'Okay, if that's what you want,' she said lightly. Her chin lifted as she spoke, and a rogue breeze tossed her hair across her face. As he reached out to remove the strands from her lips, she moved too and their hands caught and tangled. Instead of snatching hers away, she let it rest in his and held his gaze. The fact that she trusted him enough to do that resonated strongly with him. And so he pulled away. She was young, and he must bring this to an end now.
She saw the change in his eyes right away. 'What's wrong, Khal?'
He said nothing, but she felt him distancing himself from her.
'Am I such a threat to you? To Q'Adar?'
'Don't be ridiculous.'
'No, I'm not being ridiculous. You're pushing me away.''
And with that she picked up the skirts of her eastern dress and ran away from him down the beach, with her sandals in her hand. That should have set the seal on his determination to let her go, but instead it just etched a deeper groove in his mind for her to occupy, and so he went after her.
Beth quailed when she heard Khal coming after her. Her chest was burning and her legs had turned to jelly. There were so many feelings exploding inside her, she was confused. She wanted a moment-and there was no time. He was here. He was right here behind her.
'Beth … '
His voice called softly, but the call reached deep inside her and made her turn. 'Khal … ' She had the rest of her life to find out who she was, the rest of her life to be Beth Tracey Torrance with no one's expectation weighing on her shoulders. Couldn't she spare a moment for him, a moment for His Majesty, just to say goodbye and thank him for his hospitality?
Beth uncurled her fists, releasing the tension in her fingers. She wouldn't run from him. Maybe Khal needed a moment to talk to an ordinary person.
She looked so adorable, and even more beautiful than usual in the floating gown. But it was more than her innocence and beauty that captivated him. Beth had made him see things he hadn't noticed before, she made him think a different way; she made him question everything he had always believed in. As he stood in front of her he leaned forward, meaning to brush her cheek with his lips, but then she took a step towards him and turned her face up so he brushed her mouth instead.
Her eyes closed, but she didn't move or speak, and then the warm breeze gave them its blessing, bringing her another step closer, until all thoughts of resisting the temptation of kissing Beth had fled from his mind. She tasted sweet and warm, and the scent of wildflowers rose from her hair, invading his senses until he could no longer think. He barely touched her; she seemed so fragile, so tiny. It was a whisper of a kiss, or at least that was how it started. But Beth was innocently demanding, surprising him with the depths of her passion, a passion he guessed was new to her and that she had no idea how to curb. It made her bolder than he had anticipated, as well as sweeter and more fragile, and as she wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging on tight to tell him fiercely that she needed him as much as he needed her, he wanted so badly to believe it was true. As Beth's words poured into his soul, his world expanded with possibility. It was as if they knew each other already, and had merely been separated for a while. How easy it would be to pick up where they had left off … If he could just switch off his conscience.
But it had already kicked in, reminding him of all the things that stood between them-duty, honour and Beth's innocence, the barrier he would never cross. And so on the very point of deepening the kiss he drew back.
'Why did you do that?' she said.
'I apologise,' he said formally. 'I forgot myself.'
'You forgot how to kiss?' Her eyes were sparkling; even now she couldn't help the humour. Plus there was some unfathomable bond between them that, incongruous and unlikely though it might be, refused to break.
'Are you saying I'm too much for you, Khal?' she teased him gently.
Her brand of innocent humour made him smile. Too much for him? She was sensational. Naïve? Yes. She was also tiny, blonde and vulnerable-but it was her inner fire that warmed him through. But that was not his fire to take comfort by, it was for some other man in Beth's future, a man who could offer her all the things she deserved. 'How old are you?' he said, meaning it as a gentle rebuke.
'Old enough,' she assured him cheekily in a way that told him she knew nothing of the effect those words could have on a man.
'That's a dangerous thing to say, Beth Tracey Torrance.'
'But not to you,' she said, with trust that touched him deeply. 'And anyway,' she said. 'I've done with safe.' She paused to brush the hair out of her eyes as the wind tossed it about. 'And I wouldn't be here in Q'Adar if I'd wanted boring, would I?'
He recognised the voice of innocence speaking, and, stamping down on his desires, he made no reply.
'It's that duty of yours again, isn't it?' she said. 'Not that I'm criticising you-far from it.' Mashing her lips together as she thought about it, she said bluntly, 'I think you're wonderful. And I think the people of Q'Adar are lucky to have you. I trust you, which is why I know your people can trust you. You put duty above everything, and that's what makes you so special … ' Breaking off, she started to frown again. 'But it must be a burden sometimes, mustn't it?'
He tensed as her frown turned to compassion. Beth's incessant questioning challenged him at every opportunity, and in that they were the same. When did he not question the status quo? Yet at the same time Beth and he were so far apart. 'Duty?' He gave her a wry smile. 'Duty is never a burden, Beth. You can't always have everything you want in life.'
'And you can never have it.' she protested, 'Because your fate is tied in to your kingdom.'
'Exactly.'
'Well, I'm going to have it all,' she said passionately.
'You are?' He felt a stirring of unease. Would she disappoint him now?
'Yes!' she exclaimed. 'I'm going to have kids, family, love, job, happiness-everything!'
Her eyes blazed with such certainty, it was a lesson in just how wrong he'd been to doubt her. She hadn't worked out the finer details yet, but nothing daunted her. Disappoint him? She had only increased his passion for her tenfold, plus he envied her, he admired her, and most of all he wanted her. He wanted for just a moment to share in Beth's freedom, and in her belief in a future full of so many wonderful things.
The look she gave him now turned the heat inside him into a raging inferno, and when he dragged her close this time he had no intention of letting go. He felt her legs give way as he swung her into his arms, and knew as he did so that he had never felt like this before, and that he never would again.
So this was what it felt like to be held as if you mattered to someone. And even if it was only for one night she was going to treasure every single second of it. Khal rounded the point to his own private beach where he told her they wouldn't be disturbed. Not even his security forces were allowed to trespass here, though there were men patrolling the perimeter. He carried her into the cool of the shadows beneath the rocks, and, dropping his towel, spread it out for them on the sand. Lowering her gently, he lay down at her side and kissed her again.
Khal kissed her deeply, teasing her lips apart with his tongue, and that together with the heat and taste of him drew a moan of approval from somewhere deep inside her. This was a dream, it had to be. How else could she play with fire and feel so safe?
As she reached up to cup his face, Khal took her hands and laced their fingers together in a gesture of closeness and trust that made her heart squeeze tight. Then he drew back, and, resting on one elbow, stared into her eyes. She had a feeling of being small, of being no one, while she was lying here with a man who occupied such a huge space on the world stage.
'Don't look so anxious,' Khal murmured, kissing her so amazingly she was quickly reassured.
He stroked her with the lightest of touches, enjoying the sight of her quivering with desire. He shivered too, internally, as restraint took its toll. But as her eyes drifted shut and she murmured his name he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her …