The Desert Lord's Bride / Wed by Deception: The Desert Lord's Bride

He snapped his eyes back to her then, the harshness there directed at her, no doubt. “You’ve been so incredibly candid so far, so please, don’t you start acting now.”

“Acting?”

“Yes, to assume the blame for how things have turned out, so you’ll soften the blow. I won’t pretend it is a disappointment I can come to terms with, as it isn’t and I can’t. But please don’t add insult to injury and think you need to placate me now. It’s your right to change your mind at any point.”

“You’re the one who changed your mind.” Her voice quavered.

He shot to his feet. “I did no such thing.”

“But you said there was no point in looking me up anymore.”

“Only because you’ve made it clear you don’t want to see me. And since you seem horrified by what you let happen between us, after your earlier doubts, I don’t want to give them credence by imposing my desire where it isn’t wanted, adding the charges of stalking and harassment to…” He stopped, stared at her as she gaped at him. Then his stiff face broke into slow elation that made her feel like the sun had broken through barricades of clotted clouds and a heavenly orchestra had broken out to fill the world with poignancy and beauty. “You weren’t telling me you didn’t want to see me again?”

“If I in any way implied that, then my communication skills, as stunted as they are, have totally disintegrated.”

Something tight, watchful, still hovered in his gaze. “But you said you wanted to go home.”

“I only wanted to go home tonight. I was hoping to be with you again tomorrow, when I hoped also to have retrieved my misplaced balance and borrowed some much-needed discretion.”

And the tension in his eyes, his stance, disappeared as he leaned closer until he had her imprisoned between his arms, lowered his head to hers until his breath singed her cheek, her jaw. “I pray no one ever lends you any. In fact, I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure no one does. You captivate me with your frankness, you elate me with your spontaneity.”

She sounded as if she’d sprinted a mile as she said, “Even when they took a turn into frank and spontaneous paranoia?”

He raised his face. “I would bear anything to have them. But I’d also do anything never to have you flinch away from me or see pain and doubt fill your eyes again.”

“Oh, I’ll never do that again. And you’ll never see those—” she gulped as she realized how stupid that sounded, how futile “—for the whole whopping hour I have left in your company.”

He took her by the shoulders, his eyes brooking no argument. “But I will see you again. When this crisis is over.”

“Yeah, sure.”

He came down beside her again, turned her to him. “What does your sarcasm signify here, ya jameelati?”

“Just that in a few months you probably won’t remember meeting me, let alone take the trouble to come and see me again.”

He shook his head. “How can you underestimate your effect on me to that extent? You think I’d forget you?” He clamped her shoulders again, his eyes filling with what looked like a vow. “These months away from you will be like serving a sentence. I’ll count down each minute until I can come to you again.”

Her heart ricocheted inside her like a released balloon, before it dropped into her gut, deflated and limp. “Oh, Shehab, that’s exactly how I feel.” Her breath caught at the flare in his eyes. She smoothed his formidable jaw, attempted a smile that trembled apart. “But if you come back, I won’t mind.”

He pressed his hand over hers, making her cup his face. “Then you’re far stronger than I. I will go mad with frustration and probably let what I’m leaving you to handle go to hell.”

Her heart zoomed at the passion in his face, the conviction in his voice, before it sputtered at his meaning.

“No, you won’t.” Her other hand came up, cradling his face in an attempt to soothe him as he had her, so many times this tempestuous night. “So many people count on you, and you’ll resolve everything with a flick of a hand as you always do. And while you’re away, we don’t have to be cut off from one another, do we? We can phone, e-mail, have video-conferencing…”

“And make the longing even more insupportable.”

She choked on the truth of his words, nodded miserably. “I already miss you and you’re still right here.”

Then she was in his arms, every part of her exposed flesh covered in a fever of kisses. She was shaking apart when he wrenched his lips away. “This is once in a lifetime, and I can’t leave it—can’t leave you behind. Come with me, ya Farah.”

She jerked. “C-come with you? How?”

His lips curled at her squeak. “I will order my pilots to gain altitude again and chart a course for my home.”

She struggled out of his embrace, scampered up to her knees on the couch, glared down on him. “Now you’re laughing at me.”

He sat up, took her face in both his hands. “I’ve never felt less humorous in my life. I mean it, Farah. Come with me.”

She sagged in his hold again with the blow of sheer nerve-racking disbelief. He was offering her a continuation, a chance to be with him. Really with him. In his home…

But… “How? And don’t you dare describe the flight plan. You have a crisis on your hands…”

“Let me worry about that.”

She barely heard him, barreled on. “And I have work…”

One hand covered her mouth, gentle, inexorable, suspending all words, all thought. Then he commanded, “Take a vacation.”

