Wrapped in Pleasure (10 page)

“No,” she said as a smile curved her lips. “I’m not upset. I’m glad you did have the good sense to buy them.”

Long after Delaney had fallen asleep, Jamal was still awake. For some reason the thought of another man sleeping with her, holding her in his arms the way he was doing bothered him. It also disturbed him that one day there would be a man in her life who would see her in all those sexy lingerie and underthings that she liked buying for herself.

When he finally dozed off to sleep, his mind was trying to fight the possessiveness he felt for the beautiful woman asleep in his arms.

“I take it that you enjoyed the movie,” Jamal said when he pulled Delaney’s car to a stop in front of the cabin.

She smiled, showing perfect white teeth and very sensuous lips. “What woman wouldn’t enjoy a movie with Denzel Washington in it?”

He searched her face, amazed at the tinge of jealousy he was feeling. “You really like him, don’t you?”

“Of course,” she responded, getting out of the car and walking up the steps to the door. “What woman could resist Denzel?”

Jamal frowned. “And you would go out on a date with him if he were to ask you?”

Delaney stopped walking and turned around. She studied Jamal’s expression, seeing his frown and clenched teeth. As she continued to observe him, she had a sudden flash of insight when something clicked in her brain. He’s jealous! Of all the outrageous…

She inwardly smiled. If that was true it meant, just possibly, that he cared something for her. But then a voice within her taunted,
Not necessarily. It could also mean that now that he has slept with you he sees you as a possession he wants to keep and add to the other things he owns
.

“Yes, I would go out with him,” she finally answered, and saw the frown on his face deepen. “However, I don’t plan on losing sleep waiting for such a miracle to happen. Besides, I doubt he would ask any woman out on a date since he’s a married man.” She quirked a brow. “Why do you want to know?”

He walked past her and said, “Curious.”

She fell silent as she followed him to the porch. When she had awakened that morning he had already left the bed and
was outside practicing his kickboxing. By the time she had made coffee and placed a few Danish rolls in the oven he had come inside. They had enjoyed a pleasant conversation, then he had suggested that they take in a midday matinee at the movie theater.

She knew his intention had been to get her out of the cabin for most of the day so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch her again. He wanted to give her body time to adjust to their making love before they did it again, although she had tried convincing him that her body had adjusted just fine. She sighed deeply. It was time for her to take matters into her own hands.

Jamal’s hands tightened like fists at his sides when he stood aside to let Delaney enter the cabin. He didn’t understand why an irrational stab of envy had consumed him, making him angry, since he was familiar with Western women’s fascination with movie actors and sports figures. But it rubbed him the wrong way to include Delaney in that number.

Closing the door behind them, he watched as she tossed her purse on the sofa. He had admired her outfit the moment she had emerged from the bedroom wearing it. She certainly knew how to dress to show off her attributes to the maximum. The short blue dress stopped way above her knees and showed off her curves and shapely legs. Her high-heeled sandals were sexy enough to drive him to distraction.

Then there was that lush behind of hers that always kept his pulse working overtime. He was just dying to touch it, run his hand all over it. He took a deep, fortifying breath as he let his gaze trace her legs from the tip of her polished toes, past her ankles, beyond her knees and up to her thighs that met the hem of her dress. He couldn’t help but think about
what was under that dress. He shook his head. How had he thought he could go a whole day without making love to her again?

“How does soup and a sandwich sound, Jamal?”

Jamal swallowed. His low reserve of willpower was pitiful. It took every ounce that he had to move his gaze away from her legs and focus on her face. “That sounds good and I’d like to help.”

She smiled. “You’re getting pretty handy in the kitchen. You seem to enjoy being there.”

Jamal’s brows furrowed. Not really, he wanted to say. She was the one who enjoyed being in the kitchen. He merely enjoyed being wherever she was. “Things are not always as they seem to be, Delaney.”

She studied him for a long moment, then turned toward the kitchen. He followed, trying his best not to notice how the soft material of the dress hugged her hips as she walked ahead of him.

