by Kristi Gold
“I was not playing, Raina. I was very serious.” If his expression was any indication, he was dead serious. Seriously seductive.
“I guess I should thank you,” she murmured.
“You are welcome. And should you wish me to divert your attention again during our flight, please inform me.”
Of all the shifty sheikhs. “Well, thanks so much for asking my permission this time.”
He raised a dark brow. “This time?”
She sent him a sharp look. “The last time. We are not going to do this.”
“I believe we already have.” He touched her face and slid one finger over her cheek, slowly, methodically, hypnotically. “Anything else you require of me, you need only ask.”
She required only one thing, his absence so she could keep a tight grip on her control. But since it didn’t look as if he were going anywhere for the next twenty hours, she realized she would have to be strong. Otherwise, she might end up using that nearby bed for something other than sleeping.
No way, Jose. She would be damned if Dharr Halim, with all his blatant self-assurance and magnetic machismo, would be her ticket to the Mile-High Club.
Two
Raina Kahlil would make an excellent lover. Dharr had decided that the moment he’d spontaneously kissed her. A rather good beginning to their reintroduction—and a dangerous one at that. However, he had not been able to think of any other means to allay her fears, or so he’d tried to convince himself. Yet he had been successful with his distraction. He had also awakened his own libido, which would result in a long, hard journey back to Azzril.
Raina also put everything into eating, as well, he realized, as she consumed the cold vegetable sandwich without bothering to look up. Odd that she’d grown so silent since they’d become airborne. He never remembered her being prone to keeping her thoughts to herself, even when she had been a young girl. Especially then.
She pushed aside her empty plate and dabbed at her face with a napkin, drawing Dharr’s attention to her full lips. “That was wonderful.”
“I apologize for not having a hot meal, but we had little time to prepare.”
“The sandwich was great.”
He picked up the bottle of Bordeaux from the table and held it aloft. “Would you like more wine?”
“Considering the altitude, I’d probably get drunk if I had another.”
He refilled her glass then set the bottle aside. “Perhaps you would relax if you had another.”
“I am relaxed.” She pushed the glass away, knocking it off balance.
Dharr grabbed it up before it tipped over, saving the beige carpet from scarlet stains. He could not save his smile from making an appearance. “Are you certain?”
“Yes. I’m just clumsy.” She folded her hands before her on the table. “So tell me, Dharr, are you completely in control these days?”
“In control of what?” Certainly not of his carnal urges in her company.
“Are you running the country?”
General conversation. He would participate for the time being, as long as she didn’t ask too many personal questions. “My parents are traveling now and I have taken over most of my father’s duties, although he is still king.”
“Has Azzril changed much?”
“We have expanded the university in Tomar as well as the hospital. We are developing more modern agricultural methods and aiding the poorer towns with their growth.”
“Do you have any women?” He could tell she regretted the query when her gaze wandered away. “I meant any women in power.”
Dharr sat back with wineglass in hand, greatly enjoying the slight rise of color on cheeks. He wondered how she would look flushed all over. “Yes, doctors, legal representative, professors.”
She finally brought her golden eyes back to his. “What about government positions?”
The positions he was currently pondering had nothing to do with politics. “Not presently, but it is only a matter of time. Are you interested?”
“Heck, no. I was just curious. My mother always complained that women had little power in Azzril.”
At one time, that had been true. But Dharr had made great strides over the past ten years. “And your mother, is she well?”
Raina picked up the napkin, kneading it much like the family cook had kneaded the evening bread when he’d been a boy. “My mother’s lonely. She’s never dated anyone since she left Papa.”
“As I understand it, she is still married to your father.”
Raina twisted the napkin with a vengeance. “Technically, yes. Neither of them has even considered divorce. I think that’s ridiculous. If they aren’t going to live together, why not just end it so they can move on with their lives?”
Dharr noted a flash of pain in her eyes and knew that her parents’ estrangement had not been easy on her. “Perhaps they are both too full of pride. And divorce is still frowned upon in Azzril.”
“My mother’s from America where divorce is as commonplace as cars on the Los Angeles freeways.”
He rested his hand on hers when she released her death grip on the napkin. “And commitment is taken too lightly.”
She pulled her hand from beneath his and shrugged. “If you can’t live together peacefully, why prolong the agony?”
“I suppose in some ways you are right, but I see marriage as an agreement that can be mutually beneficial if kept in proper perspective.”
“What benefit would that be?”
He took a drink of his wine then leveled his gaze on her. “I can think of many ways a man and woman can benefit from each other. Procreation, for one. The process of procreating is another.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts, looking defiant. “All the great sex and babies in the world can’t help a bad relationship. Passion fades and if there’s nothing left after that, then all you have is a piece of paper and hatred.”
“If you do not give yourself over to emotions, then hate would not enter into it. Respect is more important.”
“Then you’re saying that love should be avoided at all costs?”
“Are you saying that you believe in something as frivolous as love?”
