Diamond in the Desert(29)

'For the sake of the exchange scheme,' she clarified, still lacking something on the confidence front.

'Absolutely,' Sharif agreed. 'We have some fascinating exhibits in the museums. You might even recognise some of them.'

'But you don't expect me to explain those to students, I hope?'

'I don't think they need any explanation, do you?'

She stared into Sharif's laughing eyes, remembering everything in the  fabulous pavilion where she had lost her heart. It had never occurred to  her that Sharif might have lost his too.                       
       
           



       

Or was she just kidding herself again?





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HE STOOD BACK to watch Britt, wanting to remember every single detail  as she met and mingled with the students for the first time. He wished  then that he had been less preoccupied and more open from the start, so  he could have showered her with gifts and told her how he felt about  her. But he had been like Britt-all duty, with every hour of every day  filled. They had both changed. He had maybe changed most of all when he  had discovered that a month away from Britt was like a lifetime. He'd  realised then how much she meant to him and had concluded that it must  never happen again.

He wondered now if he'd ever seen her truly relaxed before. Britt  Skavanga unmasked and laughing was a wonderful creation. She genuinely  loved people and would be wasted behind a desk in an office.

They ate together with a crowd of students who swarmed around Britt. He  was almost jealous. Their table was the noisiest, but she still got up  and went around every table in the refectory, introducing herself and  explaining the scheme she was already cooking in her head. It was as if  there had never been a misunderstanding between them, he thought as she  glanced over to him and smiled as if wanting to reassure him that she  was enjoying this. One of the students commented that Britt came from a  cold country, but she had a warm heart.

Cheesy, but she'd warmed his heart. How long had he been in love with  her? From that first crazy day, maybe? He just hadn't seen it for what  it was. But one of the nice things about being a sheikh was that he  could pretty much follow his instinct, and his instinct said, don't let  this woman go. He had everything in a material sense a man could want,  but nothing resonated without Britt. He saw things differently through  her eyes. She made every experience richer. He wanted her in his life  permanently and that meant not half a world away. He wanted them to do  more than plan an exchange scheme or run a company. He was thinking on a  much wider scale-a scale that would encompass both their countries. A  life together was what he wanted. He knew that now, and that could only  benefit the people who depended on them, and for the first time he  thought he saw a way to do it.

'Are you ready to go?' he whispered to Britt discreetly.

'Not really,' she admitted with her usual honesty, gazing round at all the people she hadn't had chance to meet yet.

'You can come back,' he promised. 'Remember-I've asked you to run this  project, so you're going to be seeing a lot of these people.'

'But-'

As he held her stare she saw with sudden clarity exactly what he was  thinking. Her own eyes widened as his gaze dropped to her mouth.

They were never going to make it back to the citadel. He lost the  outriders a few streets away from the university and the security van  went off radar in a maze of side-turnings in the suburbs. Britt yelled  to ask him what he was he doing when he pulled into a disused parking  lot earmarked for development.

'What do you think?' he yelled back, skidding to a halt.

The scaffolding was up and a few walls were built, but that was it.  More importantly, no one was working on the site today. Dismounting, he  propped the bike on its stand and lifted Britt out of the saddle.

'Is this safe?' she demanded when he backed her against a wall.

'I thought you loved a bit of danger?'

'I do,' she said, already whimpering as he kissed her neck.

He couldn't wait. Neither could she. Pelvis to pelvis with pressure,  waiting was impossible. Fingers flying, they ripped at each other's  clothes. Blissful relief as Britt's legs locked around his waist and her  small strong hands gripped his shoulders. Anything else was unimportant  now. They were together. She was ready for him-more than. Penetration  was fast and complete. There was a second's pause when they both closed  their eyes to savour the moment, but from then on it was all sensation.  He cupped her buttocks in his hands to prevent them scraping on the  gritty wall, as he kissed her. He groaned and thrust deep, dipping his  knees to gain a better angle. Britt was wild, just as he liked her. He  wanted to shout out-let the world know how he felt about this woman- How  he'd felt without her, which was empty, lost, useless- And how he felt  now-exultant. Nothing could ever express his frustration at how long it  had taken him to realise that if they wanted each other enough, they  would find a way to be together. And that it had to happen here in a  parking lot-

'Sharif?' she said.