“Do you want to chop the veggies for the soup?”

His mind clicked when he heard a sound. He thought he heard her speak but wasn’t sure. “Did you say something?”

She stopped walking and turned around. Her eyes smiled fondly at him as if he was a dim-witted human being. The way he was lusting after her, he was certainly feeling like one. “I asked if you wanted to chop the veggies for the soup I’m making.”

“Oh, sure. Whatever you need me to do. I’m at your disposal.”

“Are you always this generous to the women you sleep with?”

Jamal tensed, not liking her question and wondering how she could ask such a thing. While he was with her he didn’t want to think about other women. “I’m considered a very generous man to a lot of people, Delaney,” he said, holding her gaze, refusing to let her bait him.

She nodded and continued her walk to the kitchen.

Jamal sighed. He knew there was an American saying that…if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen. He muttered a low curse. He was following the heat right into the kitchen.

Delaney stopped stirring the ingredients she had already put in the pot and glanced over at Jamal. He was standing at the counter slicing vegetables. “How are you doing over there?”

He lifted his head from his task, and his gaze met hers across the room. “I’m just about finished.”

“Good. The vegetables will be ready to go into the pot in a few minutes.”

He swallowed hard. “It smells good. I bet it will taste good, too.”

She gave a casual shrug. “There’s nothing like something smelling good and tasting good,” she said before turning back around.

Jamal was doing his best not to remember how good she smelled and how good she tasted. He also tried not to remember other things. Like the feel of her beneath his hands as he held her hips firmly, lifting her as he had entered her; how her eyes would darken each time he thrust into her, pulled out and thrust into her again. And the sounds of pleasure she made, and how her body would tighten around him, holding him deep inside of her, milking him bone-dry. At least trying to.

Jamal diced mercilessly into a tomato, furious with his lusty thoughts and knowing his control was slipping. Taking a deep breath he gathered the chopped vegetables in a bowl and on unsteady legs slowly made his way across the room to Delaney.

She turned and smiled at him, taking the bowl he offered.
“You did a good job,” she said, dumping the chopped vegetables into the steaming pot. “Now all we have to do is wait for another boil and then let things simmer awhile.”

Jamal nodded. He knew all about boiling and simmering. He came damn close to telling her that he was already doing both from the feminine heat she generated. For the past thirty minutes he had tried to distract himself from watching her move about in the kitchen. Every move she made had turned him on. When she had reached up into the cabinets looking for garlic salt, her already short dress had risen, showing more leg and thigh and making sweat pop out on his brow. The sight had been pure temptation.

He took a step closer to her. “So what kind of soup are you making?”

She chuckled good-naturedly. “Vegetable soup.”

The lower part of his body throbbed from the intensity of his need. He forced a smile. “That was simple enough to figure out, so why couldn’t I think of that?”

Delaney placed the lid on the pot, turned the dial to simmer and looked up at him. “Maybe you have your mind on other things.” She stepped away from the stove and walked over to the sink.

He followed her. He should have been expecting this, her being one step ahead of him. He wouldn’t put it past her to have set him up. “So what do you think I have on my mind?” he asked, looking at her intently.

She shrugged and met his gaze squarely. “I’m not a mind reader, Jamal.”

“No,” he said, raking his gaze over her body. “Only because you’re too busy being a seductress.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Do you think I don’t know what you’ve deliberately been doing to me for the past half hour?”

For a long moment neither said anything as their gazes clashed. Then Delaney asked in a deep, sultry voice, “Well, did it work?”

Jamal took a step closer as he muttered under his breath. He reached out and brought her body tightly against him, letting her feel how well her ploy had succeeded. “What do you think?”

She moaned softly and shifted her stance to spread her legs, wanting the feel of the hard length of him between them. Even through the material of their clothing there was simmering heat. Her eyes were half-closed when she said, “I think you should give your body what it wants and stop trying to play hard to get.”

