Jamil’s amused expression showed why she was considered by the gossip magazines to be one of the most beautiful women in the country. “Yes.”
“You used to not be.”
“Yes.”
Sally laughed again, and she realised she was enjoying the sound. “But why?”
“You make my brother happy.”
It sobered Sally immediately. She fixed Jamil with a look of surprise then paddled away from the edge. She swam two quick laps, but still her heart pounded hard in her chest.
Jamil waited until Sally surfaced for longer than a minute, her eyes carefully regarding the English woman. “Does that surprise you?”
She wouldn’t have said Khalid was happy. He seemed far less so than before the wedding. In the lead up to that, he had been almost easy going. And now?
She shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “But I’m glad to have your friendship at last.”
“See? A consummate diplomat. You easily speak without revealing a thing.”
Sally arched a brow. “I just told you I’m pleased to think of you as a friend.”
“Yes, which is stating the obvious.” She leaned forward on the lounger, pinning a determined glance on Sally. “Khalid asked me to check on you. He thinks you are unsettled. Displeased. He thinks you are not happy.”
Sally rested her arms on the side of the pool then lay her head on top of her hands. “I’m as happy here as I’ve been anywhere else.”
“I’m not sure that’s saying much.”
It wasn’t, but Sally wasn’t about to get into a detailed conversation of her mindset with this woman. If Khalid was so worried about his wife, he could speak to her himself.
She stayed in the pool long after Jamil had retreated from the midday sun. She floated on her back, as she had that evening at the rock pools, staring up at the perfect sky.
The difference was how euphoric she’d been in that moment. Having just made love to Khalid for the first and only time, her body had come alive with complete sensual comprehension.
Now, she felt like a lifeless old crone, drifting through the days, impatient for night. Though the nights were worse. She and Khalid were married, and yet they didn’t share a bed. They had two separate suites in the royal apartments, and by silent, mutual consent, they didn’t attempt to invade one another’s privacy.
Talk of an heir had been premature, apparently.
State functions were the only times she saw her husband, and then he was cool and distant.
He hadn’t wanted harm to befall her, but now he could barely stand to speak to her.
Hours later, as time inexorably moved onwards, she was restless still. She stretched her arms and legs wide in her enormous bed, reaching for the corners and wondering when sleep would come and release her from the agony of her thoughts and memories.
It didn’t.
After more than two hours of tossing and turning, she gave up and reached for her book.
It wasn’t in its usual place and she realised she must have left it by the pool. She groaned, and slid her feet out of bed. There were still several hours until morning. Reading would help pass the painfully lonely throbbing of night. Her robe was on the back of the door; she wrapped it around her slender form then pulled it inwards.
She heard them before she saw them.
Hushed voices came to her across the entrance way she shared with Khalid. Her eyes lifted out of idle curiosity at first. After all, how could she have known she was about to see something that would forever alter her being?
Khalid, dressed only in a pair of long black pants, his arms relaxed by his side, his hair loose around his handsome face, was staring solicitously at his companion.
A woman. A tall woman with dark hair and a slim frame. Khalid turned his face to Sally, and the woman followed his gaze.
Hannah.
The old Sally might have startled, and been embarrassed. The new Sally who had been completely broken by the actions of those she loved most simply nodded politely in their direction. “Excuse me,” she said quietly, before slipping out of the door and walking towards the pool.
It was only when in the solitude of the swimming area that she let her tears falls. Frustrated with herself, she pulled her robe off and threw it angrily onto a seat. Her pyjamas followed, until she was dressed in just her underwear. She dove into the water, and beneath its forgiving surface, she screamed until water threatened to overcome her lungs and drown her. She surfaced for air and then duck dove back down.
Another scream, causing bubbles to come from her mouth and tears to merge with the chlorinated liquid.
She pushed up from the bottom of the pool, all thoughts of her book forgotten. She swam to the other side and stared into the distance. The mountains were just black peaks against the grey middling night sky. The stars were not as bright as normal; perhaps the haze of the day’s heat was dimming them. Or maybe that was her senses, dimming everything.
Hannah.
She had no reason to be at the Sheikh’s bedroom at this late hour.
Except one.
Her gut clenched with fierce resentment.
The water rocked around her, and the sound of splashing reached her ears. She spun around self-consciously just in time to see Khalid emerge from beneath the surface of the pool. He strode to her easily, his arms powerful in cutting through the water.
It was too much. Too alike that time they’d swam together in the past. Sally shot him a cool look of disdain that was far from an echo of her heart then braced herself against the edge of the pool. She was halfway out when Khalid’s arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into the water.
She wanted to scream at him. To shout at him to question what he was doing.
Instead, she offered no resistance as he brought her into the circle of his arms. She looked at him with a bland expression of inquiry.
“Saaliyah,” he murmured, studying her face without revealing anything he felt.
“Yes?” She couldn’t believe how calm she sounded! Her voice rang with confidence and ease when inside she was withering into nothingness.
“I am not sleeping with Hannah.”
