One Desert Night - By Maggie Cox Page 0,44

on the wound at his side, covered with a clean white dressing.

Cupping her face between hands that were warm and callused, suggesting that he wasn't familiar with hard physical graft, Zahir dismissively shook his head. 'Do not be concerned that you might hurt me. I have waited too long for this moment to let anything stop me now. You are in my blood like a fever, rohi. I am like a starving man at a banquet, seeing you like this. Now I will wait no more.'

The sheer beauty of his sculpted masculine physique made Gina gasp. Bare, his shoulders, torso, abdomen, hips and long well-shaped legs were pure hard muscle and bone, shielded by supple bronzed flesh, and on his chest swirled dark soft hair. Here and there were healed nicks and cuts that confirmed her opinion that he was a man who revelled in the physical challenges of life—whether it be riding his stallion through the hills and plains, as Farida had told her he liked to do, climbing high into the mountains to fearlessly confront a band of rebels, or practising sword-fighting with his guards.

But any further thoughts were stemmed as he laid her down amongst the satin pillows, passionately stroked his warm tongue into her mouth and kissed her. The deeply stirring caress had the effect of an incendiary device imploding inside her. As she reeled from the impact, molten heat like lava flowed through her bloodstream. She couldn't bear to have her body apart from his for another second.

Moving her hand from the firm flanks between his ribs and hips down to the proud, silky manhood that nudged against her belly, Gina hungrily clasped him. Zahir couldn't suppress a groan, and his answering smile was lascivious and knowing.

Paying her back in kind, he boldly prised apart her thighs, to plunge his fingers inside her moist silky heat. Her breath was all but punched out of her lungs for a moment, and dizzyingly she voraciously welcomed the bruising urgency of their mouths, teeth and tongues as his deeply rhythmic exploration took her higher and higher, winding her so tight that she almost couldn't bear it.

When her violent release came she collapsed, shuddering beneath him, emotion swamping her like an unstoppable tide. Hot, helpless tears streamed down her face, and Zahir gathered her into his arms. As he held her his lips rained kisses on her mouth, cheeks and unbound hair, until the tearful spasms slowly died away. 'It is all right. There is nothing to fear any more, my angel. I am here with you, and I will hold you and keep you safe all night.'

Hiccoughing, Gina laid her head against the warm silky hair on his chest and sighed. Through the weave of the fabric tent walls the dance of bright flame from the fire outside gradually dimmed. Inside, here in Zahir's strong arms, she realised she'd never felt safer. An intense feeling of calm suddenly came over her. The spectre of the man who had sought to abduct her faded away. He wouldn't haunt her dreams any more—not tonight at least.

Her hands drifted idly down over Zahir's flat taut abdomen, then lower still. If she'd thought that her desire had been spent in that wildly emotional release just now, she realised how wrong she'd been. It had merely been simmering, and just the touch of her lover's warm hard flesh would stir it into flame again.

Clasping her head, Zahir stared down soulfully into her eyes. Silently she transmitted her emphatic answer to the question she saw there. Reaching into a hidden pocket of his discarded robe, he sheathed himself with the protection he retrieved, then, returning to Gina's waiting arms, swept her down onto the pillows again.

Joyfully, her spirits soaring, she welcomed him inside her. His thrusts were strong, deeply possessive, and they took her body, mind and spirit into another realm. His demanding masculine possession made her ache even more to have him with her always. She almost cried again when she was reminded he couldn't be...

As soon as he entered her scalding satin heat, Zahir remembered vividly the first time he had taken this woman—remembered how their passionate joining had spun his whole world into another orbit and how it had left him reeling for days, months, years afterwards. That world was spinning into another sphere now. It was as though they had never been apart.

With her golden hair spread out on the silken scarlet pillow beneath her, her lovely face and extraordinarily