Why did that fill her with a tingly sense of relief?
“Yeah, well, I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Does that mean you’re not tempted?”
Her smile was distracted. “It’s precisely because I am tempted that I think I should resist.”
“Give me one night to change your mind.” He leaned forward, his lips once again tantalisingly close. “We will go at your speed, on your terms. You’re in charge.”
Of Ra’if? The idea held a stunning degree of appeal, simply because he seemed like a man who would not easily surrender control. That he was willing to do so to see her again made her tummy flop.
“Jordan usually goes to bed around seven. Come over at eight tomorrow. I’ll make dinner.”
“No.” His eyes sparked with hers. “I will bring dinner.”
She laughed. “Is that your idea of letting me be in control?”
“It’s my idea of a date,” he corrected. “I will arrange the details. You just be here at eight o’clock and leave everything else to me.”
* * *
“You intend to see her again?” Marook kept his eyes focussed on the papers in front of him, but Ra’if had known the servant a long time. More a friend or father figure than simply a palace employee, Ra’if was under no illusions as to why Marook had been placed in Ra’if’s detail.
“Tonight, for dinner.”
Marook was quiet for a moment, before lifting his dark, steady gaze to Ra’if’s face. “Dinner?”
Ra’if compressed his lips, fighting the urge to respond harshly. He understood Marook’s concerns, though they were unwarranted. “Yes. You know, it is a meal that comes at the end of the day? There is food, sometimes wine, a little conversation…”
“You do not need to mock me,” Marook said quietly.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, old friend,” Ra’if murmured. “I mock your concern, not you.”
“My concern is …”
“Well-founded,” Ra’if cut him off, more sharply than he’d intended. “At least, it used to be. But that time of my life is in the past. The distant past. I am no longer that man.”
“Forgive me, Your Highness, but I had the displeasure of seeing you in more compromising positions than I will ever forget.”
Ra’if nodded, crossing the room and taking the seat opposite the older man. It was a sign of his great affection for the servant that he allowed this line of enquiry at all, let alone indulging it in a conversation. “And in the last two years?” He said with quiet insistence.
“There have been no serious women in the last two years.”
“There have been no women at all, serious or otherwise,” Ra’if corrected, marvelling at that fact. There was a time in his life when it had not been unusual to have several lovers in a week. Occasionally, two in one night.
“So what is this one about? Why does she interest you?”
Ra’if’s lips twitched with a smile he couldn’t suppress. “I couldn’t say,” he murmured finally. “Only that she does.”
“You care for her?”
Ra’if was very quiet. “I just met her. I don’t know her well enough to care.” Yet he did. If he thought he would never see her again, he knew he would rail against it.
“You have duties …”
“I am aware of my duties,” Ra’if interrupted. “She will not interfere.”
“And what if she is a threat to your safety?”