Thick lashes came down to shield her eyes as if the sensation was too much to bear, as if she could only focus on one thing at a time. He felt her lips give beneath his own, opening wider as he took the kiss deeper, the sensations shaking him to his core. Without even knowing it, he released her hands and wound his through her lush hair, cradling the back of her skull as he positioned her to take his tongue.
He growled as she melted against him, her tongue gliding shyly against his, and his world shrank to encompass only this. Only her. He pulled her in tighter, hitching her higher. She gave a soft, feminine whimper, her fingers clenching at his shoulders as she quivered against him. Zach cursed the amount of clothing between them, unable to stop himself from grinding his erection against the juncture of her thighs. He swallowed the catch in her breath and chased her tongue into her mouth, his hands restless in her hair, restless on her body, as he sought to pull the blasted abaya up and over her head so he could get to her body.
Dimly he became aware that they weren’t alone. A couple of his senior officers had gathered at the entrance to the alleyway to ensure his safety and were at this moment watching him make love to his little prisoner. It wasn’t the best behaviour he’d ever modelled and it took every ounce of willpower he had to let her go and step back from her.
When he did she slumped against the doorway, her eyes wide, her lips swollen and wet. She looked beautiful. Wild and untamed and just as shocked as he was.
It was the shock that finally brought him to his senses. ‘What the hell was that?’
A surfeit of emotions charged across her face, wounded pride being one of them. ‘That was you being a bully,’ she accused hotly.
Zach felt as if he’d been slapped. His father had been a bully; he wasn’t, and as for forcing her, her body had been primed for his kiss from the moment they met. ‘You wanted everything you just got,’ he snarled. ‘And if you try to tell me otherwise I’ll strip you naked and prove you wrong.’
‘Oh!’
Zach placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her to precede him. ‘Consider yourself warned.’
* * *
Oh? Oh? That was all she could come up with after he’d kissed her into a stupor and then insulted her?
Oh?
By Allah, she could come up with a hundred responses now and if he were here she’d give him every last one of them.
Pacing the lavish harem she’d been locked back up in, with two guards posted inside the room, she spun around when she heard the lock turning in the door.
She eyed Prince Zachim with open hostility as he stood in the doorway, flanked on either side by the two maids she’d sent away earlier.
‘I see your arm is still attached to your body,’ she said, still feeling a little guilty at having hurt him, even though he had completely deserved it. ‘What a pity.’
‘Yes. No thanks to you.’ He stepped into the room, his two lackeys shuffling to keep up. ‘I believe I left specific instructions for you to dress.’
She felt her body tense as she took in his wide-legged stance. He was no longer wearing the black robes that had made him look like a menacing pirate earlier, but now wore a regal white one, the colour emphasising his swarthy skin and the deep amber tones of his eyes.
By all that was holy, she still couldn’t believe the way she had responded to his kisses back in the alley, and her fingers curled into her palms in an attempt to stave off the memory.
She’d never been kissed like that before. Certainly Amir had never tried to kiss her. In fact she’d only ever been kissed once before, by a youth from a neighbouring country who hadn’t had the sense to be afraid of her father. It had been rushed and impossibly chaste compared to the Prince of Bakaan’s kisses, which she was not going to think about any more.
‘I am dressed,’ she said, knowing that he was referring to the purple silk gown that had been brought to her earlier and which she hadn’t touched.
His lips quirked. ‘So you are. Unfortunately your current outfit will not work for my brother’s wedding.’
‘What do I care about your brother’s wedding?’
‘Nothing. Obviously. But I find myself uncomfortable with the notion of leaving you alone again.’
Farah crossed her arms over chest. ‘Am I supposed to feel sorry about that?’
‘No, my bloodthirsty little heathen, but given your recent behaviour I have no wish to be sitting at my brother’s wedding, wondering what plans you’re hatching down here in my absence.’