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his eyes emphasised by his cocked brow.

      ‘Dare I venture that the past two hours haven’t been pure torture for you?’

      Allegra reddened. ‘Not entirely,’ she replied.

      ‘It’s time to return to the palace. That is, of course, if you can bear to tear yourself away.’

      He stood watching in brooding silence as she washed her hands and stood. Again his expression was a mixture of anger and puzzlement.

      The moment she reached him, he turned and strode out, his stature and billowing robe cutting an imperious figure through the crowd gathered to wave their sheikh off.

      As she quickened her steps after him, Allegra found herself admitting she didn’t like silent and brooding Rahim Al-Hadi.

      Not one little bit.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      BY THE TIME the helicopter landed back on the rolling green lawns of Dar-Aman Palace, Allegra was near-ready to jump out of the charged atmosphere. Rahim had barely made conversation, only answering direct questions she posed. His answers weren’t monosyllabic, but from the terse responses, they may as well have been.

      ‘Why were you meeting with the elders?’ She asked the question that had been hovering on her lips since they took off from Nur-Aman.

      For a second, she thought he wouldn’t answer her. But Rahim glanced down at her as they neared the hallway that led to her suite. She breathed a sigh of relief when his steps slowed to match hers. She dismissed the part of her that mocked her for delaying the return to the crassly named women’s wing. Or that she was searching for further redeeming qualities of the man who’d run his kingdom to the ground while keeping himself draped in priceless arts and fast cars.

      ‘Did you notice the abandoned pipelines that were laid close to the tribe encampment?’ he asked.

      ‘Yes,’ she answered.

      ‘That mountain was where my first ancestor discovered the malachite that Dar-Aman is renowned for. In the valley below Nur-Aman is where we struck our first crude deposit. Those pipes were laid almost twenty years ago. It was a bold and brilliant plan that should’ve brought jobs and sustainable revenue growth to the Nur-Aman people.’

      The deep pride in his voice enthralled her, while making her wonder why he’d remained blind to the needs of his people until recently.

      ‘But?’

      ‘But they haven’t been touched for over fifteen years.’

      ‘I could tell. Why not?’

      Rahim’s expression showed mingled displeasure and bitterness. Wondering where the latter emotion had come from, she waited for him to answer.

      ‘Contracts were renegotiated and the oil drilling concerns sold off to faceless foreign corporations.’

      ‘Aren’t there laws to prevent that from happening?’

      He shrugged. ‘They were bent far enough but not broken.’

      She pursed her lips. ‘I’m surprised you would freely admit something like that.’

      ‘I have nothing to hide, Allegra. Especially not about something as important as this.’

      ‘What are you going to do about it?’

      ‘There’s only one course of action. I intend to get back, and keep, what is mine.’

      Staring into his eyes, Allegra grew hot all over, absurdly affected by words that pertained to oil rights and furthering his riches.

      But it was there all the same, fuelling a whole heap of confusion.

      They reached the doors of her suite, and Rahim threw them open. Nura was nowhere to be seen and Allegra’s heart began a discordant hammer as she walked into the living room, followed closely by Rahim, and his overwhelmingly masculine presence.

      ‘Well, thank you for bringing me along. It was certainly an eye-opening experience,’ she said when she’d ran out of places to direct her attention and finally looked in his face to find him watching her with an intensity that dragged more heat through her stomach.

      It took monumental willpower to tear her gaze from the sensual curve of his mouth.

      He prowled to where she stood and caught an errant curl that had escaped her ponytail. Thoughtfully, with unhurried movements, he rubbed the strands between his fingers before tucking it behind her ear.

      The electrifying touch, though it whispered over her skin for a few seconds, sent wild and fiery currents racing through her. Allegra’s stomach clenched in reaction to the arrows of fiery arousal lancing her. She forced herself to swallow when her mouth filled with a longing she couldn’t describe. When his hand fell to his side, it was all she could do not to catch and pull it back up to repeat the caress.

      ‘I’m glad your eyes have been opened.’

      ‘Are...are you?’ she asked vaguely, still yearning for his touch with a hunger that scared and surprised her.

      As if he’d read her thoughts, his hand slowly lifted. This time he caressed her cheek, then her jaw, his touch almost reverent as it traced her skin. When he reached the corner of her mouth, Allegra held her breath, almost too afraid to move in case he removed it. ‘Of course. It would please me even more if you applied your observations fruitfully. Can I count on you to do that, Allegra?’

      Knowing she should be giving this conversation better attention, she tried to focus, but his thumb, now tracing her lower lip, threatened to send her reasoning into free fall. ‘I’m not sure...what...’

      He placed a stalling finger on her lips. ‘I have a proposition to make to you, Allegra. One I sincerely hope you’ll be receptive to.’ His eyes burned as he looked down at her.

      She’d seen that look once, in a movie when the male lead actor had made an indecent proposal to the actress. At the time, she’d silently scoffed at the improbability of it all. Now, with her breath lodged in her throat, Allegra waited, an almost forbidden excitement racing through her blood. When he said nothing after a few minutes, she cleared her throat. ‘What...what sort of proposition?’ she asked huskily, every sensitive nerve ending on her mouth reacting to the brush of his finger.

      His beautiful eyes darkened, the hunger that clawed through her emblazoned boldly in his gaze. ‘One that I hope will align our goals now that you’ve spent some time in Dar-Aman.’ Once again his finger trailed over her skin. This time it wove a path down her jaw to her shoulder, then drifted down her arm to capture her hand. Catching her fingers with his, he brought her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles. A smile tilted the corner of his mouth when she gasped. ‘We will talk further this evening. The banquet starts at eight. I will collect you shortly before then.’

      He turned and walked out, leaving her in a state of sensual confusion and hyped excitement. And despite telling herself she was a fool to fall into such an obvious trap, Allegra couldn’t summon a practical enough argument to calm her racing pulse as she walked into her bedroom in a daze to undress.

      * * *

      Rahim strode away from Allegra’s suite with a burning in his bloodstream and the knowledge that the game had altered significantly. Not enough to sway him from what he needed to do for his people. More like the dimensions of his intentions had grown, while the prototype remained the same.

      It wasn’t a dynamic he altogether welcomed, because he’d never been one to mix business with pleasure. Or let his personal urges get in the way of his ultimate goals. Sex with Allegra, no matter how detached he would choose to view it, would be personal enough to jeopardise what she and her foundation could do for Dar-Aman.

      Because to put it simply, he wanted to bed Allegra Di Sione. He’d known it from the moment he looked into her enthralling eyes this morning.