One Desert Night - By Maggie Cox Page 0,51

had some proper time off today—specifically to rest in your room.'

'I'm not a child, Zahir.'

Her resentment was evident. He liked the way she pouted... Her full plump lips were the perfect vehicle for a little sexy pouting, even if she wasn't aware of it.

'If you ignore your needs and carry on regardless then you are indeed like a child—who does not know the pitfalls of her own reckless behaviour.'

Gina bit back what he guessed was an irritated reply, then with her book and papers clutched to her chest made to sweep past him.

Chuckling softly, Zahir reached out to gently but firmly waylay her. 'I did not seek you out to upset you, rohi. I have been thinking about you all day.'

Some of the rebellion he'd seen in her flawless blue eyes ebbed away. 'Where have you been?' she asked, and her voice had a soft catch in it. 'you weren't at breakfast, lunch or dinner.'

'Are you saying that you missed me?' he taunted.

She blushed deeply.

'I went to visit the bodyguard who got injured by that foolish rebel the other day.' With provocative deliberation Zahir's fingers tipped up her chin. 'And then I went to see my secretary, Masoud. He is recovering from a virus. When he returns to the palace I very much want you to meet him. You'd like him, I think.'

The pad of his thumb pressed into her fulsome lower lip. Along with the provocative sensation of her vulnerable soft mouth beneath his thumb, the heated little gasp that feathered over him hardened him instantly.

'Will he...will he be back soon?'

'Masoud? I hope so... Maybe in another week or two.'

As much as he respected his loyal employee and friend, Zahir was in no mood to discuss him any further.

He lowered his hand to retrieve the book and papers Gina still clung onto so avidly. 'Why don't you put these down for a while, hmm?'

She released them reluctantly, and he laid them back down on the table. Then he gathered her face between his hands so that he could examine her lovely features at close quarters. The quiver that he sensed went through her reminded him of a delicate rose petal, shivering in the wind. Not able to resist the temptation of that seductive yet innocent mouth any longer, he lowered his lips to hers. The sensual meeting was like a dizzying conflagration—an explosion of feeling, need and want like no other. If a tremor had ruptured the earth right then beneath his feet, Zahir could not have felt as shaken.

His palms slid over her shoulders down to her breasts. Catching the burgeoning nipples between thumb and forefinger, through her dress and the delicate lace bra she wore underneath, he mercilessly provoked the already rigid tips to grow harder still. With the softly velvet whimpers that sounded in his ears inflaming him, he moved his eager hands down to the seductive womanly curve of her hips, then her delightfully shaped bottom. The thin, clingy silk of her dress was hardly any barrier at all to his fevered exploration.

The scalding heat all but flooding his loins practically rendered Zahir mindless. He was a mere breath away from dragging Gina down to the conveniently long library table and taking her in the most basic, feral way when she wrenched her lips free from his and flattened her palm against his chest. His breathing a hotly ragged rasp, he stared into her languorous blue eyes in shock.

'We can't be crazy like this. Have you forgotten that there's a bodyguard outside? A bodyguard that you insisted follow me everywhere.'

The thought hadn't even entered his head, even though he'd passed the man in the hallway before he'd entered the library. Zahir immediately dismissed her concern with unconcealed irritation. 'So? He is trained to be discreet as well as to defend and protect.'

He would have pulled Gina back into his arms if not for the fact that she was already moving away from him. Looking as if her mind was already made up as to what she would do next, she collected the book and papers he'd lain on the table and once more held them against her chest. Her features were flushed, her clothes sexily disarrayed—and so was the golden hair that threatened to tumble free from its clasp at any moment.

Inside his chest, Zahir's heart thumped in an agitated blend of frustration and pure unadulterated lust. 'Where are you going?'

She lowered her gaze. 'I'm feeling tired all of a sudden. You're right...I think I