She was giving him a worried look he'd seen before; he knew she couldn't hold on. 'Britt...'                       
       
           



       

He smiled against her mouth, loving the tension that always gripped her  before release. And now it was a crazy ride, hands clawing, chests  heaving, wild cries, until, finally, blessed release. The best. It  wasn't just physical. This was heart and soul. Commitment. He was  committed to this woman to the point where even the direction his future  took would depend on what she said now.

'Marry me,' he said fiercely. 'Marry me and stay with me in Kareshi.'

'Yes,' she murmured groggily in a state of contentment, resting heavily  against him. 'What?' she yelped, coming down to earth with a bump.

'Stay with me and be my queen.'

'You are joking?'

'No,' he said, brushing her hair back from her face. 'I can assure you I'm not joking.'

'You're a king, proposing marriage in a car lot when you've just had me up against the wall?'

'I'm a man asking a woman to marry me.'

'Aren't you being a little hasty?'

'Crazy things happen in car lots and this has been at the back of my mind for quite some time.'

'Only at the back,' she teased him as he helped her to sort out her  clothes. And then she frowned. 'Are you really sure about this?'

'I'm not in the habit of making marriage proposals in car lots, or  anywhere else, so, yes, I'm sure. But you're right-' Going down on one  knee in the dirt, he asked the question again.

'You are sure,' she exclaimed. 'But how on earth will we make this work?'

'You and me can't solve this? Are you serious?'

'But-'

'But nothing,' he said. 'You can travel as I do. You can use the Internet. I don't have any trouble staying in touch.'

'And you run a country,' she mused.

'I'm only asking you to run my life.' He shrugged. 'How hard can that be?'

She gave him a crooked smile. 'I'd say that could be quite a challenge.'

'A challenge I hope you want to take on?' he said, holding her in front of him.

'Yes.'

'I'd be surprised if you'd said anything else,' he admitted, returning the grin as he brushed a kiss against her mouth.

'You arrogant-'

'Sheikhs are supposed to be arrogant,' he said, kissing her again. 'I'm only fulfilling my job description.'

'So I'd be staying here in Kareshi with you?'

'Living with me,' he corrected her. 'And running a very important  project-with me, not for me. You'll be working for both our countries,  alongside me. We'll be raising a family together, and you'll be my wife.  But none of this will take place here, exactly. I did have somewhere a  little better than a parking lot in mind.'

'What about the harem?'

'I'll tell them to go home.'

'I meant the tent.'

'We'll keep it for weekends. So? What's your answer, Britt?'

'I told you already. Yes. I accept your terms.'

'How about my love?'

'I accept that too-and most willingly,' she teased him, her eyes full  of everything he wanted to see. 'I love you,' she shouted, making a  flock of heavy-winged birds flap heavily up and away from the  scaffolding. 'And I don't care who knows it.'

'And I love you too,' he said, and, drawing her into his arms, he  kissed her again. 'I love you more than life itself, Britt Skavanga.  Stay with me and help me build Kareshi into somewhere we can both be  proud of. And I promise you that from now on there will be no secrets  between us.'

But then she frowned again and asked the question he knew was coming.

'How can I ever leave Skavanga?'

'I'm not asking you to leave Skavanga. I'm asking you to be my wife,  which will give you more freedom than you've ever dreamed of. You can  work alongside me and raise a family. You can be a queen and a director  of a company. You can head up charities and run my exchange programmes  for me. You can recruit the brightest and the best of the students  you've just met. I'm asking you to be my wife, the mother of my  children, and my lover. The only restrictions will be those you impose  on yourself, or that love imposes on you. You'll find a balance. I know  it. And if you want more time-you've got it.'