“I’ve never been in love with a man, but my love for my parents is very real. Don’t you love yours?”
“Yes, but that is different.”
“How so?”
“I know that my parents’ love for me is without conditions.”
Her smile was wan. “Oh, I see. Someone has broken your heart.”
How could she know that? Was he being too transparent? “I simply do not feel that it’s wise to give yourself over to intangible emotions.”
Raina stood, her golden gaze fixed on his. “Being such a cynic must be very tiresome.”
“Where are you going?” he asked as she moved from behind the table.
“To the little girls’ room, then I’m going to get ready for bed, if that’s okay with you, Sheikh Halim.”
“I have no objection. That is why the bed has been provided.”
She smiled a skeptic’s smile. “Oh, I just bet you put that bed in here for sleeping.”
“Why else?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Dharr. I know you’ve had women on this flying love machine before. A man like you wouldn’t spend his adult life without a few lovers.”
That he could not deny, but there had not been all that many, and none had been more than a means for gratification. Except one. “Have you, Raina?”
She pulled her bag from beneath the bed and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “Have I what?”
“Taken lovers?”
“That’s none of your business.” With a determined lift of her chin, she turned away and disappeared into the bathroom. He had to agree, it was not his concern. That did not prevent him from wondering if her defensiveness resulted from the fact she had taken several lovers, or perhaps none. He preferred to believe the latter, although he could not explain why. Could not explain the envy
when considering another man had touched her. Perhaps he was only being protective, or a fool.
A few minutes later, she came out of the small bath wearing a sleeveless royal blue satin shift that barely touched the top of her thighs. Dharr swiveled the anchored chair away from the table to face her as she turned her back to him. He watched while she bent over to replace her bag beneath the bed, revealing sheer white panties, not lace this time, but still impacting Dharr’s desire for her. She pulled back the covers, fluffed her pillow, stretched out on her back and pulled the sheet up to her waist.
“Are you coming to bed anytime soon?” she asked, failing to look at him.
“I did not know you were interested in having me in your bed.”
She raised her head and scowled. “To sleep, Dharr. This bed is big enough for both of us. You stay on your side, I’ll stay on mine, and we’ll be fine and dandy.”
Dharr leaned back in the chair and assessed her with a long glance over her body concealed by the sheet. “I assure you it would be most difficult for me to remain on my side of the bed, unless you erect a wall between us.” Dharr was fighting a different kind of erection at the mere thought of lying next to her and eventually on top of her.
“Oh, so you’re not strong enough to just sleep with a woman without sleeping with a woman?”
“Quite possibly I could with certain women, but not a woman such as yourself, especially since you are wearing very little clothing.”
She lifted the sheet and peeked beneath it as if she had no memory of what she wore. “I’m adequately covered.”
After dropping the sheet, she rolled to her side and faced him, her cheek resting on her arm partially tucked beneath the pillow. “If I were at home, I wouldn’t have anything on. I don’t like wearing clothes to bed.”
Dharr experienced a definite rise in temperature and a rise below his belt. Yet he didn’t bother hiding his current state of arousal by crossing his legs. In fact, he stretched his legs before him so she would know what she was doing to him. At least then he could say he’d given her substantial warning, even if not a verbal one. “I certainly understand, Raina. I do not favor clothes at bedtime either. If that makes you uncomfortable, I will stay in this chair.”
She sent a direct look at his lap, then said, “Fine. Good night.”
That was not what Dharr wanted at all. He’d wanted her to be more persistent, had hoped she would encourage him to join her. But her eyes drifted closed and it wasn’t long before her face relaxed with sleep.
However, he was not relaxed nor would he be when plagued with the fantasy of stripping out of his clothing and crawling in beside her, waking her with the most intimate of kisses, with touches that would make her body beg for his consideration. He could give her pleasure, but he would have to be satisfied to leave it at that. And that would not be acceptable. Not unless he considered her as the woman who would remain at his side as future queen.
At Harvard, he’d thought he had found the woman he wanted to make his wife, only to learn that she could never accept his legacy or his culture. She had led him on a sensual adventure then closed the door on any future they might have had together, walking away without even a personal goodbye, only a letter that told him they could never be together permanently.
And he would have given everything up for her. Everything.
Even his heart. Never again.
Raina slowly returned to consciousness after drifting in and out of fitful sleep. Disoriented, she thought she was back in her childhood bed in Azzril, until she looked to her left and saw the rectangular windows revealing night sky and heard the hum of jet engines. Then she remembered. She wasn’t fourteen; she was twenty-five. She was on a plane bound for a country that was only a distant memory, and the euphoria she’d experienced only moments before had been the result of a dream.
A dream involving her mother and father holding her hand as she walked between them in the streets of Tomar, suspended in a time before her mother had stolen away in the night to board a plane bound for the U.S., taking her daughter on a journey full of turbulent weather and equally turbulent emotions.
