Diamond in the Desert

She wasn’t going to ask any more questions, because she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear Sharif’s answers.

‘Ice and fire,’ he murmured, staring at her.

They held that stare for the longest time while decisions were being made by both of them. Finally, she knelt in front of him, and, reaching up, cupped his face in her hands. That thanks she had intended to give him for saving her life was well overdue. Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the lips.

Sharif’s lips were warm and firm. They could curve with humour or press down in a firm line. Both she loved, but now she wanted to both tempt and seduce. She increased the pressure and teased his lips apart with his tongue, but just as she began kissing him more deeply Sharif swung her beneath him and pinned her down.

‘All that trouble I’ve gone to with you, Britt Skavanga,’ he complained, smiling against her mouth, ‘and all you really want is this—’

She let out a shocked cry as Sharif lodged one powerful leg between her thighs, allowing her to feel just how much he wanted it too.

‘All you want is the romance of the desert and the sheikh taking you. Admit it,’ he said.

‘You are impossible.’

‘And you are incredible,’ he murmured, drawing her into his arms.

‘I do want you,’ she admitted, still reluctant to give any ground.

‘Well, isn’t that convenient?’ Sharif murmured. ‘Because I want you too.’

This teasing was all the more intense because she knew where it was leading. She knew Sharif wouldn’t pull back, and nor would she. Somehow her legs opened wider for him, and somehow she was pulling her knees back and pressing her thighs apart and he was testing her for readiness, and catching inside her—

And she was moving her hips to capture more of him, only to discover that the cream had most definitely done its work. One final thrust of her hips and she claimed him completely. When Sharif took her firmly to the hilt, she lost control immediately. She might have called his name. She might have called out anything. She only knew that when the sensation started to subside he took her over the edge again and again.

They were insatiable. No thrust was too deep or too firm, no pace too fast, or too deliciously slow. Her cries of pleasure encouraged Sharif and he made her greedy for more. He never seemed to tire. He never seemed to tire of drawing out her pleasure, either, and each time was more powerful than the last, until finally she must have passed out from exhaustion.

‘Welcome to my world, Britt Skavanga,’ was the last thing she heard him say before drifting contentedly off to sleep.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

HE WATCHED BRITT sleeping, knowing he had been searching for a woman like this all his life. And now he’d found her, he couldn’t have her? Britt would never agree to be his mistress. And when he married—

When he married?

Yes, Sharif’s thoughts where Britt was concerned were every bit as strong as that. Selfishly, he hoped she felt the same way about him. But he had always believed when he married it should be for political reasons, for the good of his country. He’d never been much interested before. His council had pressed him into giving advantageous matches consideration, but he’d never had an appetite for the task. He wanted a woman who excited him—a woman like Britt.

Warm certainty rushed through him as he brushed a strand of hair away from Britt’s still-flushed face. He would find a way. The Black Sheikh could always find a way. He would never ask Britt to give up her independence. No one knew better than he that privilege came with a price, and that price was freedom to do as he pleased, but with a woman like Britt anything was possible.

Or, was it? Britt was exceptional and could do great things in life. She deserved the chance to choose her own path, while his was cast in stone. And then there was Skavanga Mining, and all the subterfuge with her brother...

He exhaled heavily as business and personal feelings collided. The consortium needed Britt’s expertise in the mining industry as well as her people skills, but would she stay with the company when the consortium took over? She had been running the company up to now, so it would take some fine diplomacy on his part to keep Britt on board. Could he find something to soften the blow for her?

His dilemma was this: while he cared deeply for Britt, his loyalty could only be fixed in one direction, and his was firmly rooted in the consortium.

The phone flashing distracted him. It was Raffa to say he had been forced to move money into Skavanga Mining on the recommendation of their financial analysts. Britt could only see this as another plot, when in fact what Raffa had done had saved the company.