“No,” he growled. “I won’t speak the words yet.”
“But Kareef,” she choked out, “you know you must!”
“Must?” He sat up. His shoulders straightened as his whole body became as unyielding as steel. He looked down at her, as selfish and ruthless and harsh as any ancient sultan.
“There is no must,” he growled, lifting his chin as his eyes glittered down at her. “I’m the king of Qusay. And until I release you, you belong to me.”
You belong to me.
Jasmine shivered at the words. She could not deny them. She did belong to Kareef. She always had, body and soul.
But he was king of Qusay. He could not keep a barren woman as his bride. And she couldn’t openly remain his mistress. Such a scandal would make the one thirteen years ago seem like nothing.
Jasmine closed her eyes with a shuddering breath. She’d returned to Qusay to help her family, not ruin them again! And how could she stab Umar in the heart with such a public humiliation, after everything he’d done for her?
They had to divorce. They had to part. There was no other way. If she allowed herself to be with Kareef as she wished—if she allowed herself to be selfish—it would destroy everyone she loved. She looked up at Kareef.
Already, a team of his bodyguards was searching, no doubt panicked that their king had disappeared in the sandstorm.
Was that a helicopter she heard in the distance now?
No, she told herself frantically. Not yet!
But she had to face the hard truth. Their sweet, stolen time was over.
Pushing away from Kareef’s warmth, she rose numbly to her feet. It was too late for her panties—they’d been annihilated in the fire—but she pulled on her white cotton bra, which she found on the floor of the cave.
“You don’t need that,” Kareef said, lying back against the blanket. “We have hours yet. It’s barely dawn.”
She didn’t answer.
Kareef pushed himself up on one elbow. “Jasmine.”
She didn’t look back. She was afraid if she looked into the basilisk intensity of his gaze, she would be caught by his magic once again and lose her own ability to do what must be done. Even now, her body shook with the effort of defying him—and worse, defying her own deepest longings.
She found the white cotton dress, now dirty and with tiny rips in the eyelet lace, crumpled behind a rock. It seemed eons since he’d pulled it off her body.
So much had happened since then. Entire worlds had changed.
She felt his gaze, but wouldn’t turn to meet his eyes.
Naked, he sprang lightly to his feet, like a warrior. Taking her in his arms, he forced her to turn around and meet his gaze. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She swallowed. “Thank you for these beautiful days in the desert,” she whispered, feeling like her heart was splitting, bleeding in her chest. “I will never forget them.”
“Our time is not over.”
Trembling, Jasmine closed her eyes. It would be easier to say this if she didn’t have to look at his beautifully masculine face, at his sensual mouth, at his eyes of endless blue. He took her heart apart in his gaze.
“It is over,” she whispered. “We are over.”
She felt his shock. Felt his hands go slack before he tightened his grip painfully around her. “Look at me.”
She wouldn’t.
“Look at me!”
Compelled to obey, she opened her eyes.
His face was dark with fury.
“You are mine, Jasmine. For as long as I want you.”
Her throat went dry. How she wished it could be true, wished she could be his forever—or for even one more night!
“How?” she replied hoarsely. “How can I be yours, Kareef?”
His eyes darkened and cooled until they were like a thousand storms over the Arctic Sea. “You bound yourself to me long ago.”
“Kareef—”
“You will not marry him tomorrow. It is too soon!”
Her tortured eyes flickered up at him. “What would you have me do, then? Desert Umar at the altar? Be your mistress? Leave my family to their ruin?”
His jaw clenched. “We could keep our affair a secret—”
“There’s no such thing at the palace!” she cried. “Here in the desert, perhaps, with only your trusted servants, we could keep it quiet for a short while. But you know as well as I do that there are no secrets at the royal palace. There’s likely gossip about us already. I’ve already caused my family so much pain, and now my little sister is pregnant. How could my parents ever hold up their heads in the street, if I let myself be branded as your whore?”
Air hissed through his teeth.