Her bag was in the seat she’d previously occupied. She picked it up as she passed, her eyes not meeting Zamir’s. How could she? The man she had loved seemed so far from this powerful stranger. Looking at him only intensified her feelings of betrayal and hurt.
A black SUV was waiting on the tarmac, and Marook stood by the door. He showed surprise for the briefest of moments, but quickly replaced it with professional politeness. “Miss Henderson,” he spoke in his slightly accented voice. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”
Olivia opened her mouth to say something, and Zamir understood. She was going to beg Marook for help. While Zamir didn’t doubt the other man’s loyalty, he did resent the necessity of putting him in a difficult position. And so Zamir turned to Olivia and brought his lips crashing down to hers. It was a kiss of fierce ownership and possession; a kiss designed to silence and punish; a kiss that was laced with his frustration and impatience. It was a kiss that sent his pulse firing and his chest heaving.
It was a kiss that sealed their fates.
Olivia, at first surprised, seemed to have no choice but to surrender to his passion completely. Her hands crept up around his neck, as if to say that they understood. He was her body’s master and always would be. She might hate him with her brain and mind, but she also needed him.
“Do not embarrass Marook by dragging him into our mess,” Zamir murmured, finally, when he pulled away slightly. His eyes glinted with a warning.
But Olivia felt like she was going to collapse. The kiss had set her fires burning and she knew from experience that only his total possession would answer the need he’d invoked. And how she hated herself for that! Oh, what weakness to feel such soul-destroying hunger for a man such as this.
Angrily, she shrugged away from him. Her cheeks were burning and her eyes were wet. Her emotions had zipped from desperation to desire in the space of seconds.
“After you.” He waited by the open car door, his eyes not leaving her face.
Olivia glared at him as she moved furiously by, hoping he understood. She would not be intimidated and she would not be subdued. She only hoped she could also resist being seduced. Worse, that she wouldn’t try to seduce him! How could her body be so weak? How could her desire betray her so monumentally?
He stood until she was seated in the back seat of the car and then slipped in beside her.
Once the vehicle was set in motion, she spoke. “Where are we going?”
“To the palace.”
“I thought your people would make my life a misery. I thought your father would feel betrayed by my presence and that your servants would treat me like a whore.”
“I am no longer convinced any of that matters.”
Ouch. His reasons for not bringing her to Dashan had been hurtful enough. But his sudden willingness to disregard her reputation and mindset was chilling. “Gee, thanks.”
Amusement crinkled his mouth despite her obvious state of distress. “You were the one who thought my concerns were unnecessary, once upon a time.”
“That was then. This is now. It might as well have been a lifetime ago.”
“If you didn’t care then, you should not care now.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a bastard.”
He turned away from her without responding and stared broodingly out of his window. The emptiness of the regional outskirts of the city gave way briefly to infrastructure, and then opened up once more to the open highways that would lead all the way to the old palace.
As though they were serenading the royal fleet of vehicles, the stars began to shine overhead as they drove. Twinkle, twinkle, lots of stars, Olivia thought, as the SUV made short work of the distance between the airport and the palace.
Her stomach, when the car slid through the regal golden gates, was in knots. Her anxiety only worsened as the car moved closer to the palace.
It was the most enormous building she’d ever seen. It was grand and yet reassuring at the same time. It had several turrets that were topped with swirls of copper, and the windows were shaped like something out of Rapunzel. It appeared to have been constructed from stone, though several of the turrets were faced in tiles. Some white, some blue, some gold.
Despite the bad mood she was in, Olivia couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the details. The ivy and jasmine that tangled across the front; the formally sculpted trees that lined the drive, and the fragrance of citrus that was heavy in the warm night air.
A bird sung and Olivia caught her breath. “A fiestral?” She wondered aloud, surprising Zamir with her knowledge.
“Yes. How did you …”
She didn’t meet his gaze. “Ra’if mentioned them. He told me they’re one of his favourite things about Dashan. And now I understand why.”
Zamir didn’t visibly react, but inside, he flashed with the temptation to punch something.
“It sounds like an actual song.”