Immediately Iseult’s protective instincts kicked in, and her back stiffened even as another part of her melted inside to see him dressed in a stunning suit and tie, every inch of him the urbane businessman again.
‘Why aren’t you up at the castle waiting for me?’
Iseult stood up, quivering from head to toe at his autocratic tone. ‘I wasn’t aware of any schedule I had to follow—perhaps there’s some Mistress to the Sheikh guide-book I need to study?’
Nadim came in and closed the door behind him, instantly threatening. ‘Still as impudent as ever. So much for hoping that passion might tame that tongue of yours.’
Iseult’s shoulders straightened. ‘I’m not some animal that can be tamed, Sheikh. Just because I’ve stupidly agreed to sleep with you it does not mean that I’ve become lobotomised in the process. Strange as this might sound, it wasn’t my life’s ambition to become the mistress of a sheikh.’
To Iseult’s utter surprise, Nadim threw his head back and laughed uproariously. He came even closer, eyes sparkling, and pulled a resisting Iseult into him.
She struggled and said, feeling curiously emotional all of a sudden, ‘Don’t laugh at me.’
Suddenly all mirth was gone as Nadim looked down into her eyes and said, almost musingly, ‘I think that’s why you’re so good with thoroughbreds…you can sense their struggle a
gainst being tamed and they can sense your empathy…’
It was the first time anyone had articulated what Iseult had always felt instinctively.
And then he said huskily, all arrogance and autocracy gone, ‘I thought we’d moved on from Sheikh? And you weren’t stupid to agree to sleep with me…I think that was a very wise decision… In any case, you weren’t going to be allowed to refuse.’
‘I wasn’t?’ Iseult asked shakily, mesmerised by the tension in his body and his glittering gaze.
Nadim shook his head. ‘No. I wouldn’t have rested until I had you exactly where I wanted you.’
He pulled at the band holding her hair up in its habitual ponytail and she felt her hair fall down around her shoulders, saw how his eyes followed the movement. He was so close now she could feel the latent strength in his body, could feel him stir against her, and she had to fight not to squirm against him.
He looked down at her again and quirked his mouth. ‘I don’t think Jamilah would appreciate us making love on her desk, do you?’
Iseult shook her head faintly, a gush of liquid heat rushing to her groin at the sudden image of Nadim stripping and spreading her back on the desk to move between her legs and take her.
‘Well, if we don’t make a move soon, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. We’re having dinner together this evening in my rooms, and I’ve bought you some gifts…’
Nadim watched a wary look cross Iseult’s face as he took her hand to lead her from the room. He could still remember the hot irritation that had surged through him at finding she hadn’t returned to her rooms. Through all his intensive meetings today he hadn’t been able to concentrate—helplessly distracted when images of their night together last night had inserted themselves with dismaying frequency into his mind.
The hunger to see her again had been so powerful that when she hadn’t been waiting meekly for him he’d seen red and come racing down to the stables—only to find her in Jamilah’s office, evidently calling home.
Iseult let Nadim lead her out of the office and into his Jeep, parked just outside. All the way up to the castle silence hung around them like a cloak.
Once at the entrance to the castle he said, ‘Hisham will come for you in an hour…’
She turned to go and he called her back, his face unreadable but his eyes so black she felt breathless. ‘I’d like you to wear the gold dress…’
Before she could protest that she didn’t have a gold dress he’d turned to walk away, and it was only when she walked into her room and saw Lina amidst what looked like an explosion of glittering paper and bags and boxes that she recalled what he had said about getting her gifts. Lina’s face was uncovered, even though she still wore the veil, and she too seemed to be mesmerised enough to forget her new distance. Her eyes sparkled.
‘Look, Miss Iseult! All this for you!’
Iseult felt a little stunned and weak. She sat on the bed, and then had to jump up when she realised she’d sat on a pair of shoes. She picked them up. They were gorgeous. Dark green suede, with diamanté details on one side. Heels so high they looked lethal.
Lina was in officious mode, and had obviously been given instructions. She herded Iseult to the bathroom now, where Iseult saw a full bath, complete with floating rose petals and lighted candles. Iseult resisted, feeling as though she could only tarnish such a seductive picture. Somehow in the desert it had been easier to take—as if she had matched the rugged terrain.
But Lina, for all her petiteness and delicacy, was surprisingly strong, and had Iseult stripped and in the bath before she quite knew how it had happened. Lying in the bath, feeling totally unlike herself, Iseult could hear the rustle of paper outside, and the clang of hangers as Lina hung things up. Every now and then there’d be a silence, and then just a long deep sigh as Lina obviously came across something too beautiful to resist sighing over.
But this was no fairytale. She was the Sheikh of al Saqr’s mistress and he was just kitting her out.
If anything Iseult should be feeling insulted…angry… But when she walked back into her bedroom in just a towel, and saw Lina standing at the mirror holding up a vision of a golden dress, anger was all too elusive.
CHAPTER ELEVEN