At the Sheikh's Bidding(28)

For the first time  in his life Zahir did not know what to think. Part   of him wanted to  believe she was telling the truth, but the cynic in   him pointed out that  it was highly unlikely she had adopted Kazim   without wanting anything  in return. But what did it matter if her   motives had been questionable?  She was his wife now-in word and deed.   He had married her because he had  been desperate to bed her, and,   despite being a virgin, her passion had  matched his.

Marriages had succeeded on less, he brooded as he  strode back over to   the bed, his eyes narrowing when Erin immediately  clutched the satin   bedspread to her. ‘You say that the only reason you  married me was so   that you could stay with Kazim. But if that's so why  didn't you stop me   making love to you tonight?'

He dropped down  onto the mattress and idly wound one of her silky red   curls around his  finger. Then, before she had time to react, he whipped   the bedspread  from her grasp and pushed her flat on her back.

Her eyes were  huge in her flushed face, and he watched with   satisfaction the way her  pupils dilated when he skimmed his hand over   her stomach and cupped one  small, creamy breast in his palm. Her breath   was coming in sharp little  gasps, her lips slightly parted, pink and   lush and seriously tempting.  ‘You surrendered your innocence to me,   kalila, and I can only think it  was because you were overwhelmed by the   passion I aroused in you and  couldn't deny yourself the sexual  release  your body craved.'                       
       
           



       


‘Well,  of course you would think that, wouldn't you? Because your ego   is so  over-inflated I'm surprised you don't need to wear gravity   boots,' Erin  muttered through gritted teeth, incensed by his arrogance   and her  pathetic, shaming inability to resist him.

The brush of his  thumb-pad over her swollen nipple was so exquisite   that she had to bite  her lip to hold back her betraying moan of   pleasure, but fortunately her  pride had at last woken up, and she would   rather die than let him see  how much he affected her.

‘Actually, your first assumption was  right. I knew that if I told you I   was a virgin you would realise that  my marriage to Faisal had been in   name only and there was a chance you  could win custody of Kazim. But   now I am your wife-our marriage has been  consummated, and even under   Qubbah's archaic laws I must have rights to  my son. I hate to disabuse   you of the notion that you're irresistible,  and that sex with you is   fantastic,' she continued, dropping her gaze  when she saw the flash of   anger in his dark eyes, ‘but I'm afraid I'm in  no hurry to repeat the   experience.'

The ensuing silence played  havoc with her nerves, so she faked a yawn   and pulled the bedspread over  her once more, praying he would go and   find somewhere else to sleep.

‘Really?'  Zahir said at last, in a deceptively soft tone that sent a   shaft of  nervous apprehension down her spine. ‘My apologies, kalila, I   had not  realised that you were so reluctant. Indeed,' he drawled   silkily, ‘from  your screams of pleasure I was sure you were enjoying   every caress and  kiss and bite-but let's see, shall we, just how much   you hate it when I  touch you … here?'

Erin drew a swift, shallow breath when he  flicked the bedspread aside   and pushed his hand between her thighs,  parting them with insulting   ease. ‘Let me up, Zahir,' she grated, every  muscle in her body clenched   as she fought the insidious warmth that was  already flooding through   her veins. ‘I don't want this. So unless you  intend to take me by   force-' She broke off, her heart thudding  erratically, when stroked his   finger lazily up and down the swollen  outer lips of her femininity  and  then probed between them, exploring her  so thoroughly that it was  all  she could do not to lift her hips in mute  supplication. She could  feel  the betraying wetness pooling between her  legs, and could not  control  the first delicious spasms that racked her  when he stretched  her wider  and inserted another finger, while his  thumb-pad found the   ultra-sensitive nub of her clitoris and brushed,  feather-light, across   it.

When he lowered his head to her breasts  and drew first one dusky pink   crest and then its twin into his mouth  she stifled a moan, From   somewhere she dredged enough will-power to  brace her hands against his   shoulders and attempt to push him away.  ‘Don't.' But her frantic plea   was lost beneath the pressure of his mouth  as he captured her lips in a   bruising kiss that sought to dominate and  prove that he was in   control.

His lips were hot and hard, his  tongue tormenting her relentlessly as   he thrust deep into her mouth in  an erotic simulation of lovemaking.   Her determination to fight him was  fading, lost in the maelstrom of   sensation he was arousing with his  mouth and his wickedly invasive   fingers.

‘I have never taken a  woman by force in my life, and I don't intend to   start with you,' Zahir  growled against her skin. ‘Tell me now that you   don't want this and I'll  stop,' he taunted, his eyes gleaming with   undisguised mockery when she  opened her mouth but could not utter the   words. ‘Do you want me to stop,  Erin?'

‘No.' The word was wrenched from her soul, and she  squeezed her eyes   shut to blot out his satisfied smile as he moved over  her. She was   utterly humiliated by her weakness, but she was on fire for  him, her   body trembling with her desperate need to feel him inside her.


‘What  do you want?' He was hovering mere inches from her, the hard   ridge of  his erection pushing into her belly. He was determined to have   her  complete capitulation, and she gave a sob of shamed despair.

‘You.'

He  entered her with a hard, savage thrust, withdrew almost fully and    thrust again, deep, powerful strokes that filled her to the hilt and    drove every thought from her mind but the thundering urgency to reach    that magical place he had taken her to only minutes before. She realised    that when he had made love to her for the first time and discovered   her  innocence he must have tempered his passion to accommodate her    inexperience. But now she was no longer a virgin, and he took her with    an almost brutal force, powering into her so that she simply anchored    her nails into his shoulders and clung on for the wildest ride of her    life.                       
       
           



       

They climaxed together, a violent, soul-shattering  explosion that saw   her rake her nails down his back as her body shook  with the intensity   of her release and caused him to mutter something in  Arabic, his voice   low and raw.

His chest was heaving when he  rolled off her immediately the last   spasms of his passion had died away.  He stood to drag his trousers on   and stared down at her  dispassionately, his eyes darkening as they   lingered on the faint  bruises on her pale skin.

‘Brute,' Erin muttered thickly, tears of mortification burning her eyes.

She  hated him, and hated herself more. Yet even now, when he was   looking  down his arrogant nose at her as if she was a whore and he had   just paid  for her services, she longed to trace her fingers over the   hard planes  of his face and feel the brush of his lips on hers in a   kiss of  tenderness rather than blazing passion. From the first moment   she had  seen him she had felt a connection with him that she did not    understand-as if their souls were inextricably linked and only he could    ease the loneliness that had haunted her all her life. It couldn't be    love, she told herself desperately. It wasn't possible to love and  hate   someone simultaneously-was it? And if it was love, then she was  an even   bigger fool than she had believed-because Zahir was as harsh  and   unforgiving as the desert. His heart was hewn from granite, and he  would   never love her.