Sally’s gaze didn’t flinch from his. “I didn’t say you were.”
His brows knitted together. “No, but you would be mentally impaired not to assume it.”
“Because you warned me of your insatiable appetite before our wedding, and we haven’t had sex in a month?” She blinked up at him with a look of innocence. “Oh, I presumed you were indulging your … needs … with someone. I just didn’t think it would be a woman who’s married to someone in your family.”
He swore softly under his breath, but didn’t release his hold. “You are going on the attack because you are running wounded.”
“No.” She lifted her hands to his chest. “I’m not. I’m not wounded. I’m not running. I’m just being myself.”
He shook his head. There was nothing about this version of his wife that was natural. The ache to remind her of who she was ran deep inside of him. Slowly, he let his fingers drift lower, inside the elastic of her underwear. He scooped his hands around her backside, pleased when her eyes flared wide at the intimate touch.
She moved her body closer to his, inviting his touch, begging him to remind her of how it had felt when they’d come together. And he wanted it. He wanted exactly what she did. He pulled her against him, then swam her through the water. At the edge, he stepped out, carrying her against his chest.
He was naked! She hadn’t realised before then. Sally felt her cheeks glow warm at the sight of him completely without clothes. He lay her down on the terracotta tiles of the pool. They were pleasingly cold beneath her.
Her wet underpants were glued to her body, yet he peeled them off with ease.
His black eyes bore into hers as he moved swiftly to claim her body. His arousal thrust into her, and with each movement it proclaimed her as his.
She loved him, and he knew it.
He was not gentle.
He was filled with a yearning that could not be held back. For four long weeks he had waited for a solution, and he could wait no more.
She cried out, her voice throbbing with sultry desire in the thick night air. He laughed softly, nodding, kissing her, possessing her, and all the while, knowing he would always want this.
He suckled on her breast and she began to whimper; his fingers circled the other nipple, squeezing it tight so that she bucked her back and gripped his flesh. He ran his tongue from her breast to her neck, breathing his warm self over her as still she writhed beneath him. She was fire, he was flame. She was sunshine, he was summer. He kissed her mouth powerfully, his tongue clashing with hers unapologetically. He pushed harder inside of her, feeling every single inch of her wrap around him and hold him tight.
She came in a crescendo of emotion, her body wet with perspiration and water from the pool. She came fiercely and ferociously, screaming and slamming her hands onto the tiles as sensations overtook her.
And he came with her, silently freeing himself from the agonising half-life in which he’d been existing.
Sally’s racing heart slowly began to come back to earth. It was beating with love for the first time in a long time. She welcomed the sensation even though she knew it would bring pain with it.
I would say you’re mistaking lust for love. I do not want the complication of having a wife who loves me. Put it out of your head.
This was lust.
Nothing more.
Perhaps he and Hannah had been on their way to an assignation when she’d happened upon them. Perhaps he was using her to fill a spot on his sexual schedule.
Whatever his reasons for coming to her, she couldn’t and wouldn’t be foolish enough to hope for more than he was able to offer.
She wriggled beneath him, somehow managing to push his weight from her and standing in one movement.
She scanned the pool until her eyes arrested on her robe. She pulled it around herself without bothering to find her underwear. Her hands were a little unsteady; she stuffed them into the pockets.
“Is there anything else?” Her voice was calm again! Hallelujah, she rejoiced inwardly.
“Saaliyah.” It was a groan. A plaintive cry.
He needed something. “What is it?”
He stood fluidly, and moved towards her. But what could he say? What could he offer her?
He shook his head. He wanted … he wanted what they’d once shared. He wanted her to look at him as though he could solve every problem in the world. He wanted … her love.
Her love?
Impossible.
The thought alone was enough to scare him from saying more. He smiled, hoping it was nonchalant. “I hope you are happy. Jamil seems to think you are.”
Oh, right. His sister. She shrugged. “As I said to Jamil, I’m as happy as I’ve ever been.”
Words that might have soothed his sister, but that were tiny little daggers of accusation to him. He knew what her life had been like. An overly restrictive childhood, an adolescence spent living in Tashana’s shadow … was marriage to him one last insult on her list?
When he swallowed, his Adams apple moved up and down. “I’m glad.” It was a lie.
She spun to leave, but he grabbed her hand. He didn’t want her to go. “Can’t you stay a while? We haven’t spoken in a long time.”
“No.” Her smile was forced. “We haven’t.”
His black eyes searched her face. “So stay now. Talk with me, as we used to.”
The pain in her chest was severe enough to make her want to clutch her breast. She angled her face away from him. “No, thank you.”
“I could order you, you know.”
As far as jokes went, it fell impossibly flat.
She looked up at him, and now, the salty tears in her eyes were unmistakable. “Just let me go, Khalid.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The gap in the trees was all he could see. A strange fog of rain had come in with the afternoon winds. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, but the drizzle was misting everything.
He should have been listening to his advisors, but he wasn’t.
