that fell down over her heaving breasts.
He longed to go to her, to break the spell, to pin her down, literally there on the floor where she stood blinking up at him. He wanted to make her say the words again, to feel them against his lips as he devoured her, made love to her again. But instead he hardened his heart. If it was true that she loved him, then that was all the more reason for him to do the right thing, the only thing, and set her free. Before he dragged her down, weakened her, destroyed her, the way he did anyone who was unfortunate enough to care for him. He simply couldn’t bear that to happen to Anna.
‘Well?’ Finally she spoke, her voice sounding hollow, empty. ‘Do you have nothing to say?’
Zahir wrestled with his conscience, with his heart, with every damned part of his body that yearned to go to her.
‘It makes no difference to my decision, if that’s what you mean.’ His damning words were delivered with a cruel coldness born of bitter, desperate frustration. He watched as Annalina’s lovely face twitched, then crumpled, her lip trembling, her eyes glittering with the sheen of tears. He deliberately made himself watch the torture, because that was what it was. He had to feel the punishment in order to keep strong.
‘So...’ She pushed her hair away from her face with a shaky hand. ‘This is it, then?’ She spoke quietly, almost as if she was asking the question of herself. But her eyes held his, the pupils dilated, like twin portals to her soul.
Zahir looked away. He couldn’t witness this, not even in the name of punishment.
He sensed Annalina hesitate for a second, then heard a rustle and turned to see her slinging her bag over her shoulder and marching towards the door. A roar of frustration rang in his ears and he closed his eyes, digging his nails into the palms of his clenched fists. He would allow himself the indulgence of a couple of minutes of the agony before setting off after her.
She was at the main entrance when he caught up with her, tugging furiously at the handle of the door that was securely locked, becoming ever more desperate as she heard him approach.
‘You are not leaving like this, Annalina.’ He stood behind her, solid, implacable.
‘No? Just try and stop me.’
‘And where exactly do you think you’re going, and how are you going to get there?’
‘I don’t know and I don’t care.’ She was banging her fists against the panelled door now. ‘And don’t pretend you care either. This is what you want, isn’t it? To be rid of me as soon as possible? I’ll find someone to take me to the airport and then you need never see me again.’
Reaching over her shoulder, Zahir covered her flailing fists with one hand, but Annalina pulled them away from under him.
‘I mean it, Zahir. I can’t stay here a minute longer. I’m leaving now.’
‘Very well.’ Pulling his phone from his pocket, he made a call, punching in the code of the wall safe to retrieve the keys to both the front door and his SUV as he waited for the reply. He opened a wall cupboard, taking out a coat and passing it to Anna without meeting her eye.
She was right. This was what he had told her he wanted: her gone, out of his life. The fact that it was tearing him apart only proved his point. Proved what a lethally dangerous combination they were. ‘I will drive you to the airport myself.’
Anna listened as he ordered the jet to be put on standby, silently taking the coat from him before he unlocked the door and ushered her out into the cold night air. So it was really happening. She was to be banished. Cast aside like the worthless acquisition that he obviously thought she was.
Once inside the powerful SUV, she was grateful for the feeling of paralysis that had come over her, as if her body was protecting her the best it could by rendering her almost comatose. She couldn’t look at Zahir, in the same way that he couldn’t look at her. Instead he focussed with leaden concentration on manoeuvring the vehicle out of the electric gates that swung open for them.
They drove in total silence, Anna fighting to hold on to the merciful state of the numbness, frightened it could so easily thaw into a tidal wave of grief if she let it. She felt weighted down by the sense of him all around her, the invisible pressure bearing down on her shoulders, ringing in her ears. She stared through the windscreen, at the world that was still there, seemingly impervious to her heartbreak. Dawn was starting to break, a thread of orange lining the horizon in front of them.
The car sped silently towards it, the orange glow spreading rapidly as the peep of the sun appeared, tingeing the wispy clouds pink against the baby-blue of the sky, blackening the desert below it.
The headlights picked up the sign for the airport as they flashed past. Soon they would be there. Soon she would be leaving this country, presumably never to return. For some reason, that realisation felt like another body blow, as if someone had kicked her in the guts when she was already writhing on the ground.
She bit down on her lip, twisted her hands in her lap and fought madly to stop the tears from falling as she stared fixedly ahead at the unfolding drama of the dawn. Sunrise over the desert—one of nature’s most spectacular displays.
Suddenly Anna wanted to experience it, to be a part of it. Not from here, from the agonising confines of the car, but out in the open with the cold air against her skin and the freedom to breathe it in, to be able look all around her, lean back and let the majesty unfold above her head. She needed to prove to herself that there was wonder and beauty to be had in this world, no matter how it might feel right now. If she was leaving this remarkable land for ever, she wanted one lasting memory that wasn’t all about sorrow and heartbreak.
She turned her head, steeling herself to break the brittle silence, the sight of Zahir’s harsh profile spawning a fresh onslaught of pain. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed, the only visible sign that he was aware of her gaze.
‘Stop the car.’
Zahir’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as he shot her a wild-eyed glance.
‘What?’
‘I want you to stop the car. Please.’
‘Why?’ Alarm sounded in his voice as his eyes flashed from the road to her face and back again. ‘Are you ill?’
‘No, not ill.’ Anna shifted in her seat. ‘I want to watch the sunrise.’ She tipped her chin, fighting to hold it steady, swallowing down the catch in her voice. ‘Before I leave Nabatean for good, I would like to see the sunrise over the desert.’
She saw Zahir’s flicker of surprise before the brows drew together, lowering to a scowl. There was a second’s silence as the car continued to speed onward.
‘Very well.’ His jaw tightened. ‘But not here. I will find a more advantageous view.’
Anna sat back, releasing a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding in. She had no doubt that Zahir would know exactly where to take them. It seemed to her that he knew every grain of sand of this desert, that it was a part of him, of who he was, wild and bleak.
Sure enough, a short while later he swung the vehicle off the main road, bumping it over the rough terrain, and almost immediately they appeared to have left civilisation completely and become part of the barren wilderness of the desert. Zahir pushed the SUV hard, bouncing it over the hard
