Despite what he had told Lexi, he knew he could handle Danielle with the same diplomacy that he dealt with her father. But when he had asked Lexi to partner him at the dinner party he had lost his nerve—something that had never happened to Kadir before. Citing Danielle as an excuse had seemed like a good idea, but it had backfired spectacularly, and had led to him kissing Lexi in what had started out as a punishment and ended in searing passion that he knew he should not have allowed to happen. His behaviour had been inappropriate, and Lexi had made him aware of that fact on the helicopter flight from Monaco to the Villa De Rossi, when she had been as cold as a Siberian winter.
Kadir glanced at his watch. She was late coming down for dinner. His mouth tightened with annoyance as he remembered her excuse that she had nothing suitable to wear to a grand dinner party. Would she wear the evening gown he had arranged to be delivered to her room? He would give her five more minutes before he went to find her, and if necessary he would put the damned dress on her!
His attention was drawn to the top of the sweeping staircase, and his frustration with his stubborn, insubordinate pilot changed to white-hot desire as he watched her walk gracefully down the stairs. The dress was a Luca De Rossi creation, an elegant floor-length sheath of silk the colour of a summer sky that matched exactly the blue of Lexi’s eyes. Her pale gold hair had been left loose and fell past her shoulders like a silken curtain, framing a face as beautiful and serene as a Raphael virgin.
Kadir was aware of every painful beat of his heart as he strode across the hall.
‘Am I late?’ Lexi gave him a rueful look. ‘I couldn’t reach the zip on my dress.’
‘Why didn’t you call one of the maids to assist you?’
She shrugged. ‘It didn’t occur to me to ask for help. I made a hook out of a coat hanger and managed to pull the zip up with it. I served in the armed forces for ten years and I’m used to working out solutions to problems,’ she reminded Kadir.
‘Did you often wear evening gowns in Afghanistan?’ He did not know whether to be exasperated or amused by her fierce independence.
‘Of course not...’ She hesitated. ‘I’ve never worn a House of De Rossi dress before, or any other designer dress, for that matter. It’s beautiful, and obviously I will pay for it.’
‘Fortunately, we have been called in to dinner,’ he murmured, offering her his arm, ‘so we’ll have to save the argument until later.’
‘We don’t need to argue. You simply have to accept that I won’t allow you to pay for my clothes.’
His eyes glittered. ‘You always have to have the last word. Stubbornness is not an attractive quality in a woman.’
Lexi flashed him a cool smile that made Kadir grind his teeth. ‘I’m not hoping to attract you, Your Highness. Unlike just about every other woman here tonight,’ she added drily.
When she had first caught sight of him, dressed in a white tuxedo that looked stunning against his olive-gold skin, she had been blown away by his good looks and smouldering sensuality, and a glance around the room revealed that she was not the only woman who could not take her eyes off him.
They had reached the dining room, and Kadir held out a chair for Lexi to sit down. He was aware of the subtle and, in some cases, not so subtle glances directed at him from the other female party guests. Lexi was the only woman he wanted, but he could not tell her and he could not allow their mutual attraction to ignite. However, as she sat down, he was compelled by a force beyond his control to lower his head so that he could inhale the evocative scent of her perfume.
Lexi was suddenly conscious that Kadir had leaned closer to her and his face was almost touching hers. She held her breath as the close-trimmed stubble on his jaw scraped against her cheek, and only released it when he lifted his head and moved to sit down on the chair beside her. She took a sip of water and waited for her racing pulse to slow before she dared to look at him. His lazy smile did peculiar things to her insides. She wished she had not come down to dinner. She felt so tense that the thought of putting food into her stomach made her shudder. It had only been the thought that he was very likely to come to her room and force her to obey him that had persuaded her to put on the dress that she had discovered wrapped in tissue on the bed.
Heat stained Lexi’s cheeks as it occurred to her that she had never in her life allowed a man to force her to do anything she did not want to do. And why did the idea of being made to obey Kadir conjure shockingly erotic images in her mind? What was happening to her? she wondered grimly. Tomorrow she would be going to Zenhab. Pulling out was not an option; she could not afford to pay the penalty clause in her contract. But, more than that, it was a matter of pride that she learned to deal with His Royal Hotness and prove that she had not been fazed when he had kissed her in the pool in Monaco.