Shehab watched stupefaction follow the parade of emotions spilling all over Farah’s face. It was as if he’d proposed she should fly. Under her own power.

Sure enough, she mumbled into his hand, “I don’t take vacations.”

He’d had reports of how she was always present at work. He’d thought her lover was keeping her on a short leash. But now it seemed it was she who’d never considered taking time off.

He removed his hand, stroked her cheek. “Never?”

She looked as if realization had just dawned on her. “Guess I never had anything to do with my free time, so I never wanted it.”

“Don’t you want it now? To be with me?” Her eyes blazed with such blatant admission that he groaned. “If you come with me, I’ll commute to and from the locations I need to be in and come back to you every available minute of each day.”

“You really want this, want me to go home with you, back to— to…” She stopped, almost panting. “Where do you live, anyway?”

“I live on an island off the coast of Damhoor.” He didn’t mention that the closest shores where those of Judar. He didn’t want to bring up the place he didn’t want her to associate him with. And he was counting on that ignorance she’d confessed. She hadn’t even bothered to look up her biological father’s kingdom on a map. If she had, she’d have learned that Zohayd wasn’t only Judar’s neighbor, but Damhoor’s, too. And she might have grown uncomfortable. As it was, the only agitation he felt from her was shock clashing with elation and indecision. He had to pulverize the latter, fast. He knew the best way to do that.

He let his eyes grow heavy with feigned pain. “You still don’t trust me, Farah?”

This provoked the response he’d been counting on. A vehement… “No. It’s just so sudden, so—so huge, so wonderful an offer, and on top of everything that happened tonight, I’m not just out of my depth, I’m up in the air…uh, in every way possible.”

He smiled down on her. This was working. He’d fulfill his prophecy, savoring her at leisure. He could almost taste it.

He took a taste of her now. “Say yes, Farah.”

She melted into him, offering her lips for him to consume, her every muscle and bone saying yes, yes, yes for her.

When he withdrew to let her make her consent verbal, she gasped, “But I still have to go back home…”

“No, you don’t, ya gummari.”

“But I need to change—this dress is fused to my skin, and— man, as if this is even worth mentioning. I need to pack the important stuff. All I have on me are my keys. Right now I’m no one, with no money or passport or even a toothbrush…”

He swallowed her babbling in another clinging kiss. “Is this a yes?”

She hissed the pleasure-laden word of capitulation into his mouth. “Yes.”

He took his fill for as long as he dared to, then pulled back, triumph roaring in his system. “Though I’ll be sorry to say goodbye to this dress, you can change out of it right now. I let my sister use the jet on her trips to and from the States—she’s doing her Master’s and spreading her wings—and she leaves clothes onboard.” He took another taste of those flushed lips as if compelled. “Let’s see, what’s left? A toothbrush. You’ll have a dozen to choose from in a minute. A new passport will be waiting for you when we arrive, as well as anything you can want or need. Then we can fly into Damhoor or Bidalya if you need to pick anything yourself.”

“But I don’t have money…oh, OK, now I know what tossed salad feels like. Can’t believe I worried about that.” So she remembered she’d be his guest, fully subsidized, of course. “It’ll take a couple of days to get new credit cards issued.” That was what she’d meant? She didn’t expect him to spend money on her? Suddenly her eyes rounded. “Scratch tossed salad. My brain’s milkshake. I’m bringing up credit cards and toothbrushes and not arranging for my absence at work!”

He withdrew, offered her his phone. “Then go ahead.”

She shook her head, sat up, looking around for her purse. He retrieved it for her before he sat down across from her again. She got out her own phone with unsteady fingers, pushed a speed-dial button.

In seconds she said, “Bill, it’s me. No, nothing’s wrong…” She paused as the rancorous grumbling of a bear with a sore paw rumbled on the other end. “Sorry for waking you up. 5:00 a.m.?” Her eyes shot up to him, wide with disbelief. “I—I didn’t realize it was that late.” Another pause. “Yeah, I left the ball early. You didn’t make it at all, huh? Listen, Bill, I’ll just say this and let you get back to sleep. I won’t be coming to work tomorrow— uh, make that today. No—I’m not ill. Since when do I take days off when I’m ill?” A longer pause. “Bill, I’m not taking a day off, I’m taking a vacation.”

She paused, waiting for Bill to say something. Seemed he was too stunned to respond. She went on. “It just came to me that it’s been seven years since I came to work for you, so we can call this a sabbatical, really. But don’t worry, everything’s in order, and I’m a phone call away if you need to ask me anything. I’ll also have an Internet connection…” She looked at him. He gave an “of course” gesture. “So just e-mail me with urgent stuff.”

