The Sheikh's Arranged Marriage: The only thing worse than falling in love with the man she'd married was knowing he would never feel the same... (9 page)

She nodded then
realised he wasn’t looking at her. “Yes. Of course.”

“Good.” He turned to leave the room. “Nine o’clock sharp. Your security escort will take you.”

She heard him say something in Arabic to her guard as he disappeared through the double doors.

She felt her whole body start to shake.
Just the sight of him was enough to rob her of any sense of calm. She scooped up her phone. Nine o’clock start meant she had hardly enough time to shower and prepare for the first of the meetings she hoped to get involved with.

In the end, she made it with a minute to spare. Dressed in a modest pant suit cut from a beautiful emerald green
silk, paired with a crisp white blouse and white pearls, and with her blonde hair pulled back into a neat chignon, she looked far more sophisticated than she felt.

As she walked into the room,
Tariq stood, and everyone followed suit. The chair to his right was empty. “Ladies, Gentlemen, my wife, Her Majesty Queen Rebecca of Assan.”

She smiled at the
crowd with a false confidence and took up the seat he indicated.

For the most part, she listened, but every now and again,
Tariq would turn to her and ask what she thought. Rebecca was surprised to discover her nerves quickly faded completely. Faced with the very real transportation issues gripping Assan, she relished the chance to tackle the problem head on.

The
discussions went all day, but by the end of it, they’d at least agreed that arming drivers was not the way forward. As the various members of the meeting filtered through the door, Tariq remained behind, watching his wife.

“You did well,” he complimented honestly when they were alone.

She smiled at him. “So did you.”

“I have been training for meetings like this all my life. Seeing you today, I would have guessed you had likewise.”

“My job takes more diplomacy than you would imagine,” she said with a wry twist of her lips.

“I would like to hear more about your job,” he said simply. “I have dinner plans with Eric this evening. Will you join us?”

She shook her head. “Surely you’d prefer to catch up with your friend alone?”

“You are my wife, Rebecca. Eric is an old friend. I would be pleased for you to get to know one another better.”
I would be pleased to get to know you better
, he added silently. He was being cowardly, pursuing her company with Eric there for safety. In truth he didn’t trust himself to be alone with her. He was trying to be patient, but all day he’d been tormented by the memory of her dancing, the way she’d moved through the air, so fluid and so sexy. Even now, he could feel the tinder paper of need catching fire.

“In that case, I’d be delighted.” She gave him a tentative smile.

“We’ll dine casually, in the Ba’tuk. Monique will show you.”

He stood to leave but the irresistible smell of her perfume, a sweet jasmine and a spicy bergamot teased his nostrils. He placed a kiss on her cheek and took her hands in his. “I mean it. You were outstanding today. A natural.”

Unaccustomed as she was to praise, his lavish words made her feel a thud of surprise. “Thanks,” she nodded awkwardly.

A Ba’tuk, Monique informed her an hour later, when she was dressing for dinner, was an Assanian hut designed for outdoor eating. “We were once a nomadic people. Eating under the stars is inherent to who we are. It’s a cornerstone of our culture.”

The description weaved a spell around Rebecca, but she couldn’t have imagined the beauty and magic of the actual thing. Situated a solid ten minute walk from the royal apartments, the palace Ba’tuk was a thing of breath taking beauty. Where the palace was all splendour and grand proportions, the hut was far simpler in design. Four walls with windows like something she imagined Ali Babar had looked out of in each side, and a large fire pit it in the middle, overlooking a man-made lake that seemed to go for miles. On the edge of the lake were palm trees and bushes of tall reeds. With the sun setting and the sky being tinged with purples and oranges, and the dessert winds blowing sand gently towards her, Rebecca felt it was the most stunning scene she’d ever come across.

While she doubted she’d ever grow accustomed to the constant presence of the palace security force, she had certainly come to expect their silent watchfulness throughout the day. Therefore, their absence on this evening was conspicuous.

Rebecca raised her eyebrows as she stepped in through the doorway. Or, the hole in the wall large enough to accommodate a door, for there were no actual windows nor doors to impede the free flow of air through the hut.

Crouched on the ground, stoking the fire pit, was her husband. She gulped at the sight of him. Dressed in a traditional flowing white robe, he looked fiercely powerful. His handsome head was dipped as he concentrated on the job at hand, so that only his autocratic profile and thick dark hair was visible to her.

Nervously, she cleared her throat and rocked her foot side to side.

“Rebecca,” he stood, placing the fire poker gently onto the tiled floor before coming to meet her.
His dark gaze raked her from head to toe, and his lips quirked in unconscious approval. In just a simple navy blue dress that fell to her feet, and with her blonde hair plaited into a crown of gold around her head, she looked too perfect for words.

Grateful that his robes disguised the physical proof of his insta-need for her, he settled with a chaste kiss on her cheek. “Please, have a seat. Would you like some wine? Iced tea?”

“Iced tea would be lovely, thank you,” she said a little shakily, and licked her lips as she crossed to the brightly coloured cushions that were scattered on the ground.

“Eric’s not here?” She asked as he handed her a pitch
er of the refreshing liquid.

Tariq
sat beside her. He pressed his palms into the ground behind them, extending his arms and leaning back. One arm was behind her, so that she could almost feel him against her body. Fighting the urge to wriggle a little further away, she took another sip of her tea.

“No. He’s been held up.” His eyes scanned her face, lightly mocking. “Does that make you nervous?”

“Nervous?” She intoned flatly. “Why would I be nervous?”

He reached across and ran a finger from her shoulder to her elbow, watching the way her
skin goosebumped beneath his touch. “Because, my lovely wife, when you and I are alone together, we seem to find ourselves in exactly the same situation...”

