Desert Rogues Part 2

by Susan Mallery

  Still, she was difficult to resist when her breath caught and she bit on his lower lip.

  “You are a temptation,” he said, pulling back slightly and staring into her wide eyes. “Difficult to resist.”

  “The same could be said about you.”

  He smiled. “Then we will practice self-control together.”

  She pouted. “Do we have to?”

  “For now.”

  “Is that a tease or a promise?”

  “Which would you like it to be?”

  She took his hand and put it on her breast. The full curve burned him down to his soul. His arousal flexed in anticipation as he brushed his thumb across her nipple.

  They both sucked in a breath.

  Jefri reached for her as she moved toward him. He pushed away the coffee table so they could drop to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs and violent desire. She rolled onto her back and he braced himself on one elbow so he was above her. When he slipped his hand under her T-shirt, she smiled in obvious anticipation.

  A loud knock at the door interrupted them.

  Jefri held in a groan. “I will guess that is your brother,” he said. “I had a feeling he would check on you.”

  “What?” She pushed into a sitting position. “You’re kidding?”

  There was a second knock, followed by, “Billie, it’s Doyle. I wanted to check on you.”

  “I’m fine. Go away.”

  “No. Let me in.”

  Jefri stood and pulled Billie to her feet.

  “I’ll get rid of him,” she said.

  He shook his head. “I will see you tomorrow.”

  “But…”

  He took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. “Soon,” he promised and walked toward the French doors where he let himself out onto the balcony.

  Billie watched the prince go and could have cheerfully thrown the coffee table after him. She understood why he left, but she didn’t have to like it.

  After smoothing the front of her T-shirt to make sure everything was covered, she walked to the door and jerked it open.

  “What do you want?” she demanded.

  Doyle lounged in the doorway. “I’m checking on you. Dinner was great. You should have stayed.”

  She stalked into the center of the room, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “You made that impossible. Get off of me. I mean it.”

  He walked toward her, stopping only a couple of feet away. “I can’t help worrying.”

  “I appreciate that, but keep your worries to yourself. I’m a big girl. I’ve had sex before.” Okay, only once and it had been fairly uninspiring, but her brother didn’t have to know that.

  Doyle winced. “Jeez, Billie. Don’t tell me that.”

  “Why not? Isn’t all this about protecting my virtue? Don’t you think the prince has his choice of women? Isn’t it unlikely he’s going to have to force himself on anyone?” Certainly not on her. She’d been more than willing. Based on just the kissing, the event would have been fairly spectacular. Talk about lousy timing.

  “I’m not worried Jefri’s going to attack you. But he could break your heart. You’re playing way out of your league.”

  “I refuse to take relationship advice from a man who has never had a serious relationship in his life.”

  Doyle grinned. “I run too fast to let them catch me.”

  “I suspect there’s a deeper reason but right now I’m too tired to figure it out. So here’s the thing. I’m going to keep seeing Jefri as long as both of us are interested and you can’t do anything about it. And if you continue to bug me, I will make good on my threat to leave and get a job somewhere else.”

  His blue eyes, the same dark shade as her own, studied her. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  “No. It’s bad enough being the only girl in this family. I won’t be treated like an idiot as well.”

  Her brother’s shoulders slumped. “Okay. You win. No more following you on dates. I promise.”

  As Doyle had never gone back on his word before, she decided to believe him.

  “Good,” she said. “Now I don’t have to kill you.”

  He grinned, then his gaze slipped past her to the coffee table. “Leftovers, huh? Anything good?”

  “Didn’t you just have dinner at that restaurant?”

  “Sure, but I can always eat.”

  “Bank left,” Billie said into the microphone of her headset. “Bank, then roll. That’s it, that’s it. I’ve got you now, you thick-headed mutant.”

  She heard chuckling in her headset.

  “I wonder how much of your intensity has to do with making your brother suffer for what happened two nights ago.”

  As always, Jefri’s rich voice made her tingle. “There’s a little of that,” she admitted as she kept her gaze on the instrument panel where she watched as the four planes converged.

  “Get him,” she said cheerfully. “We’ll do a double tone-lock. That will be very cool.”

  “As you wish,” Jefri said.

  Seconds later she heard Doyle swearing as he clicked on to their communication channel.

  “You did that on purpose,” he complained.

  “Doyle got beaten by a girl,” she said in a singsong voice.

  One plane instantly disappeared from her radar. Seconds later the door to the simulator jerked open and her brother glared at her.

  “Don’t ever say that to me again,” he told her, doing his best to look fierce.

  Billie wasn’t the least bit impressed. She stuck out her tongue. “Beat you in twenty-seven seconds. That’s pretty pathetic.”

  He muttered something under his breath and stalked off. Jefri took his place in the doorway.

  “Remind me not to annoy you,” he said. “You do not seem to forgive and forget.”

