He sank back into his chair and closed his eyes, trying to control his need to take her then and there.
“Talk to me, Anna. About anything.”
She laughed, able to read his mind. “Paris then. It’s like coffee and cream.”
He shook his head. “You, Anna, are obsessed with food these days. You must be, because I’ve heard Paris described in many ways but none like that.”
“No really. It’s such a creamy city. I remember the first time I came here with Abduallah.” Her quick glance at him was to check to see if he resented the reference to Abduallah. Despite his love for his brother he couldn’t help feeling a twist of jealousy. He controlled it instantly. “I thought it more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. The light was so soft, the buildings so old and grand, the people so chic.”
He closed his eyes so he could see better what she was describing. “It is all that—and more.”
“And I met you here.”
He felt himself draw away. “What I never understood was why Abduallah wasn’t keeping you company that evening in the hotel bar. Where was he?”
She blinked softly, looking down at the flat plain beyond which the city glinted through a misty haze. But he knew she wasn’t thinking about the city, her gaze was too abstracted.
“Zahir. Don’t you understand? He was with friends. We weren’t together then. We weren’t a couple but he wanted to pretend we were, for your sake.”
“For my sake. What are you talking about?”
“Abduallah, he—”
“Didn’t want to admit that his marriage had failed?”
She raised her eyebrows momentarily. “Something like that.”
He didn’t understand her resigned tone. “He shouldn’t have worried. These things happen. And it would have made things easier between you and me.”
“I couldn’t betray him.”
He flicked a strand of hair back over her shoulder. “And there was me thinking you had betrayed him.”
“No. I had only betrayed myself.”
“And what is that meant to mean?”
“It was the first time, since that time I spoke to you about, when I was 14 that I had been with a man.”
“Apart from Abduallah, you mean?”
She sighed. “Let’s change the subject.” She took his hand as they both looked out the window. “Paris. It’s a city for walking.” She looked around at the door beyond which she knew the bodyguards were relaxing. “Do they have to go everywhere with us?”
“Of course.”
“But wouldn’t it be nice, just for once, if we were alone? I want you. All to myself.”
He laughed. “You are a greedy, selfish girl.”
She loved it when he laughed. She studied his face. The lines were relaxed and humor sparkled in his eyes. His short hair had grown longer recently and fell back from his face in soft waves until it just skimmed his collar. She pushed her fingers through it, not only enjoying the feel of the thick hair through her fingers, but enjoying the flare of sensuality that ignited in his eyes at her touch. She sat back opposite him purposefully.
“Greedy am I? Perhaps I should stop being so greedy. Yes, I wouldn’t want you to think me so out of control.”
“Woman,” he growled, “this is the only time I’m telling you not to listen to me. Be greedy.” He leaned over and rubbed the palms of his hands firmly up her legs.
“No,” she said primly, “it wouldn’t be right, not with so many people about.”
“They are the other side of a door through which no-one would dare enter without first knocking and then awaiting my command to enter.”
His hands moved up her body and drew her to him. She could no more resist the pull of his body than defy gravity.
He kissed her long and hard, until she lay beneath him, her hands around his hips, drawing him harder to him.
Then she broke away from his lips, smiling. “Not now, Zahir. Matta will be awake shortly and will join us.”
As if on cue, a knock on the door was met with a brief command to enter and a sleepy Matta stumbled towards them—an innocent expecting arms to be open for him, expecting reassurance and comfort and receiving it.
With Matta stretched out half-asleep across Anna’s lap, Zahir put his arms around them both and kissed her hair.
She brushed her hand against Matta’s hair and turned to Zahir. “And not only bodyguards, why not give Muma Yemena a few days off to. I know she has relations in Paris.”
“So considerate of you Anna,” one eyebrow wryly raised. “Nothing to do with the fact that you want him all to yourself too.”
“I just want us to be together, just the three of us, like a normal family.”