Sheikh's Scandal(44)

She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to spend time with her, but his touch brought her emotions too close to the surface. And that was something she couldn’t deal with.

His lips brushed against her temple. “I want nothing more than to spend the afternoon with you.”

“Right.”

He gently but firmly turned her to face him. If she could believe the evidence of her eyes, his expression showed turmoil equal to Liyah’s. And this time, he was doing nothing to hide it.

It shouldn’t matter, but it did. Forcing her gaze straight ahead, she opened her mouth to demand again he let her go, but she could not make the words come out.

She wanted this closeness.

He sighed, his hands rubbing in circles on Liyah’s back. “I have spent the past two days putting out fires Tahira’s elopement sparked. We have two border countries offering a similar alliance, accepting either one of which would lead to a dangerous political imbalance and almost certain aggression on the part of the other.”

Did he even realize he was still touching Liyah?

“Tahira’s country should be offering reparations along with the previously agreed-upon treaty, but her uncle’s current strategy is to lay blame for her defection at my door.”

Liyah had stubbornly kept her gaze on his chest, but she had to see what he was feeling about that. She raised her head, their gazes clashing immediately.

A volatile mix of emotions poured through her, needing the smallest spark to send them burning sky-high.

Longing. Love. Desire. Need. Pain. And worry.

Because he had major stress lines around his beautiful brown eyes.

Of its own volition, her hand lifted to smooth away those lines. “Sounds tense.”

“That’s one word for it. I have others that aren’t acceptable in mixed company.”

“Is it going to be okay?” Was he going to be all right?

“Yes, because there is no other option.”

“Are you going to marry someone from those other two countries?”

“No.”

“What about Tahira’s country. Maybe she’s got a sister? A cousin?”

He shook his head. “Right now the idea of a politically motivated match is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.”

“That makes sense.” Liyah did her best to ignore her heart’s leap at his pronouncement.

“So, with all of this to occupy my thoughts, you’d think there was no room for anything else.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for not seeing me. Your mother is kind, but she’s wrong. You don’t owe me anything.” Maybe if Liyah kept saying it, he’d realize she believed it.

No matter how much the truth hurt.

“I wasn’t trying to excuse myself. I was admitting that even with everything else on my mind right now, I cannot stop thinking about you, craving you.”

“You mean sex.” Disappointing, but not unexpected. And it wasn’t as if she’d say no. Surely he had to realize that.

“That’s definitely part of it, but I want to take you sightseeing.”

“You said—”

“A bunch of camel dung, because facing what I want doesn’t mean I get to have it.”

“You’re kind of complicated.”

“I’m an emir, complicated defines my life.”

“Is there something we could do that wouldn’t put us at risk for exposure?” She felt like a fugitive in witness protection asking, but as much as he was now disparaging his own arguments, he’d been right.

Having her recognized with him wouldn’t do him any favors. Not because she wasn’t good enough, but because—like he’d said before—she was just too different to fit in with his life.

She ignored the tiny voice that said she’d been fitting in pretty well with his family the past two days.

He smiled. “You are willing to spend time with me, even after I behaved like such an ass?”

“Yes.” A smile played around her own lips. “But we have to stay in stealth mode.”

If she had a chance to spend time with him before the inevitable and growing-closer expiry date of their association, she’d take it.

“We could go into the desert. Our family has been going to the same retreat since the first melech.”

“Like your Camp David?”

“If Camp David stepped out of an Arabian Nights fantasy, yes.”

“Really?” She made no effort to hide her enthusiasm.

“Absolutely. Will you come with me?”

The spark of uncertainty and steady burn of desire in his espresso gaze decided her. “Yes.”

“Pack a bag. We’ll spend at least one night.”

“Can you afford to take this time off?”

“Taking myself out of the equation for the moment will actually make it easier for my father to effect his own form of diplomacy.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Not really, but he yells a lot more than me. He can posture without me there as a witness to force the others to draw a line in the sand.”

“Not a hard thing to do in the desert.”

“But sandstorms have a habit of obliterating those lines.”

“And Melech Falah is the sandstorm?” she asked.