AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her blush deepened and her eyes remained locked on the desert in the distance. Pink lips didn’t move.
“You have no hesitation in conceiving a child almost as soon as you are married?”
Her throat moved in a knot as she swallowed. “I wouldn’t say that,” she murmured finally.
His eyes flared. “You don’t want a physical relationship? You believe a marriage in name alone will be enough to bring about peace?”
Her expression was anguished. “I am willing to do whatever it takes to make this work,” she said haltingly.
He shifted his position, so that their torsos were brushing. Startled eyes flew to his face. “What are you doing?”
He dropped his focus to her lips. They were trembling slightly. Of its own accord, his thumb ran across her mouth. It was warm and soft beneath his touch. “Have you ever been kissed, Emira?”
If it was possible, her expression became ever more alarmed. “I don’t see how that’s any business of yours.”
“Even when the Sheikh has asked me to personally evaluate your suitability?”
Her lips parted in surprise at the direction his statements were tending. And he moved. Dominating and swift, he crushed his mouth to hers, claiming her as his – though she wanted only to belong to the country and the people she loved so dearly. His tongue invaded her warm mouth, driving awareness into her body with every touch. It was a kiss that stopped everything. The air ceased to hum around them, birds no longer sung. Even the sun froze in the sky, powerless to continue its trajectory in the wake of such a moment.
She had never been kissed.
How could she have been?
A princess of the Ibarra family, she was hardly at liberty to do anything that might bring disapproval. Her whole body jolted into being. Her blood pounded through her veins and her soul burst through her. The feelings that were besieging her were frightening for their strength.
His hands didn’t touch her. Only his mouth made contact with her body, but it was enough. It sent her spiralling into a strange awareness. A burning torrent of lava was pouring through her.
She wanted more. More of this. So much more.
But it was wrong! This man was the cousin of her fiancé.
The realisation was the bucket of ice water she needed. It squashed the warmth and filled her with remorse. She stepped away from him, so distracted by her own feelings that she didn’t notice the two dark slashes of colour high in his cheeks. Nor the way he stood, completely still, as though he too was shocked by what had just happened.
“You won’t do that again,” she said coldly, her fingers shaking a little as she ran them over her hair. “You might have been instructed to appraise my suitability as a royal bride, but I do not think the Sheikh would have expected you to take it that far.”
He still didn’t speak. His face was set like stone; those harsh features completely immovable.
“I trust I’ll have your personal recommendation?” She enquired, stepping further away from him.
“I will think on it.”
Her heart dropped.
The foolishness of coming to this country with the expectation that it would be smooth sailing filled her with incandescent embarrassment. Of course it wasn’t going to be an easy path to navigate.
They had been at war a long time. And it now appeared that the Sheikh’s most trusted advisor was against her.
* * *
Tari’ell was met by mountains to the east, and desert to the south and west. In the North, there was ocean, but it was a long way from the palace, and no refreshing sea breeze reached them to break up the relentless heat and humidity.
Saaliyah fanned her pink face with her hands, staring out at the moonlit desert.
Her memories of this land were fragmented. Her family had fled when she was only eight years old. Her recollections were peppered with magical evenings under the stars, as her Bedouin ancestors had lived. Firelight dances and mythical murmurings of tales that were kept out of print. Stories of their people that were so sacred they could only be spoken, rather than written.
This palace was familiar, yet different. The spices in the food spoke to her, and yet she couldn’t remember her favourite dish. Over the years, Saaliyah had lost much of her connection to this beautiful and ancient land.
Being back was odd.
