‘What the hell did you think you were doing?’
She blinked. Khalil’s face was taut with barely contained fury.
‘I don’t—I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he mimicked. His mouth tightened. ‘For a woman who always has a clever answer at her fingertips, that one is pathetic!’
Her spine stiffened. ‘It is not!’
‘If you behave like a fool, I’ll treat you like one.’
She stared at him for a moment, and then she whirled around and started towards the mouth of the cave. His hand fell on her shoulder.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ he growled.
‘Where I should have gone in the first place. With Abu. If you hadn’t come along and ruined things—’
Khalil spun her towards him. ‘You gave me your word, Joanna! But I should have known that such a simple pledge was beyond you.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You promised you would not ride alone!’
Joanna tossed her head. ‘But I didn’t promise I’d willingly remain your prisoner.’
‘You little idiot! I’m not talking about escape. I’m talking about danger.’
‘The danger of disobeying the rules of a petty dictator, you mean!’
‘It is dangerous for anyone, but especially for a woman, to ride these mountains alone.’
‘You never said that.’
‘I didn’t think I had to,’ he said, glowering at her. ‘Anyone with half a brain—’
‘Stop it! I’m tired of your insults!’
‘Then don’t set yourself up for them. If you’d used your head, you’d have realised I gave you those instructions to keep you safe.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Joanna’s voice shook, and she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes, although there was no reason to want to cry. ‘Yes, you’d want me kept safe, wouldn’t you? If I were hurt or damaged, what sort of bargaining chip would I be?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Bargaining chip?’
‘What’s the matter? Isn’t your English good enough to understand a simple phrase? A bargaining chip is what a hostage is. It’s—’
She cried out as he swept her into his arms and kissed her, his mouth taking hers with a passion so urgent it stole her breath away, and then he clasped her face in his hands and drew back just enough so he could look into her eyes.
‘You cannot be so blind,’ he whispered. ‘Surely you see that you have become much more than my hostage.’
‘No,’ she said shakily, ‘no, I don’t see.’
He smiled, and suddenly his eyes were tender. ‘Let me show you, then,’ he said softly, and slowly, his head descended to hers.
He kissed her gently, his mouth moving softly against hers, his hands spreading under the hood and into her hair. A tremor went through her, but she didn’t respond.
‘Joanna,’ he said, his lips still clinging to hers, ‘Joanna, Joanna…’
And suddenly a wave of emotion, as unexpected and as fierce as a tidal wave, swept through her. She began to tremble.
‘Khalil?’ she whispered, and the question inherent in the single word was enough. He caught her in his arms and kissed her insistently. Her lips parted beneath his, her arms stole around his neck, and she clung to him and knew she would never, not in a thousand lifetimes, want to let him go.
‘How did you find me?’ she sighed, while he pressed little kisses to her temples and eyelids. ‘And where did you come from? You were gone—’
‘I was drawn away deliberately by Abu. It was a clever scheme, but there are few secrets that can be kept in this part of the world. I turned back when the information reached me, contacted my men, told them to put you under armed guard.’
‘Abu was coming to free me, then?’
Khalil hesitated. ‘It might be better to say that you were all the excuse he needed to ride against me.’
‘But—what will happen when he reaches your village? Will your people be safe?’
He smiled grimly. ‘He’s riding into a trap. My men are waiting for him.’
‘But how…?’
‘Joanna.’ He stroked the hair back from her face. ‘I don’t want to talk about Abu now,’ he whispered.
His mouth took hers again, this time in a deeper, more passionate kiss. Joanna moaned softly, and he lowered his head and put his mouth to her throat, as if to measure the racing pulse beating in its hollow.
She whispered his name as he eased the jellaba from her shoulders. His eyes burned into hers as he undid the buttons of her shirt. When it fell away, he drew back and looked at her with such hunger that she felt her breasts lift and harden under his gaze.
‘You are so beautiful.’ He reached out slowly and stroked his fingers across her nipples. ‘You are more beautiful than any woman I have ever seen.’
‘You’re beautiful, too,’ she whispered. The skin tightened across his cheekbones as she slid his jellaba from his shoulders. Her fingers trembled as she undid the buttons on his shirt. She slid her hands under the soft cotton, exulting in the feel of his silken skin, his taut muscles, and in
the hiss of his breath when she touched him.
He caught her hand in his, carried it to his lips and pressed a kiss into her palm.
‘I want to see all of you, Joanna.’
She stood still as he stripped away her shoes, her trousers, and, finally, her panties. Colour raced up under her skin as she watched him look at her, not from embarrassment but from the sweet pain of wanting him. Her body was already damp, ready for his, and although he had barely touched her so far, her blood was at a fever pitch.
‘Now you,’ she whispered.
She lifted her eyes to his as she reached out to his belt buckle. He made a sound in the back of his throat as she opened it. She swept her hand lightly down the length of his fly, her breath catching when she felt his arousal. His fingers curled around her wrist and he smiled tightly.
‘Be careful,’ he said. ‘If you go on playing this game, the night may end before it begins.’
A smile curved across Joanna’s mouth. ‘Am I to obey you, my lord?’
He laughed as he caught her up in his arms, snatched up Najib’s saddle blanket, and walked deeper into the cave, to where the fire’s glow was only a soft reflection.
‘We will obey each other on this night, my beloved.’
Slowly, he eased her down on the blanket, laid her back, and bent over her, his face shadowed and mysterious in the firelight.
‘I wanted you from the moment I saw you,’ he whispered.
Joanna laughed throatily. ‘I thought you wanted to throttle me from the moment you saw me.’
Khalil chuckled. ‘You are right. There have been times I didn’t know which I wanted to do more.’ His smile faded as he looked at her. ‘But tonight—tonight,’ he whispered, ‘there is only one thing I wish to do tonight.’
He touched her with his fingertips, slowly following the curve of breast and belly, then moving lightly against her thighs. She whispered his name, held out her arms to him, but he ignored her, bending over her body so that he could trace the same path again, this time with his mouth. She moaned softly as his lips closed first on one breast, then on the other. When he drew back and bent again to kiss her thighs, her voice rose quavering into the silence of the cave. And when, finally, his mouth closed on the sweet centre of her, Joanna cried out his name in ecstasy.