Climax of Passion

by Emma Darcy

  He did not resist. His torso met hers and he cradled her in his arms. His lips brushed across her forehead, her temples, her cheeks, her mouth.

  He rolled to one side, carrying her with him, then onto his back so that she lay on top of him. He rested her head upon his shoulder, their bodies still connected although the first rush of desire had been appeased.

  ‘Be at peace with me,’ he murmured.

  His hands moved over her back and shoulders while applying a sweetly scented lotion to her tingling skin. His strokes were long and languorous and mesmerising, weaving another dimension of intimacy. Amanda felt herself relax under the spell of his hypnotic touch. He drew gentle, entrancing patterns over her body, down her arms, even to her fingers so that every part of her that was accessible to him was caressed into tranquillity.

  Amanda was almost asleep from his gentle pleasure-giving when she felt him stir and quicken inside her. She did nothing. Curiosity as to what he would do and how he would behave towards her encouraged her to give no visible sign that she was aware of what was happening.

  She felt him engorge to his full extent within her. She forced herself to remain limp and relaxed in his arms. She controlled her breathing so that no alteration could be detected.

  He found the contours of her breasts and traced their soft fullness with the delicate touch of moonbeams upon a mountain mist.

  He stirred within her, yet with the waft of a sigh, his hands moved away from her breasts and onto the cushions beside him. He moved no more, leaving her to her repose.

  Amanda waited. His desire for her did not abate. But he did nothing that would awaken her. Slowly she shifted, as though aroused from sleep. She lifted her head close to his ear.

  ‘I had a beautiful dream,’ she whispered, ‘in which you gave me great pleasure. More pleasure than I ever thought it possible for a woman to have. Now it is my turn to please you.’

  She started moving on him until he could bear it no longer. When he had to take control, Amanda did nothing to restrain him. She gave of herself with all the ecstatic bliss of knowing the giving in his heart.

  Afterwards, as the stars faded from the skies, they slept together in each other’s arms.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  KOZIM could barely conceal his bewilderment. Life is change, he told himself, but the changes were so sweeping it was difficult to adjust to them and the rate at which events were unfurling was truly staggering.

  The wedding preparations were no problem. Kozim was used to organising huge ceremonial occasions. This, of course, would be the grandest of them all, but there was no set of ordered arrangements he could not handle with ease.

  The proclamation that no future queen could be sent to the rat-hole was another matter entirely. It was a complete break from tradition. Not only that, it was to be imbedded in the constitution of the country, turning the proclamation into unbreakable law. Such tampering with history had no precedent. Kozim found it deeply disturbing.

  The geologist’s daughter, he reflected, had a way of getting things done that he himself had never possessed. Kozim pulled himself up on that thought. It was the princess, not the geologist’s daughter. A slip of the tongue on such a point over the future queen could result in the most fateful consequences for himself. He needed to take care. Xa Shiraq was obviously besotted over his wife-to-be.

  She certainly had the most voluptuous and exciting body...and the radiance of her hair was entrancing...

  Kozim sternly suppressed such thoughts. They could lead to the permanent separation of the head from the body, a punishment he had once favoured, but upon more mature reflection, it seemed as extreme as the rat-hole. Perhaps the mellowing effect that this woman was having on Xa Shiraq was also having an effect upon himself.

  Today had been very busy with the sheikh holding open court for his people. The majlis had extended into the afternoon and still there was one more deputation to deal with, yet Xa Shiraq appeared amazingly relaxed. His fingers were not tapping like a measured metronome. They seemed to be dancing on the armrest of his chair, in time to some light, frivolous melody.

  Kozim shook his head. There was so much that was beyond his comprehension. How Xa Shiraq had changed his mind about the geologi—the princess—and obviously believed her, long before the hydraulic jack was examined, was a total mystery to Kozim. But it had proved right. The device had snapped under the load of that huge rock and the woman was not to blame at all.

