Jewel in His Crown(11)

‘I would manage,’ Ruby declared.

‘I don’t think so,’ the prince told her without apology as a spark flared and he fed it with what appeared to be dried foliage. ‘I will make tea.’

‘I could come with you—’

‘You couldn’t stand the heat by day or keep up with me, which would put both of us at greater risk.’

Stymied by his conviction of her lack of stamina, Ruby dug her toes into the quilt in an effort to defrost them. ‘How come you’re so calm?’

‘When all else fails, celebrate the positive and…we are safe and healthy.’

The warm drink did satisfy her thirst and drive off her inner chill though even the effort of sitting up to drink made her very aware of how tired and dizzy she still was.

‘Try to get some sleep,’ the prince advised.

The thin mat that was all that lay between her and the ground provided little padding. She curled up. Raja tucked the quilt round her as if she were a small child. The cold of the earth below pierced the mat, making her shiver again and, expelling his breath in an impatient hiss, Raja got below the quilt with her and melded his heated body to the back of hers.

‘What are you doing?’ Ruby squeaked, her slight figure stiff as a metal strut in the loose circle of his strong arms.

‘There’s no need for you to be cold while I am here.’

‘You’re not a hot-water bottle!’ Ruby spat, unimpressed, her innate distrust of men rising like a shot of hot steam inside her.

‘And you’re not as irresistible as you seem to think,’ Raja imparted silkily.

The heat of her angry suspicion blazed into mortification and if possible she became even more rigid. Ignoring the fact, Raja curled her back firmly into his amazingly warm body.

‘I don’t like this,’ she admitted starchily.

‘Neither do I,’ Raja confided without skipping a beat. ‘I’m more into sex than cuddling.’

Outrage glittered in her eyes in the flickering light from the dying fire. She wanted to thump him but the horrible cold was steadily receding from her body and she was afraid that she would look comically prudish if she fought physically free of his embrace.

‘And just think,’ Raja remarked lazily above her head. ‘All those miserable old diehards who think we shouldn’t be getting married will be so pleased to find out we are married now.’

‘Why?’

‘If you were still single your reputation would be ruined by spending the night out here alone with me. As it is you’re a married woman and safe from the embarrassment of a scandal, if not much of a catch in the wife stakes.’

Ruby twisted her head around, brown eyes blazing. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

‘A sex ban would exude zero appeal for the average male in either one of our countries.’

‘You signed up for it,’ Ruby reminded him stubbornly, furious that he could be so basic that he deemed sex with a virtual stranger a necessary extra to a successful civilised relationship with a woman.

Raja was not thinking with intellect alone. In fact his brain had little to do with his reactions for he had a raging hard-on. Strands of fragrant silky blonde hair were brushing his shoulder, her pert derrière braced against his thighs while he had one hand resting just below the swell of a plump breast. He raised a knee to keep her out of contact with the seat of his arousal and tried to think of something, anything capable of cooling down the sexual fire in his blood.





CHAPTER FIVE




WHEN Ruby wakened she was immediately conscious of the heat and the crumpled state of her clothing. What she wanted more than anything at that moment was access to a long, refreshing shower and opening her eyes on the interior of the roughly made and claustrophobic tent was not a heartening experience. She checked her watch and was taken aback to realise how long she had slept for it was already almost one in the afternoon.

Raja was nowhere to be seen and she sat up in a rush, pushing off the quilt and registering the presence of her suitcase in one corner. Mentally she leafed through what she recalled packing for what she had assumed would be short-term requirements while the majority of her wardrobe was shipped out in advance of her arrival. Just as Hermione had been shipped out, she recalled, her eyes suddenly stinging, for she missed her dog and knew her quirky little pet would be sadly missing her. She scrambled up and looked in vain for her shoes before peering out of the tent in search of Raja. It was not that she needed him, it was just she wanted to know where he was, she told herself staunchly.

