His Defiant Desert Queen(89)

                Jemma felt a tingle down her spine. She wasn’t alone anymore. She knew Mikael had arrived even before she turned to see him.

                Slowly she faced him. He was standing at the far end of the pool, watching her. “That color suits you,” he said.

                Suddenly the courtyard hummed with energy. She felt the same electric surge in her veins, her heart racing, too.

                He was wearing black trousers and a white linen shirt and he looked handsome and virile and confident.

                Her husband. Her king.

                She smiled, amused by the thought, but the thought took hold. He might very well be a good husband for her. He seemed to be a good king.

                A servant appeared with a tray of cocktails and together Jemma and Mikael walked around the courtyard, with Mikael pointing out various plants that had significance, whether due to age, or relationship to the Kasbah.

                “The date palms were for a great-grandmother, and the citrus trees were for my grandmother. The trees are replaced every ten to fifteen years, depending on their maturity and fruit production. My mother loved pink roses, so those were for her.” Mikael smiled at her. “What shall we plant in your honor? What is your favorite flower?”

                She shook her head. “I think it’s all perfect just the way it is. I wouldn’t change anything.”

                “You don’t want to be immortalized in the Bridal Palace’s garden?” he asked.

                She knew he was teasing her. She could see it in his eyes and the quirk of his mouth and she felt a bubble of warmth inside her.

                She was happy.

                That’s why she felt different...why everything seemed different. The happiness explained the bright sparks in her head and in her eyes. The happiness made her tingle, and her insides fizz.

                It wasn’t the desert heat temperatures heating her, warming her, but happiness. And she was happy because of him. Happy because she cared about him. And cared maybe more than she should.

                * * *

                They made love in the Turquoise Chamber and fell asleep tangled together, skin damp, limbs intertwined.

                Jemma woke first, it was early.

                Day five, she thought. She would be here for only three more days.

                She counted the nights in her head, remembering the colors...

                White the first night in the Chamber of Innocence, and then Topaz, Amethyst, Ruby or Crimson, and then last night was Turquoise.

                Where would they go tonight? To the Emerald Chamber? Sapphire?

                Did it even matter?

                She had to leave. Had to return to London. Didn’t she?

                Confused by her conflicting thoughts, Jemma quietly left the bed and stepped outside to the courtyard. It was still early. The sun was just rising and the temperature felt cool, the early morning painted the palest pink and yellow.

                Jemma’s maid appeared in the courtyard with coffee and a tray of breakfast pastries. Jemma refused the pastries but sipped the coffee in a chair near the tranquil pool, listening to the chirp of birds nesting high above in the palm fronds.

                Mikael appeared in the doorway a half hour later. He’d showered and dressed and was wearing his robes. “I need to go to Ketama,” he said, approaching her to drop a kiss on the top of her head. “I will be back tonight. I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t have to.”