‘I love Miss Francine,’ she volunteered, perhaps wanting to bring the tension level down. ‘So I rarely go out during my holidays.’
‘You made an exception for me?’
‘Of course I did,’ she said easily. ‘Don’t pretend you’re surprised.’
‘I’m not surprised. Being as devastatingly irresistible as I am—’
‘You are,’ she said, turning to give him a frank look. ‘At least, to me.’
She was so open it twisted the knife in a heart that must turn cold towards her, to protect Millie from the reality of their respective destinies. They rode in silence for a while after that.
‘During term time,’ she said eventually, ‘I’m far too busy studying to have time to socialise.’
He was relieved in one way, but not in another. ‘You need a life, Millie.’
‘I have a very good life, thank you,’ she returned briskly. ‘And my private life is—’
‘Yours to know and mine to imagine?’ he suggested in a relaxed tone.
‘Exactly,’ she agreed.
* * *
There was only one certainty, and that was that she was in over her head, Millie concluded. It was impossible to be this close to Khalid and not care about him, and her caring ran deep. She was falling a little more in love with him with every passing minute. It was no use pretending. She was his, and she was devoted to him. Maybe she couldn’t have him long-term, but her heart didn’t care about that.
‘Look,’ he said, distracting her.
She turned her head quickly, maybe too quickly as she followed his pointing finger, and just for a moment she felt dizzy and disoriented. It was a strange feeling...something she’d never felt before, but her head quickly cleared in time for her to agree with him that no photographic images could ever have prepared her for the reality of an oasis. They had rounded the base of a dune, and now she could see it spread out in front of her, like a sapphire set in gold. She couldn’t even see the far side, and hadn’t imagined it was so big. The water was so clear she could see the dark rocks underneath. And another Bedouin tent had been erected on the sugar-sand shore. The pavilion might have come straight from her dreams with its billowing blindingly white sides set against the blue of the water and the lush of the green shrubbery.
‘Swim?’ Khalid suggested as Burkan began to toss his head at the scent of water. ‘We all deserve it, don’t you think?’
He didn’t expect an answer, Millie thought as Burkan took off down the dune. She screamed, but with excitement as the big horse almost lost his footing. How they stayed on board, she had no idea. Somehow Khalid managed to control the powerful stallion as it slithered and then righted, before slithering down again, and not for one moment did she feel in any danger. Between Khalid and his big horse, which was almost like an extension of himself, she knew she was safe.
‘Okay?’ he asked when they finally arrived panting and snorting—she was panting, horse was snorting—on level ground.
Laughing with shock, fright, happiness and excitement, she exclaimed, ‘I’m fine. That was amazing.’ This adventure might be reckless, and very dangerous to her heart, but every second was blissful, and she would remember it all her life. ‘I’m better than fine,’ she exulted as Khalid set her safely on the ground.
‘But stiff, I imagine,’ he said with a keen look as she took her first staggering step.
That feeling was back, and with it an overwhelming tiredness. It had been a long ride, she reasoned. What she needed was a dip in that oasis. ‘So long as I don’t stay like this,’ she said, laughing as she added a theatrical groan, ‘I’ll be okay.’
‘You need that swim,’ he said.
‘I truly do,’ she agreed as they linked fingers.
‘Now, take off your clothes while I untack the horse,’ he instructed, yanking her close.
‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ She stared up into Khalid’s dark, mesmerising eyes. ‘Do you have any more instructions for me?’
‘I will have. You can depend on it.’
She had no doubt.
* * *
When she joined him and he gazed down at Millie’s naked perfection, he thought himself the luckiest man on earth. Showing no fear of Burkan, she scratched the stallion beneath his chin, while the one-man horse, fierce and unsociable, nickered with approval.
‘You’ve won him over,’ he said. ‘I’ll make a Bedouin of you yet.’
‘Burkan won me over,’ Millie argued, with an approving look at his horse. ‘Maybe I’ll make an engineer out of you,’ she added with a sideways look.
‘I mine sapphires,’ he reminded her, ‘and so I always have need of top-notch engineers.’
‘So I can tinker with your boats and with your engines in the mine.’
‘Why not?’ They both knew this was a game, and would never happen, but why not play it out? ‘You can tinker with anything you want to,’ he said as he brought his robe over his head and tossed it aside. Taking hold of her hand, he drew her close as he led her towards the water.
‘Is this a dream?’ Millie asked him of the oasis. She dipped her toes as he sprang onto Burkan’s back. Swinging Millie into his arms, he rode full tilt into the chill of deep water. Millie shrieked with the shock of it, and he laughed and held her close as Burkan lunged forward and began to swim. Steering the big horse towards the shade of the overhanging palm fronds, he urged him up the bank and dismounted. Lifting Millie down, he left the stallion to crop grass and rest.
‘This is heaven,’ Millie exclaimed softly as she rested briefly against Burkan’s side to stroke him appreciatively. ‘And if it is a dream, I never want it to end.’
And neither did he, but it must, he thought.
* * *
How could she not respond to a man as brutally masculine as Khalid? And so gloriously naked. Primal instinct would always triumph over common sense, Millie concluded as Khalid looped his powerful arms around her waist. He was holding her in a tantalisingly loose grip that she could have walked away from at any time, but he knew she had no intention of going anywhere. His seduction techniques were many and various, as she had learned, and she hadn’t encountered one yet that wasn’t fiendishly effective.
They stood in silence for a while, but that silence was so deep and intense, she could hear both their hearts beating as one.
‘I want to make love to you,’ he said at last. ‘I mean, really make love to you.’
‘What are you saying, Khalid?’ Hope filled her.
‘Don’t you know?’
‘Not unless you say it.’
‘I love being with you, Millie Dillinger,’ he murmured as he nuzzled her cheek and neck.
That wasn’t what she’d hoped to hear. Get over it. Get real, as her friends at the laundry would say. Urgent pulses of sweet pleasure were teasing her body beyond endurance. Why did she have to think further than that? Of course he wanted to make love—have sex—it was all just terminology; a choice of words. She did too. Their bodies were tuned to each other’s needs, and the urge to mate wouldn’t leave them alone, until they were sated.
And that dose of reality helped her emotions how?
‘I want you,’ she whispered as Khalid backed her towards the shade. ‘So much,’ she added truthfully, feeling tears sting her eyes as he lowered her to the ground.
The grass was firm and warm beneath her back after the chill of the water. Their faces were close, so close their lips were almost touching. Her mouth was kiss-bruised and tingling as her arousal grew. Knowing this, he smiled and kissed her. She was his to do with as he wished.
Lowering himself carefully, he brushed his body against hers. Anticipating his weight, his heat, his strength, was almost the best part.
‘No,’ he warned as she positioned herself for pleasure. ‘I must protect you first—’