Esme cursed the wild leap of her heart and bit back the strong urge to tell the unfortunate messenger where to tell His Highness to stick his request. She didn’t think she could stand another roasting over her meticulous reports. Not to mention the prospect of her current heart rate soaring even higher in Zaid’s presence.
‘If you would be so kind.’ He stepped back and made that elegant inviting gesture with his hand that was nevertheless subtly insistent.
She pursed her lips even as her feet moved towards the large black tent set apart from the rest of the dwellings. Unlike her own, the large opening was barred by a secondary wall of cured leather a few feet from the first, with the entrance to the tent on either side of that taut wall.
She followed Fawzi through the right entrance, and immediately stepped onto the first of a dozen priceless Persian rugs. The royal blue and gold theme of his palace was repeated in the immense cushions bordered by large cylindrical ones that served as a seating area, with dozens of smaller cushions tossed over the floor in sumptuous invitation.
Lit by a giant chandelier of candles hanging from the centre point in the ceiling, the living area was illuminated further by intricately carved Moroccan lanterns hung on various posts inside the tent. There was a smaller grouping of cushions in the centre of which was laid a large platter of fruits and nuts.
Esme took in all of this in seconds, before her senses and gaze zeroed in on the man rising lithely to his feet from the largest divan-like cushion.
A curt nod from him dismissed Fawzi. When his gaze returned to her, his eyes glowed an intense topaz in the light.
She hated the way her breath caught anew. So much she locked her knees to keep her in place. ‘You wanted to see me?’
He advanced, a powerful being draped in a rich wine-red tunic, trousers and robe. He wasn’t wearing his headgear, and his jet-black hair gleamed under the lamplight. ‘You look...irritated,’ he observed almost lazily.
But she wasn’t fooled. There was a coiled tension within him that sent her pulse racing faster.
‘Do I?’ she replied. ‘It must be because I was planning to go for an evening stroll before I was summoned here.’
A ghost of a smile whispered over his lips. Lips that had possessed hers with such bone-melting mastery. Lips she’d yearned for in her dreams and in her wakeful hours.
‘Or perhaps you’re feeling a little neglected?’
‘Not at all. I’m doing the job I’m here to do. I’ve seen you every day to make my report. I’m constantly surrounded by Nashwa and Aisha. Oh, and my personal bodyguards. Let’s not forget them,’ she tagged on waspishly.
‘The guards are here for your safety.’
‘Are they? It’s all a little OTT, if you ask me. I mean, each guest having a staff? What’s that all about?’
A little of his indolence evaporated. ‘There used to be five to a guest, half of whom were given three meals a day and nothing else in the form of a salary. The two members of staff assigned to you now earn enough to be able to feed and clothe their families.’
Contrition bit hard. ‘Oh... I didn’t know that. And the other three? Are they now on the unemployment line?’
He turned away and led her to the seat he’d just vacated. One o
f the things she’d learned in the past three weeks was how to sit on floor divans. She sank down sideways, and propped herself up with two cushions, noting too late that Zaid was doing the same. But in her direction.
Within one heartbeat and the next they were a mere foot apart. The slightly shaky breath she took infused her senses with his powerfully evocative scent.
Move.
But the voice of self-preservation was smothered beneath the mounting yearning that had dogged her for three long weeks. Her willpower was eroded in the face of the need to experience what had happened in her suite just one more time.
Although would it stop at one? Or was she deluding herself?
‘They are in the process of being retrained in other skills,’ he replied to the question she had already forgotten. She told herself to focus.
‘And after that?’
‘Brilliant people like you will guide them towards the right jobs,’ he stated simply.
A warm glow fired up inside her. ‘So you do think I’m doing a good job?’
His gaze turned slightly mocking. ‘Are you fishing for compliments, Esmeralda?’
‘I’m seeking enlightenment as to why you grill me so hard every evening if you’re happy with the job I’m doing.’