  “Not where my brothers are concerned. We did very well this morning.”

  “I agree. I find I much prefer flying with you than against you.”

  She grinned. “A wise man.”

  “I thought we might try dinner again tonight. Are you available?”

  She was more than available, she was practically at the point of begging. “I could make the time.”

  “Good. I have a plan to avoid the press.”

  “Which is?”

  “We are going to another country.”

  That evening they flew over the desert in a private luxury jet, although neither of them were at the controls. Billie fingered her curls, hoping her hair was big enough for the significance of the event and took the glass of champagne Jefri offered.

  “So this is why we’re not flying ourselves,” she said.

  “Absolutely.”

  She took a sip and tried not to read too much into Jefri’s smoldering looks, while ignoring the way her thighs kept going up in flames.

  It was all too much, she thought as she took in the rich leather interior of the jet. Too much luxury, too much man and way too much class. He looked amazing in his tailored dark suit. After the last debacle, Billie had given up on original and had slipped into a simple, black cocktail dress. She felt she looked good, but what did she know about a prince’s expectations?

  “So, where are we going?” she asked more to distract herself than because she cared about the destination.

  “El Bahar.”

  “Oh. They’re not that far away.”

  “Agreed, but no one should bother us there.”

  “I’ve never been, but I’ve heard it’s very beautiful. Too bad it’s night, we’re missing the desert.”

  “You can fly over it any time you would like.”

  “Not all of it,” she said with a smile. “There is some very restricted airspace out there.”

  Oddly enough in the middle of nowhere. She’d noticed it the first time she’d planned her flight in to Bahania.

  “What on earth are you keeping hidden in the middle of the desert?”

  She expected a teasing response. Instead Jefri studied her i
ntently. “It is a secret.”

  “What kind? Military?”

  He shook his head. “We think of it as a treasure.”

  She tried to imagine what it could be. What kind of treasure could exist such that planes couldn’t fly overhead?

  As she sipped more champagne, she thought about her research on the area and recalled mention of a fabled city—The City of Thieves.

  No. That wasn’t possible. A secret city?

  “Is it bigger than a bread box?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Much.”

  “If I drove there instead of trying to fly there, could I see it?”

  “What would you like to see?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “When you decide, we’ll talk about it.”

  “You’re not exactly what I expected,” she told him. “I thought a prince would be different.”

  “In what way?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “I am simply a man, like many others.”

  “Actually, you’re not, but that’s okay.”

  He leaned close and brushed his mouth against hers. “I am glad.”

  Billie wasn’t surprised to find a limo waiting for them at the airport. They’d come into a private field next to the main international airport. Jefri had warned her to bring her passport, but their trip through customs was a simple walk past uniformed officials who bowed and offered greetings of welcome.

  She and her royal date were whisked into the center of the brightly lit city where they stopped in front of a small restaurant.

  “No cameras in sight,” she said as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. “I like this much better.”

  “Many women enjoy being the center of attention,” he said.

  “Then I say they should go for it. I’m not into the whole ‘center of a crowd’ thing. I get nervous.”

  They walked inside and were quickly shown to a private table tucked into an alcove. Billie did a quick visual search of nearby tables before she took her seat.

  “No paparazzi and no brother,” she said. “This is my idea of a good time.”

  “I am glad you approve.”

  Jefri ordered wine, they discussed the menu, but all the while, she couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing this was. She was out to dinner with a man who had flown her to another country for the meal because he was a prince and they couldn’t go out to eat where he lived. Jefri was royal, as in his daddy owned a palace and everything.

  “What is wrong?” he asked when the waiter had left with their order. “You have gone pale.”

  “I think I just completely grasped who you are.”

  “In what way?”

  She waved her fingers. “Let’s start with something easier. Who I am. My father owns a successful company. We’ve always done well, but we’re not exactly rolling in money. I grew up surrounded by planes and burly mechanics. I did my entire high school education by correspondence. I know more about going Mach 4 than ballroom dancing and in stressful social situations, I usually put my foot in my mouth.”

  He leaned toward her and captured her hand. “What is your point?”

  She laughed. “That I can’t figure out what you’re doing with me. I saw the magazine articles and the type of women you usually date. They’re gorgeous. Movie stars and divas and daughters of really, really rich men.”

  “I see. And you do not consider yourself like them?”

  “I can hold my own.” Sort of. “It’s just weird.”

  “Two nights ago you accused me of being ‘weirded out’ about your past. You have a fondness for the word.”

  She sighed. “See. I can’t even speak correctly.”

  He kissed her fingers, which made her heart do the happy dance.

  “You do extremely well. I am delighted to be with you and honored by your presence.”

  “Jeez, do you know how to get the girls or what?”

  “You doubt my sincerity.”

  “Not at all. I’m just trying to keep up.”