  Still, Xa Shiraq could very easily have lost his life. If he had not been able to leap the chasm and work his way up through the mountain to the eagle’s eyrie, from where he could use the transmitter in his signet ring to summon the helicopter, Xabia could now be without a ruler. Kozim could be without a job. He shuddered at such a terrible prospect.

  And all for the sake of gathering those strange crystals for his wife-to-be! It made no sense to Kozim. The crystals were quite pleasant to look at, and for some reason the air about them seemed sweeter and fresher, but obviously they were intrinsically worthless. Why Xa Shiraq had ordered them to be set in gold seemed...Kozim clamped down on the critical thought. The gold did increase their value. He still thought it a poor wedding gift for the future queen, but undoubtedly the sheikh had his reasons.

  Kozim noticed, with alarm, that more than five minutes had passed and Xa Shiraq had not said a word. Kozim gave a nervous little cough. ‘I did send a messenger to the princess, Your Excellency,’ he said, anxious not to be found at fault.

  Xa Shiraq bestowed a benevolent smile. ‘It is of no consequence, Kozim. The princess will arrive when she is ready.’

  That was another thing that disturbed Kozim. The rigid time-keeping to a planned schedule had suffered considerably since the night of the Queen of Sheba veil. It was totally incomprehensible to Kozim that Xa Shiraq apparently accepted that the princess exercised a will of her own. Kozim did not like to think where such a thing might lead. He consoled himself with the assurance that Xa Shiraq knew everything and it must therefore be a wise course.

  The doors to the hall of government opened. Kozim and Xa Shiraq instantly sprang to their feet as the princess entered. She was a vision of rare beauty. She wore a misty lilac gown that flowed enticingly around her very feminine body as she walked forward.

  Kozim struggled to pull his thoughts into appropriate order. Of course the gown was supremely modest, whispering down to her feet, and with long graceful sleeves that caressed her soft, shapely arms. The princess was certainly a credit to the sheikh. Kozim had thought the proposed marriage a mistake at first. It would not cement any alliances or extend profitable areas of trade but...no man could possibly look upon the princess for long and continue to think of her as a mistake.

  * * *

  Amanda flashed Mr Kozim a smile as she walked up to meet Xa Shiraq. The stout little man was such a sweet person once one got to know him, a trifle uncertain of himself at times, but she would help him find his feet. He was always so anxious to please, to get everything right. He also thought Xa Shiraq was the fount of all wisdom, which made him invaluable as a personal aide.

  She extended a much brighter smile to the man she loved. His eyes were soft black velvet as he greeted her. A smile hovered on his lips, giving them a sensual curve. He took her hand to lead her to the chair that had been set beside his, and Amanda once again marvelled at the pleasure of his touch, the tingling warmth of his skin against hers, the strength and the tenderness of his long, supple fingers.

  ‘Why did you want me here?’ Amanda asked, surprised that he should ask her to join him at a majlis where he listened to the problems brought to him by his people.

  His eyes twinkled wickedly. ‘I want you everywhere.’

  She laughed. ‘Not in front of Mr Kozim. He would definitely be shocked.’

  ‘You are right. I am not sure Kozim can sustain many more shocks. We shall consider his feelings. There is a matter that concerns you.’

  He saw her seated, and raised a hand to Mr Kozim as he
settled in the chair beside her.

  Mr Kozim rang a bell.

  The doors opened.

  Amanda was mystified as to what the matter could be. Then Mocca came bouncing in, his boyish face beaming with what looked suspiciously like mischievous delight. He performed an elaborate bow, then followed it with a long flat-tering address, extolling the wisdom and generosity of Xa Shiraq.

  ‘You may address the princess,’ he was dryly told.

  Mocca was not slow to pick up his cue. ‘I have come with good news and bad news.’

  ‘What is the bad news?’ Amanda asked, wondering if there was another mountainous pile of invoices about to be sent to the palace.

  ‘We could not find the caves for which we were searching,’ Mocca announced dolefully.

