A Secret Birthright(36)

“If I’d known how it would be between us, that it would far exceed even my perfectionist fantasies, I would have carried you off to my bed weeks ago.”

She raised a wobbling head, trembling with relief. She marveled anew at his beauty, and at how magical their bodies looked entwined.

And she wanted more of him. Of them. All she could get.

She bent to taste the powerful pulse in his neck, dragging her teeth down his shoulder and chest to his nipple, nipping it before she moved her head up, stroking his flesh with her hair.

“I hope you know what you’re inviting with this act of extreme provocation.”

Feeling all-powerful with his desire, reckless with having nothing to lose and everything to win, before it was too late, she squeezed his steel buttock even as she slid her leg between his muscled, hair-roughened ones, her knee pressing an erection that felt even harder and more daunting than before.

“Which act are you referring to?” she purred, nipping his lips, adding more fuel to his reignited passion.

He grabbed her around the waist, brought her straddling him, menacing lust flaring in his eyes, filling his lips. “I have a list now. Each with a consequence all its own.”

Her hunger, now she knew what ecstasy awaited her in his possession, was a hundred-fold that of her previous ignorance.

She rocked against him, bathing him in her arousal and their pleasure. “Terrible consequences all, I hope.”

“Unspeakable.” His hands convulsed in her flesh, raised her to scale his length. He dragged her down at the same moment he thrust upward, impaling her.

She screamed his name, body and mind unraveling at the unbearable expansion, the excruciating pleasure.

She melted into him, felt the world receding with only him left in existence. Along with one thought.

She’d had him. She’d been his.

Tomorrow, when she lost him, nothing could erase the experience from her body and soul.





Gwen had returned to her bedroom in the guest apartment as soon as Fareed had left her in bed. She’d hoped he’d stay away all day until she’d made her escape.

He hadn’t stayed away an hour.

He’d just entered the bedroom, was walking to her in strides laden with urgency, something fierce blasting off him.

Before she could say anything, he hauled her into his arms and drowned her in the deepest kiss he’d claimed yet.

She felt his turmoil collide with hers, until she couldn’t bear it, think of nothing but easing him.

She tugged at his hair gently, bringing his head up. And what she saw in his eyes almost brought tears to hers.

She’d seen this in his eyes off and on since they’d come here. This despair. Every time, being with her and Ryan had managed to erase the darkness that seemed to grip him heart and soul.

She’d never asked about the reason behind his anguish. Not only because she didn’t feel she had the right to, but also because she thought she knew the answer. But what if she was wrong and there was some other reason? Something she could help with, at least by lending a sympathetic ear and heart?

“What is it, Fareed?”

He pulled her back, hugged her tighter, pressing her head to his chest, which heaved on a shuddering exhalation.

He spoke. And she wished she hadn’t asked. For he told her, in mutilating detail, about his dead brother and the depth of futility and frustration he’d been suffering in his ongoing, fruitless quest to find his family.

“Then, a week after you came here, Emad found a lead that looked the most promising we’ve had yet. He’s just told me it turned out to be another false hope.”

Even had she had anything to say, the pain clamping her throat would have made it impossible to speak.

This was all her fault. And no fault of her own. She wished she could tell him to stop looking, to have mercy on himself, that he had nothing to blame himself for, had already done more than anyone would have dreamed. But she couldn’t.

She could only leave and pray that in time, he’d end his search, come to terms with his failure, so that it would stop tearing at him.

Now all she could hope was that he’d go away again, give her a chance to leave without further heartache.

Before she pushed away, his hands were all over her, over himself, ridding them of their clothes. She knew the moment her flesh touched his, all would be lost. She had to act now.

She struggled out of his arms, hating herself and the whole world for having to say this, now of all times.