“
What situation is that?” She goaded, her eyes lancing straight through him.

He chuckled, but he knew she was throwing down the gauntlet. It would have taken a saint to resist her, and God knew, he was no saint. He came to kneel on his knees and kissed her on the lips, softly at first, but then,
as always, hunger overtook him. He kissed her hard, and with his hands, he supported her shoulders and guided her so that she was lying back on the scattered cushions.

She groaned as he spread his legs so that he could straddle her, and his weight pressed against her abdomen.

“Is this
situation
going to end as it always does?” She asked huskily as he littered kisses along her jaw and down to her décolletage.

“With us both sexually frustrated and
angry?” He quipped, his dark eyes glinting as he found the zip to her dress and eased it down her body, exposing her soft, milky skin beneath.

“Pretty much,
” she nodded, and her hands were running a mission of exploration too, pulling at the belt of his robes and loosening them so that she could feel his flesh beneath her fingertips.

He eased himself up a little, so that he could stare into her eyes. “Is this really what you want, Sheikha? Are you sure of it?”

“Except that I’d like to know we weren’t going to be interrupted by the ambassador for Sweden,” she croaked with a grimace.

Tariq
shook his head. “He will be a while. He has something to attend to. We are quite alone.”

She felt heat colour her cheeks and she bit her lip. Now that he had removed himself, she felt besieged by all of the old uncertainties. What if he didn’t enjoy it? She knew she didn’t have that sex gene, what if sleeping with her was just a big old let down?

What if it wasn’t, a small voice urged her onwards, and before she could give in to the self-doubts that pock marked her confidence, she pulled him by his robe.

“I’m sure.”

His eyes flared with recognition and finally, he let himself feel everything that this bewitching foreigner stirred in him. He removed her dress with a silent deference, kissing her body where the fabric had been, tasting every inch of her. He disposed of his own robes and let them lie where he threw them, not caring that they would crumple.

Naked, and unable to fight their desire any longer, he parted her legs and teased her with his strength, just nudging his
cock towards her sacred heart. She whimpered beneath him, and her long legs came to curl at his back, clinging to him, trying to pull him inside.

He kissed her face, tasting the feverish sweat on her brow. With all the will in the world, he was making himself take it slowly, be gentle, when all he wanted was to
plunge himself deep inside of her and feel her explode with pleasure.

He took one nipple in his mouth, and while he sucked at it and flicked it with his tongue, he took the other between his thumb and forefinger and rolled it firmly. She was making keening noises of pleasure and he could feel how wet she was with his tip. As she bucked with a need too great to express with words, he pushed inside. An unmistakable barrier paused him, but her legs squeezed, pulling him tighter. “Please,” she moaned, “Please.”

With a growl, he did plunge into her then, and her body arched at the unexpected sensation. He felt her muscles, so tight and moist, stretch to accommodate him, and he had to grit his teeth to stop from coming straight away. Hell, he’d never felt anything like it.

He slowed his rhythm, intent on watching her face as she experienced her first sexual orgasm. “Look at me,” he commanded, taking her chin between his thumb and finger and holding her face. “I want to see you.”

She bit down on her lower lip, and desire rocked her body, until she tipped over into the heavenly abyss beyond, covering her whole body with the sensation of feather light kisses.

“Ohhhhhh,” she groaned, her breath laboured as she rode the wave. He had never seen anything more sensational than her release into pleasure.

She blinked up at him, a moment later, and her eyes were clouded.

“What is it, Rebecca?” He whispered against her cheek, laying delicate kisses towards th
e earlobe he was about to suck.

“You didn’t.... err... you haven’t....”

“Come?” He teased, revelling in her nervous inexperience.

She looked away from him and he laughed.

“I’m teasing. I’m sorry. No, I didn’t come.”

It was her worst nightmares confirmed. He hadn’t even been that turned on by her. He was trying so hard to please her, to find her attractive, but even now, in the throes of the most passionate feeling she’d ever experienced, he was left non-plussed. Capable of teasing and apologies.

She pressed her lips together and wriggled beneath him, suddenly wanting nothing more than to get away from him.

“
Rebecca,” he whispered, pressing his palms against her shoulders to hold her still. “When I come, it is over. Finished.” He moved his hands and brought them back to her breasts. They fascinated him. Round yet pert, full yet small. He delighted in the way they felt cupped in his hands. “I wanted to make gentle love to you for your first time.”

“My first time...” which it was, of course, but it also made her feel like he wanted a second time. A third even.

“Now, I am going to show you what fast sex feels like,” he said with husky promise.

“Fast sex.” She repeated again, and he nodded gravely.

“Yes, my Sheikha, fast sex.” He kissed her on her lips, so hard that she tasted blood, but she didn’t care. As he pressed her down with his mouth, he began to move inside of her again, and this time, he rocked her with a speed that sent her pulses out of control. He slid his hands along her arms and trapped her wrists above her head, so she was his virtual, but oh so willing prisoner.

It was fast. It was hard. And it blew her mind. She climaxed almost immediately, and he followed after her, releasing himself into her with a guttural cry.

“Hmmm,” he exhaled, reluctantly pulling himself out of her and coming to lie at her side. “That was exquisite.”

She turned to face him. “I wasn’t sure ... I didn’t know it could be like that.”

“Nor did I,” he said honestly. “It seems our parents knew something we didn’t about chemistry,” he joked, but he had never felt more serious in his life. He’d known her for ten days, and the thought of her having refused to marry him suddenly filled him with a cold ache in his gut.

“Oh, let’s not talk about our parents right now!” She pleaded on a laugh.

He nodded. “You are right, of course.” She shifted a little so she could see him better and cringed as she did so.