Diamond in the Desert(21)

'Sharif, what is it?'

He stared down and saw the disappointment in her eyes. And why  shouldn't Britt expect the worst when he had walked out on her before?

Everything had been so cut and dried in the past. He'd fed his urges  and moved on, but he had never met a woman like this before. He had  never realised a woman could come to mean so much to him. The feelings  raging inside him when he had found Britt alive were impossible to  describe. All he could think was: she was still in the world, and thank  God for it. But he had a country to rule and endless responsibilities.  Did he make love to her now, as he so badly wanted to do, or did he save  her by turning and walking away?

'It's not like you to hesitate,' she murmured.

'And it's not like you to be so meek and mild,' he countered with an ironic smile. 'What shall we do about this role reversal?'

'You're asking me?' she queried, starting to smile.

He closed his eyes, allowing her scent and warmth and strength to curl  around his core, clearing his mind. He prided himself on his  self-control, but there was will power and then there was denial, and he  wasn't in the mood to deny either of them tonight. He wanted Britt. She  wanted him. It was that simple. Above all, he was a sensualist who  never ate merely because he was hungry, but only when the food was at  its best. Britt thought she knew everything about men and sex and  satisfaction, but it would be his pleasure to teach her just how wrong  she was.

'What are you doing?' she said as he led her back through the billowing curtains.

Settling himself on the silken cushions, he raised a hand and beckoned to her.

'What the hell do you think this is?' she said.

'This is a harem,' he said with a shrug. 'And if you don't like that idea you might want to step out of the light.'

'I'll stand where I like,' she fired back.

His shrugged again as if to say that was okay with him. It was. There  wasn't one inch of Britt that wasn't beautifully displayed or made even  more enticing by the fact that she was wearing such an ethereal gown and  standing in front of the light. He let the silence hang for a while,  and then, almost as if it were an afterthought, he said, 'When the women  brought that gown, didn't they bring you any underwear?'

Her gasp of outrage must have been heard clearly in Skavanga.

'You are totally unscrupulous,' she exclaimed, wrapping the flimsy folds around her.

'I meant no offence,' he said, having difficulty hiding his grin as he eased back on the cushions. 'I was merely admiring you-'

'Well, you can stop admiring me right now.'

'Are you sure about that?'

'Yes, I'm sure. I feel ridiculous-'

'You look lovely. Now, come over here.'

'You must be joking.'

'So stand there all night.'

'I won't have to,' she said confidently, 'because at some point you'll  leave. At which time I will settle down to sleep on my bed.'

Britt looked magnificent when she was angry. Proud and strong, and  finely bred, she reminded him of one of his prized Arabian ponies. And  this was quite a compliment coming from him. Plus, a little teasing was  in order. Hadn't she put him through trials by fire and ice in Skavanga?  Britt had done everything she could think of to unsettle him while he  was on her territory, but now the tables were turned she didn't like it.  'Come on,' he coaxed. 'You know you want to-'

'I know I don't,' she flashed. 'Just because you saved my life doesn't give you droit de seigneur!'

'Ah, so you're a virgin,' he said as if this were news to him. 'When did that happen?'

Her look would have felled most men. It suggested she would like to  bring the curtains and even the roof down on his head. She was so sure  he had styled himself on some sheikh of old, she couldn't imagine that  beneath his robes he was the same man she had met in Skavanga. He should  get on with proving that he was that man, but he was rather enjoying  teasing her. Helping himself to some juice and a few grapes, he left  Britt to draw back a curtain to scan the tent, no doubt searching for  another seating area. She wouldn't find one, and he had no intention of  going anywhere.                       
       
           



       

'There's nowhere else to sit,' she complained. 'Until you go,' she added pointedly.

He shrugged and carried on eating his grapes. 'Formal chairs are not  required in the harem-so there is just this all-purpose sleeping,  lounging, pleasuring area, where I'm currently reclining.'

'Don't remind me! I don't know what game you're playing, Sharif, but I'd like you to leave right now.'

