HAVING LAID HER down on his bed, Khalid kicked off his shoes. Millie’s cheeks were burning as incredulity and excitement washed over her in turn, at what she’d done, and what she was about to do. All thoughts of leaving the Sapphire as soon as possible and flying home, forgetting any of this had ever happened, had vanished as surely as mist before the sun. Khalid had freed her. He’d seen her lose control completely and, having given him that, there was no reason now to hold back.
She turned to look around as his clothes hit the floor and felt the blood drain from her cheeks. What was she thinking? He was massive and tanned, hard muscles sculpted like a Michelangelo statue; there was so much of beautiful, perfect him, and all of it in formidable proportion.
‘Shy now?’ he asked with amusement.
‘No,’ she defended, but he heard the lie in her voice.
Coming to join her on the bed, Khalid stretched out his magnificent, naked length alongside her and, resting his chin on the heel of his hand, he viewed her steadily as if she were a new and fascinating exhibit on board his yacht. He knew how aroused that made her, and how aroused she still was after his skilful attention. ‘You want me,’ he said.
The faint smile on his mouth was all it took to make her want him even more. ‘Not as much as you want me,’ she countered, determined, even at this late stage, to fight her corner.
He shrugged and his lips pressed in response.
‘If you didn’t want me, why are we here?’ she asked with perfect logic, she thought. ‘Unless you invite all your female guests to share your bed?’
This made him laugh. ‘Millie, Millie, Millie. Do you think I make a habit of stopping my elevator between decks?’
‘I don’t know. I’d rather not think about it,’ she admitted. ‘I’m sure there are those who think there are advantages to be gained by sleeping with you, but I’m not one of them.’
‘No,’ he whispered, ‘You’re not.’
He’d been toying with a lock of her hair as she spoke, and now he drew her into his arms. A great hunger swept over him for more than sex: to be joined, to be close, to give pleasure. This would be a sensuous and lengthy seduction. Millie was young and inexperienced, and deserved nothing less. The reward would be extreme pleasure. The thought of sinking into her hot, eager body was—
‘Where are you going?’ she asked as he moved away. Reaching for his hand, she caught hold of his wrist. Her boldness made him smile. She was a tigress.
‘I’m twice your size.’
‘Good,’ she said, her grip firming. Her gaze was steady on his face.
Physical pleasure was a gift, to be cherished and worked on. It was not enough to become a great warrior, he had been told by the elders of the desert; a man must prove himself a great lover too. Eroticism was valued by the travelling tribes he’d joined as a youth, when he’d had no expectation of becoming the ruling sheikh of Khalifa.
‘Your Majesty seems distracted.’
‘By you,’ he said, staring down into Millie’s laughing eyes. ‘You distract me.’ He toyed thoughtfully with a strand of her long, silky hair. ‘I’ll keep you safe.’
‘I don’t want to be safe,’ she whispered fiercely.
‘What do you want?’
‘To forget,’ she said as she closed her eyes.
Coming back to lie close, he soothed her trembling body with long, rhythmical strokes. The bond between them was tightening. Was that fair to Millie?
Being naked in bed with Khalid was a recipe for skewing her thoughts. Drugging and amazing, it was as if every nerve ending she had were standing to attention. Moving her body with increased confidence against his heightened her senses as never before. The lights were out and night enfolded them in a thick black velvet blanket. His soothing strokes and the almost imperceptible movement of the big ship added to her arousal. Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her in a way that made tears spring to her eyes. She was glad of the dark, shielding her. Her emotions were raw. She forgot her concern as he mapped her body with knowing skill. ‘How long does the teasing go on?’ she asked, aching with need.
‘As long as I deem it necessary—’
She gasped as he swung her on top of him. There was no avoiding the thrust of his arousal, and no way to call this safe. She was equally intimidated by his size, and excited by it. Her body quivered with expectation, though she wasn’t even sure she could take him. On the edge, hovering dangerously close to plunging over, she thought, Spread me wide and take me. Make me forget.
‘Will you teach me all you know?’ she asked. ‘Stop it,’ she warned when she saw his teasing expression. How could she not want this man? Outwardly stern, privately human—even warm, she thought. He might be twice her size, but the time for caution was over. Winding her legs around his, she proved her trust. He brought them even closer to kiss her lips, her neck, and then her breasts, as he continued to tease her with feather touches. Moving down the bed, he treated her breasts to a feast of pleasure, and with each insistent tug, she experienced a corresponding pulse between her legs.