  ‘Then it is proven that they do not exist,’ Amanda declared. ‘You have done well, Mocca. I thought it was a wild-goose chase but I wanted to know. Thank you. I am glad the matter is finally settled.’

  Xa Shiraq squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. The secret would remain with them.

  Mocca’s face lit with pleasure. ‘In that case,’ he said cheerfully, ‘there is only good news.’

  ‘What is the good news?’ Amanda inquired.

  ‘Your bodyguard has performed an invaluable service for you.’

  That was certainly news to Amanda, but she was not confident that it would be good.

  ‘They have caught the man who has been saying the most ridiculous and offensive things about people who have the colour of hair that you have, oh, Princess,’ Mocca continued.

  Here, too? Amanda thought in exasperation.

  ‘He has been saying you are stupid, you are dumb and you are a female dog.’

  Amanda bristled.

  Xa Shiraq leaned over and whispered, ‘I rejected Charles Arnold’s petition to appeal against his dismissal from the Oasis Hotel chain. Apparently he thought that gave him a license to be as offensive as he pleased.’

  So that was why Charles Arnold had come to Alcabab. No doubt he was taking out his peevishness by insulting Xa Shiraq’s choice of wife. Amanda felt a warm glow of approval for her bodyguard.

  ‘What has my bodyguard done with him?’ she asked Mocca.

  ‘As you are aware, people of your hair colouring are much admired in Xabia,’ he declared fervently.

  ‘I knew this was a wonderful country,’ Amanda declared with equal fervour.

  ‘So we hung a sign of what he’d said around his neck and marched him through the streets. The populace showed their disapproval. They booed him. They pelted him with camel dung...and other evil-smelling refuse.’

  ‘Oh, dear!’ Amanda wasn’t at all sure he deserved that much humiliation. ‘He is a creep and a slime, but I’d better go and see the poor man in case he’s damaged.’

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ Xa Shiraq remarked very dryly.

  Mocca flashed him his friendliest grin. ‘We also carried out the unspeakable. It felt really good doing it to him.’

  A vision of the rat-hole flew into Amanda’s mind. She sprang to her feet. ‘Take me to him at once!’ she commanded.

  ‘Princess!’ Mr Kozim started up in alarm.

  Xa Shiraq gave Kozim a knowing look as he rose to accompany Amanda. ‘There’s no stopping her once she gets the bit between her teeth, Kozim. The only thing to do is to satisfy her.’

  ‘Wise. Very wise,’ Mr Kozim mumbled, but could not hide his distress at this highly inappropriate turn of events.

  Mocca led off through the corridors of the palace. As they approached a courtyard that opened out to one of the gardens, Amanda’s nose was assaulted by a revolting smell. She refrained from comment but she privately decided the sewerage system urgently needed updating.

  Mocca threw open the door to a room that overlooked the courtyard and stood back for Amanda to see the occupant. The stench was dreadful.

  ‘We painted him with asafoetida,’ Mocca proudly announced. ‘He can’t stand the smell of himself and no-one else can, either. It is the vilest-smelling naturally occurring substance on the planet. Wasn’t that a great punishment?’

  Charles Arnold was a pitiable sight. He fell to his knees in a grovelling plea for mercy. ‘Mandy, for God’s sake! Please do something! Help me!’

  She fought for breath. ‘Mocca...’ she gasped, unable to share his boyish delight in the retribution taken, even though it certainly was a powerful deterrent to any human intercourse at all. Charles Arnold did deserve to know what it was like to have nastiness heaped upon him. Nevertheless, enough was enough! ‘Take him away...and let him wash it off,’ she choked out.

  ‘Oh, thank you, Mandy. Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ Charles Arnold raved, clearly at the end of his tether.

  Amanda was sharply reminded of the abuse she had suffered from him. ‘In future, Charles, please remember that my name is Amanda, not Mandy.’

  ‘Princess Amanda,’ Mocca corrected, ‘and very soon to be Her Majesty,’ he added for good measure. Then he clapped his hands and the bodyguards started streaming in from the courtyard. ‘Okay, boys,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Take him away and throw him into the well from which no-one ever returns.’

