Red-Hot Desert Docs. Carol Marinelli

He felt her mouth bite his shoulder and he held her hips and thrust in hard. He knew from her moans that she gladly suffered an erotic mix of pain and bliss.

      He was not gentle, he was rough, delivering the pleasure that made her thighs shake and her calves ache as they gripped him.

      Her cold mouth came up to his and her tense lips were on his as he took her ever more deeply.

      He angled himself and she stiffened at the new sensations he aroused and then she moaned because he stroked her inside so exquisitely.

      They were surrounded by stars; they were there when she looked up and they were reflected on the water as she rested her head on his shoulder as he took her faster. They were bathing in the sky, that was how it felt; they were two stars locked now in eternal orbit.

      Adele felt the swell and the hot rush of him deep inside and he moved her as she pulsed around him.

      They were sweating in the cold air and heat below and she took every drop he delivered and then he stilled her with his hands and they kissed until she again rested her head on his shoulder.

      ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked, still inside her.

      ‘You might have said no.’

      Zahir shook his head. ‘Never.’

       CHAPTER TWELVE

      ‘I HEAR ABOUT you going out on dates?’

      They were back in the tent, lying on the opulent bed and still wet from the hot water. She could see the bruise her teeth had made on his shoulder and she felt sore but sated.

      ‘Yes, I’ve had many first dates.’ Adele smiled.

      He didn’t ask about her being on the Pill and she remembered telling him that she was when she’d been hit.

      She knew she had missed taking a couple of them. When she had stayed overnight at the hospital and possibly the day after that she hadn’t taken it.

      There was no point saying anything yet, though.

      There wasn’t exactly a glut of pharmacies in Mamlakat Almas.

      She would deal with that later.

      Adele had everything she wanted in this moment and many more times throughout the night.

      She came to his hand and he came to her mouth.

      They spent the night making love rather than waste a moment sleeping. Together they made up for lost time.

      But all too soon morning started to creep in.

      Zahir pulled back a drape and he dressed in his robe and left the tent as Adele lay there, watching the stars disappear and the day invading in a glorious riot of yellows and pinks.

      ‘We’ll leave soon,’ he said when he returned from wherever he had been.

      She didn’t want to leave.

      She had never felt more at peace than here in the desert.

      ‘Are you looking forward to going home tomorrow?’ Zahir asked.

      ‘I’m...’ Adele couldn’t answer. She wanted to see that her mother was okay but she wasn’t looking forward to it as such. And she wanted to sort out where she lived. She loved her career but just couldn’t quite envisage Zahir not being there.

      No, she couldn’t answer honestly because the truth was that she wanted to be here, sharing his bed.

      He saved her from lying with a kiss but she could hear the maids setting up for breakfast in the lounge and she pulled back.

      ‘Where did you go?’ Adele asked.

      ‘To visit my brother’s grave. I always do when I am here. I finally spoke with my mother about all that happened.’

      ‘That’s good.’

      ‘I can see now that she had pre-eclampsia,’ Zahir said.

      ‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you.’

      ‘No, I respect that you didn’t,’ Zahir said. ‘I know that you think my father must be mad but...’

      ‘It must be so difficult for him,’ Adele broke in.

      Her response surprised Zahir but Adele had given it a lot of thought. ‘The one time your mother stepped outside tradition he lost his son.’

      He thought about that as Adele went to bathe.

      She came back pink and dressed in a silver robe and neither wanted to leave, so they lingered over breakfast.

      She drank a lovely infusion of hot lemon and mint and they ate sweet cakes and he saw that she was holding back tears.

      ‘It isn’t over,’ he said. ‘We have tonight. You will be in my bed back at the palace.’

      She shook her head.

      ‘The staff aren’t going to say anything. They are good people and we will be discreet. My parents won’t find out for ages and I am fully prepared for that.’

      It wasn’t that so much that troubled her.

      It was the next day when she went home.

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      FOR LEILA THE hope that a weekend break might help her marriage soon faded.

      And being away from home had been more tiring than she had anticipated.

      In the morning, unable to face another day and night smiling and being gracious, she asked Fatiq to make their excuses and to fly them home.

      ‘That is impolite,’ Fatiq told her.

      ‘I don’t care,’ she said.

      Leila was through with being polite.

      Fatiq had strode into the palace, not best pleased.

      ‘Inform Zahir that I am back.’

      And Bashir knew, because whispers had swirled through the palace, that Zahir was not here and neither was Adele.

      Neither was the pilot who had taken them into the desert yesterday afternoon.

      ‘I believe that Zahir is out,’ Bashir said.

      ‘Where is he?’ Fatiq demanded.

      Bashir did not answer.

      Leila certainly did not need to know where their son was—he was a man after all.

      ‘I am going to have some tea and then lie down,’ she said. ‘Bashir, would you have Samina disturb Adele and ask her to come and see me.’

      Leila had the most terrible headache and it had been a strained time away with Fatiq.

      ‘Of course,’ Bashir said.

      Oh, they delayed and played for time, and by the time the Queen had taken some morning tea and was slowly climbing the stairs, Samina came to her with the answer.

      ‘Your Highness, Adele is not in her wing.’

      ‘Where is...?’

      And the Queen stopped herself from asking the question when she saw the conflict in Samina’s eyes.

      ‘Actually, don’t trouble Adele.’ She knew. ‘I gave her the weekend off.’

      ‘Where is the nurse?’ Fatiq was coming up the stairs behind his wife.

      ‘She likes to walk on the beach,’ Bashir said.

      Poor Bashir did his best too.

      But the King was no fool. He climbed the stairs right up to