‘Is this what you want?’ he asked, raising his head. He smiled faintly, teasing her again with delay.
‘As if you don’t know,’ she whispered.
Running his fingertips over her breasts, he moved on to stroke her belly, which was incredibly arousing. ‘And this?’ he asked as he parted her legs.
‘So much,’ she gasped out.
Lifting her buttocks, he rested them on a soft pillow to spread her wide, and then he arranged her legs comfortably over the powerful width of his shoulders. She almost lost control at the first touch of his tongue. She’d never experienced anything like this. Sensing how close she was, he pulled back, his expression stern.
‘When I say you can and not before,’ he warned. ‘The delay is for your benefit,’ he added.
She didn’t doubt it as eager forerunners of that bigger release gripped her repeatedly. She had everything to learn, and was a most willing pupil. But nothing—nothing could have prepared her for this. Khalid knew exactly how to prolong her pleasure, and when to hold back, until she felt as if every delicious pulse of sensation she had ever experienced had gathered and was waiting to be unleashed.
‘Now, please,’ she begged.
This resulted in a little more attention on his part, but not enough to tip her over the edge.
Resting back, she closed her eyes, temporarily defeated. When she opened them again, the expression in Khalid’s eyes was enough to send her over, but he was the master of pleasure, and knew how to keep her under control.
Short, sharp, noisy gasps shot from her throat as he returned to teasing her with his tongue. She gripped the bed, fists turning white. How much longer was she supposed to hold on? She loved his hands on her buttocks, so firm, so sure as he lifted her to his mouth. A fierce desire to isolate the place where sensation ruled consumed her. Reaching down, she helped him by pressing her legs apart even more, and now she was floating, suspended on a plateau of sensation, where there was no possibility of rational thought and only one way down.
‘Now.’
He spoke the single word so softly. It was the only prompt she needed. ‘Now!’ she agreed fiercely.
Her body worked with wild abandon to capture the waves of pleasure as Khalid buffeted her rhythmically. He was amazing, launching her into a world of pleasure that beat at her senses; he showed no mercy when she wailed, and made sure she experienced every last throb of ecstasy until she fell back, utterly exhausted and yet hungry for more.
‘You are so aroused,’ he remarked, staring down. ‘So warm and plump and pink, and accommodating. Good,’ he approved, holding her firmly in place when she surprised herself with a second release that didn’t require his involvement. He had unlocked something in her that demanded to be fed. ‘Hold yourself wide,’ he instructed.
She was eager to do so. It was a sign of how far she’d come. All she wanted was this, and Khalid deep inside her, pressing her down into the bed. She could think of nothing else.
Protecting them both, he teased her with his body. She wailed with disappointment when he pulled away, and was instantly hungry for more.
‘Yes?’ he asked, giving her a little more.
Grabbing hold of him, she worked her hips as he circled her core with the same teasing skill, before entering her again, just an inch or so. ‘No!’ she complained angrily when he withdrew.
‘We take this slowly,’ he explained in a husky whisper.
She didn’t want ‘slowly’. She wanted firm and fast and hard. And deep...so deep. ‘Please,’ she begged, writhing provocatively beneath him.
Pinning her wrists above her head, he teased her repeatedly, each time sinking a little deeper. ‘Yes,’ she groaned as he took her by thrilling degrees, ‘Oh, yes...’
When he was lodged to the hilt, he worked his hips round and round and from side to side, making it impossible not to claim a greedy release.
‘That was naughty,’ he scolded when she quietened. ‘Did I say you could?’
‘You didn’t say I couldn’t,’ Millie countered. ‘And it’s your turn now.’
‘Not for a long time yet,’ he said, starting up a rhythmical pattern that made further argument the last thing in her head.
She didn’t wait, and as she greedily flew into pleasure, he remarked, ‘You are on a knife’s edge,’ making it sound like the best sort of praise.
You have no idea, Millie thought as she bucked back and forth to claim the very last pulse of pleasure. She’d had no idea she was even capable of such extremes, or that this would fast become as necessary as breathing to her. ‘I’ll never get enough of you,’ she admitted, her voice muffled against Khalid’s chest.
