AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded, keeping any trace of emotion from her face. “I see. It is also not so easy for you to maul me.”
“To maul you?” His smile was sardonic. “Oh, honey. Don’t pretend you’re not aching to be ‘mauled’ by me.”
Desire lurched painfully in her core. Her eyes were wide. Will leaned forward, pretending fascination with the same floral arrangement that Lilah was inspecting. “You want me to peel that dress from your body and take you now,” he said so quietly that even Lilah barely caught the words. “To hold your breasts as I move into you hard and fast, kissing your neck in that place that drives you wild. You want me to kiss you everywhere, don’t you? To taste your sweet pleasure and make your body shake with delight.”
“Will.” She groaned softly, her cheeks flushed. “Stop it. You may not speak to me like this.”
His laugh was a husky invitation. “Come on, Lilah. You’re a perfect princess but you’re also a woman, and in my arms you feel like one.”
Her heart was ricocheting at the speed of light. “This is highly inappropriate.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s what you want.”
Lilah lifted her eyes to his; it was a mistake. He was so close. She stepped backwards, conscious that they were far from alone. “I told you, people will …”
“Let them talk,” he said nonchalantly. “Surely you can’t still be clinging to your objections now?”
Her eyes widened. “Meaning?”
“Your brother is marrying for love. He is marrying someone like me. A commoner. How can he deny you the same freedom?”
Lilah dropped her gaze, her breath burning in her lungs. “It is even more important than ever that I make an appropriate marriage.”
Will’s laugh was sarcastic. “You have quite the self-important dynastic fantasy in that brain of yours, don’t you?”
She lowered her voice. “We are a dynasty. Like it or not, that’s who I am. You can’t belittle me into forgetting what is expected of me.”
“Yet Kiral, the ruler of this land, the man who had promised himself to another woman, has thrown convention out the window.”
“Maybe Kiral and Abi just love each other more,” she snapped tartly, her expression grim. “Excuse me.”
She cut away from him quickly, moving to speak to some other guests. It was only when they proceeded into the room that she saw the seat bearing her name was beside one with Will’s. She thought of her brother’s request that she ‘look after’ the American and her heart dropped.
Perhaps she could move his placard; shift him further back. Her fingers were curling around it just as he appeared, and his eyes sparked with hers. He took his seat, and leaned closer. With a polite smile on his face he said, “Come to my room tonight or I will tell Kiral everything.”
Lilah pushed back in her chair, her eyes focused straight ahead, her mind spinning.
Come to my room tonight or I will tell Kiral everything.
The ceremony was beautiful. How could she not feel a swelling of emotion as her brother committed himself to a woman such as Abi? They were so right together; despite Kiral’s insistence that he would never forgive her.
But while she watched two people pledge themselves to one another for life, she felt further and further from the man she desperately wanted to make the same commitment to.
* * *
The evening was cool. The desert winds did that sometimes; bringing relief from the scorching days with a gust of cold straight off the Arabian sea. Lilah waited on the balcony, her nerves so torn they were almost shredded.
She heard him first. A slight sound from behind her had Lilah turning slowly, in time to see Will step into his room. He had undone the top button of his shirt and flicked it a little to reveal the thick column of his neck. She could see a curling of hair at its opening; she knew from experience it ran all the way down his chest and into his pants.
His eyes latched to hers across the room and a bolt of awareness juddered between them. He kicked his shoes off without taking his eyes from her face, then strode across the carpeted floor and onto the balcony.
Lilah still wore the dress she’d chosen for the wedding, but as the wind rustled past, it pulled across her skin, revealing her slender frame to Will’s appreciative gaze.
He made no effort to hide the lazy inspection. He allowed his eyes to travel the length of her body with an insolent possessiveness. She crossed her arms, self-conscious and shy.
“Don’t.” He reached across and unpeeled her arm, so that she dropped them to her side. “Let me see you.” His voice was deepened by emotion.
Lilah’s eyes widened.
