Kate and Julia: Slave Girls of the Raj (24 page)

“Are you contradicting me?” Jahngir demanded sternly. “I think I had better give you a switching, my love, to remind you of your manners.”

She could not help smiling. Julia always smiled when he called her his love. This time it became a giggle at the way he had turned her touchiness about her dancing into a means to give him an excuse to punish her.

“Oh, wait!” she said in sudden dismay. “If my bottom is all striped I might not be able to…. That is, I thought you might want to….” Her heart sank when he shook his head.

“Not tonight, little
murgah
, or Laila will think I’m neglecting her.”

He grinned slyly. “And, as you know, she has a very skilful way with her lips and tongue.”

“No, I didn’t,” Julia said stiffly, but her pang of jealousy lasted only a heartbeat. She could not begrudge Laila or any of the girls their fair share of pleasure with their lord.

Jahngir chuckled. “Then perhaps it’s time I let you find out. And you can show her some of your own considerable talents at the same time.”

Julia felt a rush of heat to her cheeks, not embarrassment, but excitement at the idea of making love to the girl with Jahngir watching them, and the pleasure it would give them all. She shifted in her saddle and felt the friction of its leather on her intimate place.

The Pathan gave her a sidelong look and smiled broadly. “It’s a long, uphill climb ’til we’re home. Perhaps we should stop for a rest on the way. There’s a glade among the trees just off the track where it steepens.”

“Yes, Afia told me about it,” Julia said with a sudden quickening of her pulse. She gave a mischievous grin. “Maybe we had better lie down there out of the heat for a while.”

“Good idea,” Jahngir said, grinning back. They tethered their horses and he took her hand, leading her through the trees to a little, grassy hollow beneath the spreading branches. He spread his cloak on the sun-dappled ground and unbuttoned his
chapaan
. Julia slipped her cloak from her shoulders and quickly shed her scanty clothing. She stood admiring Jahngir’s muscular body as he undressed, feeling deliciously reckless to be naked outdoors with the breeze gently caressing her bare skin. An eager shiver ran through her, ending in a ripple of arousal that teased and tickled all the way to the core of her femininity.

“What if someone comes along?” she asked as the Pathan cast aside his last garment and took her in his arms. His hands closed on her breasts and they pulsed beneath his palms as his lips nuzzled her neck.

“They will see the horses and know we are here. And they’ll pass by and smile the way people always do with lovers.” He kissed her, and tremors of excitement tingled through her.

Julia laughed. “I never dreamed when I left England that I would ever be daring enough to do anything like this.” She sank down onto the cloak, drawing Jahngir with her and felt his arms tighten around her.

“It’s all right, my love. Everything will be wonderful,” he said, kissing her again.

“I know,” Julia whispered against his lips.

And everything was.

The End