The breath left her chest in a rush as he dragged her close. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded, his dark eyes flashing fire.
‘I’m a strong swimmer, Razi.’
His grip tightened. ‘In the pitch-black middle of the night? Alone?’ His voice was fierce with concern.
‘You said it was safe,’ she protested.
‘Not on your own. Not again. Not ever. Do you understand me?’ He held her back to stare into her face, and then, without waiting for her answer, he secured her in an iron grip and swam for shore.
Or she imagined that was his purpose, but as soon as he was within his depth Razi stood, and in the same fluid movement he took her.
He sank deep, the size of him making her gasp with surprise. She would never become used to him. The darkly exotic light of passion smouldering in his eyes said he understood her need and that this was all for her. Her arousal was extreme. The heat of their bodies and their passion contrasted strongly with the cold of the water to make every sensation bigger, stronger and far more intense. Razi encouraged her to lie back on the cooling water where she could gaze up at a desert moon planted in a field of stars. Could heaven improve on this? she wondered. The majesty of the desert had unleashed the untamed spirit in her heart, Lucy realised, sobbing with pleasure as Razi moved steadily and with absolute intent. He understood her as no one ever had, not just sexually, but in every way. And in turn, she loved his exciting, exotic country, with its passionate people, and its wild, unknowable desert…She loved him.
‘I hope I have your full attention?’ he murmured, lifting her into his arms so he could add something wicked in his own language.
‘Can you doubt it?’
His lips curved.
Her answer to that could only be a groan of deep satisfaction as he sank deep inside again. She hardly had to cling to him at all with the water supporting her and Razi’s strong hands controlling her buttocks. He thrust into her just the way she liked while her limbs floated lazily. All the pleasure centred at her core, just as he had intended until finally she couldn’t hold him off any longer and her cries of release mingled with those of the eagle owl as it swooped down from its roost to hunt.
‘More…’ Razi spoke for her, as she was still beyond speech. He kept up a steady beat, gently and persuasively, so that one starburst sensation had barely faded before it began to build into the next. He took her slowly and carefully, making sure she savoured every moment. How could she not? Making love beneath a lemon moon and a deep blue velvet sky filled with diamond pinpoints of light was almost too beautiful, too perfect.
So perfect it frightened her. If only she could capture this experience somehow and bring it out when she was alone to convince herself this had really happened…
‘Lucy?’ Razi murmured, teasing her with a pass of his roughened cheek against her neck.
‘Yes,’ she whispered, closing her mind to doubt as he settled her back on the rippling water. She held her breath, waiting for words of reassurance that never came, but Razi knew her body so well—too well, and she had nothing more to do now than rock gently on a pool turned silver beneath the moonlight as he pleasured her, while all the worrying thoughts about the future drifted away.
He watched Lucy come apart in his arms again and again, wondering if she would ever tire, for he was sure he wouldn’t. Moonlight had transformed her into an exquisite water nymph, and one whose appetite for sex continued to amaze him. They shared a fierce passion, he reflected as he swung her into his arms to carry her back to the bank, but tonight there was no urgency. They had every hour before dawn to indulge themselves in pleasure before reality reared its ugly head and put a stop to it. Until then he would make this a night to remember for both of them.
When they got back inside the pavilion he swaddled her in towels and dried her tenderly, rejoicing in her beauty as well as in the fact that she would soon be the mother of their child. Lowering her gently onto the silken-cushioned bed, he murmured, ‘Hussy,’ as she reached for him.
‘Your hussy,’ she said, smiling while her hand insisted on creating its own sort of havoc.
He drew in a sharp breath as she moved down the bed and then she snatched his breath away, cupping him firmly, her lips brushing him, her tongue teasing him. At first she was a little tentative, as if this was a first for her. He found he was fiercely grateful for that, and had to ask himself just how deeply he was committed to a girl he had so recently thought of keeping out of the public eye before making sure she caught the next flight home. They were way past that, he concluded as Lucy grew bolder. As she laved him with her tongue and closed her lips around him to draw him deeper into her mouth he wondered if he could ever bear to let her go. ‘Stop,’ he managed huskily, realising how selfish he was being—on all counts.
‘Why?’ she said, resting her chin on his thigh. ‘Are you frightened you might lose control?’
He laughed and lifted her into his arms. She made him laugh. She made him happy. He was wary of losing his heart for the first time in his life. He was frightened of hurting her. She had never put her female powers to the test in quite the same way before and, having done so, she was flying high. She looked triumphant, and more beautiful than ever. She was more flushed, more aroused—more womanly and yet more vulnerable in every way. The newfound confidence on Lucy’s face was everything he’d ever wanted to see, and he didn’t want anyone to change that—especially not him. ‘You’re full of surprises.’
‘Did I do something wrong?’ she demanded softly as he swung her beneath him.
‘You did everything right,’ he reassured her. ‘So right I had to make you stop.’
Her eyes reflected her innocence and her desire to please—to please him. He would never abuse that. It brought out all his protective instincts. ‘I won’t do anything that puts your pleasure at risk.’
A shadow crossed her eyes and he knew what she was thinking. This was about more than pleasure and in the morning they would have to face that. Where would they go from here? What did the future hold for Lucy—for her baby—for their child? ‘It will be all right,’ he promised. The clock was already ticking, but he refused to hear it—not yet.
‘How long do we have?’ she whispered as if she knew everything he was thinking.
‘Time enough.’ Teasing her lips apart with lazy passes of his tongue, he nudged his way between her legs, thrusting deep, exulting as Lucy’s eager body moved to claim him. Whatever the future held, one thing was sure; few people were lucky enough to ever know a night like this.
Chapter Fifteen
THEY enjoyed a feast in the middle of a balmy night—fresh fruit, which Razi had brought in the picnic hamper, along with hunks of delicious local bread and creamy cheese—before making love again. It was in the sleepy, contented aftermath, when Lucy was nestled safe in Razi’s arms, that he surprised her by confiding something of his childhood. The thought that she had touched him enough for that, and that trust was slowly building between them, was like a tiny flame she wanted to shield with her hands to help it to grow. When he told her about his mother she felt fiercely moved that he would do so, as well as fiercely protective of Razi. She was not just protective of her baby now, but of the man she loved.
His mother’s name was Helena, Razi said, naming her for the first time since her death. Helena had been very young and frightened, and had found herself fighting for position in a land where she didn’t speak the language, or have any rights to speak of. She had no place to run to, and no one to support her cause, as everyone lived in fear of Razi’s father, the ruling Sheikh. She had no money, no contacts to help her to return home, and her sole purpose in life had shrunk to remaining beautiful and available twenty four seven in case his father paid a visit. And for a time, that was enough…