‘I look forward to putting that to the test,’ he said. Raising her face to his, he kissed her with such lingering intensity that this time she couldn’t hide her tears.
* * *
What the hell was he thinking? Khalid mused as he paced the deck outside his stateroom. Dawn was breaking. Millie was still sleeping, so at least he had a chance to think. Was he going to trample her feelings a second time? Crumpling the note handed to him by his aide de camp, he cursed viciously. In the shower before he’d received the note, he had pictured taking her to the desert, but now everything had changed. A rumble of thunder drew his attention to the sky where storm clouds were gathering. The change in the weather was a reminder that nothing remained the same. A prospective bride had arrived uninvited in Khalifa, and was waiting with her family in the guest wing of his palace in the capital. It was politically expedient to meet her, for her brother was one of the Sapphire Sheikhs.
However many times he tried to tell himself this voyage was an entertaining interlude and nothing more, Millie’s trusting face appeared in front of him. A slave to duty, who was determined to give his people better after Saif had almost ruined Khalifa with his excesses, Khalid owed it to his people to marry and provide them with an heir. He was expected to make a political alliance, a business transaction between neighbouring countries to strengthen borders and improve trade. His personal wishes didn’t come into it.
Then change tradition.
He laughed out loud as the thought occurred to him. It was so simple in theory, and yet impossible. Things moved too slowly; they always had.
Then change them.
He placed the call.
‘I will be in the desert for the next month,’ he informed one of his aides at the palace. ‘Please give my apologies to the Princess and her family. I will endeavour to make up for this confusion with a substantial donation to their wildlife protection scheme.’
He felt a surge of triumph when he cut the line, then wondered if a month in the desert with Millie would be too long. She commanded his attention like no one else. Maybe a month wouldn’t be long enough! When she came out on deck to join him, swathed in a cashmere throw because the Sapphire was still heading for warmer climes, he knew he’d made the right decision. Bathed in the clear, early light of dawn, she looked so young and innocent, and yet her cheeks were flushed with a new understanding of pleasure.
‘I missed you,’ she whispered, clinging to him, and when she raised her face, her eyes were bright with love.
‘Did you sleep well?’ he asked.
‘What do you think?’ Millie murmured, and instead of looking behind them, to where there was no longer any British shore to see, she stared ahead with him, to the future and to Khalifa.
They kissed and he wound his hands through her soft bright hair. It fell in lustrous waves to her waist, though it was a little tangled, and he loved that, because it reminded him of the pleasure they’d shared. Linking fingers, he kissed her again, and when finally they broke apart his decision had been made. ‘Be ready in half an hour,’ he told her.
‘Ready for what?’ she asked.
‘For the adventure to continue.’ When she looked at him for more information, he added, ‘We’ll travel by helicopter first, and then on by private jet to Khalifa.’
‘Khalifa,’ she breathed. Worry and anticipation battled for supremacy in her eyes.
‘Don’t change your mind now,’ he warned good-humouredly. ‘I know you’re as impatient as I am to see my homeland.’
‘I’m curious,’ she agreed, biting her lip as she admitted this.
‘More than that, I think. Pack a small case with essentials.’ When she started to question him, he said, ‘You’ll only need a small bag. You’ll find one in your dressing room. Everything else will be waiting for you at our destination.’
‘Khalifa,’ she repeated, still a little wary, but unable to hide her growing excitement.
‘Now, be quick,’ he urged as he kissed her.
* * *
Millie’s first sight of the desert knocked the breath from her lungs. Whatever she’d been expecting, this was more. After swooping low over a bright blue sea, they had landed on a small, private airstrip close to the beach where a large marquee had been erected, and uniformed attendants stood in an orderly row, waiting to greet them. The men were dressed in black, their faces covered apart from their eyes. Dressed in tunics and baggy trousers, with long, curving daggers secured inside their belts, they were an intimidating sight. A sense of unreality struck her as she looked around, trying to take everything in. With a backdrop of burnished blue sky, blazing sun and endless sand, the scene was like something out of a thrilling and exotic movie. And she was playing one of the leading roles with a man at her side who made every film star seem like a pallid sham. This was real, and this was incredible.
