Hidden in the Sheikh's Harem: Christmas at the Castello(6)

As soon as her fingers slipped inside his lips, his tongue curled  around them to claim the food. She felt its warm, thick moistness and  shuddered at the rush of liquid heat between her legs and the tingling  sensation that caused her nipples to tighten. She'd never experienced  anything like this and she couldn't tear her eyes from his.

Dimly aware that she was all but panting, she was completely mesmerised  by the way he licked and sucked on her fingers, some deep part of her  consciousness trying to tell her that her fingers were now well and  truly clean. Still she allowed him to linger, another part of her  consciousness urging her to replace her fingers with her mouth. It was  so overpowering it was all she could do not to lean in and...

Realising she was about to topple into him, she felt a fire rise up to  consume her face and jerked back. Before she could remove her fingers,  however, he gripped her wrist and stroked his tongue in between the  webbing.

'I think I missed a bit,' he murmured in a rough voice that worked like  a sanding tool over her sensitive skin. His tongue flicked back and  forth, back and forth, in a purely sensual exploration, before gently  biting down on her sensitive palm.

A small whimper escaped her lips and her fingers curled against his  beard-roughened face, her body swaying toward his. Almost absently she  was aware that a warning voice had started clanging inside her brain but  his hand was pressing hers closer. His hand that was...that was...

By Allah! Farah's eyes flew to his as it finally registered that his  hands were free, only to find him staring into hers with a knowing  gleam. Immediately she tried to wrench herself free and the small metal  bowl hit the dirt as she valiantly pushed against him. Unfortunately he  was on her quicker than lightning could fork into the ground and she was  on her back before she had time to blink.

Slightly winded from the way he tossed her onto the ground, Farah  twisted away from him to scream, but the back of her head hit the dirt  as his large hand clamped over her mouth. 'Oh, no, you don't. There will  be no calling the cavalry just yet, sweetheart.'

Farah squirmed beneath the weight of his upper body and knew it was  futile to push against him. He was too strong. And it wasn't just from  lean, hard-packed muscle either. One look into his furious face and she  could see that he'd leashed his rage so successfully she hadn't realised  how deep it ran. Although she should have, and perhaps she would have,  if she hadn't been stupidly distracted by his masculinity and her own  rioting hormones.                       
       
           



       

Knowing she could never throw him from this angle, she tried  desperately to get her hands beneath her tunic to her hidden dagger that  had saved her skin a few times in the past. Admittedly those times had  been from snakes and scorpions, but hadn't she already noted that this  man was just as dangerous as any predator? Having learnt how to use a  dagger and to fight with a sword when she was younger, Farah knew just  where to threaten him with it so that he'd let her go. But it was as if  he could read her mind because he caught her wandering hand in his and  brought it over her head.

Frantic at the ease with which he contained her, she desperately curled  her fingers towards his skin in the hope of causing some damage but he  pressed the hand against her mouth more firmly and brought her eyes to  his.

'Scratch me, little cat, and I'll scratch you back,' he growled close to her ear.

Farah paused at the menace in those words but then she realised that he  would have to let her go to scratch her so she didn't care. She kicked  out, catching his shin with the solid point of one boot, and scratched  at his wrists at the same time.

'Damn it to hell!' He cursed softly and stretched her arms high to  breaking point, pinning her legs down with one of his. Farah moaned  behind his hand. She was struggling to draw oxygen into her lungs and  was thankful when he adjusted his palm a little to ease her growing  dizziness.

'Follow my instructions and I won't hurt you,' he promised.

Ha! As if she believed that. His family had been hurting the people of  Bakaan for centuries and tyranny ran in his veins as surely as the blood  she'd just drawn on his wrist.

The weight of him felt like an anvil slowly crushing her chest and  Farah was just wondering how she could lever her legs to help dislodge  him when she felt him go still above her.

'Damn it, keep still.'

His rough tone compelled her to stop fighting him and she was  completely unprepared when he flipped her onto her stomach. Before she  could pull in another breath, he had her hands wrapped in the same rope  that should still have bound his own.

Sand coated her eyelashes and filled her nose and she tried to turn her  head before she suffocated. It was then that she felt his hand  smoothing over her bottom and fear turned her as cold as stone. Surely  he wasn't going to...going to...?

'Easy, little spitfire.' He brought his hand up to the side of her face  and she felt the cool blade of her dagger flat against her cheek.  'Quite a nice little piece. I could have used this a couple of days  ago,' he said mockingly. 'Do you even know how to use it?'

Trust him to think that she wouldn't be able to handle a knife. Her  eyes flashed with annoyance but she wasn't going to tell him anything.  Not that she could with his hand pressed against her mouth. But she  could still make sounds, she realised, and although she couldn't hear  anyone walking outside she knew there was a guard nearby. If he heard  something, he'd come running.

Squirming beneath him, she tugged against the rope and screamed behind his hand.

Immediately his thumb and forefinger pinched her nose and her ears  popped as she tried to force the sound out of her lungs. She thrashed  her head from side to side even though she knew it was futile.

'This is how it's going to go,' he murmured when she finally exhausted  herself. 'I'm going to take my hand away from your mouth and you're  going to stay quiet.'

Farah listened but she knew there was no way she was going to follow his orders.

'If you don't, you'll surely bring the guard in from outside and I'll be forced to kill him with your dagger.'

Fear kept her immobile. It was one thing to risk her own life but she'd never risk another person's.

Roughly he pulled her to her feet. 'Nod if you're going to comply.'





      CHAPTER FOUR

FOR A MOMENT Zach thought he was going to have to knock her out cold  and he didn't want to do that. In order to get out of the camp, he  needed her to lead him to the horses without drawing too much attention  to them.

Fortunately she had no idea how important she was to his escape and she  nodded curtly. Slowly Zach drew his hand back and she immediately  pressed her lips together as if he'd hurt them. Probably he had. She'd  fought like a little wild thing and he was surprised at how strong she  was. He was surprised at how slender and soft she had felt beneath him  as well, and at how beautiful her face was-oh, not classically, like the  faces of many of the women he'd dated, but there was something about  the slant of her cheekbones and those bottomless brown eyes that made  him want to sink into them. Her smooth skin and sexy-as-sin mouth didn't  hurt, either.                       
       
           



       

With her keffiyeh having come off during their struggle, he ran his  eyes over her heart-shaped face and down the long dark plait that rested  just above small jutting breasts. She was dishevelled and in need of a  bath, her proud little chin tilted upwards as if she wanted to tell him  to go to hell, but still he wanted to hear her make that soft little  hitch in her voice she'd made when he'd sucked on her fingers.

Hell of a time to get a hard-on, oh mighty pride of the desert.

He looked her over. 'Do you have any other weapons, my little Zenobia?'  he asked dulcetly, unwinding the rope from her slender wrists.

She rubbed at them and, even though it was nearly completely dark  inside the tent, he could still read her fury and the desire to best him  in her eyes. 'As if I'd tell you that.'

'If you don't, I'll be forced to search you.'

'No!' The sharp little word sprang from her lips like an Olympian off the starter's block. 'I don't.'

Zach nearly laughed at the desperation behind her words and wondered if  she was afraid of him or afraid of the unexpected chemistry that had  ignited between them.

Chemistry he needed to ignore.

'Come.'

Her chin shot up again and she tossed her head like a mare that was  being pulled too hard at the bit. 'I'm not going anywhere with you.'

Zach smiled grimly. 'You are. You're about to walk me out of here and  take me to the horses. If anyone stops us, you will tell them that you  are taking me to your father. You'll then lead me by this rope that will  look like it is binding my hands until we get there.'