  “This is not a competition, and my world is not all you think it to be. I was sent away to a British boarding school when I was nine years old. At seventeen, I went to America, to college. My brother, Reyhan, had made the mistake of letting people know who he was when he first entered college, so he was followed and judged and kept in the press for the entire four years.” He kissed her fingers again. “I learned from his mistake and decided to keep my identity a secret.”

  She could imagine the feeding frenzy as the coeds found out there was a single royal prince on campus. “Did it work?”

  He nodded. “I managed to get through with only a few close friends finding out. I met women who were interested in me for myself.” He smiled. “It was a most humbling experience.”

  “I doubt that.” He was the sort of man women would want regardless of his royal status.

  “When I reached twenty-one, women descended on Bahania. They wanted the opportunity to marry a prince. I am not sure what I wanted, but they were not it. Still, some played the game very well and I was fooled more than once.”

  “That’s understandable.” The combination of willing women and the natural desire to believe it was all about him could have made things very complicated.

  “I married one of them,” he said.

  The statement was so unexpected that had she been drinking she would have spit.

  “You what?”

  He looked at her as he rubbed her fingers. “From what I could see, she was perfect. Beautiful, well mannered. There was some trace of European royalty in her heritage, her father controlled multinational banks. It was a match that delighted everyone involved.”

  Married? As in…She carefully withdrew her hand. “You’re not married now, are you?”

  He took her hand in his and smiled. “No. I am not married now.”

  “But you were?”

  “Yes. We were married. The wedding was a state occasion and it only took me six months to realize my wife had a heart of stone.”

  Billie had done some reading about Jefri, but none of the articles had mentioned a wife. “You’re divorced?”

  He nodded. “She was not someone I wanted to be the mother of my children.”

  That sounded a little imperious but she understood his point. “Was it really hard to get over her?” she asked, liking how he kept circling her palm with his thumb. “I mean with your heart broken and all.”

  “My heart was not broken.”

  “I don’t understand. You can’t just turn off love.”

  “I did not love her.”

  The waiter arrived with their bottle of red wine, which gave Billie some time to work on getting over being stunned. Jefri didn’t love the woman he married?

  “How is that possible?” she asked when they were alone again. “She was your wife.”

  “Yes, and she could have been the mother of my children. There can be respect and mutual understanding, but love is not required.”

  “Hello? I’ve seen your brothers. They’re wildly in love with their wives.” So much so that she’d felt a twinge of envy.

  “There is passion between them,” he admitted. “But love? I doubt it.”

  “I…You…” She grabbed her wineglass. “That’s just crazy. How can you marry someone you don’t love?”

  “A royal match has certain requirements from both parties.”

  “What about being swept away? What about wanting to be with someone so much you can’t think of anything else?”

  His eyes darkened. “That I completely agree with. Despite these trappings of civility, I am at heart, a man of the desert. My blood runs hot.”

  She nearly dropped her glass. They’d gone from talking to something very different in the space of a heartbeat.

  “You know what I want,” he said, his voice low. “Tell me what you desire. If it is for me to leave you alone, you only have to speak the words.”

  And if it isn’t? But she already knew the answer to that. No on
e had ever asked her a question like that. No one had put it all on the line. She felt Jefri’s barely concealed passion and it excited her. That he wanted her enough to plainly state it made her quiver.

  As for her…She knew her heart’s desire. The sensible side of her brain warned her that there was no happy ending in this. That if she allowed herself to care, she would only get her heart broken. She knew who and what he was as well as she knew she would never fit in his world. Worse, he was a man who had married because it was the right thing to do, and not for love. She wanted a husband who was completely devoted to her and their family.

  So this wasn’t going to lead to a happily ever after. Was she still willing to take what he offered?

  She stared into his eyes. “All my life I’ve been fearless in the skies. There is no plane I won’t fly, no barrier I’m not willing to break through.”

  But in her personal life, she’d allowed herself to be ruled by her brothers’ pronouncements and maybe a little by her own fear.

  “I don’t want you to leave me alone,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “Are you sure? We can call for the plane or stay the night.”

  She glanced around at the elegant restaurant. “Right here?”

  He smiled. “I have a villa on the edge of the sea. It’s beautiful and private.”

  She knew what she wanted. One night with him would be a memory she would always treasure.

  “A villa, huh? Do you want to go now, or do you want to wait until after dinner?”

  Jefri stared at her for several seconds, then raised his hand to the waiter. “We would like the check, please.”

  Chapter Eight

  If she’d had time to picture a villa owned by a sheik, she wouldn’t have been able to imagine a place as beautiful as the one on the edge of the sea. Their car dropped them off in front and Jefri used a key to let them in.

  From the foyer, she could see through to the dark lapping ocean. The marble floor was the color of the inside of an oyster shell, the walls, a pale peach. Instead of overhead lights, there were candles everywhere. Candles and rose petals and the scent of promise.