A red carpet led from the steps of the jet to the enormous white tent, on top of which fluttered Khalid’s personal insignia: the hawk of the desert in black and gold on a red ground. Having piloted the helicopter from the superyacht, Khalid had flown them in one of his private jets from the large international airport. There was no sign of a limousine or sleek SUV waiting to take them on to their next destination. Instead, a number of horses were tethered beneath the shade of a large awning...
‘Welcome to Khalifa,’ Khalid said, distracting her from the lavishly caparisoned horses as he urged her forward.
Everything was very new and very strange and very wonderful. His hand on her arm was reassuring. And arousing. The look in his eyes was hypnotising. After so many hours of enforced separation in the jet, she longed for his prolonged attention—time alone, to confide and make love. His steadying hand was both a curb on those thoughts, and a reminder of the pleasure they’d shared.
‘What do you think?’ he said as he turned to look at her at the entrance to the grand pavilion.
‘Amazing.’ She stared past the guards to the rich colours in the womb-like, shadowy interior. ‘It’s certainly a contrast to home.’ Where a subdued colour palette ruled at King’s Dock thanks to the regular rainfall.
‘Millie?’
Having no experience of the desert, other than in books, she was overcome by the vastness of the sand stretching away on every side for unseen miles. She was nothing more than a grain of sand in the grand scheme of things. ‘I’m disorientated,’ she confessed. ‘I’ve never seen anything on this scale.’ And she was a long way from home.
This journey was reckless. She was miles away from anything familiar, with only a mobile phone and a failing battery between her and complete isolation. She must place her trust in Khalid. And her own, keenly developed sense of survival, Millie reminded herself as she followed him into the shade.
‘You’ll be cooler in here.’
He was right. With no obvious sign of air-con, the billowing tent was cool and airy inside.
‘Well?’ he asked as she stared around.
‘It’s wonderful. I can’t believe I’m here,’ she exclaimed as she walked across the rugs to admire some ancient wall hangings. ‘It’s such a soothing setting.’ The stench of aviation fuel had been shut out, and was replaced by the evocative scent of spice. ‘I love it,’ she said, turning back to face Khalid. This was no Hollywood replica of a warrior king’s tent, but a shaded sanctuary, illuminated by the glow of golden lanterns. Fabrics in a rich variety of jewel shades made it welcoming, while bowls of freshly picked fruit, and jugs of juice waited on a pierced golden table to tempt them. ‘All this for us,’ she said. ‘For you, anyway,’ she amended with a wry smile.
‘This is for your pleasure,’ he argued softly.
‘Well, it’s fabulous. It’s a travelling palace.’
‘That’s exactly what it is.’
‘Lucky man,’ she murmured.
As Khalid gave a rueful and accepting shrug, she knew in her gut she’d be okay. There was no need to be overawed by any of this. This was as much his reality as her bedsit in King’s Dock was hers. Everything she’d seen so far spoke of care, and appreciation for the craftsmanship and the materials of his country. Photographs of Bedouin tents did them no justice at all.
‘You must change into robes before we leave,’ Khalid said, distracting Millie from examining the many beautiful examples of art from his homeland.
‘You don’t expect me to ride, do you?’ she exclaimed, remembering the horses. ‘I’m not a horsewoman.’
‘You might surprise yourself,’ he said. ‘I’m going to change. I suggest you do too.’ He indicated another area of the tent. ‘You’ll find some clothes in there. I’ll help you with the headdress. It takes some getting used to,’ he explained as she went to investigate.
Millie’s eyes widened at the sight of a beautiful silver-grey robe in the finest of fabrics laid out on a leather daybed. Delicate silver embroidery around the neck and hem, ornamented with tiny seed pearls, had obviously been painstakingly hand-stitched.
‘Ready?’ Khalid called out while she was still running her fingertips reverently over the intricate work.
‘Yes,’ she lied.
When he thrust the cover aside it was too late to take those words back. When he strode in, her voice deserted her, anyway. Having changed out of the jeans and shirt he had worn for piloting the plane, Khalid was once again dressed in robes. A true master of the desert, he was a stunning sight. Picking up the glorious grey robe she was to wear, he maintained eye contact as he dropped it over her head. ‘It suits you,’ he remarked. ‘Now take all your other clothes off.’
‘Everything?’ Millie blinked.
