‘Will I have to cloak and veil myself?’ she asked. ‘And make sure I walk two paces behind you?’
It took a moment—more than a moment—for what she was actually saying here to finally sink in. But when it came his reaction took her breath away. The husky growl of exultation he emitted was all the warning she received before she found herself flat on her back with him lying on top of her.
‘I knew you were brave,’ he uttered proudly. ‘I knew you were the right woman for me!’
‘I should really be telling you to go to hell,’ she said. ‘Get my own back on you for the way you refused to listen to reason about Julian’s wedding. But you like to pick your moments, don’t you?’ she sighed. ‘Nowhere for me to run,’ she dryly pointed out as her eyes made a rueful scan of their present surroundings. ‘Nowhere for me to—’
His mouth stopped the words of complaint with a kiss that was both hot and possessive. But before Evie could turn it into something much more satisfying he was, frustratingly, breaking them apart again.
‘No.’ He refused her yet again. Only, this time Evie was not offended—but challenged.
‘I’ll break that iron will of yours,’ she vowed as he made quickly for the door. ‘I will whittle away at it at every opportunity I’m offered.’
‘Part of my penance,’ he accepted with a sigh. ‘It will be interesting to discover how long I can hold out.’
Or how long I can maintain this brave face, Evie mused heavily when he had left her.
His father…
She shuddered, turning to curl into a ball on her side as if making herself smaller would diminish the dread that name filled her with.
Did Crown Prince Hashim know they were on their way to Behran? Had Raschid told him?
She was to find out soon enough…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT WAS late into the evening local time when the plane finally touched down at Behran Airport. Dressed more casually now, in a turquoise silk wrap-around skirt and long-sleeved cotton top, Evie stared out of the window at a scene that was, as with most airports, a hive of activity irrespective of the lateness of the hour.
‘I didn’t realise that Behran Airport was such a busy one,’ she remarked to Raschid who was sitting beside her.
‘It isn’t—not by international standards anyway.’ He frowned, dipping his dark head so that he too could glance out through the small porthole window.
In the next second he was calling sharply for Asim who came hurrying down the aisle towards them. Reverting to Arabic, Raschid shot out a couple of curt questions that had Asim ducking his covered head to peer out of the window himself before he murmured something and walked off towards the flight deck.
And Evie felt the tension begin to seep back into her system because neither man looked happy. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked Raschid.
‘I don’t know yet.’ He was still frowning. Like herself he had changed just before they were due to land, only the difference between them was that he had reverted to Arab robes, and suddenly looked all the more alien for it with that black frown marring his face. ‘But there is too much activity out there for this time of night.’
Perhaps not the most comforting thing to tell her, Evie mused as she glanced out of the window again. They were still taxiing towards the main airport building. It was dark, of course, but the darkness had been diminished by the excessive amount of halogen lighting that seemed to be spotlighting the plane as it moved. And beneath the lights she could see people—lots of people standing watching their arrival as if they had nothing better to do.
Asim came back, his expression more sombre than when he had walked away. He relayed some information to Raschid in Arabic that had Raschid angrily freeing himself from his seat belt and standing up.
Pushing past the other man, he strode off towards the flight deck himself.
‘Be calm,’ Asim told Evie soothingly when he saw her expression. ‘It is nothing to worry about.’
Then why are both you and Raschid looking distinctly worried? she wanted to ask, but managed to keep the challenge to herself while her eyes remained fixed on the doorway Raschid had disappeared through.
The tension began to heighten the longer he was away. By the time he did finally reappear, the plane had come to a standstill some way off from the main building itself.
‘Don’t be too alarmed,’ he warned, which thoroughly alarmed her. ‘But my father has been interfering with my plans again.’
‘Wh-why?’ she said nervously. ‘What has he done?’
‘He has arranged a reception committee to meet us here at the plane. I’m sorry,’ he sighed, coming to sit himself down beside her. ‘This was not what I wanted. But—if you will just try to see it as a positive manoeuvre—in his own way he is trying to offer you a welcome.’