'I'm not going anywhere. This is my camp, my pavilion, my country-and you,' he added with particular charm, 'are my guest.'

'I treated you better than this when you were my guest.'

He only had to raise a brow to remind Britt that she had treated him  like a fool, and was surprised when he had turned the tables on her at  the lake.

'I came to do business with you,' she protested, shifting her weight  from foot to foot-doing anything rather than sit with him. 'If you had  stuck around long enough for us to have a proper discussion in Skavanga,  I wouldn't even be here at all.'

'So that's what this is about,' he said. 'It still hurts.'

'You bet it does.'

He had left at the right time and, though he wouldn't betray Tyr's part  in the business, he wanted to reassure her. 'Well, I'm sorry,' he said.  'It seems I must learn to explain myself in future.'

'Damn right you should,' she said, crossing her arms.

'I'm just so glad you're here-and in one piece.'

'Thank you for reminding me,' she said wryly. 'You know I can't be angry with you now.'

They were both in the same difficult place. They wanted each other.  They both understood that if you laid the bare facts on the table theirs  was not a sensible match. The only mistake that either of them had made  was wanting more than sex out of this relationship.

'So maybe we can be friends?' she said as if reading his mind. 'Except in business, of course,' she added quickly.

'Maybe,' he said. 'Maybe business too.'

After a long pause, she said, 'So, tell me about the tent. Do your people always provide you with a harem tent-just in case?'

'In case of what?' he prompted, frowning.

'I think you know what I mean-'

'Come and sit with me so I can tell you about it. Or don't you trust yourself to sit close to me?' he added, curbing his smile.

She chose a spot as far away from him as possible. Again he was  reminded of his finely bred Arabian ponies, whose trust must be earned.  Britt was as suspicious as any of them. 'Remember the deer,' he said.

'The deer?' she queried.

'Remember the deer in Skavanga and how relaxed we were as we watched them?'

'And then you'll tell me about the tent?'

'And then I'll tell you about the tent,' he promised.

She hardly knew Sharif, and they sat in silence until-yes, she remembered the deer-yes, she began to relax.

'This pavilion is a priceless artefact,' he said. 'Everything you see  around you has been carefully preserved-and not just for years, but for  centuries by the people in this camp and by their ancestors. It is a  treasure beyond price.'

'Go on,' she said, leaning forward.

'You may have guessed from the lack of seating that this pleasure tent  is devoted to pursuits that allow a man or a woman to take their ease.  Pleasure wasn't a one-sided affair for the sheikhs. Many women asked to  be considered for the position of concubine.'

'More fool them.'

'What makes you say that?' he asked as she removed the veil from her hair.

She huffed. 'Because I would never be seduced so easily.'

'Really?'

'Really.'

'It's a shame your nipples are such a dead giveaway.'

She looked down quickly and, after blushing furiously, she had to laugh.

'Shall I go on?'

'Please...'

'After yet another day of struggles beneath the merciless sun,' he  declaimed as if standing in an auditorium, 'fighting off  invaders-hunting for food-the sheikh would return...'

'Drum roll?'

He laughed. 'If you like.'

'How many women did he return to?'

'At least a football team,' he teased. 'Maybe more.'

'Sheikhs must have been pretty fit back then.'

'Are you suggesting I'm not?'

She met his eyes and smiled and he thought how attractive she was, and  how overwhelmingly glad he would always be that he'd found her in time  to save her. He went on with his storytelling. 'Or, maybe there could be  just one special woman. If she pleased the sheikh one woman would be  enough.'                       
       
           



       

'Lucky her!' Britt exclaimed. 'Until the sheikh decides to increase his collection of doting females, I presume?'

She amused him. And he liked combative Britt every bit as much as her  softer self. 'Your imagination is a miraculous thing, Britt Skavanga.'

'Just as well since it allows me to anticipate trouble.'

'So, what's the difference between my story and the way you have  treated men in the past? You think of yourself as independent, don't  you? You're a woman who does as she pleases?'

'You bet I am.'

'No one forced any of the sheikh's women to enter the harem. They did so entirely of their own accord.'