Kadir was charming and entertaining during dinner, but it was his unexpected gentleness when he spoke to the over-eager Danielle that surprised Lexi. His charisma and sexual magnetism she could handle, just, she thought ruefully. But the discovery that he could be kind and, dare she even think it, sensitive, was an element to him she had been unaware of until now. Heavens, if he carried on being Mr Nice Guy she might even grow to like him!
‘I understand you are a helicopter pilot and flew rescue missions in Afghanistan.’ Chuck Weinberg’s strong Texan drawl dragged Lexi from her thoughts. ‘Is your father a military man?’
‘My father...’ Lexi’s hesitation fired Kadir’s curiosity. “He’s a doctor. Actually, both my parents are in the medical profession; my father is a heart surgeon and my mother is a neurologist.’
‘They must be clever people! It’s curious that you didn’t inherit an interest in medicine from your parents,’ Chuck commented.
God knew what genes she had inherited from her biological parents, Lexi thought bleakly. Her mother had provided sexual favours for a living, and her father had been one of Cathy’s clients. The man whose blood ran through her veins was nameless, faceless, and the knowledge that she would never know his identity made her feel incomplete.
After dinner the party moved into the orangerie, where there was dancing to a five-piece jazz band. Lexi withdrew to an alcove and watched Kadir work his way around the room. No female between the ages of eighteen and eighty was safe from his magnetic charm, she thought as he finished dancing with Danielle Weinberg and swept a white-haired lady onto the dance floor.
‘I should have expected Kadir would try to seduce my grandmother, and that Nonna Violetta would adore him.’
Lexi glanced at Luca De Rossi, who had come to stand beside her. ‘He’s certainly the life and soul of the party,’ she said drily.
An amused smile crossed Luca’s handsome face. Similar in height and build to Kadir, he possessed film star looks, with jet-black hair, classically sculpted features and an air of polished sophistication that marked him out as a European aristocrat.
‘Don’t be fooled by Kadir’s playboy image,’ Luca murmured. ‘He plays hard but he works harder and he is prepared to devote his life to Zenhab.’
Lexi restrained herself from asking what kind of work the Prince of Pleasure had ever done. ‘I understand you became friends with Kadir at Eton? Did you also know Charles Fairfax at school?’
‘He was in the year below Kadir and I.’ The Italian shrugged an elegant shoulder. ‘I can’t say Charlie was a close friend. Why do you ask?’
‘He’s going to marry my sister.’
Luca looked surprised. ‘How curious,’ he murmured.
Lexi wanted to ask him what he meant, but her thoughts scattered as Kadir appeared at her side. ‘You have monopolised my pilot for long enough,’ he told Luca lightly, but beneath his easy tone was a possessiveness that made Lexi bristle. ‘Dance with me,’ he commanded.
She shook her head. ‘I can’t dance, and you are hardly short of partners. Every woman in the room is hoping it’ll be her turn next to be swept onto the dance floor by the Arabian version of Fred Astaire.’
Kadir l
aughed softly as he clamped his hands on her waist and whisked her around the room. ‘There’s no need for you to be jealous. I only have eyes for you, angel face.’
‘I am not jealous!’ She knew he was teasing her, playing a familiar game that he had played all the past week, so why was her heart thudding painfully fast beneath her ribs? She brought the tip of her stiletto heel down on his toe and gave him a look of wide-eyed innocence. ‘Oops. I warned you I can’t dance.’
His eyes glittered with an unspoken challenge that sent a frisson of excitement down Lexi’s spine. ‘Be careful, or I might be tempted to expose your secret right here while we are dancing in front of all these people.’
‘What secret...?’ She snatched a sharp breath, remembering how he had kissed her in the swimming pool and she had arched her body towards him in an unmistakable offer that had revealed her desire. The memory of that kiss made Lexi feel vulnerable and exposed—to him. The hunger in Kadir’s eyes—no trace of teasing now—caused molten heat to flood through her veins.
