She composed herself and held the dress to her chest where it was still a little loose. As she opened the door she said, ‘The fit is fine. I just need to be zipped—’
The words died on her tongue and she had to look up and up again at the man filling the doorway. Zafir. She hadn’t seen him when they’d arrived earlier to sign the contract, and she’d felt jittery with nerves, waiting for him to appear at any moment. When he hadn’t, she’d almost fooled herself into thinking that this assignment was not at his behest.
But it was. And here he was, wearing a shirt and dark trousers, his top button open and sleeves rolled up. She guessed that he’d just come from his office. He always had been a workaholic.
He was as leanly muscled as she remembered, the power in his body evident in a provocatively subtle way that was mesmerising and made her think of how he’d looked in his traditional Jandori robes—like a fierce warrior.
His voice broke her out of her embarrassing trance. ‘You’d like me to zip you up?’
Anyone but you.
Kat clutched the dress to her breasts even more tightly, suddenly feeling as shy as the virgin she’d once been, in front of him.
She tried to look past him. ‘I can ask one of the stylists...’ Then she realised how quiet it was. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘I sent them away for the evening.’ Zafir looked at his watch. ‘It’s 4:30 p.m. They’ve been working all day and so have you.’
Kat looked at him a little stupidly. She hadn’t even realised how late it had got.
He lifted his hands. ‘The dress? I’d like to see how it looks with the diamond.’
Kat balked. ‘You have it with you now?’
Zafir nodded.
With the utmost reluctance Kat moved closer and turned around, presenting her bare back to him. She’d never before realised how vulnerable it felt—exposing the most defenceless part of your body to someone you didn’t trust.
Yet even as she told herself that she didn’t trust him she had to suppress the betraying shiver of anticipation that ran through her body as she waited for Zafir to pull up the zip. It didn’t help when countless memories bombarded her of similar moments, when he had pressed close behind her and moved his hands around and under her dress to cup her breasts, pressing a hot kiss to her neck.
She hadn’t felt vulnerable or defenceless then. Far from it.
She’d trusted him.
Her nerves were jangling painfully when she finally felt his hands on the zip, just above her buttocks, and then its far too slow ascent up her back, pulling the dress tighter around her torso, so that her breasts were pushed together under the discreet boning, creating a voluptuous cleavage. Something that wouldn’t have bothered her too much in the past, but which felt positively indecent now.
When the zip was up she quickly turned around and moved out of touching distance. Zafir’s eyes were a dark grey. To her relief he moved back and stood aside so she could walk out of the bedroom and into the suite. The unsteadiness of her legs had nothing to do with her prosthetic limb.
Kat stopped in her tracks, though, when a young woman dressed in a sober black suit, with her dark hair pulled back, stepped out of the shadows to stand beside the table where a large black box sat.
She’d thought they were alone, but they weren’t. Perversely, that didn’t seem to be of any comfort.
Zafir walked over to the table with his innately masculine grace, saying as he did so, ‘I’d like you to meet Noor Qureshi. She’s going to be your personal bodyguard for the duration of the tour while you wear the diamond.’
Kat put out her hand, slightly in awe of the female bodyguard. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’
They shook hands, but Zafir was drawing Kat’s attention to the box, where he had his hand on the open lid. Kat came forward as Zafir said something to Noor, and the woman nodded before slipping discreetly out of the main suite door, presumably to wait outside.
Kat barely noticed. She fancied she could almost see the red-hued glow before she saw the actual diamond, and when she stepped close enough to see the stone resting against the black silk she gasped.
It was literally breathtaking. A stone about the size of a golf ball, in a heart shape. It seemed to glow and emit some kind of luminosity. Kat could imagine how it must have appeared when it was first discovered, deep in the mines, even in its rough state.
Zafir lifted it out and Kat saw that the gem sat in a thick collar-style platinum setting, and that the platinum was inscribed with what looked like Arabic script. The diamond dropped from the collar, stark and hypnotic.
Zafir held the necklace up, clearly indicating that he wanted to put it on Kat, and once again she stood in front of him, and shivered slightly as his arms came around her and the red diamond necklace appeared in her eyeline. She could feel him behind her, the heat and strength of his body.
It was one of the things that had drawn her to him like
a helpless moth to a bright burning flame. His very masculinity. And it had surprised her, because ever since she’d been tiny she’d been aware of men and their strength, and how they could use it against a woman, after witnessing her mother bringing home one abusive male after another.