Diamond in the Desert(23)

How could she ever forget?

She took her time scooping up more cream in her hands and spent ages  warming it until she really couldn't put off what had to be done any  longer. She began with his chest, loving the sensation as she spread the  cream across his warm, firm flesh. She moved on down his arms, right to  his fingertips where she spent quite a lot of time lavishing care and  attention on hands that were capable of dealing the most extreme  pleasure-and gasped with shock when Sharif captured her hands and guided  them down. They exchanged a look: his challenging and hers defiant.

He won.

Thank goodness.

Sharif had creamed her intimately and she would do the same for him...

Maybe they both won.

She took her time to make certain that every thick, pulsing inch of him  was liberally coated with the cream. She was breathless with excitement  at the thought of having all of that inside her-

'So, Britt,' he said, distracting her momentarily. 'You're beginning to see the benefit in delay.'

'And what if I am?' she said carelessly.

'Don't pretend with me,' Sharif warned, stretching out, totally unconcerned by his nudity.

As well he might be, she thought, admiring him in silence.

'So what do you think of my golden room of pleasure?' he demanded.

'Not bad,' she agreed. She'd come across perks in business before, but none like this.

'So you like it?' he said with amusement.

'It's fascinating,' was as far as she was prepared to commit. 'Okay, so it's fabulous,' she admitted when he gave her a look.

'But?' he queried.

'It's got such a vibe of forbidden pleasure-how can anyone be here without feeling guilty?'

'Do you feel guilty?'

Actually, no. The cream was beginning to do its work. 'It's just that this is the sort of place where anything could happen...'

'What are you getting at, Britt?'

Her throat tightened. 'I'd like to hear about all the possibilities,' she said.

And so Sharif told her about the various uses of the hard and soft  cushions, and the feathers she had been wondering about. She blushed at  his forthright description.

'What about your sauna in Skavanga?' Sharif countered, seeing her  reaction to his explanation. 'What about your birch twig switches?'

'They are used for health reasons-to get the blood flowing faster.'

She wasn't going to ask any more questions, because she wasn't sure she was ready to hear Sharif's answers.

'Ice and fire,' he murmured, staring at her.

They held that stare for the longest time while decisions were being  made by both of them. Finally, she knelt in front of him, and, reaching  up, cupped his face in her hands. That thanks she had intended to give  him for saving her life was well overdue. Leaning forward, she kissed  him gently on the lips.

Sharif's lips were warm and firm. They could curve with humour or press  down in a firm line. Both she loved, but now she wanted to both tempt  and seduce. She increased the pressure and teased his lips apart with  his tongue, but just as she began kissing him more deeply Sharif swung  her beneath him and pinned her down.

'All that trouble I've gone to with you, Britt Skavanga,' he  complained, smiling against her mouth, 'and all you really want is  this-'

She let out a shocked cry as Sharif lodged one powerful leg between her  thighs, allowing her to feel just how much he wanted it too.

'All you want is the romance of the desert and the sheikh taking you. Admit it,' he said.

'You are impossible.'

'And you are incredible,' he murmured, drawing her into his arms.

'I do want you,' she admitted, still reluctant to give any ground.

'Well, isn't that convenient?' Sharif murmured. 'Because I want you too.'

This teasing was all the more intense because she knew where it was  leading. She knew Sharif wouldn't pull back, and nor would she. Somehow  her legs opened wider for him, and somehow she was pulling her knees  back and pressing her thighs apart and he was testing her for readiness,  and catching inside her-                       
       
           



       

And she was moving her hips to capture more of him, only to discover  that the cream had most definitely done its work. One final thrust of  her hips and she claimed him completely. When Sharif took her firmly to  the hilt, she lost control immediately. She might have called his name.  She might have called out anything. She only knew that when the  sensation started to subside he took her over the edge again and again.

They were insatiable. No thrust was too deep or too firm, no pace too  fast, or too deliciously slow. Her cries of pleasure encouraged Sharif  and he made her greedy for more. He never seemed to tire. He never  seemed to tire of drawing out her pleasure, either, and each time was  more powerful than the last, until finally she must have passed out from  exhaustion.

