At the Sheikh's Bidding(8)

Nothing  existed but the firm pressure of his mouth on hers, the sensual   sweep  of his tongue and the warm weight of his hand resting so close   to where  she wanted him to touch her. Lost in this new world of  sensory  pleasure,  she shifted closer still, rubbed her pelvis against  his-and  then  suddenly, shockingly, he wrenched his mouth from hers,  his fingers   biting into her flesh as he thrust her from him.


The ensuing  silence throbbed with a sexual tension that was almost   tangible, and for  a few mad seconds Erin wished he would draw her back   into his arms and  kiss her again and again, until they were both   mindless with wanting.  But then he spoke and she wished instead that   she could curl up and die  of humiliation.

‘I see that my assessment of your nature was  spot-on,' he drawled in a   hatefully sardonic tone. ‘My brother has been  in his grave barely  three  weeks and yet you're already clearly sexually  frustrated. How  long, I  wonder, will it be before you invite a steady  stream of  boyfriends into  the house? And what sort of care will Kazim  receive  then, when you are  too busy for him?'

‘I want you to leave,' Erin said tightly, her chest heaving as she fought to drag oxygen into her lungs.

She  could not bring herself to look at him. It was pointless trying to    defend herself-pointless to explain that she'd never had a proper    boyfriend in all her twenty-two years. Zahir clearly believed she was    the Mata Hari of the Yorkshire Moors, and after the shameful way she had    responded to him she couldn't really blame him.

Shaking with  reaction, she yanked open the library door and stood aside   for Zahir to  pass-then gasped when he caught hold of her arm and   slammed the door  shut again, the blaze of anger in his eyes filling her   with trepidation.

‘I came here to collect my brother's child, and I'm not going anywhere without him,' he warned her savagely.

‘So what are you going to do? Kidnap him? Take him from me by force?' Erin demanded shakily.

Ingledean  was eight miles from the nearest village, and she had always   loved its  remoteness, but Zahir was strong and powerful and she and   Alice would be  no match for him if he chose to snatch Kazim.

‘If you don't  leave now I'll call the police,' she told him with a   bravado she did not  feel, aware even as she spoke of the emptiness of   her threat. He could  carry Kazim out to his car, parked on the   driveway, and disappear into  the dusk before the local constable even   had cycled out from the  village. ‘You say you want what is best for   Kazim, but how can scaring  him out of his wits be good for him?'

‘Of course I do not mean to  scare him,' Zahir snapped impatiently. But   her words had hit a chord,  and he stared at her, his conscience   prickling when he glimpsed the fear  in her eyes.

He had not meant to lose his temper, and he was  furious with himself   for his loss of control. He shouldn't have kissed  her like that-but she   had made him angrier than he could ever remember,  and she had   responded to him, damn it. He could still taste her, could  remember   that moment of scalding sweetness when she had stopped fighting  him and   parted her lips beneath his while her body relaxed into him so  that   her soft breasts had pressed against his chest.

With a  muttered curse he swung away from her and raked his hand through   his  hair. She was his brother's widow, he reminded himself grimly,  and  out  of respect for Faisal she was off-limits.

‘I have no intention of  taking my nephew away from you,' he growled.   He'd witnessed how the  little boy had clung to Erin when he had injured   himself, and in all  honesty he knew he could not separate Kazim from   the woman he regarded  as his mother.

‘You don't?' Erin murmured dazedly, a little of  her tension draining   away. A moment ago he'd told her that he would not  leave without Kazim.                       
       
           



       

‘No.' Zahir's jaw tightened. The last thing  he wanted was to take this   woman who was playing havoc with his hormones  back to his homeland,  but  he had no choice. ‘I appreciate that he needs  you, and for that  reason  it's clear that you will have to come to  Qubbah too.'


He was deadly serious, Erin realised when she  stared at him and   recognised the determined gleam in his eyes. ‘I don't  think you   understand,' she began. ‘I'm not going to Qubbah or anywhere  else with   you, and neither is Kazim … '

‘It is you who does not understand,' Zahir snapped coldly. ‘My father is desperate to see his grandson.'

‘I  told you-your father is welcome to visit Kazim whenever he likes,'   Erin  said defensively, flushing beneath Zahir's hard stare.

‘The  journey would kill him.' He ignored her faint gasp. ‘Two months   ago my  father contracted a virus that attacked his heart. He has been    prescribed medication to control the condition and hopefully prevent    full heart failure, but he has to rest as much as possible, and his    doctors give him oxygen to reduce any strain on his heart. A long flight    is out of the question,' Zahir said harshly. ‘The only solution is  for   you to accompany Kazim to Qubbah. And, to be frank, I don't have  much   time to waste arguing with you,' he added in a warning tone when  she   opened her mouth to protest. ‘My father longed to be reconciled  with   Faisal, and he was devastated by the news of his death. He is an  old   man, and his life is in the balance,' he added gruffly. ‘All he  wants is   to see his grandson-Faisal's son. And you want to deny him  that one   simple joy.'

Erin bit her lip, startled by the raw emotion in  Zahir's voice. Guilt   tugged at her conscience. She more than most people  understood the   importance of family ties. All her life she had longed  to be part of a   family, and even though her mother had been sadly  lacking in any   parenting skills, she had still been devastated by the  death of her   only blood relative.

Supposing the elderly Sheikh  died without ever seeing Kazim? From the   sound of it Zahir's father had  loved Faisal, had hoped to be reconciled   with him, and according to  Zahir he was desperate to meet his little   grandson. And what about  Kazim? she thought fretfully. Would a court   battle with Zahir for  custody really be in the little boy's best   interests? And how would  Kazim feel if he one day discovered that she   had prevented him from  meeting his grandfather?

The truth was she had a duty to give  Kazim the opportunity to meet his   family in Qubbah, she acknowledged  reluctantly. She could not possibly   allow Zahir to take Kazim-she would  have to go too. But the prospect  of  travelling halfway around the world  with Faisal's disturbingly sexy   brother filled her with unease.

What  if he tried to kiss her again? She would not respond, of course.   He had  taken her by surprise earlier, that was all. But she had a   feeling that  Zahir bin Kahlid al Muntassir was used to women jumping   whenever he  clicked his fingers, and she would have to make it clear   that she was  neither available nor interested in him. Her eyes strayed   to his mouth  and her stomach lurched as she recalled the sensual   pleasure of his  kiss, the way his warm, firm lips had parted hers with a   masterful  intent that had demolished her resistance. Definitely not   interested,  she told herself sharply, her heart jerking unevenly when   their eyes met  and held and a bolt of white-hot awareness flashed   between them.

Faisal  had been a kind, gentle man, but she detected neither quality in   his  brother. Common sense warned her that Zahir, with his stunning   looks and  brooding sensuality, was out of her league, but for some   reason her  body hadn't got the message, and she blushed scarlet when   she followed  his amused gaze and saw that her nipples were jutting   provocatively  beneath her tee shirt.

Desperate to distract his attention, she  crossed her arms over her   chest and voiced the question that had been  gnawing in her brain since   Gordon Straker's shocking announcement that  Zahir was Faisal's  brother.  ‘Why was Faisal estranged from you and the  rest of his  family?'