offer, and in truth it was an attractive one. Respect, kindness, honesty, passion. These were all amazing things. So why did she still feel trepidation?
The answer was painfully obvious. Because she was falling in love with him. Because he’d hurt her once before, terribly, and after the week they’d spent together he now possessed immeasurably more power to hurt her again, and far worse. Was what he was offering worth that risk? Could she live in a marriage knowing her love wasn’t returned and never would be?
‘Where does the helicopter land?’ she asked as she looked out of the window to avoid Malik’s direct gaze as well as the unhappy circling of her own thoughts.
‘There is a helipad behind the palace, on a flat outcropping of rock.’
‘That’s convenient.’
‘Not at all. It was blasted several years ago, when my grandfather wished the Palace of the Clouds to be more accessible. Before the helipad, it would have taken a seven-day trek on camel to get here.’
‘Now, that would have been cool,’ Sam said, and Malik and Gracie exchanged a wry smile. Moments later they were landing, and then a member of staff was escorting them across the rocky terrain to a steep set of stairs cut directly into the mountainside that led to the palace’s main entrance.
Gracie stopped to admire the view—an endless, snow-capped mountain range with the desert beyond. The bleakness she’d once seen from the royal jet now held undeniable beauty.
‘I can’t believe anyone made it up here, much less built a palace,’ she said. Malik took her elbow to help her up the stairs.
‘I told you, I come from a strong and independent people.’
‘So does your son,’ Gracie murmured, for Sam had strode ahead, taking the steps two at a time despite their precarious placement.
‘He will make a good sultan.’
Gracie didn’t reply; the prospect of her son being leader of a country still sent her nerves jangling.
Malik took her hand and squeezed it. ‘It will be all right, Gracie,’ he murmured.
‘You sound very sure.’
‘I am sure.’
She glanced at him, wishing she could understand what was going on behind that opaque gaze, that unreadable expression. The last week had been wonderful, but it hadn’t always felt real. Their marriage wouldn’t be an extended holiday, and they wouldn’t even have the prospect of more children to look forward to, a fact that Gracie thought she could come to terms with but still found sorrowful. She would have liked to have a little girl with Malik’s dark hair and sudden smile.
But far beyond that, she would have liked to have Malik’s love. At times, when he was laughing with Sam or talking with her, she felt as if she could glimpse, momentarily, that hidden part of him. The man beneath the cold, autocratic exterior, the boy he’d once been. He was still there, in those little glimpses, but was that enough? Was any of this enough or was she about to embark on a lifetime of loneliness and heartache?
Inside, the palace was surprisingly airy and light. Refreshments had been laid out in a salon, and the three of them ate together, relaxing after the helicopter ride, until Sam was once again racing off, eager to explore.
‘Let me show you the delights of the palace,’ Malik entreated, and took Gracie by the hand as they went after Sam.
The palace was as luxurious as the one in Teruk, with large rooms gilded in gold and jewels and amazing views from every window. Gracie didn’t think she’d ever tire of the sight of the snowy mountains thrusting proudly up to an achingly blue sky.
‘But I must show you the palace’s pièce de résistance,’ Malik said with a teasing smile, and he ushered Sam and Gracie to a set of double doors that led to the most incredible sight Gracie had ever seen.
‘Wow,’ Sam breathed, and Gracie could only echo him.
‘Wow. Is that...?’
‘A natural waterfall, yes.’
The back of the palace had been built right into the mountain rock, and a natural waterfall poured into a set of swimming pools laid out on terraces, cascading into one another.
‘The water must be freezing,’ Gracie said, and Malik smiled.
‘The pools are heated.’
They spent the next few hours swimming and relaxing by the pool, as any family might, and Gracie felt as if her heart were teetering, one moment filled with hope and happiness and then the next clenched in fear. She was afraid to want this too much. To hope too much, and for something that Malik had told her would never happen.
Sam dared them both to stand under the icy waterfall, and, laughing, Gracie did so, shrieking as the freezing water fell about her. Then Malik grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the waterfall, to the other side, so the cascading water was a curtain shielding them from the world.
Gracie looked around her in amazement; they were in a secret, rocky chamber, the roar of the waterfall the only sound. Then she caught sight of the look of blazing need in Malik’s eyes and any appreciation of her surroundings fell away in light of that shining certainty.
‘I want you,’ he growled. ‘So much I can hardly bear it.’
Her heart rate tripped. ‘But you’ve barely touched me all week...’
‘And it just about killed me.’ Already he was pulling her towards him, her slick body sliding against his in a way that felt unbearably erotic.
‘Why did you stay away, then?’ Gracie breathed. Malik’s hands were everywhere, and yet she still couldn’t get enough.
‘Because I wanted our wedding night to be all the sweeter. But now I don’t think I can wait.’ And then his mouth was on hers, his tongue plundering its depths, his body thrusting against hers with delicious intent.
Gracie sagged against the rock wall, helpless under Malik’s wonderful onslaught. One hand nudged aside her swimming costume, his fingers teasing the very centre of her so it felt as if lightning were racing through her veins, to accompany the thundering of her heart.
Her nails bit into his arm as the overwhelming sensations cascaded through her, both sizzling and sweet.
‘Malik,’ she gasped out as his fingers moved even more intimately against her. Her hips rocked against his hand. ‘Malik...’
‘Mom!’ Sam’s voice came to them from beyond the protective wall of water. ‘Are you guys lost in there?’
Yes, she was lost. And losing more of herself with every passing second. With a groan Gracie pulled away from Malik. ‘You can’t leave me like this.’
The smile he gave her was full of sensual promise. ‘What if I make it up to you later?’
She thrilled at his words, her body coming alive again just at the thought. ‘Do you mean that?’
‘I can’t last much longer without you,’ Malik admitted in a low voice. ‘I want