'Welcome to my world, Britt Skavanga,' was the last thing she heard him say before drifting contentedly off to sleep.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN

HE WATCHED BRITT sleeping, knowing he had been searching for a woman  like this all his life. And now he'd found her, he couldn't have her?  Britt would never agree to be his mistress. And when he married-

When he married?

Yes, Sharif's thoughts where Britt was concerned were every bit as  strong as that. Selfishly, he hoped she felt the same way about him. But  he had always believed when he married it should be for political  reasons, for the good of his country. He'd never been much interested  before. His council had pressed him into giving advantageous matches  consideration, but he'd never had an appetite for the task. He wanted a  woman who excited him-a woman like Britt.

Warm certainty rushed through him as he brushed a strand of hair away  from Britt's still-flushed face. He would find a way. The Black Sheikh  could always find a way. He would never ask Britt to give up her  independence. No one knew better than he that privilege came with a  price, and that price was freedom to do as he pleased, but with a woman  like Britt anything was possible.

Or, was it? Britt was exceptional and could do great things in life.  She deserved the chance to choose her own path, while his was cast in  stone. And then there was Skavanga Mining, and all the subterfuge with  her brother...

He exhaled heavily as business and personal feelings collided. The  consortium needed Britt's expertise in the mining industry as well as  her people skills, but would she stay with the company when the  consortium took over? She had been running the company up to now, so it  would take some fine diplomacy on his part to keep Britt on board. Could  he find something to soften the blow for her?

His dilemma was this: while he cared deeply for Britt, his loyalty  could only be fixed in one direction, and his was firmly rooted in the  consortium.

The phone flashing distracted him. It was Raffa to say he had been  forced to move money into Skavanga Mining on the recommendation of their  financial analysts. Britt could only see this as another plot, when in  fact what Raffa had done had saved the company.

'Our money men are already swarming on Skavanga Mining, and we need you  on the ground to reassure everyone that the changes don't mean  catastrophe,' Raffa was saying.

'What about Tyr?' And the grand reunion     he had been planning for Britt.

'Tyr can't be there-'

'What do you mean, Tyr can't be there?' He cursed viciously. Having Tyr  in Skavanga in person would have softened the blow for Britt when she  discovered Tyr's golden shares had swung the ownership of the company  into the hands of the consortium. But now-how was he going to explain  Tyr's absence without betraying Britt's brother as he had promised  faithfully not to do?

He had to get back to Skavanga Mining right away to sort this out-and  he could only do that without Britt's newly discovered emotions getting  in the way, which meant returning to Skavanga without her. Thankfully,  his jet was always fuelled. 'I'll be there in fourteen hours,' he said,  ending the call.

Glancing at Britt, he knew there was no time to waste, and by the time  he had woken her and explained as gently as he could about Tyr coming  into the equation it could all be over in Skavanga. This was one  emergency she would definitely want to be part of, but it was better if  he prepared the ground first, and then sent the jet back for her.

* * *

She woke cautiously and her first thought was of Sharif. She didn't  want to wake him as it was barely dawn. The first thin sliver of light  was just beginning to show beneath the entrance to the tent. She  stretched luxuriously, and, still half asleep, reached out to find  him...

The empty space at her side required she open one eye. The initial bolt  of surprise and disappointment was swiftly replaced by sound reasoning.  He must have gone riding. It was dawn. It was quiet. It was the perfect  time of day for riding. Groaning with contentment, she rolled over in  the bed of soft silken cushions, and, clutching one, nestled her face  into it, telling herself that it still held Sharif's faint, spicy scent.  He'd held her safe through the night, and the pleasure they'd shared  was indescribable. The closeness between them was real, and she was  content, a state she couldn't claim very often. This encouraged her to  dream that one day they might work side by side to create something  special, something lasting, and not just for Skavanga, but for Kareshi  too.