Diamond in the Desert (7 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

A
S
E
MIR
’
S
FAMILIAR
warmth and scent flared in her senses and his arms gathered her in, Britt felt a new energy flooding through her. She even spared a foolish moment to wish it could always be like this—that he was really hers, and that these strong arms and this strong body would sometimes take over so she could take time out occasionally. But that was so ridiculous she had no difficulty blanking it out. She took one last look at a world where desire for a man could grow into friendship, and where that friendship could grow into love. That was just childhood fantasy. She’d settle for lust.

Holding her face between his hands, Emir made her look at him. Gazing into the burning stare of a man who knew so much about her body made it easy to forget her doubts. Her face must have shown this transition, because he brushed her lips with his. And from there it was an easy slide into a passionate embrace that ended with Emir manoeuvring her into a comfortable position on the bench—which just happened to be under him.

‘Is there any part of this you don’t like?’ he said, smiling down at her.

She liked everything—too much—and at what risk to her heart? Right now she didn’t care as another part of Britt Skavanga, warrior woman, chipped off and floated away. At one time sex was little more than a normal function for her, like eating or sleeping, but now...

Now that wasn’t nearly enough.

But Emir’s hands were distracting her, and as he traced the line of her spine she embraced the feelings inside her. They were so strong she could hardly ignore them. She wanted this man. She wanted him so badly. She wanted to be one with him in every way. Unfortunately, Emir’s approach to sex was much like hers had used to be, and being on the receiving end of that was very different from doling it out. But then her mind filled with pleasure as his lips caressed her neck. He knew just how to work her hot spots until she softened against him and relaxed. She had always taken the lead in the past—she had been the one who knew what she was doing and where she was going, the one who was completely in control—but with Emir there was no control. She was his.

‘I love your body,’ he said as she writhed beneath him.

‘I love yours too.’ How could she not?

Emir was built on a heroic scale. She doubted she had ever met a bigger man. There wasn’t a spare inch of unnecessary flesh on his hard, toned body, and each muscle was clearly delineated after his strenuous physical exercise in the lake. He was every bit the soldier, the fighter, the leader, yet he had the most sensitive hands. She groaned as he massaged her scalp with his fingertips.

‘What do you want, Britt?’ he murmured.

‘Do you really need me to answer that?’

‘I like you to tell me,’ he said.

Emir’s voice had the power to arouse her almost as much as the man himself. Raising her chin, she took a deep breath and then told him what she wanted.

‘So open your legs wider,’ he said.

Her first thought was, No. I can’t do that—not while you’re looking down at me.

‘Wider,’ he said.

She wanted this. He excited her—

‘Wider still...’

‘I can’t—you’re merciless—’

‘Yes, I am,’ he agreed in the same soft tone.

‘Enough,’ she begged him, reaching out. She needed human contact. She needed closeness more than anything. She needed a kiss—a tender kiss. She still longed for the illusion that they were close in every way, Britt realised, feeling a pang of regret for what could never be.

He had never seen anything more beautiful than Britt at this moment, when every part of her was glowing and aroused. His desire to be joined to her was overwhelming, but something as special as this could not be rushed. It must be appreciated and savoured. One of the so-called erotic secrets of Kareshi was nothing more than this lingering over pleasure. Making time for pleasure was a so much a national pursuit he had been forced to persuade the Kareshi people to balance their country’s business needs against it, but he would never wish these old traditions to die out. In fact, he had every intention of fostering them, and as Britt reached for him he took her wrists in a firm grip. ‘Not yet,’ he whispered.

‘Don’t you want me?’ she said, arching her back as she displayed her breasts to best advantage.

She had no idea how much.

He held her locked in his stare as she sat up. He even allowed her to lace her fingers through his hair, binding him to her. Britt was easy to read. She was already on the edge. Intuition had always helped him in the past—in all sorts of situations, and now this. With Britt he mastered his own desires by channelling his thoughts into all the things that intrigued him about her.

‘How can you bear to wait?’ she complained.

