CHAPTER FOUR
SAFIYAHCLUNGTIGHT, her fingers embedded in the hard biceps that held her to Karim’s powerful frame. It was so unexpected she had no time to gather her thoughts. No time to do anything but bend before the force of sensations and emotions that made her sway like a sapling in a strong wind, her body arching back over his steely arm.
To her shame it wasn’t outrage that overwhelmed her. It was shocked delight.
Because she’d never been kissed like this.
Never felt like this.
Not even in those heady days when Karim had courted her, for then he’d been considerate and careful not to push her into a compromising position. She’d been innocent and he’d respected that.
Even when she’d married she hadn’t felt like this.
Especially when she’d married. She’d felt no passion for Abbas. No desire except the desire to do her duty. And Abbas, though he’d enjoyed her body, hadn’t expected anything from her other than acquiescence.
Which made the fire licking her veins unprecedented. Totally new.
Safiyah shivered—not with cold, but with a roaring, instantaneous heat that ignited deep inside and showered through her like sparks from a bonfire, spreading incendiary trails to every part of her body.
This was passion.
This was desire.
It was like the yearning she’d once felt for Karim, multiplied a thousandfold. Like the difference between the heat of a match and the scorch of a lightning strike.
Her mouth opened, accommodating the plunging sweep of his tongue, relearning Karim’s darkly addictive taste. It was a flavour she’d made herself forget when she’d told herself to stop pining for the mirage of true love. When she’d given herself in a dutiful arranged marriage.
Because to hold on to those broken dreams would only have destroyed her.
Now, with a force that shook her to the core, Safiyah felt them flood back, in a deluge of sensation to a body starved of affection, much less delight.
Once Safiyah had yearned for Karim with all her virgin heart. Now, time, experience and loss had transformed her once innocent desire into something fierce and elemental. Something utterly unstoppable.
Instead of submitting meekly, or turning away, Safiyah leaned into his hard frame. It felt as natural as smiling. As necessary as breathing.
Her tongue slid the length of his, exploring, tasting, enjoying the rich essence of sandalwood and virile male that filled her senses. She revelled in the feel of his taut frame solid against hers and rose onto her toes to press closer.
A shudder passed through him and his hands tightened possessively, as if her response unleashed something in him that he’d kept locked away. He leaned in, forcing her head back, deepening the kiss, and she went willingly, exulting in the breathtaking intensity of the moment.
Past and future were blotted out. The present consumed her. Her need for this, for him. Nothing else mattered except assuaging that.
Karim’s arm slid down her back, his palm curving over her backside, lifting her towards the drenching heat of his muscled frame. Excitement tore through her, a fierce exhilaration as she read the tension of a man on the brink of losing himself.
Then, with an abruptness that left her swaying, he released her.
Blinking, Safiyah watched him step back. Saw his mouth lengthen in a grimace. Saw him shrug those broad shoulders and straighten his jacket as if brushing off the imprint of her clawing hands. Then he shoved both fists in his pockets and lifted one eyebrow in an expression of cool enquiry.
Flustered, Safiyah felt her heart smash against her ribs, her breasts rising and falling too fast as she tried, unsuccessfully, to get her breathing back to normal.
Her robe had come undone and she knew without looking that her nipples were hard, needy points against the thin fabric of her nightdress. Worse, between her legs was a spill of dampness. Restlessness filled her, and the need to climb up that big body and rub herself against him, chasing the fulfilment that no-holds-barred kiss had promised.
Instead she stood stock-still, feet planted. Mechanically her hands grabbed the sides of her robe and tied it tight. Because, despite the thwarted desire churning through her, Safiyah read the chill in those green eyes surveying her like an insect on a pin. Her skin turned to gooseflesh and the fine hairs at her nape stood on end.
Karim wasn’t even breathing heavily. He looked as calm and remote as a stone effigy. And as welcoming.
Looking into those austere features, Safiyah felt all that lush heat dissipate. Instead of his deliciousness she tasted the ashes of passion. She might have been swept away by forces she couldn’t control but Karim hadn’t.
‘Well, that little experiment was instructive.’ His voice came from a great distance, like low thunder rolling across the wide Assaran plain. ‘It’s as well to test these things in advance, isn’t it?’