He was staring at the gap in the trees, and he was thinking of Sally. She was his wife. And he was allowing her to behave as a guest in his palace. A bored, disinterested one at that.
She was being stubborn because he had told her love wouldn’t be a part of their union.
But that didn’t mean it couldn’t still be a good marriage.
What they’d shared before showed them to be compatible. He had enjoyed her company. He had loved spending time with her. He thought of her almost obsessively.
Suddenly, her presence in the room opposite was laughably ridiculous.
“Excuse me,” he murmured to his trade secretary. He didn’t pause to see the look of confused bemusement on the man’s face.
His stride was long and confident as he moved through their foyer. His knock on her door was perfunctory. He did not intend to wait for an invitation.
He pushed the door inwards to find Saaliyah sitting cross-legged on the floor, a book open on her lap, but her eyes closed. She was breathing deeply, and her face was peaceful. She looked so calm, in fact, that he immediately regretted bursting in on her. For at the sound of his entrance, she flashed her eyes towards the door and tensed.
His gut clenched.
“Hello,” he said, pausing just inside the door.
She flicked her book closed and stood, dusting her hands over her bottom before placing the novel on a side table.
“Hello,” she responded, and the wariness in her voice was another mark in his blood.
He had a thunderous look on his darkly handsome face and instantly the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
“Is everything okay with Tasha?”
He nodded. “So far as I know.”
Sally exhaled slowly. “You looked worried. Or angry.” She frowned. “What is it?”
Her knowledge of his temperament frustrated him. How was it possible that she understood him so well after such a short time? He thrust his hands into his pockets. “I do not think it’s appropriate for you to continue in this room.”
Sally’s heart rate spiked almost unbearably. “You don’t?” She prompted, careful not to show any reaction until she understood exactly what he was getting at.
“You are my wife. It is time to start behaving like it.”
Two pink circles formed in her cheeks, but otherwise her face didn’t shift. “I didn’t realise I wasn’t.” Her eyes though couldn’t hide their emotion. She was hurt. Embarrassed. A vice-like band clamped around his chest. “I thought you wanted this level of … distance between us.”
“I told you last night; I want what we used to have.”
Sally nodded, but the Sally in her mind was shaking her head and shouting at the top of her lungs.
That would never be possible! She had spent that time getting to know Khalid and falling in love with him. Because she’d believed there was a possibility for their relationship to develop and deepen. His determination to keep her at arms’ length everywhere except his bedroom made her realise that he didn’t want anything to deepen. He wanted a convenient wife, one who would oblige the sexual needs he’d discussed with her long ago. It felt like another lifetime ago, for how much had happened.
“Won’t it cause problems for your … late night discussions … with Hannah? And women like her?”
His eyes narrowed but she continued.
“I would have thought having a wife in your bed would cramp your style somewhat.”
He swore softly in his own language. “I told you, Hannah and I are nothing to one another now.”
“Oh, no, I know,” sarcasm dripped from her words. “Of course. There are dozens of reasons she could have been visiting you at three in the morning, with you barely wearing anything.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. His silence
was not by preference; he felt he owed it to Hannah. But the hurt misunderstanding on Sally’s face cut through that objection. “She isn’t happy in her marriage. She asked me to intervene.”
Sally rolled her eyes. “And I suppose she wanted to know if you’re happy? And by happy, I mean available.”
He shook his head slightly from side to side. “What she wanted is irrelevant. I am not interested in her, or any other woman. For the moment.”
“For the moment?” Now she had to tap her hand against her chest, because her heart was burning like a lit fuse. She spun away from him and stared blindly out of the window.
“At all,” he sighed. He had added the warning to hurt her, but having succeeded, he felt cruel and small. “Our marriage isn’t traditional, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be good.”
Good. She squinted into the sun. The rain was still falling, and it was making tiny little diamond drops in the sky. Good? What did that mean? Sex and simplicity, she surmised. No emotional confusion. Just easy, uncomplicated sex.
She swallowed. It would kill her. She was certain of it. And yet it would also feed her addiction for him. She ran a finger over the window ledge. Moisture had encroached into the palace, and it was damp.
“Fine,” she said, her voice resigned.
“Fine?”
She turned her head so that she could stare at him. “I’ll move into your room.”
He nodded. It was a victory, yet it felt completely hollow. He wanted to say something else, but the broken look in her eyes stalled him. Beyond her, he could see the gap in the hedge and he felt the same sense of shame spiralling through him now as he had then.
Breaking beautiful, rare things was his gift, apparently.
He turned on his heel and stalked out of her room.
True to her word, Sally was waiting for him when he returned from an emergency meeting with his military advisor. He was tired, and it showed.
Sally, dressed in a flowing white night gown, looked up as he entered. She flashed him a perfunctory smile then returned to her book.
She was a keen reader. There was always a novel in her hands, and he liked that. He liked her interest in life and the world, and her desire to remain occupied.
Bartered to the Sheikh: Honour, duty, marriage ... and passionate desert nights Page 14