‘I bear it because I know what’s best for you,’ he said. ‘I know what you need and I know the best way to give it to you.’

‘How do you know?’ she said, writhing with impatience.

On the sexual front that was all too obvious, but knowing Britt wasn’t so hard. She was the oldest child, always trying to do her best, the lab-rat for her sisters, the one who would have been given the strictest upbringing by her parents. Britt was used to bearing the weight of responsibility on her shoulders, and with duties at home and then duties in the business she hadn’t had much time to explore life, let alone discover the nuances of sex and how very good it could be.

‘So, how did you like our Nordic traditions?’ she murmured against his mouth.

Distracted, he brushed a kiss against her lips. ‘I like them a lot. I’d like to know more. I’d like to know more about you—’

The look of surprise on her face almost broke the erotic spell for him, and then she said with touching honesty, ‘I’d like to know more about you and your country.’

‘Maybe you will.’

Closing his eyes, he inhaled her wildflower scent, and realised then that the thought of never smelling it again was unthinkable. He was still on guard, of course. There was still a business deal to do and it would be unwise to underestimate Britt Skavanga. She was everything he had been warned to expect...and so much more.

* * *

When Emir kissed her she was glad of his arms supporting her, because he didn’t just kiss her breath away, he kissed her thoughts away too. It felt so good to drop her guard and lose herself in sensation, shut out the business robot she had become. It was good to feel sensation spreading in tiny rivers of fire through her veins, and even better to feel Emir’s erection resting heavily against her thigh, because that said he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She groaned with anticipation when he nudged her thighs apart. Moving between them, he started teasing her with delicate touches until she thought she would go mad for him.

‘Wrap your legs around me,’ he instructed, staring deep into her eyes.

‘Don’t make me wait,’ she warned, but in a way she was glad when he soothed her with kisses and caresses first. She cried out and urged him on. There were no certainties other than the fact that she was being drawn deeper into a dangerous liaison with him.

As if sensing her unease, he took her face in his big, warm hands and drugged her with kisses. Gentle to begin with, they grew deeper and firmer as the embers inside her sparked and flared. She loved it when he took possession of her mouth, and loved it even more when he took possession of her body. She loved being held so firmly. She loved the powerful emotions inside her.

‘Have you changed your mind?’ he said as she tried to rein them in.

She denied this, and then he did something so amazing she couldn’t have stopped him if she had tried. A shaking cry escaped her throat as he sank slowly deep inside her. She could never be fully prepared for Emir. The sheer size of him stole the breath from her lungs. He was such an intuitive lover. He understood every part of her and how she responded. He knew her limits and never stepped over them, while his hands and mouth worked magic. Today he was using the seductive language of Kareshi—soft and guttural, husky and persuasive—to both encourage and excite her. It must have succeeded because she found herself pressing her legs wide for him with the heel of her palms against her thighs.

‘Good,’ he approved, thrusting even deeper.

She cried out his name repeatedly as he moved rhythmically and reliably towards the inevitable conclusion. But suddenly some madness overcame them, and control was no longer possible as they fought their way to release.

She was still shuddering with aftershocks minutes later. Her internal muscles closed around him gratefully, to an indescribably delicious beat.

Neither of them spoke for quite a while. They had both experienced the same thing—something out of the ordinary, she thought as Emir stared down at her. At last his eyes were full of everything she had longed to see.

‘I take it you enjoyed that?’ he murmured, and, withdrawing gently, he helped her to sit up.

‘And you?’ she said, resting her cheek against his chest.

‘I have one suggestion—’

She glanced up.

‘Next time we try a bed.’

His grin infected her. ‘Now there’s a novel thought,’ she agreed, but after she had rested on him for a moment or two harsh reality intruded and she remembered who she was, who he was, and the parts they played in this drama.

Lifting her chin, she put on the old confident face. ‘Don’t get ahead of yourself, mister. I sleep alone.’

‘Who mentioned sleeping?’ Emir argued.

‘Do you always have to show such perfect good sense?’

‘With you, I think I do,’ he said, smiling, unrepentant.