‘This is the desert, not the high street, and you’re not about to catch a bus.’
She frowned. ‘Okay—’ But before she could do as he instructed, Khalid had reached down to lift the hem of her robe. Deftly removing her top and jeans, he indicated that she should step out of them. Her underwear followed, leaving her naked beneath the flowing robe.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked as he lifted her. For a moment she thought there was some other garment he was about to help her to put on.
‘Being an extremely bad man,’ he said.
She laughed with excitement as his beard-roughened jaw raked her neck.
‘No one will disturb us here,’ he explained, ‘and I’m not going to waste time teasing you, or preparing you.’
‘No need.’
But he did test her for readiness. Always so caring. And he protected them both. She had to muffle her cries of pleasure against his chest as he took her in one firm thrust. Needing no encouragement to work furiously with him, she ground her buttocks against his big rough hands. They were both noisy and fierce, both craved fast release. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, while her hands gripped his shoulders as if she would never let him go.
‘Yes!’ she cried as he upped the tempo and force of his thrust. ‘I need this—need you! Ah...!’
‘As I need you, habibti!’ Khalid ground out, working dependably, rhythmically, firmly.
‘Oh...!’ Her cries went on and on, as sensation exploded between them in the same instant. How could anything be this amazing, and fantastic and essential to life?
‘Again,’ Khalid suggested against her ear, in a seductive, warm and teasing tone when the first storm had passed and she had begun to quieten.
‘Oh, yes, please,’ she agreed.
Settling deep, she gasped, ‘Need more...need more...’
Incredibly, with his own release only moments behind him, Khalid was still fully aroused, and as hungry as she was. He thrust firmly and deep, moving persuasively as his big hands helped her to thrust her hips in time with his. ‘Must be your turn again?’ she gasped after he had satisfied her several times more.
‘Like this?’ he said, starting over.
‘Exactly like that,’ she confirmed, howling with pleasure as he upped the pace.
It was a long time later, when they had both taken a shower and each other in the shower, in a bathroom in the pavilion that surprised Millie by being extremely well equipped, that Khalid towelled her dry, and when that was done he stood before her completely naked.
‘Not this time,’ he scolded when she reached for him. ‘But soon,’ he promised.
That had to be enough for her. For now. The desert suits him, she thought as Khalid dropped the black robe over his head. Securing a different type of headdress from the usual—she knew this was called a howli, and called for yards of fabric to be expertly wound around his head and face—he was instantly transformed from a passionate lover, into passionate lover who was also an imposing desert king.
‘You can’t be cold,’ he remarked as she shivered with unadulterated lust.
Khalid’s physicality was staggering. Having thought herself sated, she wanted him again, and with a hunger that threatened to overwhelm her.
Even though she could only see his eyes, they were knowing, and quite capable of delivering a message through the narrow slit he had left for his eyes, and that message said, no chance. ‘I’ll help you put your headdress on,’ he said as he gathered up her scarf. ‘It will protect you from the sun, and from the sand.’
Alone with her thoughts as he did this, she questioned her feelings and her behaviour. She was having the most wonderful adventure, but what then? However wonderful this was, he was, there was no future for them. Khalid was the powerful ruler of a fabulously wealthy country. She was a laundress from the docks. He couldn’t hold off his marriage for ever, and that would have to be a formal and very public affair, and where would that leave Millie? This wasn’t going anywhere except back to Khalid’s bed, she accepted as she followed him outside; a thought that excited her far more than it should have done.
‘You’ll ride with me,’ he said. ‘If you’re as inexperienced on horseback as you used to be in bed, it’s the safest way to travel,’ he murmured discreetly, though she wasn’t sure his guards weren’t actually mannequins dressed for the role, as they maintained their distance and their silence, and their stillness, admirably. ‘As you have discovered,’ Khalid added with a wicked smile, ‘neither condition needs to remain permanent. Now come closer so I can put the final touches to your head covering to protect you from the sun.’
She had pulled it back a little, and now asked, ‘Is it safe?’
‘I’ve never known scarves to bite.’
‘I mean you. Are you safe?’ she scolded. ‘Coming close to you, I mean.’
‘It’s never stopped you before.’
Her body thrilled with memories as he rearranged her headdress, and then led her towards the horses. And the desert.