* * *
Zafar’s heart squeezed. Finally she was here! He’d been ready to tear down the tent to get to her. But the wait had been worth it.
The veils, her eyes, her shapely body. How he loved this woman. He could see her impatience, she made him smile. He too had been impatient and he would leave her in no doubt about that but seeing her like this…loving her like this, loving her as a midwife, loving her naked, loving her any wat she’d accept, as long as it was forever.
‘You are so beautiful, my wife. Like a vision!’
The relief was there in Zafar’s voice and she smiled at him. So he felt it too.
‘Thank goodness you are, too.’
‘My impatient wife.’
‘My frustrating husband.’
He laughed out loud. ‘Now I will introduce you to our traditional wedding feast.’
She rolled her eyes and he laughed again. ‘Come, eat with me on cushions, drink from my cup and I will drink from yours. We will climb to the top of the dune and you will see the stars from the safety of my arms.’
Now that she had Zafar by her side, time passed swiftly. The wine they sipped tasted incredibly sweet, almonds and honey and no doubt secret ingredients she’d never discover, but its nectar left a trail of heat that coiled in her belly and spread back up over her breasts until time slowed to a second-by-second beat of the distant drum.
Tiny bells tinkled in the tent, discordant yet mesmerising music played softly in the background, and Zafar offered her morsels of flavoursome meat, tiny slivers of candied fruit and spoonfuls of rice so aromatic she closed her eyes. Each touch of his fingers to her mouth fired the flame that grew inside her.
When she returned the favour, he sipped from her fingertips, his eyes burning into hers, but his physical restraint was a more powerful aphrodisiac than if he had taken her finger into his mouth.
Never had she felt so aware of a man, so eager to feel his arms around her, so needing to be crushed against him, to be as one…
Zafar rose and held out his hand. His heart was bursting with wonder at this woman who had saved him from a darkness he had never thought would lift. Together they would achieve whatever goal was set before them.
‘Come, wife. It is time we begin our life together.’ She followed him to a platform of cushions set with candles, and outside a shadow guarded silently as they began a new dynasty that promised health and happiness to their kingdom.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459228160
Copyright © 2012 by Fiona McArthur
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Falling for the Sheikh She Shouldn't Page 16