LITMIR.BIZ

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very commendable,’ he murmured. ‘But there is so much more to life than horses.’

      There was absolutely nowhere to look but into the gleam of his eyes, which were dazzling her with ebony fire, seeming to suck away all the strength in her body, leaving her feeling defenceless beneath its powerful searchlight.

      ‘Isn’t there, Eleni?’ he continued softly.

      ‘I…’ But Eleni had no time to put together a sentence—even if her brain hadn’t just turned to honeycomb—because the unbelievable was now happening. Prince Kaliq Al’Farisi was lowering his dark and beautiful head and those mocking lips were moving towards her lips.

       He was going to kiss her!

      Eleni had never been kissed before and she was not to know that it was being executed by a master of the art. All she did know were a series of conflicting sensations which were dragging her into a sweetly erotic world she hadn’t dreamed could exist. She could feel the silken seeking of his mouth and the instant clamouring of her senses in response. Could hear her heart beating so loud and so hard that she was afraid it might burst beneath her breast. And now a strange honeyed rush was beginning at the fork of her thighs, which had her almost choking with pleasure.

      He was pressing against her now, pushing her down onto the cushions. Almost arrogantly, he had splayed his hand over one breast and—both shamefully and delightfully—Eleni could feel that breast reacting to his caress. It was growing full and tingly and achy—and, inexplicably, she found herself longing for him to touch it more, and much harder.

      ‘Highness!’ she gasped as she felt the royal tongue licking its way deliciously over her lips. ‘Oh, Highness!’

      ‘Mmm?’

      Fighting every instinct in her body, Eleni detached her mouth. ‘We must stop this,’ she said weakly.

      ‘No!’ he growled, tiptoeing his fingers over the growing bud of her nipple and groaning as it peaked through the silk gown. Increasing the urgency of his mouth, he felt her lips open and Kaliq began to ruck the silk of her dress up over her ankles. Ah, the sweet firmness of her ankle with its soft, silken flesh! And beyond? What treasures lay undiscovered there? ‘Not yet.’

      ‘Yes!’ Eleni knew little of the ways of love—her sexual education had been one hasty class at school and a peep at an ancient art-book shown to her by her favourite teacher before it had been confiscated by the school’s head. She knew that sex was sacred, secret and forbidden—and yet, now she was sampling her first taste of it, she could see how tempting it was, too.

      Kaliq was playing with her aching breast and sliding up her silken gown and she was lying there and just letting him—even though she knew it was wrong!

      It was like dragging herself back from the edge of paradise, but Eleni knew she had to get herself out of such a dangerous situation with such a highly experienced and powerful man. Get out now—before it was too late.

      With a strength she didn’t know she possessed—a strength forged from years of hard, physical work in the stable—she pushed the sheikh away from her, surprising a series of conflicting emotions on his face as she did so.

      She saw frustration and a dark smouldering kind of anger, but more than any of these things she saw astonishment.

      ‘What in the falcon’s name do you think you are doing?’ he questioned, with silky menace.

      Eleni’s breathing was so erratic that it took a moment before she could speak, and even then, she felt odd—as if she were sickening for something. Dizzy. Disorientated. Her blood boiling in her veins and her head spinning.

      ‘I am guarding my honour!’ she cried out, not caring now about protocol.

      Kaliq’s mouth twisted. ‘Your honour?’ he questioned acidly, as if she had just invented a new word. ‘What are you talking about?’

      Eleni couldn’t really move—and in truth she did not think she would be able to. But she knew that things needed to calm down and that somehow she must help the sheikh lose that look of pure fury on his face. Because surely once he understood the truth of her predicament—then he would understand?

      ‘You do not think that I have a reputation that I guard fiercely?’ she demanded hotly. ‘That my honour is not worth preserving?’

      ‘Your honour?’ he echoed again as he tried to ignore the fierce throb of hunger which pulsed through his body.

      ‘I may be a simple country girl—but even I know that such an act between two people who barely know one another would be wrong.’

      Frustration made him want to ask her whether she was holding out for dinner first—but he suspected that irony would be lost on her, quite apart from the fact that he bet she’d never been taken out for dinner in her life.

      ‘But I, as your sheikh, want it,’ he argued, quite reasonably. ‘So how can it be wrong?’

      Eleni took the opportunity to wriggle back a little on the bank of silk cushions, trying to steady her still-ragged breathing and wishing that her heart would slow down. But that fractional increase in the distance between them made all the difference.

      ‘I would lose respect,’ she said.

      ‘Whose? Mine? I can assure you that your surrender will make me respect you more,’ he murmured, lifting his hand to brush away a lock of silken hair which had escaped.

      Eleni looked at him, trying to ignore the instinctive thrill she felt when he touched her. She didn’t believe him, not for a moment. He reminded her of her favourite stable cat—a sleek and beautiful creature, but one who would happily trail after anyone who happened to feed her. But of course she would not do anything as stupid as calling the sheikh a liar.

      ‘It would be unsuitable, Highness,’ she continued implacably. ‘And ultimately it might distract your attention from Nabat.’

      For a moment he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, until he realised that she meant her wretched horse. For a moment he wanted to exclaim that the horse could go to hell for all he cared—that her sweet young body excited him far more—but even he recognised that this would not do his case any good.

      Did she not realise that there wasn’t a woman alive who had ever turned down the opportunity of such sensual pleasure with Prince Kaliq Al’Farisi? Did she not realise that there could be dire consequences from incurring his royal displeasure? Dropping his hand from the pure oval of her face, he gave a click of irritated frustration.

      ‘I’m not interested in the damned horse!’ he snapped, unable to stop himself.

      Eleni’s expression exhibited nothing but interested enquiry, even though her heart was racing like a piston beneath the expensive robe she wore. ‘But I thought that was your reason for bringing me here, Highness.’

      He met her innocent gaze with a frown. Was it simply his imagination—or was there a teasing challenge in the depths of those green eyes? If he told her that her courage and youth and arresting eyes had played their part in bringing her here—then would that not put him at a disadvantage? Did she not realise that he could have any woman he wanted and that she was lucky that he had deigned to pick her? Well, she would discover it soon enough!

      ‘Then we will discuss the horses,’ he drawled, stifling a yawn—as if he had grown bored with the conversation.

      For a moment, Eleni wondered whether she had gone too far—but what choice did she have? She would have acted in the same way no matter who had attempted such a casual and quick seduction. And just because Kaliq was a sheikh did not mean that he should be treated any differently from any other man, did it?

      It was true that no one else had ever made her feel like that—as if she had just discovered what a woman’s body had been designed for—but surely that itself was dangerous? Imagine if she got used to a sheikh’s caresses and began comparing everyone else to him. That, of course, presumed that

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