‘I checked the weather before I set out on this journey. The high winds were only meant to last a few hours.’
‘Somehow I don’t think sandstorms bow down to weather reports,’ Halina returned. ‘They are entirely unpredictable, coming out of nowhere, sometimes lasting for days.’ Her voice hitched. ‘What if we’re stuck out here for that long? What if we’re buried alive?’
‘We won’t be.’
‘You don’t know that, Rico. You don’t control nature, as much as you might like to.’
Of course he didn’t, but he prided himself on living a life where he always maintained control. Where he was always totally prepared. Where nothing ever surprised him, because then he wouldn’t betray himself, his doubt or his need. Yet, just as Halina had said, he could not control a sandstorm, and he feared this was just the beginning of all the things he would not be able to control.
His arms tightened around Halina. ‘I admit, the storm is stronger than I anticipated, but I brought the necessary equipment and food, and we are well positioned to wait it out. We’ll be safe, Halina. I will make sure of it.’
Halina relaxed a fraction. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t mean to overreact.’
Rico couldn’t keep a wry smile from touching his lips as he stroked her hair. No matter his promises, they were in a life-threatening situation. He’d hardly call it overreacting. ‘You’re forgiven,’ he said, and Halina let out a little huff of laughter.
‘Even when you’re being kind, you’re arrogant, do you know that?’
‘It isn’t arrogance when I’m right.’
She just laughed again, her lips brushing his neck, sending gooseflesh rippling along his skin. Desire arrowed through his body and he knew Halina felt it too by the way she tensed in his arms, shifting a little so she was looking up at him, her hair cascading down her back in an inky blue-black river that Rico could just make out in the darkness of the tent.
His mind blurred and he started to lower his head to claim her mouth with his own. He could imagine the kiss, the rightness of it. He could already taste it, like a drink of clean, sweet water. He heard Halina’s quick, indrawn breath as she waited for him to close the space between their mouths and it shocked him into clarity. He lifted his head.
He could not complicate their relationship with sex. Not yet. Not until he’d made it very clear what he expected of Halina and their marriage. Of their life together, or lack of it. Until then, he’d keep his distance, for both their sakes.
He heard Halina draw another shuddering breath and knew she’d felt his withdrawal. She moved a little bit away from him, or tried to. Rico stilled her, keeping her close, although he wasn’t sure why. Surely it was better to let her go, give them both a little distance? Still, he stayed where he was, and made sure she did as well.
‘Go to sleep,’ he said gruffly. Halina did not reply, but after a few endless moments he felt her body start to relax again, and then he heard the deep, even breaths of sleep as the storm continued to rage.
When he awoke the tent was hot and airless, awash in a greyish morning light, and the world was still. Halina was still snuggled in his arms and now he could see her properly—the luxurious spill of her hair, her lush lips slightly parted, her thick, spiky lashes fanning onto her cheeks.
He brushed a tendril of hair from her face and her eyes fluttered open. For a taut second they simply stared at one another, their bodies pressed close together, Rico’s already responding.
Halina moved away first, wriggling away from him as her face turned fiery. ‘The storm has stopped,’ she muttered as she scooted across the tent, putting as much space between them as she could, considering the limitations of their environment.
‘So it has.’
She peered out, as if she could see right through the dark canvas. ‘Are we going to be able to get out?’
‘I should think so.’
It took some doing, but after Rico had torn the tape from the entrance to the tent he managed to dig them out.
‘Only half-buried,’ he said with a smile, and then reached for Halina’s hand to help her out.
Outside they both stretched and blinked in the glare of the morning sunlight, the landscape made even more strange by the ravages of the storm. Drifts of sand were piled on either side of the tent and the SUV was completely buried, no more than a large hump in the sand. New dunes had formed, turning the once-flat stretch into a newly undulating lunar-like landscape.
‘Goodness,’ Halina murmured. Her arms were wrapped around herself, her face pale as she looked around. ‘I’m amazed we’re still here.’
‘Yes.’ Rico eyed the buried SUV. It would take him several hours to dig it out. ‘We need to get going. Why don’t you refresh yourself? Eat and drink something? I’ll start digging out the car.’
‘Why are we going to Rome, Rico?’
‘Because that is where both my business and home are.’ He rolled up his sleeves and started scooping the sand away from the car with his hands. Unfortunately he had not thought to pack a spade in his desert provisions.
‘And what will we do when we get to Rome?’ Halina pressed. Rico gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to have this conversation, not until they were safely
back in Rome, in his domain. But Halina seemed determined to discover his intentions, and Rico decided she might as well know them. It wasn’t as if she could escape, anyway.