Silk and Secrets(118)

"Lying swine." Shahid spat on the floor. "Once Abdul Samut Khan is gone, you will be my prey." He beckoned the young soldier closer. "Don't think you will escape tonight, for your door will be guarded."

Impassively Ross went into his apartment, then closed and barred the door, thinking that he was getting a little tired of extortion and melodramatic threats.

A single lamp burned in the reception room, and the door to the balcony was open, admitting the full volume of festival merrymaking. He glanced around for Juliet, surprised not to see her, for he had assumed that she had preceded him into the house. No, she must have returned or the lamps would not be lit. Hungry to have her in his arms, he crossed into the bedroom.

Another flickering lamp revealed Juliet as a dark form curled at one end of the divan. As he entered the bedroom, her caustic voice said, "What, no chubby charmer?"

Ross grinned and began removing his coat and boots. "I was tempted, naturally, but knowing that you would cut out my liver had a dampening effect."

"Wise man." Juliet's gaze followed him but she didn't rise.

Ross had thought that mock jealousy was just another of their teasing games, but her aloofness made him wonder if she might be genuinely upset. With most of her face covered by the tagelmoust, it was hard to judge her mood. Softly he said, "Surely you don't believe that I was interested in that dancer."

She gave a snort of disbelief. "Of course you were interested. What man wouldn't be?"

"Not seriously interested," he amended. "Even wrapped in a black blanket and scowling, you are more alluring than she."

"I'm glad you have such good judgment." With one dramatic gesture, Juliet swept to her feet and cast aside her mantle and tagelmoust to reveal a dancer's costume of black silk so sheer that every detail of her body was visible.

Outlined in dark surma, her eyes shone like silver as she gave a slow, provocative smile. "I improvised this out of the silk I bought from Hafiz's father. Now I'm going to prove that there is nothing that plump hussy does that I can't do better."

Ross's breath caught in his throat and for a moment he couldn't breathe. A cord around Juliet's hips secured ethereal veils and more floated from her shoulders to cover, but not conceal, her torso. Though she was completely covered, even her cascading hair dimmed by a veil, the transparency of the fabric gave the effect of total, seductive nakedness.

She spun gracefully into the center of the room, veils swirling about her like smoke. Irresistible as Delilah, she said huskily, "Shall I dance for you?"

"Oh, yes..." Ross whispered as he sank down on the divan, unable to take his gaze off her. "Please do."

For a moment Juliet closed her eyes, immersing herself in the potent currents of sound that eddied through the night. Then she began to sway sinuously. First just her twining arms, then her lithe torso, then her hips and legs, until her whole body was a physical expression of the music.

Juliet was a born dancer. Ross knew that she had learned Highland reels as a child in Scotland and later effortlessly mastered formal European ballroom figures. Heaven only knew what exotic performances she had seen or participated in over the years. Now she drew on everything she had ever learned to create a sensual dance that was all her own.

He watched, entranced, as she went beyond skill to the level of true art, where spirit and movement and music were so much in harmony that it was impossible to separate the dancer from the dance. Juliet was fire and grace and freedom, everything he had ever loved and despaired of in his wife.

Most of all she was the embodiment of desire, and without a single touch she raised Ross to fever pitch. Drifting layers of silk first revealed, then concealed her exquisite body.

A brief flash of her long slim legs might be followed by a tantalizing glimpse of dusky nipples, then the dark triangle between her thighs. Red hair, white limbs, smoky silk; no more was needed to fuel a fire.

Watching was not enough. The next time she swirled within reach, borne on the passionate beat of the music, Ross caught an edge of the veil that covered her head. It came away in his hand, revealing the light-struck brilliance of her hair.

She laughed and grasped the other end of the veil that he held. "Dance with me, O my master."

Ross understood her invitation. In many Middle Eastern societies men and women could not touch in public even if they were allowed to dance together, so they used a scarf to connect them without physical contact.

Rising to his feet, Ross began moving to the music, joined to Juliet only by the silk veil that ran taut from his right hand to hers. Gazes locked, they circled each other slowly, so intent that it seemed as if they held still while the world revolved around them.