His Queen by Desert Decree

the edge of pain. She was plastered to him so that he could feel every soft feminine curve but it was nowhere near enough to satisfy his hunger. Her lips were open but he wanted all of her open. He wanted her spread under him naked and eager. He wanted to surge into the warm, wet welcome of her body and sate the need riding him as hard as the storm outside rode the land.

He lifted her high against him, her hands dropping to clutch at his shoulders for support. ‘I want you, aziz,’ he growled, settling her down on the worn Persian rug that she had slept on earlier.

And Molly wanted him as she had never wanted a man before. She was already wondering if such strong feelings were what she had always subconsciously waited and hoped to find. Outside the storm rumbled while, inside her, her heart thudded and raced and she angled up ecstatically to the sudden welcome weight of Azrael’s body as he ground down on her. The piercingly sweet, sharp arousal thrumming through her pelvis was unbearable.

He was crushing her mouth and she revelled in his urgency, tiny little flickers of excitement dancing through her wherever his body melded to hers. The plunge of his tongue into the warm, wet interior of her mouth sent a pulse of ferocious heat right down to the very heart of her. He was yanking up her dress and she made no protest because for the first time she too hungered for touch. In any case, she felt safe with Azrael, knew he would stop if she asked, somehow knew he would do nothing that she didn’t want.

Baring the soft ripe swell of her creamy breasts, Azrael was enraptured by her. There were so many possibilities that he hardly knew where to begin until the jutting prominence of a rosy nipple took precedence. He stroked that straining nub with a reverent fingertip.

‘You are so beautiful,’ he told her in Arabic. ‘So...perfect.’

And for once there was no thought of tomorrow or even what he was doing in Azrael’s usually very organised brain. He could do nothing but claim her luscious mouth again while his eager hands explored the warm, heavy weight of her silken breasts, skimming the pouting peaks with teasing fingers while she twisted and moaned under him, as impatient as he was for something to satisfy the craving that controlled them both.

An agonised gasp escaped Molly as Azrael eased between her thighs and moved against the most achingly sensitive part of her entire body. She arched up to him, wanting, needing. Was this it? Was this finally the moment when she would take the plunge? she was wondering helplessly. In the back of her mind, she was surprisingly calm, reminding herself that she was on the pill, not only to regulate her menstrual cycle, but also to ensure that she never ran the risk of an unplanned pregnancy.

Azrael’s lips engulfed a velvety pink nipple and suckled. Her spine arched, a startled moan wrenched from her parted lips. Every tiny sound of pleasure that escaped her ramped his desire higher still. Her lips tasted as ripe as fresh strawberries, Azrael decided, gazing down at her through the thick veil of his lashes in awe, revelling in her responsiveness. Long brown fingers skimmed down to skate over the stretched taut triangle of fabric between her legs, recognising the heat and moisture there, moving to uncover it and then freezing as a dilemma he had never thought to face gripped him. Birth control...and he had nothing. Teeth gritting, Azrael yanked his burning body back from her and rolled off her, a curse of frustration forming on his tongue and swallowed back with the steely control that was so much a part of him.

‘Azrael...?’ Molly framed uncertainly, lifting her tousled head.

‘We cannot continue. I have no contraception,’ he breathed in a raw undertone.

Dazed, Molly sat up, her entire body leaping and throbbing with a pulsing excitement that had yet to drain away. In some ways she was in shock because she knew she had been on the brink of giving up her virginity in the equivalent of a one-night stand. Logic and practicality warned her that she could never have anything more with a reigning king. She also recognised that for the first time ever she had met with pure sexual temptation and she had succumbed so fast to its allure that she was shattered. Even at that instant, acknowledging that she had not known what she was doing even while she thought that she did, she was tempted to part her lips and assure him that there was no risk of pregnancy because she was taking contraception.

But before she could speak she asked herself when she had last taken a pill and dismay swept her because she kept her pills in her handbag and she had not seen her bag since before she was kidnapped. Her bag had probably been left behind in the Djalian Embassy in London and she had missed a couple of pills and was no longer protected. Why hadn’t she thought of that reality sooner? Because it hadn’t occurred to her that a kiss could lead to so much more...