Confused by her reaction to a man she knew to be a playboy, she stumbled and Kadir immediately tightened his arms around her, drawing her closer so that her hips came into searing contact with his. The hard ridge of his arousal pushed against her pelvis. She did not dare meet his gaze but she knew from the harsh sound of his breathing that he was in as much danger of bursting into flames as she was.
Why him? she asked herself bitterly. Why had she never felt this intensity of need, this overpowering desire for any other man, including the man she had planned to marry? She had never come close to losing control with Steven. Until she had met Kadir she hadn’t known what it was like to ache in every part of her body, or for her breasts to feel heavy and her nipples hot and hard, so that she knew without glancing down that they were visibly outlined beneath her silk dress.
‘Excuse me...’ She did not care that the tremor in her voice betrayed her tension as she pulled out of his arms and walked swiftly across the dance floor. She was simply desperate to regain control of her wayward body and wanton thoughts.
Kadir watched Lexi’s slender figure weave through the other dancers, and it took every bit of his will power not to go after her, sweep her up into his arms and carry her off to—where? he asked himself derisively. Taking her to bed was not an option. It had to end now, this madness, the longing for something he could not have—and quite possibly he wanted all the more because Lexi was off-limits.
He saw Chuck Weinberg beckoning to him from the library, where they had arranged to discuss the business deal that would be hugely beneficial to Zenhab. His last night of freedom ended here, Kadir told himself as he strode towards the library.
* * *
Lexi checked her watch and saw that it was past midnight. The party was winding down and the guests were leaving. She was due to fly the helicopter to Milan Airport in the morning so that it could be loaded onto a transporter plane for the journey to Zenhab. It would be an early start to what promised to be a long day and she knew she should go to bed, but she had never felt less like sleeping in her life.
She wondered where Kadir was. He had disappeared from the party a couple of hours ago and Lexi had not seen him, or the attractive redhead who was almost wearing a daringly low-cut dress, since. He was not her responsibility, she reminded herself. She was employed as his pilot and his personal life was none of her business.
Hadn’t he made it his business when he had kissed her? whispered a voice inside her head. She frowned. The kiss had meant nothing to him. He had been playing with her like he had done all week, but tonight he had obviously grown bored of the game and turned his attention to the well-endowed redhead.
Feeling restless and refusing to admit that Kadir was the cause, she stepped outside onto the long terrace that ran along the back of the house. The Villa De Rossi’s magnificent formal gardens were dappled in silver moonlight but, as Lexi slipped like a shadow along the path leading down to the lake, the moon was partially obscured by clouds racing across the sky. She drew her pashmina tighter around her shoulders. Autumn in northern Italy was much warmer than in England but, as she stood at the edge of the lake, raindrops began to bounce onto the surface, falling faster and faster until the water seemed to dance.
A wooden summer house further along the path was the only place to shelter from the rain shower, and luckily she found the door was unlocked. Inky darkness greeted her as she stepped inside and an even darker voice demanded, ‘What do you want?’
‘Kadir?’ Lexi’s yelp of fright turned to shock and her heart leapt into her throat as a faint yellow light filled the cabin and she saw that Kadir had lit a gas lamp on the wall. ‘What are you doing here?’ Her eyes flew to an old sofa piled with cushions and realisation dawned. She guessed the redhead was hiding somewhere. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve interrupted something.’
His heavy brows drew together. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I assume you are here with someone.’
‘By someone I suppose you mean a woman?’ Kadir growled. ‘Why do you always jump to the worst conclusion based on rubbish the paparazzi have written about me in the past?’
Lexi flushed as it became apparent that there was no one else in the summer house. ‘What was I supposed to think? Why were you sitting here in the dark?’
He shrugged. ‘I went for a stroll because I needed some air and ended up at the summer house. I used to come here with Luca when we were teenagers; I stayed with him sometimes during the school holidays. He taught me to sail on the lake.’
