‘What do you mean, what’s wrong?’ she asked, suddenly aware that she’d been shaking her head from side to side.
‘You don’t look happy. Would you have liked to stay longer in the desert?’
Heat suffused his words and swirled the depths of his eyes and she saw the pictures he must be thinking, she could feel his touch on her skin. ‘Oh, no,’ she lied, her voice shaky as the bottom fell out of her world
with the power of her discovery. ‘It was an interesting trip, but it’s such a relief to be back.’
Her voice choked up on the last word but still she managed to dredge up a bright smile from somewhere. His eyes hardened, taking on a granite sheen as he measured her words, and she wished he’d look back at the road before they veered off it.
Finally he looked to the front again and she felt her smile crack and slide away. How much longer could she keep this up now that it had hit her? Now that one sight of the reflection in his dark eyes had confirmed what she’d feared was true.
Damn it all. She’d known this would happen if she’d stayed. She’d known she was in danger of falling more and more under Khaled’s magnetic spell if she didn’t get away.
And it had happened. The worst thing possible had happened.
This wasn’t about sex.
This had never been about sex.
She’d fallen in love with Khaled.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SHE had to get away. Now more than ever. No longer could she trust what she felt and she couldn’t even be sure she was thinking straight any more. She’d lost control of her life and she needed time away to try and get it back.
Away from Khaled’s influence and powerful spell she could be more objective and clear-headed. A break spent with her family in Australia would give her the distance she needed to get herself back together. She had bridges to rebuild there as it was, with her mother and sisters, before she could consider moving on. Gianfranco had to allow her the leave. He just had to.
But the first step to doing any of that was to get away from Jebbai.
She was quiet as Khaled pulled the vehicle to a halt outside the palace, reluctant to speak until he had shaken off the servants and carried her bag back to her room himself.
‘There,’ he said, opening the door to her study and putting down her bag. ‘Back safe and sound. Didn’t I say so?’ He looked around the apartment. ‘Where’s Azizah? She should be here.’
‘Maybe she wasn’t expecting us back so soon,’ she said, wishing he would go, wishing he would stay, wishing it was all over.
She glanced down at her watch, mentally adding a six-hour journey to the early-afternoon time and thinking it might still be possible to arrange a flight back to Milan today if the security alert was over. Compared to that it really wasn’t important where Azizah was in the scheme of things. It wasn’t as if she needed anyone to help her pack. And it wasn’t as if she could put off the question that had been plaguing her thoughts.
‘Is there any news of the airport reopening?’
He stiffened, the long, fluid lines of his body pulling up tall and taut.
‘Is that a passing enquiry, or do you have a more specific interest?’
She swallowed back her first response. How could he pretend not to know why she cared?
‘Why do you ask? Will it make your answer any different?’
‘I want to know. Why do you care whether the airport is open or closed?’
‘Because you said you’d give me a lift, remember? You promised to take me to the airport and put me on a plane for Milan, just as soon as it reopened.’
Silence met her words, a fat, incredulous bubble of silence.
Then it burst. ‘You’re still planning on leaving?’ Disbelief turned his words into an accusation.
‘Of course I am. I told you I wanted to leave. You told me you’d take me to the airport yourself. You promised.’
He took two strides towards her. ‘But that was before…’ His words trailed off.