tight and tingling.
‘You’re involved in the planning?’ She cut him a curious sideways glance.
He shrugged broad shoulders as he manoeuvred round a tight curve. ‘I am the Sheikh. It is expected.’
She’d seen that amazing house, the obvious wealth he commanded, but hadn’t considered the responsibilities of his position. Silly, considering what she knew of her brother-in-law’s punishing workload.
‘I suppose your official duties keep you busy.’
‘Busy enough. But my work often takes me away.’
He had a job too? She’d imagined him living the good life, flitting from city to city, and woman to woman.
His dark eyes danced as he turned to her. His lips curled up in a smile that made her insides liquefy. How did he do that with just one slow, sexy grin?
‘You’re surprised I work?’ He turned back to the road.
‘I…suppose I assumed that you didn’t need to.’
He nodded. ‘But inactivity does not suit me. I couldn’t loll about growing fat and idle.’
He’d never be fat. He had too much vigour. Even in repose his lean body was a study in power and leashed energy. She blinked and watched the road rather than let her gaze drift appreciatively over him.
‘What sort of work do you do?’
‘I manage a resources enterprise.’ His deep voice sent a trickle of warmth down her spine.
‘An oil company, you mean?’
‘Oil and other things. We invest in renewable energy too. We’re even experimenting in generating electricity from the sea.’
‘You’re not content to make your money from oil?’ She’d heard Q’aroum had enough reserves to maintain it as one of the world’s wealthiest states for generations.
‘We’re an island nation, Rosalie. We have a vested interest in combating climate change and rising sea levels. Besides, a man needs a challenge.’
His tone hinted that he wasn’t just talking about power generation. Or maybe it was the sudden wide white grin that slashed across his face as he shot her a look.
She felt the whole impact of his personality focused on her. It was a tangible thing, a potent force. There was a rushing in her ears, like water flooding past, blocking the sound of nearby traffic. The late afternoon sun seemed to dim as she stared back at him, aware of her skin prickling on her neck and her lungs squeezing tight.
She had to be careful with this man. The feelings he evoked were too much. Too potent. Too new. Too tempting.
‘I’ll have you back to your hotel soon.’
She opened her mouth to explain that she wasn’t staying at a hotel and then snapped it shut. Better if he didn’t know she was staying alone in the house Rafiq had organised.
Arik had been a perfect gentleman all afternoon. Yet there was a restlessness about him, an edginess that warned her he wasn’t as easygoing as he seemed. Something simmered behind that relaxed expression. Self-preservation cautioned her against revealing where she was staying.
‘Thanks,’ she said as they approached one of the two hotels on this coastal road. ‘You can drop me here.’
‘I’ll see you to your door.’
Rosalie sucked in a deep breath. ‘I’d rather you didn’t.’ He stopped the car and regarded her through narrowing eyes, his brows rising.
‘You’re not exactly incognito.’ She remembered the excited pleasure with which he’d been greeted wherever they went. ‘So I’d rather go in alone.’ She wondered if he saw through her subterfuge. It was true as far as it went. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself.
‘Very well.’ He inclined his head. ‘We will not court gossip.’ Then he got out and fetched her canvas bag from the back while she fumbled with her seatbelt.
His hand was warm and hard as he helped her out. A tremor shot up her arm at his touch, ripping right through any illusion that she was impervious to him.
‘Thank you for the pleasure of your company, Rosalie.’
He lifted her hand to his lips. Her eyelids flickered as he pressed a kiss there. A jolt of something very like lightning speared through her. The swirl of reaction in her abdomen grew to a spiralling twist of aching emptiness.
It lasted an instant, only that. But it was enough to jolt Rosalie back to her senses.
She tugged back her hand as if stung. That empty yearning feeling was too real, too powerful to be safe.
‘Until tomorrow, then.’ His eyes were fathomless, deep as the night and just as impenetrable.
Rosalie turned away. Tomorrow, if she had any sense, she’d take the first flight out from here.
She was late. Arik narrowed his eyes against the slanting rays of dawn light and stared down the beach.
Had he erred yesterday? Should he have pressed his advantage when he’d read the need so clear in her eyes?
No. He’d given his word he’d respect her wishes. She was nervous, fighting to resist what was between them. As if she could push back the inevitable flood-tide of desire.
He wondered at her naïvety. Their attraction had been instantaneous, so urgent and all-consuming that even he, with his experience, couldn’t ignore it. It was a constant fire in the blood, a gnawing hunger in the pit of his belly. He felt wired, restive and alert. Sleep was elusive, replaced by hours imagining her in his bed. Or naked, almost anywhere: in the window seat of his room, on a silk-covered divan or down here on the fine-grained sand.
The only way out was to assuage this need for mutual satisfaction. His lips curved in a taut smile. Prolonged mutual satisfaction.
Rosalie had much to learn and he would enjoy contributing to her education. Anticipation hummed through him, tightening his groin, his thighs, his hands on the reins. He nudged Layla till she gathered herself into a thudding gallop. The thunder of her hooves teamed with the beat of blood in his ears: heavy, urgent, racing.
They reached the point and there was Rosalie, walking from the next beach. Arik reined in, watching her falter to a stop. Her stance was wary, as if she were in two minds whether to scurry back to the safety of her hotel.
Eventually, as he’d known she would, she resumed her stride towards him. He should be pleased. Triumphant even. He had her now, he knew. Or close enough that, with a little effort, he could have what he wanted from her.
Yet the emotion filling him wasn’t triumph. It was fury. At the unprecedented level of his earlier disappointment. At the unadulterated relief that swept him now, making him for a few moments light-headed.
Since when had he been dependent on any woman? Pleasure, companionship, mutual enjoyment—that was what he sought from the women in his life. But
