The moment the doors shut, her breathing altered. Her eyes darted to him and he noted that they reflected more green than grey with her suppressed agitation. When he leaned forward to press the button, she jumped and he smiled.
‘I’m glad you find this amusing, Your Highness.’
‘I will take my amusements where I please since I interrupted my night to come to your aid. A task for which you have yet to thank me.’
She hesitated for a moment before she answered. ‘You told me less than five minutes ago that you’ve effectively kidnapped me. Pardon me for not reserving the right to find out first if I’ve been whisked from one undesirable situation into another before frothing at the mouth with gratitude.’
With a magnetic pull he couldn’t resist, his gaze dropped to her mouth again. Rouged from the distressed biting of moments ago, the plump Cupid’s bow was more enticing than he wanted to acknowledge. Again it took an irritatingly large amount of control to drag his gaze away.
‘I look forward to witnessing this...frothing when the time comes.’
He exited the lift straight into the office he preferred to use when he wasn’t attending to scheduled matters of state.
Zaid crossed to the extensive drinks cabinet and looked over his shoulder. ‘Would you like something to drink?’
‘No, thank you,’ she murmured, a touch distractedly.
Her gaze was taking in the less formal layout of the room—the grouping of large cushions centred around a Bedouin carpet said to have been woven by his great-grandmother, with the rarely used hookah set on a bronze tray in the middle of it; the half-divan tucked beneath an arched window, upon which lay a set of papers and his reading glasses. The suit jacket hanging at the back of a chair, and the keffiyeh he’d discarded hours ago when he’d come upstairs.
Zaid wasn’t sure why seeing her gaze on his personal effects strummed the pulsing hunger within him. But as he turned to pour a glass of mineral water, he considered that perhaps the time had come to attend to his baser needs. Before it impinged on clear and concise thinking. Just as quickly as the thought had come, he was already discarding it. He had neither the time nor inclination to pursue any of the women from his past life, nor did he feel compelled to entertain the advances of noble families both in Ja’ahr and its prosperous neighbours, wishing to marry off their daughters to the new Sultan.
The time was coming when he’d have to do his duty, marry and produce heirs. He knew that. But not before he’d attempted to bring change to Ja’ahr and set it on a much more stable course. He didn’t just owe it to his people, he owed it to the memory of his parents, who’d been assassinated in the name of power and greed.
The raw reminder helped him suppress the primal hunger caused by the presence of the woman now turning to face him again.
‘You have questions,’ he stated, after finishing his drink and setting down his glass. ‘If you’re going to demand to leave come morning, let me pre-empt that by saying I don’t foresee this being a situation that will be resolved in twenty-four hours so, no, you won’t be leaving any time soon.’
Her lips parted, but she didn’t immediately reply. She took a moment to absorb his words before she spoke again. ‘I understand now that things are done a little...differently here. But I need to know what any time soon entails. I can’t stay here indefinitely. I have a life to get back to.’
‘Eventually, but not immediately,’ he said.
She frowned. ‘What?’
‘You flew to Ja’ahr to support your father, did you not? I believe you’ve taken a month’s leave of absence from work for that purpose.’
Her eyes widened. ‘How do you know that?’
‘I make it my business to know pertinent details surrounding my cases. Of course, your conduct yesterday afternoon also warranted a little more research into you personally.’
Zaid couldn’t recall moving closer to her but suddenly they were mere feet apart. He knew it because he could see the green-grey shades of her eyes much more clearly, read the bewilderment in her expression and the rapid pulse beating at her throat.
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets to kill the urge to splay his fingers over that silken pulse.
‘Surely you can’t expect me to remain here for all that time? Besides, you spoke to the chief of police, didn’t you? That’s why he didn’t arrest me tonight?’ she pressed.
Zaid shrugged. ‘I bought you a temporary reprieve, but let me lay it out for you so there’s no mistake. Attempt to leave this palace before I deem it safe for you to do so, and you will be arrested and imprisoned. The chief has some influence in the right circles.’
Esmeralda shook her head, her puzzlement evident as her gaze probed his. The action caused the long sheaf of her ponytail to swing, drawing his gaze to the thick rope of hair. Zaid didn’t welcome the reminder of the way it had looked unbound. After a moment, she turned away, hugging her arms to her middle as she paced to the edge of the floor cushions. In the silence that pulsed between them his gaze dropped, tracing over her slim shoulders to her delicate spine and the womanly flaring of hips and curve of buttocks to the shapely length of her legs.
The sudden image of her lying on top of his cushions, wearing nothing but that saucy little see-through night slip, with her hair spread out over his pillows, punched so hard through him that his stomach muscles clenched viciously.
The fists in his pockets bunched tighter, and he veiled his eyes as she whirled back around.
‘I still don’t understand. Why did you save...um, come to my aid at all?’
It took precious seconds for his mind to track long enough to refocus on the decision he’d made the previous afternoon.
Raising his gaze, he reaffirmed the fact that Esmeralda Scott would not be gracing his cushions or anywhere else in his personal space. Not unless he wanted to court trouble. The woman in front of him had been in his kingdom for only a short time, and yet she’d already caused ripples that could destabilise everything he’d worked so hard for. It was time to draw some boundaries and put her firmly in her place.