“If I were a thug, I could very easily beat the information out of you,” Kadir said calmly. “You are small, and without an excess of toned muscles in your upper body. It would not be difficult.”
For the first time, York looked at Kadir with analytical eyes. “Where are you from? Not Silverton, I’d guess.”
Kadir glanced at the little fellow. “An exclusive, in exchange for everything you know about the man you saw.”
“Sure, Joe. Why not? What have I got to lose at this point?”
They made two more turns, and found themselves on a narrow, deserted street. There York stopped. He leaned against a quaint stone building and began to give a description. Kadir listened carefully. Most of the information was useless. The man was of average height, appeared to be Arabic, dressed in an expensive black suit and was clean-shaven.
“That’s it,” York said with hands offered palms up. It was an expression of total surrender. “Now, what about my exclusive?”
“After I find him,” Kadir said as he took Cassandra’s arm.
“What?” York followed them down the sidewalk. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“How do I know you told the truth?” Kadir asked. “You do not strike me as being the most scrupulous of men. When I know what you told me was true, then you’ll get your story.”
“Who are you, anyway?” the small man persisted. “You’re no boyfriend, I know that much. You’re not from Silverton, either, I’d wager, and English is not your first language. A spy, maybe? That in itself will make for interesting reading. Sexy Secretary Spotted in Company of Stupid Spy, or something along those…”
Kadir moved fast, spinning, catching York by the throat and pressing him against the nearest stone wall.
“Sorry about the stupid thing,” York croaked. “I’m just…” He struggled to take a breath. “Come on, give me something, man. I lost all my pictures. You can’t blame me for being in a bad mood.”
Kadir leaned in close. “If you ever again write a word about Ms. Klein without first obtaining her permission, you will regret it.” He lowered his voice. “And she’s not a secretary.”
He released the small man, and this time when Kadir and Cassandra walked away, York did not follow. When they were several steps down the unevenly paved street, Kadir took Cassandra’s arm. She listed in closer, and he was undeniably relieved and glad to have her body so close to his.
But now was not the time for such a simple pleasure.
“I believe the man York saw worked for me.”
Kadir wasn’t sure that the man York had seen was one of his employees, but he suspected it might be true. After all, how many well-dressed Arabs had been in Leonia on Saturday evening? No one had known they were coming here, and only the one photographer had followed. Still, he did not want to discuss the matter until he had more information. Cassandra tried to do her own calculations. Average height—that ruled out Jibril and Haroun, who were both very tall. Clean-shaven—not Sayyid or Hakim. Who did that leave? Tarif, Fahd and the crew she had never met.
Would anyone from the yacht’s crew dress in a suit?
She also had to consider that the man York had seen might’ve shaved that very afternoon, and perhaps his idea of average height was not the same as her own. In truth, they had eliminated no one.
Cassandra called the Kahani Ministry of Defense and left a message for Sharif Al-Asad—who was not available. The message had to be simple, and could not even hint that Kadir was alive. Cassandra left the message that she was a friend of Sheik Kadir’s and would very much like to speak with Sharif to relay her deepest sympathies on the loss of his friend.
She left the phone number to Lexie’s cottage with a surly man, hoping that Sharif would return her call. She wasn’t at all convinced that the message would be passed along.
Dinner was soup without conversation. Kadir was lost in thought, occasionally frowning and always distant. He was understandably distraught at the possibility that the assassin was one of his own, and just as distraught that he could not identify the culprit. Tomorrow they would go to town once again, and this time the questions would be different. More specific.
But for tonight they needed to rest and wait for a phone call that might or might not come.
Kadir settled on the couch to watch the evening news. His assassination was still a major story, even though two days had passed since the explosion. Better tidings were also shared, once the announcer had passed on the fact that there were no leads as to who might be responsible for the sheik’s assassination. Princess Amelia was expecting a baby. Lord Carrington and his wife had been trying to keep that bit of intelligence a secret for a while longer, but someone in the know had leaked the story.