They had been halcyon days, Kadir brooded, before his father had suffered the stroke that had left him paralysed and unable to rule, before his uncle Jamal had seized power, and before he had been forced to agree to an arranged marriage in a bid to maintain peace and stability in Zenhab.
Lexi glanced out of the window. Through the darkness, the twinkling lights of the villages strung around the shores of Lake Como revealed the vast size of the lake. ‘I imagine sailing is popular on the lake.’ She remembered that he had skippered the Zenhabian team that had won the America’s Cup. ‘Why did you decide to take up offshore sailing?’
‘There are no lakes in Zenhab,’ he said drily. ‘Away from the coast, most of the land is desert and rock. How do you feel about returning to a desert environment?’
‘I’m interested to see a new country and, unlike Afghanistan, there isn’t a war in Zenhab so I might get a chance to see the beauty of a desert landscape without having to worry about avoiding landmines.’
Kadir exhaled heavily. His father had ended the civil war in Zenhab and established peace between the tribes two decades ago. With his last breath Sultan Khalif had begged his son to maintain unity in the kingdom. Kadir had vowed to carry out his father’s wish, for it was his wish too. He loved the kingdom that he had been destined from birth to rule. It was a small sacrifice to give up his right to fall in love and marry a woman of his choice. Perhaps it was even a blessing. He had learned from his parents that love was a precarious base for marriage. His father had been broken-hearted when Kadir’s mother had returned to England for good.
Lust, on the other hand, was easy to understand. It was nothing more than chemistry, and it was a bitter irony, Kadir mused, that the chemical reaction between him and Lexi was blistering.
In the semi-dark summer house he was so aware of her that every skin cell on his body tingled, and he could feel the thunderous drumbeat of his desire pounding in his veins. He had never met anyone like her before, never admired any woman as much as he admired Lexi. She was beautiful, brave, intensely annoying, utterly intriguing—his brain told him to move away from her, but his body wasn’t listening. His eyes locked with hers and his heart flipped a somersault when he saw that fire had replaced the ice in her bright blue gaze.
Was it so wrong to want to taste her one last time? To capture a memory that must last him a lifetime. One kiss... He lowered his head and watched her pupils darken, heard the soft catch of her breath as he gr
azed his lips across hers and felt them tremble and open like the velvet-soft petals of an English rose.
One kiss, he assured himself.
She was sweetness and fire, his delight and quite possibly his destruction. When he had kissed her in the swimming pool he had not dared allow their bodies to come into contact, but now she melted into him, soft and pliant against his hard musculature. With a groan, he wrapped one arm around her waist and threaded his other hand into her long silky hair. Her perfume—a blend of crisp citrus and sweet jasmine—so appropriate for her, he thought—wrapped around him and he closed his eyes and sought her mouth blindly, his other senses, of touch and taste, heightened so that the feel of her lips beneath his was beyond pleasure.
The first time Kadir had kissed her in Monaco, Lexi knew that his intention had been to prove a point and show her that he was in control. She had understood that he had been angry because she had challenged him. But there was no anger now. They had not been having one of their verbal sparring matches and, rather than trying to show her who was boss, Kadir seemed to have seduction in his mind. His lips were firm on hers and he kissed her with demanding hunger, yet there was an unexpected tenderness in his passion that answered a need deep within her. The bold thrust of his tongue into her mouth shattered her resistance and destroyed the mental barriers she always kept in place.
She could not control the tremor that ran through her as he trailed his lips over her cheek, her throat, and found the pulse beating frantically at its base. Distracted by him sliding the strap of her dress over her shoulder, she felt something hard at the back of her knees and belatedly realised it was the sofa.
He eased her down onto the cushions and knelt above her. The fierce glitter in his eyes was a promise and a warning of his intent. Lexi held her breath as he slipped his hands beneath her and ran her zip far enough down her spine to allow him to peel away the top of her dress. The air felt cool on her breasts; his palms felt warm on her bare flesh. Glancing down, the sight of his darkly tanned hands on her creamy pale breasts was incredibly erotic, and when he rubbed his thumb pads across her tender nipples the sensation was so exquisite that she could not restrain a soft moan.
Sheikh's Forbidden Conquest Page 7