The Sheikh's Bartered Bride

She allowed her trembling fingers to curl around him. The hardness encased in warm satin fascinated her and she stroked him to the base. He made an incoherent sound of need and his head tipped back, his hands clenched at his sides.

She reversed her stroking and allowed her thumb to flick over the end of him.

His entire body racked in a giant shudder. "More." Both demand and plea, she found it impossible to deny him.

She did not want to deny him.

Touching him with gentle then firm strokes, she gave him more... and more... and more.

His entire body had drawn taut when he grabbed her wrist to still her hand. "Enough."

He took several deep breaths, his body shuddering.

"Now it is your turn."

For him to touch her?

"To command," he clarified and she smiled.

They were still playing their game.

She didn't think she had the temerity to tell him to touch her. "Carry me to bed." It was where she wanted to be.

He didn't hesitate. He lifted her in strong arms and carried her to the bed in the center of the room. He knelt on the coverlet with her still in his arms and then released her legs so they knelt facing each other, his arms locked around her waist. He lowered his head and kissed her.

The kiss seared her lips with heat and touched something deep inside of her.

He was her husband and she wanted him, would always want him.

His lips broke away from hers to trail down her neck.

"I need you, Hakim."

His head came up, ebony eyes blazing into her own. "I have ached for you."

"You have me."

Triumph flared in his features. "Yes. I have you. I will never let you go."

She didn't want to think about the future. She wanted to concentrate on the present. She pulled his head down and kissed him, opening her mouth in invitation against his lips. The warmth of his tongue invaded her and soon the kiss was devouring and carnal.

Their game forgotten, Hakim made love to her with his hands, his mouth and ultimately, his body. When he exploded inside of her, she almost fainted as her own orgasm joined his.

Afterward, they lay entwined, their bodies sweat soaked.

He disengaged himself from her clinging arms and she moaned in protest, too wasted to actually form words with her mouth.

"Shh, little kitten. I want only to make you comfortable."

Soon, she found herself tucked under a silk quilt, surrounded by Hakim and pillows. He had extinguished the lights and released the chord on the bed hangings so it fell in a circular tent around them, an extra layer of privacy.

She snuggled into his side.

"Little kitten suits you well. You cuddle like a small cat, content to warm yourself with my flesh."

"You make me feel small."

"It is only in your mind that you are some Amazon creature."

She kissed the warm brown skin of his chest. "I know, but I like how you make me feel just the same." Because he didn't just make her feel small. He made her feel cherished.

"I am pleased this is so."

Playing idly with the black curling hair on his chest, she asked, "How long are we staying here?"

"We can go to our home in Kadar as soon as you like."

"Will it offend your grandfather if we do not stay longer?" Their short stay in King Asim's palace had been planned as part of their journey, but they had originally discussed staying among his grandfather's people for a few days.

"He would prefer we stayed long enough for me to race his favorite camel."

"When are the races?"

"In two days' time. Two other encampments will participate."

"I don't mind staying if you don't." She liked his sister and found the Bedouin way of life fascinating.

He hugged her to him in blatant approval. "It would please me to stay."

"Will you teach me to ride a camel?"

"Are you sure you want to learn? You looked very nervous today as you rode in the bride's coach."

"The box swayed. I thought it might fall off."

"I would never allow you to be at such risk."

For the first time, it struck her that this stranger he'd become was no stranger at all. He was Hakim. A complex man with many facets to himself. At once hard and unbending and then tender and protective, but always at the core the man she had fallen in love with, her sheikh.

Catherine enjoyed the next two days very much.

Latifah was a wonderful companion and she laughingly taught Catherine the rudimentary moves of Eastern dance while Hakim spent time with his grandfather. The second lesson was a little more difficult than the first as it came after Catherine's first lesson riding a camel. She was sore from the exercise, but the dance limbered up her muscles and Hakim's sensual massage that night completed her recuperation.

Dancing and camel riding weren't the only things she was learning while staying in the encampment. Hakim took great pains to teach her the extent of pleasure her body was capable of experiencing each night. When they were making love, she found it easy to forget the real reasons for their marriage.