That angle forgotten, however, Ruby remained standing stock still to stare out of the tent with a dropped jaw at the view of an alien world that shook her to the core. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but sand and the occasional small bush on a wide flat plain overarched by a bright blue sky and baked by a sun so bright and hot she couldn’t look directly at it.

‘Coffee? You slept soundly,’ Raja commented from the side of the small fire he had lit below the ample tent canopy.

‘Like the proverbial log.’ One glance in his direction and Ruby’s teeth grated together in exasperation. As if it weren’t hot as hell already he had to build a fire to sit beside! And there he sat, infuriatingly immaculate in the same long off-white robe he had donned the day before and seemingly as comfortable living in the desert as he might have been in a five-star hotel. Only the reality that he was unshaven marked his departure from his usual standards of perfect grooming.

‘Where did you get more water to make coffee?’ Ruby was struggling not to care that her hair was probably standing on end and mascara had to be smeared all round her eyes.

‘This is an oasis. I established that last night. An underground stream feeds a pool below the cliff and our water supply is secure.’ He gestured to the other side of the tent. ‘Do you want a drink?’

Ruby flipped round to belatedly note the towering cliff of rock on the far side of the tent. A large grove of flourishing date palms and other vegetation made it clear that a water source had to exist somewhere near by. ‘I’d sooner not take the risk. After what happened on the plane, I’m only drinking water that comes out of a bottle,’ she told him thinly.

The prince compressed his sensual mouth on the laugh he almost let escape. She looked very small, young and unsure of herself, standing there with tousled hair and bare feet, clearly unsettled by her surroundings but struggling not to reveal the fact. She hated to betray weakness and it was a trait he implicitly understood. Dishevelled though she was, however, her hair still glinted like polished silk and her flawless skin had the subdued glow of a pearl. Her beauty was not dependent on cosmetics or the flattering cut and gloss of designer clothing, he recognised, very much impressed by how good she looked without those trimmings. ‘There is no bottled water to be had here.’

‘Yes, I know that…I’m not stupid!’ Ruby snapped back at him in furious self-defence. ‘I just don’t do the camping thing…OK? Never did do it, never saw the appeal of it and don’t want to be roughing it out here now!’

‘That is very understandable,’ the prince responded with the utmost cool.

Far from impervious to the likely impression she had to be making on a guy who had probably majored in advanced desert survival skills during the war, Ruby dealt him a dirty look. ‘I don’t care if you laugh at me!’

Retreating crossly back into the tent because she cared very much indeed, Ruby hauled her case to the ground and opened it. She was grateful she hadn’t bothered to lock it because, like her shoes, her handbag in which she would have stowed a key was missing. Only when she saw the state of the tumbled contents did she realise how naive she was being: their kidnappers had clearly rummaged through the contents before unloading it from the plane, doubtless keen to ensure that she hadn’t packed a phone. She dug out her wash bag and a towel as well as a change of clothing and a pair of sneakers, suddenly very grateful indeed to be in possession of such necessities. A quick inspection of the tent interior warned her that Raja had not been so fortunate.

Donning fresh underwear and tee, she wrapped a sarong round her waist and tried to move more slowly because the heat was making her perspire. She came to a reluctant halt on the edge of the sparse shade offered by the canopy. ‘I have a new toothbrush and a razor you can have and you can share my towel.’

In the mood his wife was in, Raja considered that a surprisingly generous offer. A wolfish grin of appreciation slashed his bold, bronzed features and he looked so ravishingly handsome at that instant that Ruby stared fixedly at him, her tummy flipping like an acrobat on a high wire, the warmth of awareness sending hot colour surging into her oval face.

She climbed up the slope and saw the pool that had formed in a gully densely shaded by the massive bulk of the rock formation behind it. Raja strode up from the tent to join her and fell into step beside her, his hand first at her elbow and then at her spine to help her ascend the rougher ground and to steady her when she wavered. He had incredibly good manners and, unused as she was to that consideration from a man, she could only be pleased that he was willing to make the effort. She was uneasily aware that so far she had not been the most heartening companion. Even worse in so challenging and harsh an environment she could only be at a loss.