Someone in the know was always willing to leak this story or that. Simon York would be devastated that he’d missed yet another scoop.
Cassandra sat next to Kadir, and when the news turned to insignificant weather and local interest, she leaned into him. “There’s nothing to do now but wait,” she said.
“That’s true,” Kadir said in a lowered voice.
“You might as well relax tonight.” Her fingers traced the bandage beneath the fabric of his shirt. “I should probably change your bandage.”
“It’s fine,” Kadir said absently. “The cut is healing nicely.”
She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. It was very nice, just to sit this way—close and connected and warm. But it wasn’t enough, and Cassandra had decided that Lexie’s way could not be her way.
“I’ve been trying to seduce you for almost two days, now, and my efforts have been wasted,” she said bluntly.
“Cassandra, don’t—”
“Let me finish, please.”
She took his silence as agreement.
“It’s not surprising that I’m a failure as a seductress,” she admitted. “Hints and flirting and girlish smiles are not my style at all. I prefer to be direct in all matters, and perhaps I should be direct in this one, as well.”
She slipped one possessive arm around Kadir’s midsection. “I’ve never held a man like this. I’ve never kissed a man the way I’ve kissed you, I’ve never cuddled and kissed and felt as if my heart was about to burst out of my chest. Until the night you were injured, I’d never slept with a man, not in any sense of the word.” She took a deep breath and made the big confession. “I’m a virgin.”
Kadir sighed. “All the more reason—”
“You said I could finish what I have to say without interruption.”
Another sigh. “Proceed.”
This was better than hints and not-so-subtle brushes of her hands on Kadir’s body. This was not a game; it was her life. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been waiting for something special. A feeling. A bond.” She might as well say it. “Love.”
She felt Kadir’s body stiffen, but she didn’t release her hold on him, and he didn’t push her away.
“My mother always told me that the first time she saw my father she knew he was the one for her. Her heart fluttered, and her stomach flipped over and she knew in an instant. I’ve waited for that feeling since the age of fourteen, Kadir, and when I saw you walk off the plane…”
“Don’t,” he whispered.
“I felt it for you,” she continued. “Maybe what I feel is purely physical and in time it will pass, fading away or simply disappearing. Maybe it’s more than physical, but in the end what I feel and what I want won’t matter. I don’t know. Maybe I’m not supposed to know. Maybe I’m just supposed to accept what I feel and trust that what comes is meant to come. All I know is I want you, and you have become annoyingly determined to fight me at every turn.”
Kadir placed a hand in her hair. “You fought against any attraction for me from the moment I first saw you. When you changed your mind so suddenly, what was I supposed to believe? More than anything, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want you to regret a moment of our time together.”
“I’ve been fi
ghting my feelings for you since that first moment because you didn’t arrive in the way in which I’d always imagined.” It was an embarrassing admission. “The arrival of love should be neat and tidy, or so I thought. I should meet a suitable man—the suitable man—at a social function or on the beach, at the market or in the museum as we both studied the same painting.” It all sounded silly now. Who could plan their life to the last detail? What was life without a few surprises? “It shouldn’t arrive in a way which forces me to choose between my career and the love I’ve always wanted. Love should be neat, I decided, not messy and complicated. So I pushed the flutter aside and dedicated myself to my work, and tried very hard not to like you too much.
“And then I watched the yacht explode, and I knew that to set aside something so special and extraordinary was a mistake.” She rose up slowly and laid her mouth on Kadir’s neck. He tasted so good, and she wanted this and more. “Enough explanation. I want you to make love to me. If that doesn’t happen, if I turn my back on something so exquisite, it will be like passing by a beautiful flower and not taking the time to smell it, or closing my eyes when a breathtaking sunset appears because I know it won’t last. If you really and truly don’t want me, I’ll understand. But I think you do.” She laid her hand over the erection that strained his jeans. “I think you do.”
