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Now, as a pale dawn light seeped in through the wooden shutters, any lingering doubts vanished. For once in his life, his duty and his pleasure had combined. He could get both from this woman. He glanced down at her, still fast asleep, her hair spread across the white sheets like a cloud, her dark lashes fluttering lightly as she dreamed.
He sighed with pleasure. Never in his life had he made love to a woman who had been so responsive, so sexually driven and satisfying. And that this woman could also be the answer to his political prayers only convinced him further of the rightness ofhis plan. He just wished he could tell her who she was. But that risked everything.
He rose and opened the shutters. Before him, the desert spread, rich in the early light. The storm had blown over and the flat lands looked guileless in the first light of day, as if they were incapable of wreaking such havoc. No traces of the drama of the previous day remained. All was well. He turned as he heard Sarah stir.
“Good morning,” he said, enjoying the sight of her body lying tangled in the sheets. He knew the feel of her intimately now, but it had all been under cover of darkness, or lit by a lantern, so he enjoy looking at her now. She was as beautiful as he remembered. Slight, her dark skin silky in the sunshine, and her long, dark hair glossily tangled and tousled by his hands and lips.
She grabbed the sheet and pulled it over her, blushing. “Good morning,” she said in that husky voice of hers. “Has the storm passed?”
“For now,” he said, imagining the storm—a very different storm—which lay ahead of them.
She frowned and sat up in bed. “You mean there might be more?”
“No,” he said. He had to watch what he said. He needed time to woo her, time for her to realize her future lay with him. “That will probably be the last storm of the season.” He pulled on his robe and glanced back out the window toward the city, where he knew he’d be consumed once more with responsibilities. “All is peaceful now.” He certainly hoped so.
“Good, so then we might be able to find my backpack? You said last night you’d be able to.”
He turned to her with a smile. “Of course. I’ll make a few calls. The phones should work now.”
“Thank goodness. I won’t be going anywhere without my passport.”
He certainly hoped not.
“Leave it with me,” he said.
She frowned and sat up in bed, her arms around her knees. “Do you think you know who took it?”
“No, I know people who will.”
She opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Oh! But then I guess you must know your neighbors well if you live here alone.”
“You could say that,” he said evasively. “How about we have some breakfast and make a start?” He really wanted to change the subject.
But her frown lowered. “Yes, sure, but before we do, I realize I know very little about you.”
“In some ways, we know each other extremely well.” He smiled at her.
She answered his smile with one of her own. And he decided he really needed to get back into bed with her, but before he could make a move, she spoke again.
“In some ways perhaps, but I feel you know a lot about me, and I know next to nothing about you. You did all the questioning, and I gave you all my answers.” She scrunched up her nose. “Feels lopsided.”
“And so you’d like to quiz me a little this morning?” He shrugged. “Fine, go ahead.” This could prove interesting.
“Okay, question number one. Do you live here all the time?”
“No. Next question?”
She held up her finger. “Not so fast, Kadar. I’d like to know what you’re doing here.”
Ah, she’d moved on from the closed-ended questions. Trickier. “I come here from time to time…” He paused, wondering how he could couch his reasons for coming here,without arousing suspicions. Because he didn’t want any of those. Not yet.
“To keep the place aired and ready for the owners?” she suggested.
He smiled. She was going to make this easy for him, after all.
“Something like that. And, I don’t mind. It gives me time by myself to think.”
“Ah, so you don’t live alone?”