  ‘No, no, no!’ Amanda cried. ‘I meant take him away and give him a scrubbing brush and strong soaps and deodorants...’ She gasped for breath again. The smell was suffocating. ‘I’m sorry, Charles. You are the most offensive person it’s ever been my displeasure to meet. Please learn from this experience and treat people decently in the future. I must go now.’

  Xa Shiraq took her arm and gave a stern, finishing touch to her command. ‘When he is deodorised, Mocca, he is to leave Xabia and never return.’

  ‘Perhaps he need not wash until we see him over the border, Your Excellency,’ Mocca suggested eagerly.

  Xa Shiraq curbed his enthusiasm. ‘Do as your princess commands, Mocca.’

  ‘Yes, yes! Her will is my will. Your will is my will, oh, most gracious and generous...’

  ‘How much did you pay him?’ Amanda muttered as Xa Shiraq swept her away from the putrid area.

  He chuckled. ‘Such an enterprising young man deserves a reward. He turned a problem into a triumph for you, my love. The populace of Alcabab have taken you into their hearts. There is no greater joy than pelting camel dung at someone who richly deserves it. Perhaps Mocca has even given birth to a future legend. The filthy-tongued foreigner who denigrated the beauty of the Queen...’

  * * *

  Much later that evening Amanda was with Xa Shiraq in his private apartment. She was comfortably curled up on one of the blue velvet sofas as she questioned him about the guests who would be attending their wedding.

  ‘Did you realise that Jebel Haffa is not on the list?’ she asked, puzzled by the omission.

  Xa Shiraq gave her a bemused little smile. ‘I as good as told you, that night in the tent outside the village of Tirham, that Jebel Haffa does not exist.’

  Amanda shook her head in astonishment. ‘The second most important man in Xabia does not exist?’ she repeated incredulously.

  ‘It goes a long way back to the time of troubles. I needed someone who was absolutely loyal to me, whom I could always trust. There was no such person I could find. I invented Jebel Haffa.’

  ‘You said he was part of you,’ Amanda mused, more to herself than to him. She realised now how truly he had expressed himself.

  ‘It is why I have had to live a rather reclusive life,’ he explained. ‘So I could play both roles as necessary. It made a legend live. It made Xabians feel doubly secure.’

  The man who was never seen, Amanda thought, except in a black cloak and hood that kept his face in shadow. ‘And no-one knows of this?’ she asked.

  ‘Not even Kozim.’

  ‘So how will you explain his absence from the wedding?’

  ‘It will be Jebel Haffa’s duty to look after the realm during the period of our marriage and honeymoon. When we return, Jebel Haffa will have to die. He has served his functi
on, the role he had to play.’

  ‘I don’t want Jebel Haffa to die,’ Amanda said. ‘He was a wonderful person. He was part of you. Can’t he be retired to his country estates?’

  Xa Shiraq gave her a rueful smile. ‘Enough,’ he said. ‘You shall have your way. When we return, we will mutually decide Jebel Haffa’s fate.’

  Xa Shiraq walked over to her, took her hands in his and gently urged her up from the sofa. His arms slid around her, drawing her close. His black eyes shone with a brilliance Amanda had never seen before.

  ‘You are now my Jebel Haffa,’ he said softly. ‘Only more so, Amanda. Much more so. In you I have found the true companion and partner of my life. In you I place my absolute trust and know you will give me absolute loyalty. As I will give to you. For we are as one, as I was one with him. In mind, in heart, in soul.’

  He was completely open to her. No shutters. No veils of mystery. The brilliance of his eyes were the stars of a universe she had yet to explore fully, but it was hers to travel with him, to share, to know and to love.

  She curled her arms around his neck and drew his head down to hers. They kissed...tasting the future that was theirs...and the goblet was full.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-8487-6

  Climax of Passion

  Copyright © 1995 by Emma Darcy

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