The Sheikh's Ransomed Bride

When his hand slid across the juncture of her thighs she felt a jolt of white hot energy stab through her.

But he didn’t break the kiss, simply plunged deeper into her mouth as his fingers brushed across that most sensitive point again, and she jerked beneath him, her whole body humming with expectation. His knee nudged at her legs, parting them, so that when he touched her intimately again she was wide open to his teasing caress.

She moaned, yanked at her bonds, desperate for release. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted Rafiq. She wanted…

`Rafiq!’ Her cry was one of astonished urgency. He lifted his head to watch her as, with one last delicate touch, he sent her soaring into explosive climax. Turbulent, molten heat surged through her as her whole body juddered in the aftershocks of that single, intense, pulsing moment.

And through it all his gaze held hers, watching as she gasped for breath, as her face flooded with heat and her eyes widened in shock.

She should have felt embarrassed, exposed. But the heated intensity in his eyes, the slow, infinitesimal curve of his lips so close to hers held her in thrall.

`You are beautiful, little tigress,’ he murmured, and she felt his breath as a caress across her lips. `So responsive and vibrant.’ He ducked his head and nipped at her lower lip with his teeth.

It was as if he’d found a new, untapped erogenous zone. Her response was immediate a sudden, impossible zap of lightning awareness that stiffened her body and snagged her breath.

`Let me go, Rafiq.’ She tried to catch his mouth with hers, but he pulled back just enough that she couldn’t reach him. `Please,’ she gasped. Ì need you.’

Ànd you shall have me, Belle. All in good time.’ But instead of reaching up to wrench open the knot binding her hands to the tent pole he moved lower, to suckle at her breast.

Her breath stopped at the sight of him there, one large, tanned hand on her pale skin, thumb teasing her nipple, his lips closing over her other breast. And the feel of him. The moist caress of his mouth, the sensual slide of his hair over her aroused body and the weight of him, all heavy muscle and masculine hardness, centered over her, pushing her down into the bedding.

Ùntie me,’ she urged through dry lips.

His green eyes glinted with sensual purpose as he took her nipple between his teeth and gently tugged.

`Rafiq!’ She was on fire again, aching for more than this teasing.

Frantic, she pulled on the cloth tying her hands, but it only seemed to draw tighter with each movement.

`Shh, habibti.’ His voice was like velvet, brushing across her raw nerves. `Don’t fight it. I’ll release you soon, very soon,’ he whispered as he pressed a kiss to the sensitive under side of her breast.

But Rafiq’s definition of soon was vastly different from hers.

Instead of loosing the bonds that kept her from reciprocating his touch, he seemed to revel in his complete freedom to touch, taste, caress her bare body. He had no compunction in using his uncompromising weight and his strength to hold her still beneath him as be investigated every centimeter of her.

Yet it wasn’t a clinical survey of her body. Oh, no. It was an erotic voyage of discovery. For Rafiq as he nuzzled and licked and stroked. And for Belle, as she learned how shockingly responsive she was to him. Never before had she experienced such exquisite sensuality, nor responded so wantonly, so completely to a man. He brought her to trembling ecstasy time and again, giving even as he took such obvious pleasure in her.

And through all the delicious torture of his loving she read the fierce light of possession in his eyes. He was branding her with his touch, searing her senses with the sight and smell and taste of him, till she knew nothing else. Enslaving her body just as, Unknowingly, he’d captured her heart.

The tremors were subsiding at last from her limbs, to be replaced with a luscious, weightless feeling. She glowed, lit from within by an incandescent sense of wellbeing. Her eyes drifted shut and she stretched slowly, luxuriously, aware for the first time that Rafiq had moved and she could shift her legs across the soft silk of the coverlet. The cushioned bedding invited slumber, and Belle felt the last of the tension ease from her body as she sank deeper into welcoming oblivion.

Soft, warm darkness. Soothing, slow, caressing heat. She smiled dreamily and shifted into a more comfortable position. It was only as he gripped her hips that Belle realized this was no dream. The heat was Rafiq’s, and he had lowered his naked body over hers.

Her eyes popped open, widening as he shifted his weight and she felt the searing length of his erection press down against her belly.