He lowered his head and licked her lips, slowly, thoroughly. “I was trying to spare you and give your body a chance to adjust.”

Delaney’s breath quickened with the feel of his tongue licking her lips as if he was definitely enjoying the taste. “I don’t want to be spared, and my body doesn’t need to adjust. The only thing it needs is you,” she said quietly, shivering inside as his tongue continued to torment her. “I want to be made love to and satisfied. I want you inside of me, Jamal. Now.”

The only thing Jamal remembered after that was taking her mouth with an intensity that overwhelmed him as he picked her up in his arms. He wanted her now, too. Quickly crossing the room, he set her on the table and pushed up her dress to her waist and lifted her hips to pull her panties completely off.

Like a desperate man he tore at the zipper of his jeans and set himself free just long enough to push her legs apart. Pulling her to him he then entered her. “Oh, yes,” he said, throwing his head back when he felt her heat clutch him, surround him.

“You make me crazy, Delaney,” he said, squeezing his
eyes shut and placing a tight hold on her thighs, savoring how she felt. He didn’t want her to move. He just wanted to stand there, between her legs, locked inside of her.

“Don’t move,” he ordered when he felt her body shift. “Just let me feel myself inside of you for a minute. Let me feel how wet you are around me and how tight.” He wondered how a body so wet could hold him so snugly.

He inhaled her scent. It was like an aphrodisiac, making his sexual hunger all the more intense. “Lie back,” he whispered hoarsely, and held on to her hips while she did so. When she was flat on her back on the table he leaned in and pulled her closer to him, going deeper inside of her. He opened his eyes when he felt her thighs quiver and stretch wide to wrap her legs around his waist.

What little control he had left vanished when he leaned down and caught her mouth with his. He closed his eyes and began making love to her with the intensity of a madman, a wolf mating, someone engaging in sex for the last time before facing a firing squad; he was just that greedy, besotted, possessed. He didn’t think he could go another single day without getting some of this. All of it. And for a quick crazy moment he thought of taking her back to Tahran with him—against her will if he had to—just to keep her with him forever.

Forever
.

He opened his eyes and muttered an Arabic curse then he mumbled an even worse one in Berber, not believing the path his thoughts had taken. Nothing was forever with him—especially a woman. But as he arched his back to go even deeper inside of Delaney, he knew that with her he had a different mindset. His body had a mind of its own. It wanted to devour her, every chance it got. Sexual intensity flared throughout his body, and he thought nothing could and would ever compare to this.

And moments later when she screamed out her climax, he sucked in a deep whiff of her scent at the same time that he exploded deep in her feminine core. It was then that he realized he wasn’t wearing a condom. Too late to do anything about it now, since he had no intention of pulling out, and he continued to pour his seed deep within her as his body responded to the pleasure of their lovemaking.

He clenched his teeth as he drove into her hard, wanting to give her everything that was his, everything he had never given another woman. Finally admitting at that moment that what he was sharing with Delaney Westmoreland went beyond appeasing sexual appetites.

She had somehow found a way to erode his resolve and raw emotions. All his defenses were melting away, the dam around his heart had crumbled. When he realized what was happening to him, shock reverberated through his body, only intensifying his climax.

Then another emotion, one stronger, more powerful, ripped through him. Up to now it had been a foreign element, but at that moment he felt it, from the depths of his loins to the center of his heart.

Love.

He loved her.

T
he next week flew by as Jamal and Delaney enjoyed the time they were spending together. Jamal was awakened before dawn one morning by the insistent ringing of his cell phone. He automatically reached for it off the nightstand next to the bed, knowing who his caller would be. “Yes, Asalum?”

He felt Delaney stir beside him; her arms were tight around him, and her naked limbs were tangled with his. Last night they’d had dinner outside on the patio, preferring to enjoy the beauty of the moon-kissed lake while they ate. Then later in his bed they had made love all through the night.

Something Asalum said grabbed Jamal’s attention. “Say that again,” he said, immediately sitting up. “When?” he asked, standing, and at the same time he grabbed for his robe.