A torrent exploded on the other end. She made the face of someone being forced to listen to a thousand nails scratching on a board. At last she interrupted. “I did give you every reason to believe I’m some sort of an android, but look up my contract and you’ll find out I do belong to the race with those pesky little side benefits called human rights. And of course there is the job description, which we both know I’ve gone far and above beyond.” She fell silent again, but Bill had been duly chastised and spoke now at a volume that didn’t carry beyond the phone’s receiver. “Yeah, it is overdue. Uh, I don’t know how long it’ll be…” She again looked at him. He shook his head, catching his lower lip on the sensuality of open-ended promise. It would be as long as it took to make her an Aal Masood bride. She smiled back, hunger glowing in her eyes before Bill drew her back to their conversation. She smiled again, affectionately this time. “And you take care of yourself.” She lowered her voice and averted her face, smiling as she murmured, “I’ll miss you, too.”

Shehab felt as if a stinging slap had landed on his cheek.

And every preconceived opinion of her crashed back on him, blasting away her spell, jogging him back to ugly reality.

Here she was, the woman who’d treated him to such a kaleidoscope of emotions for the past ten hours, sitting before him, her future lover, talking to her current one, lying to him, to them both, without batting a lid.

She slid shut her phone and looked at him, elation sizzling in her eyes, looking like a little girl who’d just done something naughty for the first time in her life.

He struggled to empty his gaze of aggression, to access the desire that was independent of his opinion of her. He felt it only becoming fiercer without the shackles of softness, the brakes of empathy, until he struggled not to rise and pounce on her. He had no idea how he only smiled, opened his arms wide.

She rose and rushed to throw herself into them, all fairy-tale gown, overpowering femininity and undetectable pretense. But one thing she wasn’t pretending about.

She couldn’t wait for him.

He’d make her wait. And when the time was right, he’d end the waiting. He’d sate himself with her. Then, when she’d served her purpose, even as they continued their sham of a marriage, he’d discard her. And he wouldn’t feel bad about it.

She deserved whatever he did to her.

Shehab was doing things to Farah she hadn’t known there were to be done.

All through their flight, he’d proved to her there was no ceiling to the sensations he could make her experience.

He was now examining her hand as they talked. Shaping each finger with his fingertips, sliding up and down their length, following the outline of each bone and joint, mapping the pattern of each crease and line, testing the resilience of each pad of flesh. She lay back, enveloped in his sister’s cool, white cotton sundress, drenched in the cold sweat of stimulation, tormented, hypersensitive and praying that he’d never stop exposing her to his attention and appreciation.

Suddenly she interrupted his account about the neighboring Damhoor. “I had no idea hands could be erogenous zones…”

She started to bite her lip, stopped, sighed. They’d been talking almost nonstop for the past twenty hours, all but for the half hour she’d left to change and shower, followed by two separate half hours when he’d left her to do the same and then take care of other details. He was beyond certain by now that she had no filtering system in her brain to stop inappropriate comments from gushing through uncensored—and he kept assuring her he loved it.

His smile knocked her breath from her. Ever since she’d accepted his invitation to go home with him, she’d sensed some change in him. A new intensity. As if he’d been holding back and had let go. It had worried her. For about a nanosecond.

She trusted him, wanted him to feel as intensely about her as she did about him. And his intensity had so many levels and textures, it felt like a deep ocean she could plunge into forever, exploring and experiencing, and never come close to fathoming.

“And I had no idea just holding your hands could awaken new erogenous areas, in both my body and brain.” Her heat shot up another notch at his confession. She was already addicted to how open he was about his feelings, too. He took her hand to his lips, flicked his tongue lightly along her lifeline. She hoped he wasn’t shortening said life’s expectancy. He had her squirming before he withdrew. “And by the way, we’ve arrived.”

She twisted around to peer out the window. They were descending, approaching his island. It was shaped like an irregular kidney, with its concave side harboring bright emerald waters, its outer curve surrounded by much darker ones. In the noon sun its wraparound beaches shone almost silver, pristine except where mangroves covered them in areas on the convex side. The jet was now flying over one apex of the island, just above a low, huge building that overlooked a bay. Dense palm trees and what looked like all sorts of desert flora surrounded it on three sides. The jet was flying over other annexed structures heading to the other end of the island when it hit her.

She turned to him, exclaimed, “It’s a real island.”

His smile grew wicked. “That was the general idea when I said it was. You know, land surrounded on all sides by water.”

She gave him a playful poke. “So I’m geographically challenged, but not to that extent. I thought it would be one of those tiny morsels of land advertised on the Internet as private islands. But this is just…just wow. How big is it?”

She had no idea why, but her eyes dragged down his body until they stumbled on the bulge in his pants. She snatched them up only to find his gaze had been investigating the path of her fascination before it came up, steamy, challenging.

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