She closed the menu, laid it aside on the desk and then turned, which placed her in extremely close proximity to him. So close she could barely catch her breath. "Actually, I would prefer to order for myself."
"My apologies. I've already forgotten one important lesson-let Sira make her own culinary decisions."
In light of the sexy gleam in his eye, she would forgive him this slight slipup. "Apology accepted. And I would like the sampler that includes several choices."
He frowned. "Are you certain you can handle that much food?"
"I can because I am suddenly starving."
Oddly, her appetite had increased over the past two days. In fact, the last time she had been this hungry...
That was not possible, not after only one time. Not so soon. She was being silly. Optimism over resolving their issues was simply driving her cravings. That had to be the case.
* * *
Seated at the small table on the hotel's veranda, Sebastian watched his wife eat with total abandon and couldn't quite believe his eyes. "In all our years together, I have never seen you entirely clean your plate."
Nasira dabbed at her mouth with the napkin and set it aside. "It was very tasty."
"Apparently. Should I order you more?"
That earned him a frown. "I could not eat another bite. I believe the country air is making me very hungry."
"Sira, we're in the city."
"True." She shifted in the chair and studied the horizon. "I had no idea Dallas would be so metropolitan."
"Did you believe you'd find people riding around the city streets on horseback?"
"Of course not. However, I did see a horse-drawn carriage downstairs."
"Perhaps we should make use of one."
She brought her attention back to him. "It is rather late."
"Not too late to enjoy the sights."
"I thought you wanted to stay in."
Sebastian was so restless, he wasn't certain what he wanted, except to be close to his wife. "It will be a nice diversion," he said as he pushed back from the table and stood.
"All right." Nasira came to her feet and pointed at him. "No funny business."
Damn. "I only wish to have the honor of your company." And that was a colossal lie, though he vowed to respect her wishes.
By the time they reached the hotel lobby and walked out the revolving doors, the sidewalks weren't as crowded as Sebastian had expected. Fortunately he spotted a carriage stopped near the curb only a few meters away. He approached the gentleman dressed in Western garb positioned in the driver's seat. "Good evening, sir. Are you currently for hire?"
The man stared down at him. "Actually, I was just about to head to the house."
Sebastian withdrew his wallet and offered the man two hundred-dollar bills. "Will this make it worth your while?"
The driver eyed the money for a moment. "My wife's got dinner waiting."
He pulled out another hundred. "Now you can buy your wife dinner."
"I s'pose I could take you a few blocks."
Greedy scoundrel. "I would think that amount would buy us a few kilometers."
Nasira elbowed him in the side. "Darling, the poor man wants to go home to his wife."
Her compassion had him looking like a pitiless cad. "Of course. My apologies. I only want to show my brand-new bride a memorable evening."
The driver grabbed the reins and sneered. "Then let's get this show on the road so you can get on with the honeymoon. Just don't get it on in my carriage."
"For three hundred dollars, I should be allowed to prance naked in a parade," Sebastian muttered as he helped Nasira up into the seat.
After they settled in, he draped an arm around her shoulder. "Was that jab to my ribs necessary?"
"Were your derisive comments necessary?"
"The reprobate seemed determined to stiff me."
"He clearly holds his wife above work. And what compelled you to claim we've recently married?"
His faults had been laid bare. "Well, in a way I feel as if we are newlyweds. We've discovered quite a bit about each other over the past few weeks."
She mulled that over for a moment. "It is odd to think that two people who have spent so many years together would still have the capacity to learn more about each other."
He had told her things he had never uttered to another soul. Details he had planned to take to his grave. Yet he did feel less burdened knowing she now understood why he did not want her risking carrying his child after her previous miscarriage. "Let's promise that we'll continue this unusual pattern in the upcoming weeks."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "A stellar plan."
As they rode through the streets of Dallas, serenaded by the clip-clop of horse hooves, Sebastian tugged Nasira closer to him. Without a blanket to conceal them, she was not in danger of any funny business, as she had so aptly put it. That did little to quash his desire for her. That did not stop him from rubbing her shoulder with one hand and tracing slow circles on her thigh. She responded by making small sounds that served to heighten his need for her, and drove him to kiss her thoroughly. And she kissed him back with enough passion to make him want to say to hell with propriety, pull her panties down and take right there in front of the entire town...
The sound of applause forced them apart. There was a crowd gathered at the corner where they had stopped for a traffic light. Sebastian did what any good Brit would do-stood, executed a bow and gave them a royal wave.
When he settled back in the seat, Nasira began to laugh and he followed suit. Once they recovered, he leaned and nuzzled her neck. "You smell like lavender. Is it a new perfume?"
"You gave it to me for my birthday."
Unfortunately that purchase had been made three months ago by Stella when he had forgotten. "Ah yes. Now I remember."
She swatted his arm. "You do not, but you are forgiven."
"For everything?"
"For now."
He refused to ruin the mood by asking her to elaborate. Instead, he decided to put all his cards on the table at the risk of rejection. "Would you mind if I take you back to the room and ravish you?"
"Not in the least."
That had been much too easy, in his opinion. "Really?"
"Yes."
"Should I perhaps define ravish?"
"I assume you mean you wish to remove my clothes, take me to bed and have your wicked way with me."
"Precisely."
"My answer is still yes."
Shifting against the building pressure in his groin, Sebastian tapped the driver on the shoulder to garner his attention. "Kind sir, please return us to the hotel as quickly as possible and you will earn a sizeable tip."
The man glanced over his shoulder. "We've barely been three blocks."
Sebastian had no desire to argue the point. "Unless you want your bloody carriage serving as a boudoir, you will do as I say."
The jerk had the gall to grin. "You got it."
Sebastian settled back against the seat and smiled. "Let the faux honeymoon commence."
* * *
Nasira worried they might not make it past the elevator before clothes began to come off. Her resolute husband somehow maintained enough control to refrain from disrobing until they reached the suite. On the way to the bedroom, they began shedding attire and shoes and by the time they fell back on the mattress, they were entirely naked and completely entangled.
Sebastian suddenly stilled and rose up. "I want to slow this down. I want this to last and if we keep going, it will be over in a matter of minutes."
She pushed a wayward lock of hair from his forehead. "You will receive no objections from me."
He rolled her onto her side so that she was facing the glass doors and moved against her back.
"Do you recall our first night?" he asked as he ran his palm over the curve of her hip.
"How could I forget? I was so very nervous, and you were so gentle."
"You were also a virgin, something you didn't tell me until right before that pivotal moment."
"I wanted to seem worldly. I did not want you to know I was so inexperienced."
"You also didn't want me to know you'd never had an orgasm. You told me the morning after. I've always been curious why you had never pleasured yourself."
"That would have been considered forbidden."
"And have you experimented since we've been married?"
"Never."
"Not even over the past few months?"