“You, Lucy, are a most unusual woman.”
“No, I’m not.”
He reached out and swept a strand of hair back away from her face and traced a finger down her cheek, his expression concentrated, as if trying to work her out from the line of her face. She closed her eyes, desperately trying to repress her response to his touch. “So beautiful, so fiercely independent, so fearless. You’re like a wild bird soaring on the trade winds, being taken wherever the winds, or tides in your case, carry you. And now you’ve landed on my shore, I’d like to capture you for a short while.”
His face was so close to hers that she couldn’t see his features clearly. “Then you’d let me go?”
He smiled, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. “What a strange question. Do you think I’m in the habit of luring women to my palace, capturing them and never letting them go?”
He dropped his hand and walked back to the pool of light spilling out from the candlelit interior. His shape, form and details came into focus and Lucy saw him as the King once more. “I, I don’t know.” She twisted around uncomfortably before turning back to him again, nervously shrugging her shoulders.
He frowned suddenly and heavily, all humor gone. “No, Lucy, I’m not. You are the first woman I’ve brought to the Lodge. Since I’ve been in Sitra, I’ve not had a moment to myself. And that will continue. This time is a brief respite for me. Believe me.”
Relief surged through her and she dropped her gaze, focusing on the track her toe was making through the layer of fine sand that covered the deck. “I do believe you.”
God help her, she did. Whatever Maia had done, wherever she was, it wasn’t with Razeen. Suspicion slid from her mind like a weight and in its place her attraction bloomed loud and heavy. She walked over to him and he reached out for her hand and pulled her hard against him.
She gasped against his mouth as he first kissed her top lip, then her bottom lip, then touched the tip of her tongue with his. He groaned and slid his hands down and around her body, drawing her closer to him.
Part of her wanted to pull back, away from him. Not because she suspected him of being involved with Maia any longer, but because she’d never felt so attracted to a person before. It drew something from her that she always kept hidden. It felt new and dangerous. She wanted to travel the world light, she never wanted to leave anything behind. She never wanted to make herself vulnerable, like her mother had, like she herself had done once. But her body had other thoughts and she slipped her hands around his waist, her fingers finding and caressing the tight contours of his back and drawing him closer to her. The kiss deepened and when they eventually pulled apart, his mouth found her neck and she arched back, allowing the light of the moon to filter through her closed eyelids as she sank into sensation.
He slipped his hands to her bottom and caressed it before he pulled away. He rested his forehead against hers. “Lucy. Tell me if I am going to fast for you because if I had my way I would have you here and now. I seem to have forgotten the finer points of seduction when I’m with you.”
“Razeen,” she moved her thumb against his lips and he closed his eyes as his mouth drew her thumb inside. A tremor of wanting shivered through her body and settled low. She smiled. “Perhaps that’s something I can teach you.”
CHAPTER SIX
“We have all night, Razeen. And,” she grinned, filled with relief that her suspicions had proved groundless. “You promised me a swim.” She glanced at her loose shirt. “I have my bikini on underneath. I came prepared.” She watched him look down at the bikini that was just visible at the neckline and felt her nipples harden under his scrutiny.
“So you did.”
“Did you?”
“I’m always prepared.”
She walked toward the steps, cast a quick, teasing, glance behind her to see his eyes hadn’t left hers and then jumped onto the sand. “Prepared enough for a race?”
She heard him follow and her walk turned into a jog, that turned into a run as she heard him just a few paces behind her. At the water’s edge she quickly pulled off her clothes and ran into the sea until it was deep enough to dive into.
She turned, laughing, in time to see him toss his shirt on top of his trousers. Wearing only his shorts he dived into the sea and struck out strongly after her. She turned and continued to swim out to the pontoon that lay hardly moving in the mid-point of the bay. She’d only just placed her hands on the side of it when Razeen’s arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her away, dumping her back in the sea while he hauled himself up.