Modern Romance September 2016 Books 5-8. Natalie Anderson

I have terms and conditions of my own!’

      And she was doing it.

      Somehow, against this very powerful man, she was holding her own.

      ‘We need to get a move on, Kedah. I’ll see you down there.’

       CHAPTER FIVE

      SIX FOOT THREE of sulking Sheikh boarded the plane.

      Kedah did not need the complication of Felicia.

      But he had tasted her now.

      And she did not need the arrogance of him.

      She wanted him, though.

      They sat on his private jet and her skin was prickling—so much so that she almost went through her bag for antihistamines, till she realised this was no allergic reaction. She was on fire for him.

      The take-off was smooth and he glanced up as a flight attendant came over.

      ‘Can I get you anything, Your Highness?’

      ‘Shaii.’ Kedah asked for tea, and it was served in a long crystal glass and cold, as he liked it. It was refreshing and sweet but not soothing.

      He took out the diamond that he carried and tapped it on the gleaming table. He saw Felicia glance over.

      ‘That’s a pretty elaborate worry bead.’

      ‘I told you,’ a surly Kedah replied. ‘I never worry.’

      The tapping resumed as he pulled up a file.

      Not any old file.

      He had been working on this for years, for it was Zazinia as he envisaged it.

      Every plan he had submitted had been rejected, every vision he’d had for his home discounted, and they were all compiled in this one stunning display. He sat there watching as buildings rose before his eyes and bridges connected them. He had designed all the infrastructure—the roads and railways were splendidly linked—and yet none of it had been implemented. At every turn he had been thwarted. This was the reason Kedah was rarely home.

      He closed the file and worked instead on a skyline that he could change. He started on some preliminary designs for his latest Dubai project.

      He was considering linking the hotels—either with a monorail or possibly a tunnel. It would be a huge venture. Yet Felicia was right. Why link two hotels that were basically the same? Now, thanks to her, the gender was no longer clear, for he was thinking of a more recreational facility. One families or couples might choose to visit.

      His plane was usually a second office, but she was invading his headspace. She was even influencing his hotel’s design. So he closed the file. Hussain could work on it further, or tell him outright if he was dreaming too big, Kedah decided.

      He opened his email and flicked over to Felicia the files he wanted her to tidy up. He added a message telling her that he wanted her to write a cover note for Hussain, but then, distracted, realised he’d sent the wrong file.

      For the first time since leaving the hotel he spoke to her.

      ‘Delete the last email I sent,’ Kedah said. ‘The information I want you to forward to Hussain is in the one I am sending now.’

      Always he could separate work and pleasure.

      Not today.

      He looked over to her and saw that the dress she was wearing was modest, but it would not be suitable for his home.

      ‘Felicia?’

      ‘Yes?’

      ‘Did I tell you about the dress code in Zazinia?’

      ‘You did.’ She nodded. ‘I’ll change closer to when we land.’ She turned and rather pointedly looked out of the window rather than prolonging their conversation.

      ‘I’m going for a rest,’ he told her. Normally Kedah just stalked off and it was left to Felicia to guess where he’d gone.

      She turned and their eyes met as he stood and headed to the bedroom. He halted when he got to the door.

      ‘There are three more hours’ flying time,’ he said. ‘Is that sufficient for you?’

      He walked into the bedroom and Felicia went into her bag and took out a book. But the words all ran into each other and after a few minutes of pretending she put the book down.

      There were moments in life from which you knew there would be no coming back.

      If she entered his suite it would be one of those moments, she knew, for his kiss had offered her more than a glimpse of what it would be like to be with him.

      He assumed she had slept with previous clients because she had let him assume that.

      And she was lying to herself now, Felicia knew, by telling herself she could handle this.

      Yet she had to.

      He came with a warning, and he had stated the same.

      This would end—and no doubt at a time of his choosing.

      She sat for a moment and accepted that fact.

      Desire won.

      And yet she did have rules.

      She wanted to be behind that door, wanted her time with him, and so she stood and headed to the bedroom.

      She didn’t knock. Instead she walked in. And there on the bed lay Kedah as she had never seen him before.

      He had a sheet covering his lower half, but she knew that he was naked beneath the sheet. For now she just stood and stared at him and took in his beauty.

      His chest was toned and there was a smattering of dark hair across it. His nipples were a deep shade of red and he was utterly exquisite. She followed the dark trail down, and through the sheet she could see the thick length of him against his thigh. The thought of him inside her was intensely thrilling.

      ‘Undress,’ he told her, and his voice had a rasp of impatience for she had kept him waiting again.

      ‘Not yet,’ she said, and then she stated her case. ‘Kedah, as long as we last, there’s only me...’

      He just stared.

      ‘If you see someone else, don’t expect me back in your bed.’

      ‘I shan’t.’

      His response was surprising. She had expected debate, or for him to state that he would do as he pleased.

      ‘I have no interest in others...’ He didn’t. He hadn’t in a while. ‘I do have to marry, though.’

      ‘I know you do.’

      ‘So how about a long fling before that...?’

      It was what she wanted—more than she had expected—and yet a warning sounded in her head, because it was already more than sex for her, and a prolonged affair with Kedah could only hurt more in the end.

      ‘A fidelity trial?’ he said.

      She wanted his kiss. She wanted him to stand and kiss her to oblivion as he undressed her with skilled ease. Yet he did not.

      ‘Take off your shoes,’ he told her, and she stood there for a few seconds before doing so. ‘Now undo your buttons...’

      ‘I do know how to undress myself,’ she snapped. Her voice was tense, and her head felt as if she had stepped off a merry-go-round.

      He was nothing like any lover she had known, and that secretly thrilled her.

      ‘Undo the buttons,’ he said, but with less patience this time.

      Her hands were shaking as she undid the row of buttons at the side