Modern Romance Collection: June 2018 Books 5 - 8. Jane Porter

I don’t stay like this,’ she said, laughing as she added a theatrical groan, ‘I’ll be okay.’

      ‘You need that swim,’ he said.

      ‘I truly do,’ she agreed as they linked fingers.

      ‘Now, take off your clothes while I untack the horse,’ he instructed, yanking her close.

      ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ She stared up into Khalid’s dark, mesmerising eyes. ‘Do you have any more instructions for me?’

      ‘I will have. You can depend on it.’

      She had no doubt.

      * * *

      When she joined him and he gazed down at Millie’s naked perfection, he thought himself the luckiest man on earth. Showing no fear of Burkan, she scratched the stallion beneath his chin, while the one-man horse, fierce and unsociable, nickered with approval.

      ‘You’ve won him over,’ he said. ‘I’ll make a Bedouin of you yet.’

      ‘Burkan won me over,’ Millie argued, with an approving look at his horse. ‘Maybe I’ll make an engineer out of you,’ she added with a sideways look.

      ‘I mine sapphires,’ he reminded her, ‘and so I always have need of top-notch engineers.’

      ‘So I can tinker with your boats and with your engines in the mine.’

      ‘Why not?’ They both knew this was a game, and would never happen, but why not play it out? ‘You can tinker with anything you want to,’ he said as he brought his robe over his head and tossed it aside. Taking hold of her hand, he drew her close as he led her towards the water.

      ‘Is this a dream?’ Millie asked him of the oasis. She dipped her toes as he sprang onto Burkan’s back. Swinging Millie into his arms, he rode full tilt into the chill of deep water. Millie shrieked with the shock of it, and he laughed and held her close as Burkan lunged forward and began to swim. Steering the big horse towards the shade of the overhanging palm fronds, he urged him up the bank and dismounted. Lifting Millie down, he left the stallion to crop grass and rest.

      ‘This is heaven,’ Millie exclaimed softly as she rested briefly against Burkan’s side to stroke him appreciatively. ‘And if it is a dream, I never want it to end.’

      And neither did he, but it must, he thought.

      * * *

      How could she not respond to a man as brutally masculine as Khalid? And so gloriously naked. Primal instinct would always triumph over common sense, Millie concluded as Khalid looped his powerful arms around her waist. He was holding her in a tantalisingly loose grip that she could have walked away from at any time, but he knew she had no intention of going anywhere. His seduction techniques were many and various, as she had learned, and she hadn’t encountered one yet that wasn’t fiendishly effective.

      They stood in silence for a while, but that silence was so deep and intense, she could hear both their hearts beating as one.

      ‘I want to make love to you,’ he said at last. ‘I mean, really make love to you.’

      ‘What are you saying, Khalid?’ Hope filled her.

      ‘Don’t you know?’

      ‘Not unless you say it.’

      ‘I love being with you, Millie Dillinger,’ he murmured as he nuzzled her cheek and neck.

      That wasn’t what she’d hoped to hear. Get over it. Get real, as her friends at the laundry would say. Urgent pulses of sweet pleasure were teasing her body beyond endurance. Why did she have to think further than that? Of course he wanted to make love—have sex—it was all just terminology; a choice of words. She did too. Their bodies were tuned to each other’s needs, and the urge to mate wouldn’t leave them alone, until they were sated.

      And that dose of reality helped her emotions how?

      ‘I want you,’ she whispered as Khalid backed her towards the shade. ‘So much,’ she added truthfully, feeling tears sting her eyes as he lowered her to the ground.

      The grass was firm and warm beneath her back after the chill of the water. Their faces were close, so close their lips were almost touching. Her mouth was kiss-bruised and tingling as her arousal grew. Knowing this, he smiled and kissed her. She was his to do with as he wished.

      Lowering himself carefully, he brushed his body against hers. Anticipating his weight, his heat, his strength, was almost the best part.

      ‘No,’ he warned as she positioned herself for pleasure. ‘I must protect you first—’

      ‘I can’t wait!’ she protested.

      ‘You must—’

      ‘No!’ It wouldn’t be the first time with Khalid that she’d pushed the boundaries. Passion as fierce as theirs could accept no boundaries or restrictions. Drawing up her legs, she arced her hips and drew him deep. Holding him secure with her inner muscles, she worked him mercilessly. Digging her fingers into his arms, she bit his neck and shoulder, growling to express all the frustration inside her. The end came quickly in a cataclysmic release. Khalid swore viciously as he fell back on the grass, but when she turned to look at him, he was smiling.

      ‘Animal,’ he said, making it sound like the greatest compliment possible. ‘What are you? A sorceress? A siren? A witch?’

      ‘A laundress,’ she said.

      He laughed as he pulled her across to lie on top of him. ‘A very special, and very dangerous laundress,’ he observed, ‘and one whose talents must never be allowed to go to waste.’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘We need teachers in Khalifa, experts in their field who can inspire our young people. I can think of no one better than you to fill that role.’

      ‘I’m not an expert yet,’ Millie pointed out.

      ‘But you will be,’ he enthused, ‘and we need you in Khalifa. We have an excellent engineering college—’

      ‘What are you saying, Khalid?’ she interrupted sharply. Couldn’t he see the truth? Her future didn’t lie in Khalifa. ‘I have a course to finish in the UK.’

      ‘And when you have finished, come and work for me.’ The fire of desire and bold intention blazed fiercely in his eyes. Khalid was used to conquering problems, and couldn’t envisage a situation that wouldn’t bend to his will, Millie thought. ‘We’re always looking for new ideas, and ambassadors to spread the word.’

      ‘No,’ she said quietly. How could she be close to him and not part of his life? ‘But thanks for the offer. I really appreciate it.’ She tried her best to sound sincere, and untouched emotionally by Khalid’s suggestion that she could live in his beautiful country, perhaps within a stone’s throw of the palace, and not have her heart break in pieces. She didn’t want to hurt him, or seem ungrateful, but neither could she face the heartache that would bring.

      ‘My loss,’ he said thoughtfully.

      And mine, Millie mused.

      Khalid’s stroking touch was more gentle than usual as he brought her to rest on his chest, as if his thoughts were plaguing him, and he was still on the hunt for a solution. She couldn’t bear it, and had to tell herself not to cry. You can’t have everything you want, and nor can he, she told herself firmly. But she only wanted this, and it seemed so unfair that she couldn’t have it, Millie thought as Khalid stroked her hair, reassuring her, as if he sensed her distress.

      It was as if they were already saying goodbye, she realised. A great surge of distress accompanied this thought, and threatened to overwhelm her. She had to be strong. She would be.

      They swam again, and it was lovely and cleansing, and the tiredness she’d experienced after the long ride had fallen away. But there was sadness too. After a lifetime of carefully guarding her