mouth.
* * *
With that one kiss he had crossed an invisible line. There was no going back. What had been done could not be undone. But he’d take this slowly. Millie deserved nothing less. She would be properly prepared for pleasure when he took her. Cupping her face in one hand, he mapped the swell of her breasts with the other. They were so full, so firm, he searched for a reaction in her eyes and he wasn’t disappointed. She groaned, and covered his hand with hers to urge him on as he lightly abraded the tip of her nipple with his thumbnail before attending to the other breast. Her legs trembled as he moved on to stroke the smooth line of her belly. She sighed rhythmically with approval in time to what he knew would be delicious little twinges of pleasure, and gasped out loud when he captured the swell of her buttocks to press her hard against his straining body. Arching her back, she positioned her bottom high for more touching, but he had decided that that was enough for now.
‘Why?’ she asked, her voice ringing with disappointment when he stopped.
‘Because greedy must learn to wait,’ he murmured against her lips.
‘I don’t want to wait,’ she exclaimed.
He could change his mind. An excited breath rushed out of her as he eased her legs apart with his thigh. Having spread her, he allowed his fingertips to trail tantalisingly lower. As he had expected, she gave a sharp cry of need. ‘Not yet,’ he whispered, teasing her ear lobe with hot breath and his tongue.
‘When?’ she demanded on a shaking breath as he swung her into his arms.
He carried her deeper into the privacy of his suite, into his bedroom, but as the door closed behind them, enveloping them in opulent silence, he was aware of his body like never before. It felt like a brutal weapon against the yielding accommodation of Millie’s soft frame. He had always prided himself on his steely control, but having her here took things to a knife’s edge. If Millie had been a different, more experienced woman, his physical hunger was such he would have had her up against the door by now, bringing them both the release they so badly needed.
‘I want you,’ she whispered urgently against his neck, adding to the torment.
‘Temporary relief?’ he suggested.
‘More than that,’ she assured him. ‘A lot more,’ she added in a voice shaking with excitement. A wild flame of passion burned in her eyes, wiping out reason. It threatened to do the same to him.
‘When I decide,’ he told her firmly.
‘Okay,’ she agreed, gulping convulsively. ‘Whatever you say.’
She’d agree to anything in her present heightened state. It was up to him to set the pace.
‘Please,’ she begged, reaching for his belt buckle. Her hands were trembling as she wrenched and tugged until finally the buckle yielded. She gave a little growl like a tiger cub with a thorn in its pad, and then yanked the belt out of its loops. ‘Oh!’
His zipper didn’t just slide down, but burst open as he sprang free. Her lips were parted in an expression of such surprise, he wanted to laugh, but that would definitely have broken the mood. Then, she surprised him by exclaiming, ‘I can’t possibly accommodate that.’ And now they were both laughing.
‘What are you doing to me, Millie Dillinger?’ he demanded. This was turning into something far more than a seduction; it was a getting-to-know-you process such as he’d never experienced before, laced with a surprising degree of, I really like this woman.
‘I mean it,’ she said. ‘I can’t.’
‘You might surprise yourself.’
‘You’d like to surprise me,’ she corrected him. ‘Are you a freak, or is this normal?’
‘You don’t know?’ Alarm bells rang loud and clear. Millie was either a virgin, or she was inexperienced beyond any woman he’d ever known. ‘This,’ he said, ‘is normal for me.’
‘Hmm.’ She considered what he’d said. ‘That’s what I thou
ght. And I’m glad you think it’s funny,’ she added when he laughed out loud.
‘Funny?’ he queried as he moved away to rearrange his clothing. ‘I’m not laughing at you. It’s your unique take on things that amuses me.’
‘Well, I don’t know who you’ve known before me—’
Her outrage amused him even more, but he curbed the smile in favour of cupping her chin and bringing her close. ‘Your expression amuses me, habibti. But there is one thing I must ask: are you always this reckless?’
She trembled as he whispered this against her mouth, but he could feel her relief that he’d backed off. ‘Never,’ she admitted frankly.
* * *
Relief, Millie thought as Sheikh Khalid backed off. Narrow escape. And huge disappointment. She couldn’t pretend that vigorous, fabulous sex with the best-looking man alive didn’t hold enormous appeal, but when he also happened to be her historical enemy, the bogey-man she’d fantasised about pummelling into the ground—when she hadn’t been making passionate love to him in her dreams—this shouldn’t be happening. And now she had to find a way to exit with dignity.
‘There’s no need to feel embarrassed,’ he said, touching her cheek with tenderness as she awkwardly smoothed her ruffled hair.
‘I shouldn’t have come back here,’ she admitted.
‘Yes, you should,’ he argued. ‘In fact, I’d have been more surprised if you could stay away when there are so many more questions you want to ask me.’
I can’t stay away, Millie silently admitted. While the Sapphire was in dock and Khalid was close by, she was always going to be drawn to the disaster, to the fact that her mother died here, and to him, the only person who could tell her more about the events of that night.
‘This is part of your history,’ he said, gesturing around. ‘You shouldn’t expect to forget. It wouldn’t be natural. You have to learn to handle how you feel about this place.’
‘Not if you sail away,’ she said. Guilt overwhelmed her as she tried to block out how they’d kissed, how he’d touched her, and how she’d responded to him like an animal on heat, and failed utterly.
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