Kadir’s arms encircled her, and she knew that tonight he wouldn’t deny her. “I can make you no promises beyond tonight, Cassandra. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
“I’m not looking at tomorrow. Just tonight. I waited for you, Kadir, I waited a long time. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
He threaded his fingers in her hair, held her head gently and kissed her. Deeply and completely, he kissed her. One hand slipped beneath her T-shirt and then simply laid there against her skin as if he were trying to absorb her. Could he feel her heart pounding? Could he feel the rush of blood that made her light-headed and shaky?
She had used the L-word, but Kadir had not. Maybe he didn’t love her at all, but wanted her in a purely physical way. Maybe he was afraid of love. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want to pass up this beautiful moment in the name of keeping her life neat and tidy.
Life wasn’t supposed to be neat and tidy, and it took this crisis to teach her that fact.
With a suddenness that startled her, Kadir drew away, ending the kiss. “I wasn’t thinking.” He moved a strand of hair away from her face, and let his fingertips trail against her cheek. “I don’t have any form of birth control with me, and I suspect you don’t, either. Leaving you carrying my child is a chance I won’t take.”
Kadir didn’t mention that there was a madman out to kill him. He didn’t mention that nine months from now he might be dead, or fighting his battles on the other side of the world. He didn’t have to.
Cassandra reached into the back pocket of her borrowed jeans and pulled out a condom that crinkled in its package. “My sister has a box of these under the bathroom sink. Will they do?”
Kadir sighed, in what seemed to be relief, and took the condom from her. “Yes, they will do.”
Kadir slipped the condom into his own back pocket, for now. What Cassandra thought was love would soon prove to be purely physical, as she suspected it might. Still, he did not want her to regret revealing her deepest sentiments to him.
Even when they went their separate ways, when she returned to her job and he returned to his—if he survived—he didn’t want her to regret this.
Kadir unfastened and unzipped Cassandra’s jeans. Every move he made was slow, deliberate. His fingers raked across the sensitive, pale skin of her belly, and she trembled. She was so soft. So delicate. More than anything, he did not want to hurt her. He lowered his head and kissed the sensitive flesh, letting his lips linger there for a moment. Kadir didn’t take much time to revel in those things in life which were fine, those things which made life worth living. The love of a beautiful woman, even if it was not meant to last, was certainly one of those things.
Cassandra’s thighs parted slightly, in a purely instinctive move, and her eyes drifted to a sensual half-closed state. The gray of her eyes was soft now, as soft as the wings of a dove and filled with what she believed to be love. With every stroke of his fingers, with every brush of his lips, the desire in those expressive eyes grew to a new height.
Kadir pulled Cassandra’s shirt over her head and tossed it aside, and while she was in that vulnerable state, half-undressed and flushed with desire, he drew her body against his and kissed her deeply. Her mouth met his with hunger and anticipation and desperation. She knew as well as he did that this relationship was temporary. Even in the best of circumstances, they came from two very different worlds. She was a modern woman; modern women were not welcomed in his country, not even now.
No, this was a passing alliance, one that could not last, but it was also deeply meaningful. Cassandra meant more to him than a short-lived liaison, but he couldn’t tell her that. Unlike her, he had to guard his innermost thoughts. He could not afford to be so brutally honest, as she had been.
In a matter of minutes, he could take her here on the couch, quickly and fiercely joining and making love to her. Her body trembled, her heart pounded and she was ready in all ways. Kadir had been ready for this woman since the moment he’d seen her, but now…now he wanted her with an unexpected intensity. He had never wanted any other woman quite this way.
But Cassandra had shared everything with him, and he knew this was her first time. Her first time should not be fierce or quick. It should be memorable, and those memories should make her smile and shiver for a long time to come.
