His voice was soft but ice-cold. It sent a shiver scudding across her skin. Even Abbas at his most imperious hadn’t affected her like this.
Karim’s hold was unbreakable. She’d look ridiculous trying to yank her hand free. Instead she chose defiance cloaked in a façade of obedience.
She sank to a low curtsey, head bowed. ‘Of course,Your Majesty. How remiss of me to forget royal etiquette.’
She heard a huff of exasperation and for a second his hand tightened around hers. Then, abruptly, she was free.
‘Don’t play with me, Safiyah. It won’t work.’
She rose, but found Karim had stepped right into her space. They stood toe to toe, her neck arching so she could look him in the eye. She couldn’t fully decipher his expression but saw enough to know she’d pushed him dangerously far.
Good. It was time someone punctured that ego.
‘I’ll get the horses.’
She made to move but he caught her upper arms. His clasp wasn’t tight but for some reason Safiyah couldn’t break away.
‘Leave them. They won’t go anywhere.’ He paused. ‘Why did you run, Safiyah? You knew it was me.’
She shrugged. ‘I wanted a gallop.’
‘Don’t lie.’ Gone was the icy contempt. In its place was a piercing intensity that probed deep.
‘I’m not—’
‘Was it because of this?’
Before she had time to register Karim’s intention he hauled her up onto her toes. His head swooped low and his mouth crashed onto hers. Safiyah felt pressure, tasted impatience and hurt pride.
His anger fuelled hers, made it easier to withstand him. Even so, her body quaked with rampant need from being pressed up against his hard frame.
She just had to hang on a little longer, till he grew tired of this and pushed her away. He was angry. He didn’t really want her.
Except even as she thought it everything changed.
Those hands wrapped over her arms turned seductive as they slid around her back. One slipped up into her loose hair, tangling there possessively and cradling her skull as he bent her back. His other hand skimmed her hip bone, then moved to cup her bottom. His fingers tightened as he pulled her up against a ridge of aroused flesh so blatantly virile that she gasped.
That gasp was her mistake. It gave Karim access to her mouth, where he delved deep, evoking shuddery thrills of excitement.
Safiyah told herself she shouldn’t want this. Shouldn’t wanthim. Not the dark coffee taste of him, not his sea and sandalwood scent, not that honed body. And especially not the tight, spiralling feeling low inside as he pressed against her, his erection a blatant male demand.
Yet there was no escape. Because already her fingers clenched into the soft cotton at his shoulders, digging into taut muscle so she felt the bone beneath. Safiyah tried to make herself let go, but her body acted on instincts that had nothing to do with self-preservation.
Karim murmured something against her lips that might have been her name. She couldn’t hear it, just felt it as a vibration in her mouth. Then he kissed her harder, and she clung to him as everything spun away in an explosion of sensual delight.
When she could think again it was to find his hand sliding under her shirt to close over her breast. Her knees wobbled as, instead of a hard, crushing hold, she felt his touch gentle. Her breath hissed out as one finger traced narrowing circles around her silk-covered breast till he reached a nipple pouting with need.
Safiyah trembled at the pleasure of Karim’s touch. Even the way he moulded her breast in his hand seemed designed to please her as much as him. The rush of moist heat between her legs surprised her. How could she feel like this when she didn’t want him?
But you do, Safiyah. You’ve wanted him for weeks. For years.
It was the knowledge she’d tried to avoid. But denial was impossible as she shook in his arms. Only the support of his embrace held her upright.
As if reading her thoughts Karim broke the kiss, in the same movement scooping her up into his arms. There was something shocking about being held that way, reliant totally on him, curled against that broad, powerful chest as he strode towards the inky shadows beneath the cliffs.
Her eyes widened as she realised the most shocking part was how much she revelled in it. How the coiling twist of heat between her legs grew to a pulsing, urgent throb.
Safiyah caught a glimpse of their horses grazing at the edge of the beach. Then the world tilted as Karim lowered her to cool sand. He knelt above her, the star-quilted sky behind his head, his shadowed face unreadable.