Free Sheikh's Castaway by Alexandra Sellers

stay in the raft in the hopes of reaching an island where there’s more chance of finding people?”
    Bari looked up, and his breath caught on a hiss which she did not hear. Standing in the entrance opening opposite him, Noor was leaning lightly back on the canopy, one foot propped on the edge of the raft, the square of silk forgotten in her hand. Her head tilted back while she turned her face this way and that under the luxurious caress of the wind.
    Just so had she moved under the stroking of his lips.
    Her body was barely covered by the delicate garment she wore, which did nothing to hide that creamy skin, warm with a light tan everywhere except her breasts and abdomen, the paler-textured places he knew as well as his own hand, even after only one interlude of lovemaking.
    Her hair was damp with sweat at her temples, as if he had just made love to her. Her breasts swelled with the movement of her arms, pressing against the soft, expensive lace that cupped them.
    The top of her thighs, with the thin damp silk revealing the nest of hair, was right in his line of vision. All he had to do was bend forward to bury his mouth where his eyes were. Heavy sensual memory tugged at his limbs, asking to be repeated. The hard tension of his body urged him.
    â€œWouldn’t it be better?” Noor’s impatient voice brought him back to the question. More hope of finding other people, was that what she wanted? Bari’s jaw tightened in a grim smile.
    â€œDoes the thought of being without your entourage so terrify you?”
    â€œMy entourage? ”
    â€œYou are afraid that you can’t live without the army of doting servants and friends and Jalia and your brothers—or at least someone who might be willing to replace them? You would prefer to remain in the raft, with whatever dangers that entails, than face the possibility that you will now have to fend for yourself?”
    His tone suggested that another minute on the raft with her would drive him to suicide. His teeth flashed in the mocking smile that her lacerated spirit suddenly found too familiar. Had the smiles that had melted her bones always secretly mocked her?
    Noor gritted her teeth.
    â€œI would prefer to take the rational course of action, regardless of my more immediate feelings,” she said, her jaw tight. “But I see that in a fifty-fifty disagreement between brains and brawn, brawn is always going to get its way!”
    His smile didn’t falter, though his eyes flashed a message that raised nervous goose bumps on her arms. “Alas, it is the story of your sex,” he mocked. “Always right, and always powerless.”
    It was a relief to be speaking in whole sentences again, whatever the sentiments being expressed. Feeling had to come out somehow, Noor felt, or eat her alive.
    â€œNot always powerless,” she snapped. “The patriarchy has had a brief reign, really—a mere two or three thousand years. A hiccup of deviance in the natural order.”
    â€œAnd are you expecting the return of the all-wise matriarchy any time soon?”
    â€œWell, it’ll be either that or the complete destruction of the species, won’t it?” Noor snapped.
    â€œYou think men are certain to lead the world to destruction?”
    â€œI think men who fear and hate women and don’t allow us a voice or listen to our wisdom have brought us to the brink of it already. Tell me I’m wrong!”
    â€œAnd you include me in their numbers,” Bari said flatly. “How typical of a woman who has heard criticism of herself, to expand that into a generalized misogyny in the soul of the speaker!”
    She bent over, bringing her face on a level with his.
    â€œI don’t give a damn about your criticism or dislike of me!” she lied fiercely, feeling that his black eyes burned her more harshly than the sun. “What I do care about is your assumption that my query over whether we should land on this