* * *

Emir was probably the one man she was prepared to take instruction from, Britt concluded as she showered down later in her en-suite bathroom at the cabin, if only because the pay-off was so great. And she wasn’t just thinking about the sexual pay-off, but the pay-off that was making her sing and waltz around the bathroom like a fruit-loop—the pay-off that made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside—and optimistic about the future—about everything. She felt suddenly as if anything could happen—as if the boundaries of Skavanga and her job had fallen away, leaving a world full of possibility. And the desert kingdom of Kareshi was definitely the stand out country in that world waiting to be discovered.

Of course, she must visit Emir’s homeland as he had suggested. If the deal went through it would be wrong to accept the consortium’s investment without wanting to know as much as she possibly could about the benefits the diamonds would bring to both countries. Perhaps there could be reciprocal cultural and educational opportunities—anything was possible. She longed to get stuck into it—to get out of the office and meet people at last. Her mind was blazing with ideas. No dream seemed too far-fetched.

* * *

Showering down after his unique encounter with Britt, Sharif’s thoughts were arranged in several compartments. The first was all to do with Britt the businesswoman. She was meticulous and had held the company together when many would have failed. Her attention to detail was second to none—as he had learned when it had taken him several hours, rather than the usual five minutes, to pore over her first agenda and find a hole. She was clear-headed and quick-thinking in her business life—

And an emotional mess when it came to anything else.

Her life was tied up in duty, but she wanted it all. He guessed she heard the clock ticking, but she didn’t know how to escape from her work long enough to find the fulfilment she craved—the satisfaction of raising her own family and extending her sphere of influence in the workplace too. She did everything she could to support her sisters while they studied and campaigned for this and that, but they didn’t seem to stop and think that Britt deserved some fulfilment too.

And neither should he, he reminded himself. He had one duty, one goal, and one responsibility, which was to the men who had come in with him on this deal. Business always came first, because business fed improvements in Kareshi, and only then could he afford to pause to wonder if there was anything missing from his life—

Britt?

Any man would be missing a woman like Britt in his life. She was exceptional. She was an intriguing mix of control and abandonment, and it seemed to him that the only time Britt let go was during sex, which made cutting the best deal possible a challenging prospect, but not impossible.

Business, always business, he thought, towelling down. He liked that Britt was part of that business. He had always loved a challenge and Britt was a challenge. Securing the towel around his waist, he picked up his razor to engage in the one battle he usually lost. His beard grew faster than he could shave it off, but at least the ritual soothed him and gave him time to think.

Shaking his head as if that could shake thoughts of Britt out of it, he rinsed his face and raked his thick, unruly hair into some semblance of order. The deal was a tantalising prospect and he would bring it in. Between them he and his friends had the means and the skill and the outlets necessary to transform dull, uncut diamonds into sparkling gems that would shimmer with fire as they shivered against a woman’s skin. Britt believed she held all the cards, and could cut the better deal, but he held the joker.

Stepping into jeans, he tugged on a plain back top, and fastened his belt before reaching for the phone. Some decisions were harder to take than others, and this was harder than most. Britt had all the instincts of a man inside the body of a woman, but she had a woman’s emotions, which held her back when it came to clear thinking in a deal like this where family was involved. He wished he could protect her from the fall-out from this call, but his duty was clear. This wasn’t for him alone, but for the consortium, and for Kareshi. In the absence of her brother, Britt led her tribe as he did, making her a worthy adversary. He just had to hope she could handle this new twist in the plot as competently as she had coped with other obstacles life had thrown at her.

He drummed his fingers impatiently as he waited for the call to connect. Three rings later the call was answered. He hesitated, which was definitely a first for him, but the die had been cast on the day he had sat down to research the share structure of Skavanga Mining and had discovered that the major shareholder was not in fact the three sisters, but their missing brother, Tyr Skavanga. More complicated still was that, for reasons of his own, Tyr didn’t want his sisters to know where he was. Having given his word, Emir would have to keep that from Britt even though Tyr’s long-distance involvement in the deal would swing the balance firmly in the consortium’s favour.