Pursued by the Desert Prince(26)

"I missed you," she confessed, because if she didn't say that, she would say something else. I love you.

He brought his hand to the side of her head and tucked his chin to look into her eyes. "I missed you, too."

His face spasmed anew. "But I still can't make you any promises."

"I know." It was a knife, twisting in her heart, but she only said,  "We're together now, though. Even if it's only for an hour, Kasim..."

He groaned and she tasted the longing in him as he covered her mouth with his.

Joy quivered through her, blocking out the future and fear of loss,  brimming her with happiness at being in his arms again. Pain ceased and  all was right in her world.

They kissed without hurry, breaking away to look into each other's eyes,  caress a cheekbone or the shell of an ear, then returned to another  kiss of homecoming. She couldn't get enough of him. There would never be  enough.

He rose, keeping her in his arms, and moved to the bed where they  stretched out alongside each other with a sigh of relief. Together  again, at last.

He jerked back. "I don't have condoms. I don't bring women here. I'll have to ask-"

She touched the side of his face. "I'm on the pill. It's okay."

"You never told me that before." He frowned.

"PMS makes me really emotional. That's the only reason I take them."

She would have pointed out that she didn't have them here because she  hadn't been given an opportunity to pack, but he smiled and kissed her  again, which distracted her from anything but how wonderful it was to  lie with him again.

When he drew her onto her side so he could unzip her dress, there was  reverence in his touch. He took his time, took great care as he stripped  her dress down to her waist and unhooked her bra. She tugged it away  herself and tossed it aside, smiling as he gave her breasts the  possessive, hungry look that tightened her skin all over her body.

Heat pooled between her legs and she had to press into his groin with her own, had to.

"You have missed me," he said with satisfaction, cupping a swell and lowering his head to capture her nipple.

She gloried in the sensation, unable to get close enough to him. As her  dress rode up, so did his thobe. She scraped her legs against his  hair-roughened ones and used her hand to climb the fabric higher. His  thighs were hot steel, but she was seeking that other column of  strength.

He abruptly pushed onto his knees and threw off his thobe, revealing his  sculpted form, the dark tone of his skin seeming extra dark as the  light faded.

"You were naked under there," she commented, a little dazed by the idea.  Her gaze slid past his six-pack to the thrust of his erection, so  aggressive and familiar.

She was compelled to reach out, claim and squeeze. He was velvet over  steel, smooth and damp at the tip. She wanted that turgid heat moving  inside her, soothing and stoking.

"Ah!" He reacted with a clench of his abdominals and fisted his hand over hers, eyes glittering fiercely at her.

"I will have my way with my harem girl first," he told her, thrusting in  her grip a few times before peeling her hand off him and leaning to  press the back of her hand to the mattress above her head. Then he  tugged to remove her dress and underwear. "So many wicked pleasures..."

He stroked his hand from her collarbone over her breast to her hip, arranging her to best please his eye.

"Kasim." She writhed, loins clenching and aching as he skimmed his touch  past her sensitive folds. She tried to guide his touch back to where  she wanted it. "Please."

He caught her hand and tucked it beneath the small of her back. Then he  gathered the other and did the same as he rolled atop her, using his  legs to part her own.         

     



 

"Don't tease," she protested. Caged beneath him, she rubbed her inner  thighs against his, lifting her moist center to invite the penetration  she longed for.

He shifted down a few inches and stayed propped on his elbows, admiring  the way her hands beneath her back arched her breasts to him.

"Better," he said, and cupped both, lifting them for his delectation. He  licked and teased and sucked, moving back and forth between them until  she hugged her knees to his ribcage, shamelessly offering herself,  begging, "Kasim, please."

He laughed and smoothly slid down even farther, licking at her very  lightly, just once. She was so aroused, she had to catch back a cry.

"Don't be shy," he ordered, drawing a circle with his fingertip. "No one is listening but me. Do you like this?"

He pressed a finger inside her and tasted her again as he did.

She groaned in encouragement.

"You do," he said with satisfaction, and pressed two fingers inside her,  making her moan with intense pleasure as he set about lavishing such  attention she quickly shuddered with climax. Oh, she had missed him so  much.

"So beautiful," he told her as he kissed his way up her belly. "You please me very much, my little harem girl."

"Your harem girl is going to tell you to go to hell if you don't quit calling her that," she panted.

He chuckled and rolled to her side, allowing her to free her arms,  caressing himself with two fingers as he looked at her sprawled next to  him, slumberous from climax, but aroused and filled with desire for him.

"Do you want me to do that to you, My Prince?" She rolled into him so  her breath was humid against his chin. She nipped lightly. "Would you  like me to pleasure you with my mouth until you can't even speak?"

"Yes." He gathered a fistful of her hair, holding her still for his  kiss, pressing over her and parting her legs with his, thrusting in and  shuddering, lifting to look into her eyes as they absorbed the feeling  of being joined without a barrier between them. "Later," he breathed.  "Later I want you all over me. I want you to ride me and give me your  nipples and I want you on your knees in front of me. I want you every  way I can have you."

"I'm yours," she vowed. "All yours."

For now.





CHAPTER ELEVEN

"I'VE NEVER SKINNY-DIPPED BEFORE."

"No?" Kasim wondered how she was swimming at all. He was worn right out,  barely able to sit upright on the natural rock ledge that hung just  below the waterline.

He was exhausted, but knew he wouldn't sleep even if they went back to  the tent. And he didn't want to miss a moment of her slick form twisting  in the inky black of the water, rippling the reflection of the moon and  stars. His midnight mermaid. He would remember this forever.

He wanted this night to last forever.

"Tell me something else about yourself," he coaxed.

"Like what?"

"Something about your childhood. Before." Before her sister's kidnapping he meant, when she had been carefree.

"Um..." Her voice hummed across the water like a musical note. "Oh, this  is something not many people know. My father spoke French and my mother  spoke Spanish, even when they spoke to each other. The boys grew up  thinking that if Mama spoke to them, they had to reply to her in French  and Spanish with Papa. If they spoke to each other, Henri used French  and Ramon used Spanish. Then we came along and did the same thing."

"That's ridiculous."

"I know. The boys knew better by then, but they thought it was funny. We  girls grew out of it once we realized it wasn't normal for other  families."

Thinking of herself only as a piece of the collective wasn't normal, either. He wondered if she realized that.

"Now tell me something that is just about you," he commanded.

A pause, then a dreamy, but rueful, "I like birds."

"Which ones?"

"All of them. I'm weirdly fascinated and have dozens of books about  them. I listen to recordings of their songs and study the patterns of  their feathers. I love that they fly and always know where they're  going. I'm intrigued by how they build their nests and I always imagine  that when I'm old, I'll be one of those odd people squatting behind a  log with binoculars, excited because I can tick off red-throated warbler  in my birding book. Are you laughing at me?"

"That would make me a hypocrite. I own falcons."

The water rippled as she let her feet sink and brought her head up, swirling around to look at him. "Really?"

He had to smile at her excitement. He suspected he had just won her over  for all time. For good measure, he added, "My mother has an aviary."         

     



 

"Can I see it?" She skimmed closer in her excitement, then paused to  tread water. "Never mind. I'd probably cry because they're caged."

He held up a hand to warn her as he noticed a servant coming toward the shoreline.

The report didn't surprise him. Nor did the apologetic way it was  delivered. Fortunately he was too relaxed to order a beheading of the  messenger.

He responded with a flat "Thank you," and jerked his head to indicate they should be left alone again.

"What was that?" Angelique asked, turning to watch the retreat.