Free Shadow of the Sheikh by Nina Bruhns Page A

her bra and tossed it aside. When it was in midair he made a movement with his fingers and it disintegrated in a short burst of flame and smoke. Then his hands were on her naked breasts.
    She gasped as he cupped them and flicked his thumbs across her nipples, as he had when they were on the camel. An excruciating need flamed through her. He teased and squeezed her until she thought she would go mad. She couldn’t take this much longer.
    â€œPlease,” she softly begged. “I want you.”
    â€œI know,” he murmured, shifting to unfasten her riding breeches and inch them down over her hips. “I have bespelled you.”
    Her mind was too dizzy from his touch to truly grasp what he was saying. “Yes,” she agreed on asoft, desperate moan. “I am completely under your spell.”
    He lowered himself to his knees in front of her and drew off her boots, and in a twinkling, the rest of her clothes. When she was as nude as he, he gazed up at her. His black eyes burned with…she didn’t know, but whatever the emotion, it was strong and fierce. And a little frightening.
    Make that downright scary. Because the intensity of it only made her want him more.
    How crazy was that?
    He put his hands on her and ran them slowly, deliberately, over the flesh of her curves. She was ready to detonate. She wanted him on top of her, in her. Swallowing her up with his incredible sensual power.
    He rose to his feet and cupped her face in his large hands. She could feel the barely leashed strength of his fingers as he caressed her jaw. She shivered.
    â€œPlease,” she whispered.
    â€œNo, I will not take you like this,” he said.
    Confusion bewildered what was left of her brain. “I…I don’t understand.”
    â€œYou are bespelled. Unable to say no. There is no honor in possessing a woman like that. It brings no real pleasure, for either of us.”
    She begged to disagree.
    Shaking her head, she reached for him. Sheneeded to feel his body against hers, skin to skin, his thick arousal completing her, filling her. Yes, possessing her. Her flesh ached for it. For him.
    â€œBelieve me, I don’t want to say no,” she assured.
    â€œThat’s because I took away your will to deny me. Yesterday, when I saw you at the temple, I put a spell of passion on you, and again last night in your dreams. It was essential you come to me, and the easiest way to accomplish that was to make you want me as a lover. I gave you no choice in the matter.”
    Her dreams? Memories of the erotic dreams she’d had of him washed through her mind and body.
    If she weren’t so weak with unfulfilled need, she might be insulted. Her desire for him was as real as it got. Their attraction was strong and mutual. Not the result of some kind of voodoo magic. Or dreams.
    â€œWanting you was not why I came looking for you today,” she began, then paused for a reality check. “All right, maybe it was, but that was only part of the reason.” Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember what the other part was at the moment. “Wanting you was just…” She faltered. What was it? Other than complete insanity? She licked her lips. “…a fantasy.”
    He kissed her then. A deep, drowning kiss. Andsaid, “I hope I fulfill it. But I’m going to lift the spell now, so be prepared. Your true feelings about the fantasy may be…other than you think.”
    Before she could really comprehend what he was saying—or doing—he moved his hand in front of her and said a few indecipherable words. She blinked, waiting for something to happen. For her burning need for him to lessen or evaporate.
    It didn’t.
    She didn’t feel any different at all. Just the same incredible attraction. The same dizzying want. The same overwhelming need to feel his body touching hers.
    â€œI still want you,” she said, and pressed herself up against him. Frustrated from