Free One Desert Night by Maggie Cox Page B

perfectly all right now. Shortly I will take the good doctor's advice and get some sleep. Make sure news of the incident does not reach my sister's ears before I get a chance to tell her myself.'
    'Yes, Your Highness.'
    The door quietly closed, leaving them alone.
    Staring down at the small slender hand he still clasped in his, Zahir raised it to his lips and planted a tender kiss there.
    Biting her lip, Gina felt tears spring to her eyes. 'You shouldn't take such terrible risks,' she murmured, and she didn't care that he was a ruler of a kingdom. To her he was just a man—a man whose welfare she cared about more than any words could possibly convey.
    'I do not like this—that I make you weep,' he said gently, brushing away the damp trail that wet her cheek. 'And trust me—this is
not
how I'd planned to spend the night with you.'
    She did a mental double-take as his provocative words registered. Tugging her hand free from his clasp, she stared. 'Spend the night? What are you talking about, Zahir?'
    'Do you
really
not understand me?'
    'I told you already that I am here in a professional capacity only—that I—' She couldn't continue, because sudden self-consciousness had robbed her of the power to keep talking. The man lying atop the great bed, in black silk pyjama bottoms that fastened at least an inch and a half beneath his belly button, clearly did not share her problem. Tearing her gaze away from his perfectly taut stomach and slim bronzed hips, she found her body flooded with disconcerting heat.
    His sculpted lips curved in the most licentious smile. 'You can assume your professional capacity—whatever that means—during the day, but what is to stop us being together during the night? I know you are not immune to my attentions, even though you might hide behind the cover of your professional role.'
    'Look…I know you're hurt, and you're probably just looking for some kind of comfort, but I'm not jumping into bed with you just because—because it happened before.'
If you could honestly forgive me for my mistake in not coming back,
Gina thought anguished.
If you really believed in the love I thought we shared that night we were together…then nothing could stop me sharing your bed. But I know because of what you now feel about the Heart of Courage's prophecy—and because you think I rejected you without a single regret—that that's not the case.
    'I have a proposition for you.' His dark-eyed glance didn't waver. 'That's what I wanted to see you about.'
    'And that is?'
    'I'm not going to waste time play acting and pretending I don't desire you, so I will get straight to the point. Many wealthy and powerful men in my position take a mistress. I haven't done so yet because I have never met a woman to meet all my requirements in every way. That is not until you came into my life again, Gina. I would like you to stay here in Kabuyadir. If you stayed you would not want for anything…
ever
. Anything you wanted that it was within my power to give you, you would have.'
    She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Beneath her robe her heart thudded painfully. Moving away from the side of the bed, she tucked a loose tendril of shining blonde hair back. 'I gather I'm meant to take such an offer as a compliment?'
    'At least it shows I am not rejecting you as you so easily rejected me. At least I am being honest about the fact that I want you in my bed again.'
    'Lust is a poor substitute for genuinely caring about someone, Zahir.' She wouldn't say the word 'love' in his presence…not yet. Not while he was clearly intent on somehow making her pay for not returning to him three years ago. Still she would not close the distance between them, and a soft sight escaped her. 'Do you think I should settle for that because you feel I owe you in some way? Anyway, I can't stay here indefinitely. Once I've given you all the information I have on the jewel—and seen it for myself—I'll be heading home again. I have a job to get back