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She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if I approve or not. It’s an alien concept to me.”
“And yet you say your family is from this country.”
“Yes. But I know nothing about them.”
“Then maybe we can remedy that also while we await your passport.”
That softened her a little more. It would have been near impossible, without knowing Arabic or her way around Sirun’s bureaucracy, to find out who her family was.
“I’d like that.”
“Good.” He indicated the path. “Now, perhaps we can take the route which the sultan and his wife would have taken fortheir evening walk, far from the prying eyes of any non-royal men.”
A shiver went down her spine. “You mean this is quite private? No one comes here?”
“Only the royal family and their intimate guests are allowed here. And, at the moment, I am the only member of the royal family in residence.”
“Where are the others? You have a brother, I believe?”
“A younger brother, yes. He is overseas, working for our country. His skills are, shall we say, on the social side.”
She smiled. “That sounds as if there’s a story behind it.”
“Indeed. But isn’t there a story behind everything? And everyone?” He stopped walking, plucked a flower, and held it out for her.
She took it and inhaled the exotic scent. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never smelled anything like it.”
“That’s because it’s native to this country, and notoriously hard to cultivate. There’s a story behind that as well.”
She turned to him. “I’m more interested in the story behindyou. What you were doing in the desert castle, and why you didn’t tell me you were the king? You should have told me, Kadar.”
“Why? Would it have made a difference?”
She pressed her lips together. She really didn’t want to tell him that yes, it would, because his family was responsible for the deaths of her parents. She didn’t want him to know that at all. Instead, she shrugged.
“I didn’t want to risk it, Sarah. I craved normality. I’d gone to the desert castle to be alone, as I used to do. It was an indulgence which I knew I wouldn’t be able to repeat in future. And I wanted it to be without complications. Simply a man and a woman who couldn’t resist each other.”
A delicious shiver ran through her as his words conjured up the pleasure they’d found in each other. But it was a pleasure tainted now by reality.
“I guess I see what you mean. Now I know who you are, and now you know who I am, what we had is impossible to re-create.”
“A few days ago, I would have agreed with you. But now? Now, I’m not so sure.”
“I am. There will be no repeat of the intimacy we shared in the desert. I’m staying here only because of my passport. As soon as I get that, I’m leaving Sirun.”
“Well, in that case,” he said. She hardly noticed that he hadn’t agreed with her. “We’d better get started on the tour.”
“Thankyou for showing me around. I enjoyed it.”
Sarah turned her smiling face to his, and he was lost again.
“Myself, also.”
It was an understatement. Kadar had enjoyed the afternoon, and it had gone far more smoothly than he’d anticipated. There was an instant connection between them which couldn’t be denied and which they fell into almost as soon as they’d set off on their tour. The conversation was easy, and he seemed to understand her from the smallest expression on her face. No doubt the result of hours of watching her reactions during their lovemaking. She was an open book. And one he wanted to read from cover to cover and then begin at the beginning again. He suspected her story would never grow stale.
“I should go now. The light is fading,” she said. “And I’m sure you have more important things to do.”
He wanted to deny it. Because, at that moment, there was nothing more important to him than being here with her.
