A Whisper of Disgrace(36)
‘Going is the last thing I want,’ she said, and knew she hadn’t imagined the long breath which escaped from his lips.
‘Then what do you want?’
She took the edge of the linen sheet and began to pleat it between her fingers, because that was easier than looking into those piercing black eyes. She recognised that she wasn’t ready to go it alone—at least, not yet. Not when the world outside Sicily still seemed such a big and frightening place. Wasn’t the whole point of this bizarre marriage that Kulal could give her something which nobody else could? Not just the money which was going to buy her independence, but a sexual education which had only just begun. And why should anything be allowed to spoil the best thing that had ever happened to her?
Looking up, she pushed the heavy fall of hair back from her face and the movement caused her heavy breasts to sway. She saw him shift a little and her attention was caught by the growing erection between his thighs and in that moment she felt shy and powerful, all at the same time. ‘I want you to teach me everything you know.’
He stared at her, knowing that he should distance himself from her and yet how could he when she looked so damned gorgeous? How could he force her to leave when he wanted her so much that he felt he could explode with need? He could smell the lingering scent of sex on the air and could feel the erratic beat of his heart as he leaned forward and bent his lips to her neck. ‘Anything specific you have in mind?’ he questioned unevenly. ‘The history of Zahrastan, maybe? Or the new energy proposals I’m setting out next week?’
She tipped her head back. ‘About pleasure,’ she whispered through dry lips. ‘Teach me everything you know about pleasure. I’ll be your wife and one day I will walk out of your life. But in the meantime …’
‘What?
She wriggled again, more impatiently this time. ‘Please?’
He drew back to see the sudden rush of colour to her cheeks and something made him want to show her who was in charge. To show her that, ultimately, he was the one who called all the shots. And perhaps the first lesson she needed to learn was how to articulate her own desires, instead of expecting him to second-guess them. Because only that way would she ever be truly independent. ‘Please, what?’ he prompted softly.
Rosa met the dark gleam of his eyes, and swallowed. ‘Please will you do it to me again?’
CHAPTER NINE
KULAL STROKED HIS fingertips over the silken curtain of dark hair which lay spread all over the pillow and felt the inevitable hardening of his body.
‘I know you’re awake, Rosa,’ he said softly. ‘So why don’t you open your eyes and kiss me?’
Rosa stirred as the sheikh’s voice penetrated her dreamy thoughts and, obediently, she let her eyelashes flutter open. He was lying next to her, propped up on one elbow—deliciously naked and gloriously virile, studying her body as if it was the most beautiful body he’d ever seen, which was what he had told her in the early hours of this morning as he had pulled her hungrily into his arms. Each morning she woke up to a similarly appreciative reaction, but it still took some getting used to.
She pushed the blanket of mussed hair away from her face and yawned. ‘But I might have been asleep,’ she objected.
He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘It’s nearly midday.’
‘And it’s Saturday. Or are you saying that it’s impossible for someone to be asleep if it’s nearly lunchtime?’
‘I knew you weren’t asleep because you’ve been wriggling that delicious bottom—’ he smiled as his arm snaked around her waist and he turned her around, so that his erection was pressing hard against her belly ‘—against me for the past half-hour. So it was a toss between going for a cold shower, or seeing if I might be able to get you to do something more interesting than sleeping.’
She leaned forward, brushing her mouth against his and feeling the instant shimmer of lust which flamed over her skin. ‘You can always get me to do that,’ she said, her voice sounding almost shy as he cupped her buttocks to pull her closer. But wasn’t it insane to feel shy, when in the few short weeks since their marriage Kulal had stripped her bare in just about every way there was?
He had taught her so much. He had shown her that sex was something to be enjoyed and savoured, not something furtive and shameful. In short, he had liberated her from a lot of her own hang-ups and all she was trying to do now was avoid getting too dependent on a man who was never intended to be anything other than a temporary fixture. ‘In fact, you can get me to do just about anything,’ she finished softly, and saw his eyes darken.