Page 15 of At the Sheikh's Pleasure
Suddenly, she didn’t have a clue what they’d been talking about.The air between them crackled with sexual tension.She shook her head and only then realized that her shirt had slipped a little, and her long silky hair had snaked its way inside it, tickling her neck.She plucked it out and tossed it to one side.His eyes followed her every movement.
“Is…” She glanced around, desperately trying to think of a logical conclusion to her sentence.Her eyes alighted on the food.“All of this is making me extremely hungry,” she said with raised eyebrows, daring him to bring the conversation back to flirting.
He sat back, and the tension broke.“Of course.Let’s eat.”
And they did.Or, rather,hedid, in between asking her questions.She didn’t know whether it was her surroundings—both strange and familiar at the same time—or this man who seemed truly interested in finding out about her.She wasn’t used to such attention.
“And so”—he prompted after she’d decided he really couldn’t want to know any more about her—“your father wasn’t exactly the nurturing sort.”
“Thatis the understatement of the year,” she said, pushing her empty plate to one side and leaning back against the cushions.“My father is a strict man and one who has no interest in women except for their traditional roles.”
“And you weren’t interested in traditional roles?”
“Not solely, no.And certainly not the kind of role he had in mind for me.”
“And what kind was that?”
“A docile daughter who would marry whoever he wanted me to, no matter how old, how unkind…” she trailed away as she remembered her disastrous marriage.
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that.There were rumors about your husband.”
“And I’m sure they were all true.Including the fact that he was found dead in a Paris brothel.”She sighed.“The only good thing about my marriage was that it gave me a way to leave my father.”
“And you stayed away.”
“I did.Despite him insisting I return home.I suspect he had another arranged marriage ready for me.”
“But you’re not going back?”
“No.Never.He was also a… cruel man.”
Zaire narrowed his eyes.“You mean he was cruel to you?”
She nodded.
He sat up straight.“Did he hurt you?”
“Many times.I will not return home to be subjected to that abuse anymore.”
Was it her imagination, or did his eyes soften?He reached out and took her hand.“I am truly sorry that your father abused you.If I’d known when you’d come to Sifra to visit, all those years ago, I’d have intervened.”
She smiled, imagining the young man Zaire had been then, standing up for her against her father.“Then, it’s just as well you didn’t, because I assure you, you would have come off worst.My father is powerful and knows no boundaries.”
“And your brother?Didn’t he protect you?”
“My brother?No, he was too young, and I doubt he knew what was going on.”She shook her head.“I will never return to my family or my country, because it will be worse than it was before.I have gone against my father’s wishes by not returning.To be honest, I was concerned about coming to Sifra, so near my father.”
He squeezed her hand.“I promise you, no harm will come to you here.You are under my protection.”With that, he released her hand, and glanced at the sun, which was beginning to lower in the sky.“It’s time we returned.”
They walked back in silence to the horses.He helped her mount Adira and patted her horse’s neck, holding on to the bridle.
“Zaire, tell me, why the inquisition?Why did you ask me all those questions about me and my background?”She had to know.
“Because I’m interested in you.Is that so hard to understand?”
She gave a small grunt, unwilling to answer that, yes, it was.Because no one ever had been before.
As they rodein an easy canter across the desert plains, back to the city, Zaire lingered a little behind Rosana, so he could watch her.His hunch had been correct.There was more to her than a beautiful, arrogant princess.But what he most definitely hadn’t been expecting was to find a beautiful, arrogant sheikha who was full of pain, a woman who’d suffered at the hands of her family like no woman ever should.And that got him in some primitive place which he knew he wouldn’t be able to ignore.Whether he liked it or not, and something told him he probably would, he had to protect this woman.And, not only that, the little he’d learned about her only whetted his appetite for something more.For somethingmuchmore.
