Defiant in the Desert(74)

                She drifted her eyes over his hands—powerful and hair roughened. On the white silk cuffs of his shirt gleamed two heavy golden cufflinks. She could see that they were Khayarzah cufflinks, with the distinctive silhouette of a brooding falcon poised for flight. And somehow the bird of prey reminded her of him. Restless and seeking...above the world, but never really part of it.

                Had he seen her looking at them? Was that why his hand suddenly reached out and caught hold of hers, capturing her wrist in his warm grasp and making it seem tiny and frail in comparison? His thumb brushed over the delicate skin at her wrist and he gave a brief smile as he felt the frantic skitter of her pulse.

                ‘Stunned into uncharacteristic silence by my story, are you, Izzy?’

                ‘It’s some story,’ she admitted quietly.

                ‘Yes.’ He looked down at her untouched plate. ‘You’re not eating.’

                ‘Neither are you.’

                ‘Delicious as it looks, I’m not feeling particularly hungry.’

                ‘No.’

                Across the candlelit table, their eyes met. ‘Perhaps some fresh air might give us a little appetite.’

                Isobel blinked at him in bewilderment. ‘You want to go for a walk?’

                His smile was wry. He’d forgotten that she had every right to be naïve, for she knew nothing of the games that lovers played... ‘Only as far as the car. I thought we could go to my apartment. There’s plenty of food there.’

                Isobel’s heart began to pound as his lazy suggestion shimmered into the space between them. She hadn’t thought a lot beyond the meal itself. Somehow she had imagined that she might be going home alone to her little flat, as if the whole...sex...thing had been nothing but a distant dream. She’d told herself that would be the best for both of them, even if her commitment to the idea had been less than whole-hearted.

                But then Tariq had opened up to her, taking her into his confidence. It had felt almost as intimate as when he’d been driving into her body. How could she possibly go home alone when she thought about the alternative he was offering her?

                He was gesturing for the bill, seeming to take her silence for acquiescence, and the waiter was coming over to their table, his face creased in an anxious frown.

                ‘You no like the food?’ he questioned.

                ‘The food is delicious,’ Tariq replied, giving Isobel’s hand a quick squeeze. ‘I just find my partner’s beauty rather distracting. So we’ll just have the bill, please.’

                Isobel saw the man-to-man look which passed between Tariq and the waiter, and for a moment she felt betrayed. Suddenly she had become someone else—not the woman who’d been frequenting this place for years, but someone dining with a man who was clearly way out of her league.

                The waiter moved away, and Isobel tried to wriggle her fingers free. But Tariq wasn’t having any of it.

                ‘What’s the matter, Izzy?’

                ‘Just because you want to go to bed with me, it doesn’t mean you have to tell lies!’

                ‘Lies?’ he questioned, perplexed.

                ‘I am not beautiful,’ she insisted.

                ‘Oh, but you are,’ he said unexpectedly, and then he did let go of her hand. Instead, he moved to cup her chin, running the tip of his thumb over it. ‘Tonight you look very beautiful, sitting there, bathed in candlelight. I like your hair loose. I even like your eyes flashing with defiance. In fact, I can’t quite remember ever seeing a woman look quite as desirable as you do right now, and it’s making me ache for you. And you feel exactly the same, don’t you?’

                ‘Tariq!’

                ‘Don’t you?’

                She met the mocking gleam in his ebony eyes. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

                ‘So pick up your handbag and let’s get out of here—before I do something really crazy like hauling you to your feet and kissing you in front of the entire restaurant. Now, that really would provide fodder for the tabloids.’

                She was trembling with anticipation as they went outside, where Tariq’s chauffeur-driven car was sitting purring by the kerb. Climbing into its sumptuous interior, she waited for him to pull her into his arms. To kiss her as she so badly wanted to be kissed.

                But he didn’t. In fact he slid his body as far away from her as possible, and when he saw her turn her head he must have read the disappointed expression in her eyes because he shook his head.

                ‘No, Izzy,’ he said sternly. ‘Not here and not now. I think we have demonstrated the wilder side of passion, and I think I’ve made it clear that once I start touching you all bets seem to be off. Tonight we will have the slow burn of anticipation and I will show you just how pleasurable that can be.’

                Even when they reached his apartment he simply laced his fingers in hers and led her along the long corridor to his bedroom. Once there, with dexterous efficiency, he began to slide the clothes from her body. Only this time he hung her black silky dress over the back of a chair and did not tear off her panties.

                When at last she was stripped bare, he peeled back the silken throw which covered his bed and laid her down on it.

                ‘I want to see you naked,’ he murmured appraisingly, as his gaze travelled slowly down the length of her body.