The Royals Collection. Rebecca Winters

to curve over one taut, tingling breast. As he found the loop of the top button and slipped it off his patience snapped and he tugged hard, causing the remainder to tear from the fabric as he pushed the two sides apart to reveal her breasts to his hungry stare.

      She arched up into him as he took first one turgid rosy peak and then the other into his mouth, leaving her gasping and moaning; her entire body reached fever pitch in seconds. He pressed a kiss to her belly and the frustration building inside got higher and higher as his finger slid lower and lower, inscribing a tingling line between her aching breasts and then down her quivering belly.

      Nakedness turned out not to be inhibiting—it was liberating. She lifted her arms and tugged him down to her. The slow, drugging kisses continued as she arched, pushing her breasts up against his hard chest, frantic for skin-to-skin contact. Her hands ran down the strong, smooth lines of his back, revealing his strength, his sleek hardness.

      The liquid heat in her belly had a new urgency as he began to fumble with the buckle on his belt. A moment later she heard the sound of his zipper.

      Afflicted by a belated bout of virginal modesty, she closed her eyes, opening them only when he took her hands in his and curled them around the hot, silky, rock-hard erection.

      She couldn’t prevent the little gasp that was wrenched from somewhere in her chest.

      At least make an effort to look like you know what you’re doing, Hannah.

      The voice in her head was critical but he was not.

      A deep feral moan was wrenched from his throat as her fingers began to experimentally tighten then release the pressure around the throbbing column. His eyes drifted shut and he began to breathe hard. Then without warning he took her hand and tipped her back onto the pillows.

      She let out a series of fractured gasps that terminated in a higher-pitched wailing moan as he touched the dampness between her thighs.

      ‘This is good?’ he slurred thickly as he continued to stroke and torment, making her ache everywhere.

      She nodded vigorously and pushed against the heel of his hand. ‘Oh, yes...very good.’

      He raised himself up, took her hand and, holding her gaze, laid it against his chest. Not looking away from her eyes for an instant, he fought his way out of his shirt and flung it away.

      ‘You’re beautiful,’ she breathed, unable to take her greedy stare off his tautly muscled, gleaming torso.

      Kamel swallowed. He wanted her badly. At that moment he could not think of anything he had wanted more.

      ‘I’ve wanted to be inside you since the moment I saw you.’ He pushed against her, letting her share the relentless ache in his groin.

      ‘I want that too.’ Delighting in the discovery of an inherent sensuality, she parted her thighs.

      Responding to the silent invitation with a fierce groan, he came over her and settled between her legs. She had expected to tense at that final point of no return, but she relaxed. It was easy, not so painful as she’d imagined—and then as her body tightened around him she felt her blood tingle and squeezed her eyelids tight, just focusing on all the things that were happening inside and Kamel filling her so wonderfully, Kamel moving, pushing her somewhere...

      Then just as the itch got too intense to bear, she found out where she was going and let go. She heard Kamel cry out, felt the flood of his release and wrapped her legs around him, afraid that she’d be washed away, lost.

      She wasn’t. She finished up where she’d started, under Kamel.

      * * *

      Some time later she did recover the power of speech but she couldn’t do full sentences.

      ‘Wow!’ she said, staring at the ceiling. Beside her, his chest heaving, Kamel was doing the same.

      He turned his head. ‘For a first effort, I have to say you show promise.’

      This time he did not prevent her lobbing the pillow at his head, but in the subsequent tussle it ended on the floor and they ended up in a tangle of limbs.

       CHAPTER NINE

      WHEN HANNAH WOKE it was light and she was alone.

      She felt the bed beside her—it was still warm. She gave a wistful sigh. She hadn’t expected him to be there but it would have been...no, nice was not part of their relationship. Though yesterday she would have said the same about sex. It was crazy, in a good way, that the area of this marriage she’d thought would be hardest—that she had been dreading—turned out to be the easiest and the most pleasurable.

      She gave a voluptuous sigh and smiled. It had been easy, natural, and totally incredible.

      She sat up suddenly, her eyes flying wide in dawning alarm. She was assuming that it would be happening again soon and often. But what if last night wasn’t going to be something that happened regularly? While she hadn’t known what she was missing, celibacy had been easy—but now she did know. She gave an anxious sigh.

      It would be...terrible. One night and Kamel was her drug of choice; she was a total addict.

      She showered and dressed in record time, wondering if she should just come out and ask him. She was on her way to see Sarah when she literally bumped into him. He was dressed in running shorts and a tee shirt and looked so gorgeous that she was struck dumb.

      ‘I’ve been running.’

      She nodded, and thought that there really was such a thing as being paralysed with lust. If she’d stayed in bed, would he have walked in? Her eyelids drooped as she imagined him peeling off his top and—

      ‘And you are...?’ he prompted.

      Hannah started guiltily, the colour rushing to her cheeks. ‘I’m going to see Sarah, and Olive and the puppies.’

      ‘Sarah?’

      ‘The cook...but she’s more than that. I’ll be ready for the flight.’

      ‘I’m sure you will. See you then.’

      He actually saw her much sooner. He had showered and was beginning to wade through his emails when he heard her bedroom door slam, quite loudly. A slamming door was not in itself indicative of a problem. He cut off the pointless line of speculation and focused on work. Luckily his ability to ignore distractions was almost as legendary as his reputation for zero patience for those undisciplined individuals who brought their personal lives into the workplace.

      Five minutes later he closed his laptop, realising that in the interests of efficiency it would save time if he just went and checked she was all right.

      He didn’t ask. It was obvious she wasn’t.

      ‘What’s wrong?’

      Hannah stopped pacing and turned around. ‘Nothing.’

      He arched a brow.

      ‘I can’t tell you.’ She pressed a fist to her mouth.

      He walked over, removed her fist and said calmly, ‘What can’t you tell me?’

      ‘I walked in on Sarah with Dad, They were...’ her eyes slid towards the bed ‘...you know.’

      Kamel blinked. ‘You walked in on your father having sex with the cook?’

      She covered her ears with her hands. ‘Don’t say it out loud!’

      Kamel fought back a smile. ‘It always comes as a shock to a child when they learn their parents have sex.’

      ‘I know my father has sex. I just don’t want to see it!’

      This time he couldn’t fight the smile. ‘It’s going to be tough for him—’

      ‘No, they didn’t see me. That really would