Sheikh's Unlikely Desire (11 page)

“Don't you understand yet?” Leah asked with disgust. “You lose this one, Scholl. You lose. I'm standing here, and I'm telling you that I'll see you in court on Monday. And you can beg and plead and bribe and do whatever you want, but any judge is going to see that you're wrong. And then you're going to suffer for it, because I'll be there, with my head held high, doing exactly my job. And you're going to lose.”

She had a moment of grim satisfaction as she could see the realization of what she was saying sink in. He understood that his plan had failed. He had bet on her fearing humiliation more than she loved Zayn, and he had bet wrong.

In that moment, Scholl aged twenty years. His face sagged, and then when it tightened up again, it became a mask of rage. “You miserable fucking slut,” he snarled. The violence was palpable, and with a sound that was barely human, he lunged at her.

Leah stepped back briskly, making him stumble, but his flailing hands caught her a stinging blow on her cheek. The shock of pain traveled through her head, making her see stars, and that was when he caught her.

“You couldn't let it go, could you?” he snarled. “You couldn't fucking just let it go...”

She could feel those terrible bony hands wrapping around her throat. Some part of her was stunned, because it was unimaginable that he would do something so terrible in broad daylight. Another part of her was grimly unsurprised.

She clawed at his hands, lifting her heel to try to crush his foot, but that was so hard when the lights were dimming around her, when she felt as if everything was getting colder.

There was a distant shout, and then she was plucked from Scholl's grip as if she were a doll. The moment he released his hold on her throat, she could see again, gasping for breath and shaking. She was on her feet and ready to fight again, but now there was a solid presence between her and Scholl. To her shock, she recognized Azim's hawk-like face.

“Azim?”

“You are as spirited in combat as any member of the al-Fasi family,” he said with a certain dourness.

“But...” She tried to get around him, but she could do nothing more than glimpse around him at where Scholl and Zayn were standing.

At least, Zayn was standing, and Scholl was laid out on the pavement, a purple bruise darkening his face nearly immediately.

“That was the least of what you are going to get,” Zayn said. There was nothing loud or demanding about his tone. Instead, it was frankly all the more terrifying because it was so quiet.

“You fucking bastard...”

“Oh, but I think from the story you wanted to tell, you know that I am nothing of the sort,” Zayn said smoothly. “But you will be silent now, and if you are very, very lucky, I will not do anything much worse than what you tried to do to my woman.”

“Zayn...” Leah said, her voice little more than a croak. It felt as if there was a large lump in her throat, something that could not be moved.

“I will do nothing he can fight,” Zayn said casually. “I will do nothing more than speak with him. Go with Azim now, and let him care for you. I will be along shortly.”

Leah bit her lip, but there was something distant about Zayn now, something utterly relentless, and he had sighted his prey. As she watched, he hauled Scholl up to his feet. She didn't miss the fact that the producer was trembling.

“It will be fine,” Azim said, shepherding her away. “I have known that one since he was a pup, and he understands things. He will not do anything that will harm himself or you.”

“And Scholl?” she asked.

Azim smiled. “He will get what he deserves. Almira is famous for its justice.”

Leah knew Zayn, and she trusted him. She knew he would take care of things, and so she allowed herself to be put into the backseat of the limo, where Azim offered her cool refreshing ginger ale and a cold cloth for her throat.

“That may bruise a little,” he noted. “But there looks like no harm done.”

Leah nodded, grateful for the drink and the cloth. Despite the adrenaline pumping through her system like mad, she felt tired. It wasn't the sleepiness of a concussion, but instead simply the fact that her day had been one roller coaster after another. She drifted in a pleasant haze of not-awake and not-asleep for a short time until the door opened and the seat dipped next to her.

“Are you all right? Did that man harm you?”

Leah made herself sit up and look at Zayn. The sheik did not have a single hair out of place, but a perceptible aura around him spoke of heat and danger. Something had threatened someone that he cared about, and he was ready to do whatever it took to make sure that never happened again.

