Diamond in the Desert

She huffed. ‘Because I would never be seduced so easily.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’

‘It’s a shame your nipples are such a dead giveaway.’

She looked down quickly and, after blushing furiously, she had to laugh.

‘Shall I go on?’

‘Please...’

‘After yet another day of struggles beneath the merciless sun,’ he declaimed as if standing in an auditorium, ‘fighting off invaders—hunting for food—the sheikh would return...’

‘Drum roll?’

He laughed. ‘If you like.’

‘How many women did he return to?’

‘At least a football team,’ he teased. ‘Maybe more.’

‘Sheikhs must have been pretty fit back then.’

‘Are you suggesting I’m not?’

She met his eyes and smiled and he thought how attractive she was, and how overwhelmingly glad he would always be that he’d found her in time to save her. He went on with his storytelling. ‘Or, maybe there could be just one special woman. If she pleased the sheikh one woman would be enough.’

‘Lucky her!’ Britt exclaimed. ‘Until the sheikh decides to increase his collection of doting females, I presume?’

She amused him. And he liked combative Britt every bit as much as her softer self. ‘Your imagination is a miraculous thing, Britt Skavanga.’

‘Just as well since it allows me to anticipate trouble.’

‘So, what’s the difference between my story and the way you have treated men in the past? You think of yourself as independent, don’t you? You’re a woman who does as she pleases?’

‘You bet I am.’

‘No one forced any of the sheikh’s women to enter the harem. They did so entirely of their own accord.’

‘And no doubt considered it an honour,’ she agreed, flashing him an ironic look.

‘But surely you agree that a woman is entitled to the same privileges as a man?’

‘Of course I do.’

Where was this leading? Britt wondered. Why did she feel as if Sharif was backing her into a corner? Perhaps it was his manner. He was way too relaxed.

‘So if you agree,’ he said with all the silky assurance of the desert lion she thought him, ‘can you give me a single reason why you shouldn’t take your pleasure in the sheikh’s pavilion...like a man?’

Her mouth opened and closed again. The only time she was ever lost for words was with Sharif, Britt realised with frustration. He was as shrewd as he was distractingly amusing, and was altogether aware of how skilfully he had backed her into that tight little corner. He was in fact a pitiless seducer who knew very well that, where he might have failed to impress her with the fantasy of the harem tent, with its billowing curtains and silken cushions, or even the rather seductive clothes they were both wearing, he could very quickly succeed with fact. She had always been an ardent believer in fact.

CHAPTER TWELVE

SHE COULD HARDLY believe that Sharif had just given her a licence to enjoy him in a room specifically created for that purpose. Crazy. But not without its attraction, Britt realised, feeling her body’s eager responses. But she would be cautious. She had heard things about Kareshi. And she liked to be in control. What if she didn’t like some of these pleasures Sharif was hinting at? Her gaze darted round. She started to notice things she hadn’t seen before. They might be ancient artefacts, as Sharif described them, but they were clearly used for pleasure.

She drew in a sharp, guilty breath hearing him laugh softly. ‘Where are you now, Britt?’ he said.

Caught out while exploring Planet Erotica, she thought. ‘I’m in a very interesting tent—I can see that now.’

‘Very interesting indeed,’ Sharif agreed mildly, and he made no move to come any closer. ‘So I have laid you bare at last, Britt Skavanga?’

‘Meaning?’ she demanded, clutching the edges of her robe together.

‘Have I challenged your stand only to find it has been erected on dangerously shifting sand?’ Sharif queried with a dangerous glint in his eyes. ‘I’ve offered you the freedom of the harem—the opportunity to take your pleasure like a man—and yet you are hesitating?’

‘Maybe you’re not as irresistible as you think.’

‘And maybe you’re not being entirely truthful,’ he said. ‘What do you see around you, Britt? What do your prejudices lead you to suppose? Do you think that women were brought here by force? Do you look around and see a prison? I look around and see a golden room of pleasure.’