‘It is not a risk I can take,’ Azrael breathed tautly.

‘Of course not,’ Molly agreed circumspectly, her face burning like mad as she wondered what the source of Azrael’s fatal attraction was. He was gorgeous, yes, she accepted that...and when he touched her it was as if the whole world erupted in flames and suddenly she hadn’t cared about anything or anybody. For the space of a few crazy minutes, her body had controlled her, he had controlled her. Shock slivered through her because all her common sense had gone straight out of the window. She wasn’t a prude, she told herself, but she had always assumed that she would be in a relationship when she finally had sex with someone. That would have been a measured, sensible decision.

Yanking her dress down, Molly scrambled upright, refusing to look at Azrael. Her legs felt like cotton wool and outside the storm was still ominously rumbling. Another pressing need took charge of her enervated body and she said stiltedly, ‘I’m going to have to go outside...’

Azrael strode over to the edge of the pool to lift the rusty lantern and returned to her. ‘There is no need,’ he told her, planting a guiding hand to her spine to lead her to the very back of the cave where a large rock concealed a narrow fissure in the craggy wall. ‘The facilities are primitive but adequate,’ he informed her.

And even by the dull light of the lantern she could see that the facilities were rudimentary but she was so grateful to see them, she smiled in relief, realising that the amenity of crude indoor plumbing had to date back to Azrael’s stay with his mother in the cave. Necessity taken care of and her hands tingling with the chill of a wash in cold water, she returned to the main cave and wandered back to the fire, striving not to be self-conscious. After all, they had got a little carried away but really nothing very much had happened. Ultimately good sense had stopped them in their tracks.

Azrael was staring steadily into the fire, striving for calm and cool while his essentially volatile nature warred with conflicting urges below the surface. He had never wanted anything as much as he had wanted to sate himself on her fiery passion. Denied that outlet and, indeed, any prospect of relief, he seethed inside himself like a cauldron bubbling on a fire. He ached with arousal and frustration and regret.

Molly dropped down opposite and ruefully studied his brooding dark features. ‘You’re like a wet weekend, Azrael. Lighten up. We got a little silly but nothing happened.’

His beautifully moulded mouth compressed. ‘We will not discuss it.’

Molly collided with brilliant dark golden eyes and a flock of butterflies took off in her stomach again and she almost groaned. That wretched attraction wouldn’t go away, wouldn’t quit making itself heard and felt, but just then she didn’t want that awareness of him. Yet she could remember times when she had actually longed to feel the powerful pull of sex that she had heard other women describe. So, now she knew that, after all, she was normal and in possession of all the usual hormones and drives, she told herself impatiently. Just her luck that only a desert king had the power to affect her that way and that it had been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

‘I could talk out loud and you could choose not to listen,’ she suggested facetiously.

Black lashes lifted to reveal impatient, dark-as-night eyes shorn of shimmering gold. ‘We will behave like adults.’

‘Unfortunately I only want to push you fully dresse

d into the pool when you talk like that,’ Molly admitted truthfully, scrambling upright again to go and investigate the storm. Push him in the pool and slap him, her brain added in exasperation. Did Azrael monitor and squash every human response? Did he always have to be in control? Was that why he was angry? Had he come too close to losing control with her?

The drumming, hissing roar of the continuing storm took Molly aback. There was no sign that the storm was abating while the force of the wind almost sent her off her feet as well as coating her with fresh dust. Shaking herself irritably, she returned to the fire.

‘Will it make you feel better if I tell you that I will not go to the police when I get back to London?’ Molly asked drily.

Azrael slung her a narrowed questioning glance. ‘What changed your mind? I thought you wanted justice.’

‘I do but sometimes you have to take a rain check on what you want and opt for a proportionate response instead. Tahir did something crazy but I did something crazy too when I was a teenager. I didn’t break the law but it did make me aware that I was not as mature as I thought I was at the time,’ Molly told him flatly.