“I've had worse in falls and in martial arts,” she said. “What about you?”

Zayn smiled darkly. “A man like that is no concern to me. The moment he laid hands on you, I ceased to care about what he could do.”

Leah felt a bolt of panic shoot through her. “Did you... did you give him the rights? Oh, Zayn, you shouldn't have done that, there was no need!”

To her surprise, Zayn laughed, a light and boyish sound. “Darling Leah, still so protective. No. I would not dishonor the things you have done for me by going behind your back in that manner. Instead, I simply explained a few things to him. I told him that I had been polite up until now, and that I was running out of patience.”

Zayn grinned, showing off his splendid white teeth. “I can be quite unreasonable when I am impatient.”

Leah wondered if there was a small amount of fear to the shiver that went through her body as Zayn said that last line. Instead, she found herself wrapping her arms around him. There was no better remedy for the fine tremors going through her body than his presence.

“You're amazing,” she whispered.

“I appreciate the compliment, but that's not what I wish to hear.” The sadness in his tone was genuine. He wasn't toying with her. He wasn't infatuated. Something in him called to her. She had hurt him by sending him away and by leaving before.

Suddenly, she couldn't stand to hurt him any longer. “I love you,” she said, her voice soft and broken. “I love you, and I want you...”

He drew his breath in hard, and then his powerful arms were wrapped around her tightly. “You mean this truly?” he demanded. “You are not merely grateful, or...”

“No, I love you,” she said again, chains snapping free inside her. Despite her strength and her fire, she had been afraid for a very long time. She had been frightened of the passion inside herself and of what it might mean. Now, however, she knew she had found her match. Better yet, she had found someone who would protect her fire.

“I love you,” Zayn murmured fiercely, crushing her against his chest. “I love you, I love you, I will love you to the ends of this earth...”

She did cry then, tears of happiness, but one by one, Zayn kissed them away until she smiled again.

***

To Leah's surprise, Scholl appeared in front of the judge on Monday morning. A heavy coating of makeup had been applied, and whenever he caught Leah looking at him, he flinched away.

When Scholl stood up to make his statement, however, he stated a short piece about how he had been wrong, he had been wasting everyone's time and that he would not do so in the future. It was, word for word, the apology of a spoiled little boy, and Judge Alvarez, a judge notorious for her strictness, glared at him.

Leah watched in bafflement as she fined him for wasting county resources and ended the session before Leah had even had time to present a single word.

In her Mercedes afterward, she turned to Zayn. “What in the world did you say to that man?”

“It doesn't matter,” he said idly. “The only thing important to me is that he never does anything like that to you or anyone else ever again.”

Leah took a deep breath, hands loose on the wheel but not starting the car yet. “So that's it,” she said softly. “We're done.”

“The case is over,” he corrected her. “What's left is up to us.”

He took her right hand from the wheel and held it gently. She could sense his warmth and his strength traveling straight into her, protecting her.

“I don't know how long I'll want to stay away from practicing law,” she said by way of warning. “I don't know if I'll be able to stay away forever.”

Zayn shrugged. “I wouldn't want you to,” he said. “It is a source of your fire, and it will always be a part of you. That makes it precious to me.”

“It's probably just as well if I take a leave of absence from Hiller and Hiller anyway. Grant doesn't know what to do with me, and if Bryce got wind of any of this, he'd fire me.”

Zayn snorted to let her know what he thought of that, but she continued.

“But I need to live for myself now, and for you. I don't know what the future is going to bring, but I know that I want to go back with you. I want to see Almira, and I want to see the world that made you what you are. Because you are precious to me, and I want to see the source of your fire as well.”

Zayn's grin was wide. “And perhaps I will come with you back to Los Angeles, and you will make a name for yourself here as I tend to Almira's interests abroad. The world is ours, my love, and I swear that you will never give up anything that you truly wish to be mine.”

He drew her close for a kiss, and in that single moment, Leah knew that wherever she was in the world, she had found her true home.

