by Penny Jordan
'Oh, Raoul, please let me stay. Please tell me it's true and that you do love me.' The hesitant touch of her lips against the naked skin of his shoulder provoked a smothered groan of protest, his fingers biting deep into her slender arms.
'Do you really know what you are committing yourself to, Claire? Omarah is a very new country, and a great many years separate Saud from the maturity to rule it. Be warned that if you give yourself to me I will never be able to let you go. Already my nights are tortured by the memory of you in my arms, your body against mine. I thought we could build a life here together, until Nadia kidnapped you, and then I knew that no matter how much I loved you I could not risk your safety ever again.'
'Raoul, all that was at risk was my life,' Claire told him huskily, 'and without you in it, it is as arid and worthless as… as the desert without water—a vast expanse of nothing.'
'As is mine without you,' Raoul muttered hoarsely, his strong body trembling beneath the teasing kisses she was placing against it. Behind her was the vastness of the Sheikh's bed, and Claire felt no guilt or restraint about allowing her body to slip down on to it, enticing Raoul's to follow, her arms outstretched to welcome him. The faint sigh he gave as he did so was half surrender, half impatiently stifled desire, telling her that there would be no departure from Omarah for her, not unless Raoul was at her side.
'Tell me again that you love me,' he demanded arrogantly as his lips brushed hers. 'I want to hear you say it.'
'Of course I love you,' Claire responded mischievously. 'Are you not the Lord Raoul, keeper of my heart, guardian of my virtue… father of my child.'
'Worshipper of your body,' Raoul murmured as he feathered warm kisses across her skin. 'Lover of your heart.'
Beneath her the coverlet of silk shimmered in soft, rich blue waves, the evening breeze stirring hangings which had once graced the bed of the Sultan himself, but Claire was unaware of her surroundings. She had all that mattered safely encompassed within her arms, and the murmured words of love Raoul whispered in her ear were sweeter music by far than the soft desert breeze whispering through the silent courtyard outside.