“What are you doing?”
“I’m hot! Stinking hot, okay?” She flung the shirt across the tent; it landed on the edge of the bed that had been laid out for her.
“You cannot simply disappear whenever you feel like it.”
“I went to explore some ruins with someone from the tribe. You trust these people? You like them? Why shouldn’t I?”
“She could have kidnapped you and held you to ransom for her own freedom!”
“She should never be in a position of needing to do that,” Sophia roared, her vehemence surprising him. “If a woman is driven to such desperate measures courtesy of an oppression you are facilitating, then she is hardly the problem, even if she were to have taken such desperate measures.”
He was, momentarily, shocked into silence. But her nakedness reminded him of the purpose of this marriage, the reason for their union.
“Do you forget, Sharafaha, that you may well carry this country’s future heir in your belly?”
He saw surprise whip across her features. “So?” But it was less vehement.
“So your life is no longer your own to do with as you please. You married me. You are this country’s Sheikha. People are looking to you for our future. You cannot simply ride off into a desert about which you know nothing –,”
“I was not alone!” She interrupted forcefully.
But that only angered him further. “You had no concept of what dangers were out there. Beasts, birds, Saliyah…”
“She was no threat to me!” Sophia snapped, lifting her fingers to her temples and rubbing them gently. She turned away, moving to the pitcher of water and pouring some into her hands, hands that were shaking slightly. She lifted the water to her face, splashing her sun-reddened cheeks.
“And how did you ascertain this, Sophia?” He asked, moving closer, his large body held taut, his gut throbbing with needs and wants that made no sense given his anger.
“I…”
“Did you speak to security about her? Did you ask for details about her? Did you do anything to ensure you weren’t riding off into the desert with a madwoman? Potentially with our baby growing in your belly?”
Her gaze dropped to the ground.
He moved closer, an arm clamping around her waist, drawing her body to his.
She gasped, her eyes lifting to his, and now he felt that she was trembling all over, like she had been right before their wedding.
“Di
d you think about what you owe me, and this country? What you owe Addan?”
At that, she made a strangled noise of disbelief, her eyes lifting to his.
“Damn you, Sophia. Did you think how I would feel? Coming back here and finding you missing?”
She opened her mouth, perhaps to explain, perhaps to argue. He didn’t wait to find out. He dropped his mouth to hers, claiming her lips, his kiss hard and demanding. It was a kiss of punishment. A kiss of anger.
It was also a kiss of survival.
“Damn it,” he groaned, lifting her, wrapping her legs around his waist, his body hard for her, his mind still running over the fear he’d felt when he’d discovered she was missing.
“You cannot simply disappear on a whim.” He dropped her onto the low mattress and crouched at her feet, but even as he reached for her underwear, she was wriggling out of it, her hands fevered, her breath escaping in fast, desperate bursts.
“It wasn’t a whim!” Her hands glided over his back, finding his hips, holding him tight. “I was just…”
“Don’t.” The word was like a whip; he pushed up, his face level with hers, his eyes showing impatience. “Don’t say anything. There is no excuse for this, Sharafaha. You were wrong to leave here with her. Wrong to leave without alerting me. Wrong not to take a security guard. You are a Queen, Sophia, not some American tourist on a gap year. Start acting like it.”
She lifted up onto her elbows, glaring at him as he pushed out of his clothes. Her eyes dropped to his chest, her mouth dry – as though it were filled with sawdust. “That is incredibly unreasonable. I am a Queen. Just because I don’t conform to any ridiculous standards you have of what that should entail… well, newsflash, your highness. Being accessible to your people isn’t a bad thing. And I know you agree with me because look at how you live! You come out here all the time. You love to just be by yourself with these tribes. So why can’t I?”