EPILOGUE

Leah had never seen anything as enormous as the sky above Almira. Far away from the capitol city, the sky was as darkly glorious as a black silk painting, the stars as brilliant as diamonds. Her mare, Dunyazed, snorted a little, ready to be off like the wind, but Leah kept her restrained.

“Shall we stop for a while? This is a fine place to watch the stars for a bit.”

She smiled at Zayn, who had ridden up to her on his stallion Bayzid. In the darkness and in the black of his desert robes, there was something imposing about her lover. He looked like some mythical figure risen out of the darkness, and what his intentions might be, she could not guess.

Then he came a little closer, and she could see the familiar and beloved planes of his face. She would never be afraid of him. She would never fear him or think him savage.

“Let's stop for a moment,” she said, and she knew he could hear the huskiness in her voice.

She watched him hobble their horses, ensuring that they wouldn't go far, and then he led her up a rise. The desert, far from being a featureless plain as she had thought, was as wild and lovely as any place she had ever lived. Portions of it, especially the parts closer to the oases that had been the source of Almira's wealth in the ancient days, even reminded her of Los Angeles.

As they sat looking up at the stars, Leah felt a gentle pang for the world she had left behind. She had been set, once upon a time, on returning to it, even if only for a few years. Then she had come to Almira, where there was a burgeoning film industry on the verge of breaking out. Then she had fallen even more deeply in love with Zayn and him with her. The idea of being away from each other sometimes caused physical pain.

As if he could sense her thoughts, he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her close. “Are you thinking of Los Angeles? Do you find yourself missing it?”

She wanted to comfort him, but more than that, she knew that she needed to be honest with him. She gave the question the thought it deserved.

“A little,” she said softly. “I miss the smell of the burning season, sometimes, and I miss the shadows that the chaparral cast on the sands and the rocks. But do I miss it very much? No. This is my home now, and this is what I want. You are what I want.”

Zayn shifted next to her. She knew that their early days together had made him wonder about the depth of her love, but now she worked all day, every day to prove it to him. When he lifted her up on his lap, she cuddled close. There were no barriers between them, and she wanted to be with this man, in his amazing country, for the rest of her life.

Leah laughed softly when she felt the shifting of his cock under her thigh.

“Have you taken me out here to ravish me?” she whispered teasingly.

His answering laugh was husky and rich. “I do not need to take you out into the wilderness to want to ravish you, but I would be lying if I did not consider it.”

“Hm.” Leah moved so she could straddle him, kneeling in the sand with her knees planted on either side of his hips. Now she could feel his cock even more clearly, and she rode against it, tantalizing both of them.

“If you continue in that fashion, I will not last long,” he growled. In the darkness, his eyes gleamed like jade. This man could at once make her feel like prey and the most protected treasure in the entire world.

“Perhaps I don't need you to last long,” she said teasingly, and then something about the words she spoke echoed in her head. She paused for a moment, and something about the way she did it made Zayn look up, concerned.

“Beloved, what is the matter? Are you well.”

“I just did some math in my head,” she said softly. “I'm... tonight, I'm... I'm very ready.”

For a moment, it looked as if Zayn had no idea what she was talking about. Then he grinned widely. “You're fertile,” he said, his tone delighted. “You're ripe.”

“Yes. The most I will be all month.”

They had talked about this. This was the dream for both of them. They had given up the condoms weeks ago, but now, here they were in the desert, a scene as primal as any that had ever been.

“Is this what you want?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “This is what I want forever, and I want it with you.”

She could feel the reverent way his hands moved under her dark robes. She had taken to riding and to the Almiran clothes as easily as if she had been born to it. She wasn't sure if she believed in fate, but there were some days where she wondered if she had been.

“I'm not such a wild mare that you have to tie me down,” she whispered teasingly.

“I have already seen your spirit,” he said softly, never taking his eyes from hers. “I do not need proof of it right this moment, but perhaps I will ask later.”

She shivered as he exposed her breasts to the cool night air, and then she whimpered when she felt him free his cock. With his encouraging hands around her hips, he lifted her until she hovered over him.