Her bra was easy to remove with a flick of his fingers and a gentle plucking, which removed the lacy fabric from her breasts. When the undergarment had been tossed aside, he lowered his mouth to take a nipple deep, and Cassandra arched her back and gasped. The sensation was a new one for her. New and powerful and delightful. Her fingers settled in Kadir’s newly shortened curls, and she pulled him closer. He drew her deeper into his mouth, then pulled back and traced the hard nipple with the tip of his tongue. She sighed and shuddered, and he slipped his fingers into her opened jeans.
Pushing her jeans down over her hips, he slipped his fingers between her legs. There she was hot, wet and quivering. He touched her, teased her, aroused her with his mouth on her neck and breasts and his fingers stroking until she was rocking beneath him in a gentle and instinctive sway, trying to draw him closer, deeper.
She whispered his name, her body shook and Kadir rose up to take her mouth with his. His tongue speared into her mouth while his fingertip just barely entered her eager body. Her gasp of surprise at the new sensations caused her entire body to jerk. He kissed her, and one finger brushed against a sensitive nipple while another moved inside her.
Cassandra climaxed with a cry and a lurch, her body undulating against his as the orgasm made her entire body quiver. He held her, and reveled in the release as if it were his own. Even as the tremors faded and she relaxed, she continued to kiss him. The kiss turned gentle. She was satisfied, for the moment.
The way she touched his body told him she would not be satisfied for long. One hand settled over his erection and moved languidly.
“Oh, my,” she said when she was capable of speech. “That was definitely worth waiting for.” She smiled at him.
Kadir’s heart lurched at the sight of that passionate grin. He dismissed the reaction to one of pure, unsatisfied lust and that wandering hand.
“To bed?” Cassandra said in a soft voice that spoke volumes.
“Yes,” Kadir said, drawing away from her and caressing the perfect, half-dressed body she presented to him. Had he ever seen anything more beautiful? Had he ever wanted anything so much?
He promised himself at that moment that even when morning came, Cassandra would not be sorry she’d waited for him.
Chapter 11
There was a new and almost palpable energy in the atmosphere, as if a sto
rm was coming. The very air Cassandra took into her lungs felt different, as if it had been charged with electricity. She’d wondered earlier if she might be shy if the evening progressed as she’d planned, but she was not. There was such joy in making love, there was no time for shyness.
She and Kadir undressed one another as they made their way to the bedroom and the bed, and like the kissing, each and every move seemed very right and natural. Buttons, zippers, the occasional awkward move to rid oneself of an unnecessary article of clothing—it was all as natural as taking a deep breath of the electrified air.
Heaven help her, at the moment she needed Kadir the same way she needed air and the beat of her heart. He was that important, that necessary.
Together they slipped beneath the covers, and Kadir’s naked body rested against and then pressed against hers. Legs entwined, and arms encircled. They were so close, so near to coming together in all ways.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, gently and then deeply, as if they were just beginning again. Oh, the feel of his bare body against hers was heavenly. That sensation of skin to skin was a delight in itself, as sensual and exquisite as any touch could ever be.
They kissed and touched, and reveled in the friction of one body against another. Kadir’s erection pressed into her hip, but he didn’t seem to be in any rush. Time moved very slowly, so that every kiss, every caress, was elongated. Savored. Cassandra’s body reached for something new and untasted, but like Kadir she didn’t rush. She allowed him to lead her, to guide her in this new, sensual experience.
Kadir touched her with his fingertips, as if learning each of her body’s curves and swells. Shoulder, neck, breast, the soft skin above her belly button, the crook of her elbow. He watched the sight of his hand against her skin, by the light of the moon that shone through the bedroom window, as if he felt the same wonder she had discovered.
She watched his face, when she could, wondering at the beauty and mystery of this night, wondering if she truly knew the man behind that handsome face. She did more than look, of course, enjoying an exploration of her own. She traced Kadir’s newly shaved jaw, which was sharp and masculine, and then she pressed one hand against the well-muscled chest and feathered her fingers through his short, black curls while pulling his mouth to hers for another, deeper kiss.
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