Raina’s world had come apart on that dreadful flight, and she’d experienced real fear for the first time in her life, not only from the horrible trip but also from a total loss of security knowing she would be entering a strange land without her beloved father. Worse, she hadn’t even told her papa goodbye.
“I see you have awakened.”
She turned her face toward the deep, controlled voice that floated over her like a satin veil against sensitive skin. Light from the lamp attached to the desk spilled over him, providing more than adequate illumination for Raina to get the full effect of the picture he now presented. If she had paints and a canvas, she would immortalize him—a portrait of dark against light. A representation of overt sexuality and undeniable power.
He looked as proud and regal as if seated on a throne instead of a chair. As dangerous as if he were a thief of hearts assessing his next victim with eyes as black as a bottomless cavern. His soft, sensuous lips, surrounded by a shading of whiskers, contrasted with the sharp, angular lines of his cheeks, his solid jaw and the straight plane of his nose.
His arms rested on the chair’s arms in casual indifference, his large hands curled over the ends, the right one sporting a gold and ruby signet ring on his little finger. His well-defined biceps conveyed his physical strength; his forearms laced with prominent veins and a fine covering of dark hair revealed his absolute maleness. As did his bare chest where a spattering of crisp, dark hair covered his pectorals and surrounded his pale brown nipples before tapering into a V pointing downward toward his ridged abdomen.
Raina visually followed the strip of hair below his navel to the waistband of the pajamas he now wore. But she didn’t stop there though she recognized she should. Instead she homed in on the dark shading at his groin apparent through the thin, white muslin material.
She knew she should quit looking, knew that her curiosity could get her into trouble if she didn’t. But she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the prominent crest that indicated he was aroused. Very aroused. And so was Raina when she imagined holding intimate knowledge of that very male part of him in her hands, deep inside her body.
She finally forced her gaze back to the ceiling and kicked off the covers, bending her knees, causing her nightshirt to slide to the tops of her thighs. Before she’d seen him sitting there, watching her, she’d been comfortable, even chilly. But now… Now she was incredibly hot, from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes.
She heard the chair creak but didn’t dare look at him, not after she’d shamelessly appraised him like a jeweler’s patron searching for the perfect diamond. He was as fine and flawless as a twenty-carat stone featured front and center in the display case. Raina wished he were behind glass now so she wouldn’t be so tempted to further examine him, or to touch him.
“How long have I been out?” she asked, her voice husky from sleep and a desire for him that made little sense.
“No more than two hours.” His voice was no less deep, no less lethal.
She afforded him a quick glance. “Two hours? That’s all?”
“Yes. Did you not find the bed to your liking?”
“It’s very comfortable.” Raina wasn’t, not in the least. “It’s kind of warm in here, though.”
“Do you wish me to turn up the air?”
“That would be great.” Although she doubted any amount of air would relieve the heat coursing through her body.
He rose from the chair and walked to the bed, reaching up to adjust the round vents above her head. Just seeing the tuft of dark hair underneath his arm made her shiver.
He stared down on her, his gaze roaming over her bare thighs covered in goose bumps before coming to rest on her satin-covered breasts that tightened from his perusal. “Are you too cold now?”
“No.”
“Are there any more adjustments you wish me to mak
e?”
He dropped his hand from the vents and brushed his knuckles over his groin, as if inviting her to do the same. With little effort, she could touch him there. Linger there to learn if he was as powerful as he looked. Clamping her knees closed in response to the damp wash of heat between her thighs, she turned her attention back to the ceiling and gave herself a good mental chastising.
Her reaction to him was outrageous. She didn’t really know him. She wasn’t even sure she still liked him. But she was only human—all too human—and this physical attraction, this chemistry, if left unabated could cause her a world of problems.
“I’m fine now,” she said, although she didn’t sound at all fine.
“Good. Please let me know if I can assist you further.”
Oh, he could, in some terribly wicked ways. She needed to stop thinking about that, stop fantasizing about him. After all, she only had fifteen or so hours to go in his company. She could manage that without turning into some sex-crazed female need factory.
What a crock, she thought when she blurted, “You should come to bed,” after he turned around to return to the chair.
He faced her again, looking provocative with the lamp’s glow as a backdrop. Six feet two inches of potent prince. Darkness and light. “I would not wish to interrupt your sleep.”
“And I don’t want to be blamed when you can’t walk tomorrow because you’re too stiff.” Raina wanted to bite her tongue off the minute the words left her mouth.
His eyes narrowed and his smile made another slow, sultry appearance. “You are very observant, Raina.”
She rolled her eyes, affecting disgust, when in reality her whole body felt as if he’d lit a match to it. “I meant stiff as in a sore neck.” She scooted over, practically hugging the wall, and patted the pillow beside her. “Climb in, Dharr. You can be a good boy for one night.”
“I could be very good, I assure you.”
Realizing she was playing a perilous game of chance, Raina almost rescinded the offer. But before she could, Dharr turned his back and snaked his pajamas down his hips, revealing his bare bottom and the backs of his hair-covered thighs.