More Precious than a Crown. Carol Marinelli

that any minute might scratch but right now was temporarily tame, and Zahid was knocked sideways by her appeal.

      ‘Am I to breathe out again...?’ Trinity said, and as he went to open his mouth to tell her they should get back, Trinity blew into his open mouth. He captured her breath and then swallowed, and for the first time Zahid wrestled with self-control.

      ‘You need to be more careful,’ Zahid warned. ‘You should not be walking alone in the woods at night.’

      ‘In case a handsome prince happens to be walking by?’

      ‘I could be anyone,’ Zahid pointed out, but his hands were still on her cheeks.

      Their lips were almost touching.

      ‘You’re you,’ Trinity said, ‘and I want you to give me my first kiss.’

      Her mouth was, to Zahid, perfect and he was, rarely for him, tentative as his lips grazed hers for he was wrestling for control, forcing himself to hold back not just want, for the pulse of her flesh on his lips gave him more than the usual want, it filled him with need, and a man of Zahid’s standing must never feel need that wasn’t met.

      For Trinity to feel him kiss her so tenderly, to feel that sulky mouth now soft against hers, was sublime.

      A late developer, for six months now, or perhaps a little more, Trinity had loathed her body. The feel of another’s eyes on her had made her feel ill. Family functions had been spent fighting hands that wandered, yet she was not fighting hands now. She loved the feel of Zahid’s hands moving from her cheeks and down to her waist, and when her lips parted the slip of tongues was so mutual, so natural that Trinity let out a moan.

      Zahid would have loved to linger, she tasted of cinnamon and was so sweet and warm, but the purr of her too-thin body beneath his hands, the sudden tip into sexual hunger from Trinity, the raw need in himself were enough for Zahid to attempt to halt things.

      ‘That was not your first kiss.’ His voice was not accusing, he was merely stating a fact, for never had a mouth had such an effect on him before and surely it had been a practised kiss.

      ‘Okay, it was my second,’ Trinity admitted. ‘Suzanne and I practised a while back so that we’d know what we were doing, but this doesn’t feel like practice, though,’ she breathed, her mouth searching for his again.

      ‘You need to get back,’ Zahid said. His voice was just a touch stern, for he was cross at his own lack of control. His life was ordered, the women he dated were generally a few years older than him, not the other way around, and with reason, for emotion he kept at a distance and love was something to actively avoid.

      Sex was the name of the game but it felt like more than that now.

      Trinity’s hands met at the back of his neck and she looked up at him. His hands were just above her hips and she knew that at any moment they would disengage, that he would take her back, but Trinity didn’t want that. She wanted her first proper kiss to go on for longer, she did not want to return to her family and the house, but more than that, she wanted more time with Zahid.

      He was far too tall for her mouth to reach his without Zahid lowering his head, so when still he did not, her mouth moved to his neck, and worked upwards, inhaling his lovely scent and feeling his hands digging deeper into her hips.

      There was a strange push-pull, for he should push her off, take her hand and walk back, yet Zahid was resisting the urge to pull her into his groin. Trinity’s tongue licked up his neck and then one hand did move. Zahid took her chin in his fingers and Trinity blinked up at him. She thought for a moment that she was about to be told off, but instead his mouth came down on hers and she found out that the first kiss had been but a precursor to bliss.

      Trinity’s eyes snapped open at the passion behind his kiss. She was a little shocked, a little heady and then, when she saw the usually remote Zahid so consumed, Trinity’s eyes closed again and just revelled in the bliss of being so thoroughly kissed. One of his hands was stroking her hip and his tongue was sliding around hers and there was nothing but pleasure to be had. His other hand was on her shoulder but almost pushing her back in an attempt to resist pulling her in, yet it was Trinity who ignored the pressure and moved a delicious bit closer and discovered her home.

      In the circle of his arms, pressed against him, she found herself.

      Trinity loved the feel of his sex against her stomach and finally the bliss of the pressure of his hand pulling her in as his tongue duelled with hers. Now she moved up on tiptoe, wanting to feel that delicious hard length lower yet. Still fighting himself, Zahid pushed her down. It was like a match to gasoline for Trinity and she rose to her toes again and then it was she who pushed down and Zahid wrenched his face back, ending the kiss but not the contact of their groins, his dark eyes assessing her but with a smile on that stern mouth, which was shiny from hers.

      ‘Don’t stop,’ Trinity urged, pressing herself to him, She was building towards something that felt like a faint wail of sirens in the vague distance. Her body was on delicious alert, seeking their direction, as Zahid did his best to contain her.

      ‘We shall stop,’ Zahid said.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because...’ Zahid did not want to stop, but neither did he want to continue things here. ‘Because my driver shall be here soon to take me back to Ishla, and you are too good for the woods.’

      ‘Take me back to your palace.’ Trinity smiled but then it disappeared, a note of urgency creeping into her voice. ‘I need to get away...’

      Zahid frowned. ‘When you say—’ He never got to finish, Dianne’s shrill voice terminating their conversation.

      ‘There you are. What the hell...?’

      Zahid dropped contact as soon as he realised that her mother was there but Trinity still hung like a cheeky monkey around his neck.

      ‘Mrs Foster, I apologise. I was—’

      ‘Oh, it’s you! It’s fine, Zahid.’ Dianne was instantly mollified when she saw that it was Zahid who her daughter was with. ‘Zahid, your driver is here and, Trinity, you need to come and say goodbye to our guests...’ They walked back through the woods and towards the house, Zahid frowning at Dianne’s rather inappropriate response—surely she should be furious but she was chatting away as if nothing had happened. ‘Clive and Elaine are staying. Trinity, I want you to go and get the guest room ready.’

      His driver was waiting and he pulled Zahid aside to tell him that if he wanted to fly tonight, they needed to leave now.

      Zahid said swift goodbyes, but Trinity caught his hand and he could see the tears filling her eyes.

      ‘Zahid, what I said about you taking me with you. Do you think maybe—?’

      ‘Trinity.’ He could have kicked himself. She was reading far too much into one kiss and he had never meant to confuse her. He was just glad that Dianne had disturbed them when she had.

      ‘I have to go.’ Zahid’s words were a touch abrupt but better that than she even glimpse the effect she had had on him.

      Her hand gripped his fingers and he felt the brush of her fingertips as he pulled away from her and glanced at his watch.

      It was ten minutes after eleven and as he climbed into his car, little did he know that it was a moment in time he would regret for ever.

      He looked out of the window and cursed his brief lack of control as the car pulled off.

      It was better that he return now to Ishla, Zahid decided, for he did not like her unsettling effect on him.

      Yet it was one kiss that he would always remember.

      As for Trinity...

      She saw his car drive off and on her mother’s orders headed back into the house to prepare the guest room.

      Trinity too would never forget that night.

      But for all the wrong