‘Obviously you will be compensated for your kindness,’ Azrael slotted in smoothly, disliking the conviction that he owed her a debt for her change of heart on his brother’s behalf.
And that assurance was the last straw for Molly in the emotional mood she was in. She reared up in a temper. ‘I didn’t change my mind for the money!’ she proclaimed furiously. ‘Is that what you think? Obviously, that’s what you think! Well, you’re wrong, Azrael, totally, absolutely wrong!’
‘You’re shouting again,’ Azrael remarked chillingly. ‘Shouting is rude and unnecessary.’
‘Oh, go to hell!’ Molly launched back at him, out of all patience and stomping down the cave towards the rug that lay on the sand. ‘I’m going to sleep. Wake me when we’re being rescued! Otherwise, please forget I’m here!’
AZRAEL GRITTED HIS teeth and watched Molly shiver while she slept. Never had he met such a hot-tempered woman. She went off like a rocket every time he offended her. She had gone off like a rocket in his arms as well, he recalled helplessly, his aching body hardening in enthusiastic recollection of her soft, silky skin and gloriously inviting mouth. In angry denial of that weakness, he stalked down the length of the cave and covered her with the cloak he had wrapped her in earlier.
Naturally he had assumed that the offer of financial compensation had slowly worked on her to change her mind. What else was he supposed to think? Now instead of feeling relief that Djalia was safe from a huge international scandal, he was in a rage. What was it about her that aggravated him to such an extent? Made him stumble into tactless speech and assumptions? He, the consummate diplomat, who had learned to watch every word he spoke from an early age! But he was no diplomat in Molly’s radius. She got under his skin. She infuriated him but she was also incredibly exciting. He had never experienced that livewire connection with a woman before. He dredged his eyes from her slight figure in frustration and looked longingly at the pool, which would give his overheated body the coolness he craved.
With a wary eye in her direction he stripped and bathed for the second time that day. She might be cold but he was much too hot and the dust clogging the air and falling on every surface made him feel unclean. Freshened up, he unrolled his bedding by the fire and with a suppressed groan stalked down to check on his guest again. He touched her hand and it felt like ice and he swore under his breath. Taking a deep breath, he bent down and lifted her, praying that she wouldn’t wake and assume that he was making some kind of sexual approach when his sole concern was that if she got any colder she might develop pneumonia or some such thing. She weighed very little, which he thought was a sign of fragility and unhealthiness. No wonder she was feeling the cold so badly. Keeping her wrapped in the cloak, he lay down with her and almost groaned again. Once she recovered her body heat, she would make him too warm.
Molly stirred, aware of the hard ground below her hip and the furnace-like heat at her back that made her feel deliciously cosy. She curled back into that reassuring warmth with a drowsy sigh.
‘Be still. It is not yet dawn,’ a familiar voice intoned, far too close for comfort.
‘Azrael?’ she squeaked in consternation.
‘Who else?’
‘Well, I don’t know, do I?’ Molly snapped defensively. ‘I went to sleep alone.’
‘You were shivering with cold. I had to do something.’
Stiff as a block of wood, Molly rolled her eyes in the dimness and shifted position.
‘Stop moving about. You’ll keep me awake,’ Azrael complained, already aching from the effects of a warm, curvy woman moving against his groin.
Well, at least she didn’t need to worry that he was about to make a pass at her, Molly thought sourly. He was more concerned with getting back to sleep, but her eyes widened as he shifted and she recognised the hard thrust of his arousal against her bottom.
‘Sorry, I’m not used to sleeping with anyone,’ she mumbled, hot-faced at what even she knew to be a natural morning condition for a man.
Azrael thought about that. ‘How is that possible?’ he queried in audible surprise.
And that fast Molly wanted to slap him again.
‘And you suggested that I might be prejudiced?’ Molly scoffed helplessly. ‘Forget about all those well-worn clichés you’ve heard about Western women. Like many others, I don’t sleep around.’
‘You don’t have to sleep around to be accustomed to sharing a bed,’ Azrael countered.
‘Don’t know what you mean by that,’ Molly framed drowsily lacking in comprehension because she was deciding that the heat he provided definitely overruled his unfortunate personality. ‘But I’m still a virgin.’
And with that simple statement, she stunned Azrael into silence. Was it possible? He lifted his tousled dark head to look down at her and a faint sleepy snore escaped her, proving that if she had said it for effect she wasn’t staying awake to see if it had worked. He blinked, long black lashes fanning back down as he settled back again. He was not prejudiced, he reasoned fiercely. But it was possible that the casually sexual women who had entertained him in the past had somewhat skewed his expectations, he conceded thoughtfully. A virgin. And Tahir had kidnapped her! It was little wonder that she had been so shattered by her ordeal. Azrael removed the hand he had resting on her hip and backed off from direct contact. His aroused body screamed a protest but he studiously ignored it, his handsome mouth set in a rigid line. Once again, after all, he had been guilty of an assumption that had been an insult.
* * *
Molly was roughly shaken awake and urged to tidy up. She scrambled up, eyes alighting on Azrael, who was pacing and muttering.
‘What on earth?’ she began in bewilderment, her brow pleating as she heard the racket of helicopter rotor blades and raised voices.
Azrael held his fingers to his mouth in the universal silencing gesture. ‘There are soldiers outside the cave,’ he told her at low pitch. ‘We are being rescued.’
‘That’s wonderful...why are you being so—?’
Teeth visibly gritting, Azrael strode towards her. ‘Because the Djalian council declared an emergency and organised a totally unnecessary search for me, which in turn created a nationwide panic. Now there are journalists waiting outside and far too much interest in our plight has been stirred up,’ he ground out in exasperation.
‘OK...’ Molly dragged out the acknowledgement reflectively and quite unthinkingly reached up to twitch his wildly tousled black hair back into some sort of order, belatedly recognising where the greyish film that rose in the air came from. ‘You’re covered in dust—’
Azrael caught her fluttering fingers in his. ‘You will not speak when we go outside. I will handle everything...’
‘Relax,’ Molly urged him gently, believing that she understood the source of his apprehension. ‘I have no intention of saying anything about Tahir. His name won’t cross my lips—’
‘Nothing must cross your lips,’ Azrael told her tautly, wondering if