He turned and met Delaney’s curious gaze. “I’ll contact my father immediately, Asalum,” he was saying into the phone. He let out a heavy sigh. When he disconnected the call he sat
down on the edge of the bed and pulled Delaney into his arms. Before she could ask him anything he kissed her.

“Good morning, Delaney,” he whispered huskily, close to her ear when he finally released her mouth. He cradled her gently in his arms.

“Good morning, Prince,” she said smiling up at him. Then her dark brow puckered in concern. “Is anything wrong?”

Jamal shifted positions to lean back against the headboard, taking Delaney with him. “I won’t know until I talk to my father. Before I came to this country I had been involved in important negotiations involving several countries that border mine. The usual issues were under discussion, and after three months everyone left satisfied. But according to Asalum, the sheikh of one of those countries is trying to renege on the agreement that was accepted by everyone.”

Delaney nodded. “So in other words, he’s causing problems and being a pain in the butt.”

Jamal chuckled, appreciating the way Delaney put things. “Yes, he is.”

Delaney placed a quick kiss on his lips before slipping out of his arms and getting out of the bed. “Where are you going?” he asked, when she began gathering up her clothes off the floor. Seeing her naked was making his body stir in desire.

She turned and smiled at him. “I’m going to take a shower. I know you have an important call to make and I want to give you complete privacy to do so.”

He grinned, looking her over from head to toe. “And without any distractions?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, and without any distractions.” She gave him a saucy look. “You’re welcome to join me in the shower after you finish your call.” She then left his bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Jamal didn’t finish the call in time to join Delaney in the shower. After talking to his father he discovered the situation was more serious than he had thought and he was needed in Tahran immediately.

He had placed a call to Asalum with instructions to make the necessary arrangements for his return to the Middle East. All his life he had known what was expected of him when duty called, but this was the first time he had something important in his life that meant everything to him.

He hadn’t told Delaney how he felt because the emotions were new to him and he wasn’t sure it changed anything. She was who she was, and he was who he was. Love or no love, they could never have a future together. But could he give her up?

He knew that somehow he had to let her go. She could never be his queen, and he loved her too much to ask her to be his mistress, especially knowing how she felt about the subject. And then there was that other problem his father had conveniently dumped in his lap. The old sheikh of Kadahan wanted Jamal to marry his daughter as soon as it could be arranged. The thought of marrying, which a few weeks ago he would have merely accepted as his duty, now bothered him to no end. He felt angered at the prospect of having any woman in his life other than Delaney. And he did not appreciate the pressure his father was putting on him to return home and consider marriage to Raschida Muhammad, princess of Kadahan, at once, just to make her father happy.

Jamal shook his head. And why the sudden rush for a wedding? Why did Sheikh Muhammad feel the urgency to marry his daughter off? Jamal had posed the question to his father, and the only answer he got was that the old sheikh’s health was failing and he wanted to make sure his daughter, as well as his people, were in good hands should anything happen.

Jamal refused to believe Sheikh Muhammad had serious health problems. He had spent three months with the man while negotiating that contract, and Sheikh Muhammad had still been actively bedding his French mistress when Jamal had left to come to America.

He tightened his fists at his sides, wondering what the hell was going on. He suddenly felt as if he was headed for the gallows and wished there were some other eligible sheikh the princess could marry. For once he did not want to be the sacrificial lamb.

He inhaled a deep breath. There was nothing left to do but to return to Tahran. It seemed that life had landed him a crushing blow. He felt frustrated and shaken. He was about to leave the only woman he truly loved to return home and marry someone he cared nothing about. A part of him died at the thought, but he knew what he had to do.

He also knew he owed it to Delaney to let her know that he was leaving and the reason why. She deserved his honesty. Chances were that news of his engagement would go out over the wire service, and he didn’t want her to find out about it from the newspapers.

It took several moments for him to compose himself, then he left his bedroom to find Delaney.

She was nowhere to be found in the cabin, so he walked toward the lake looking for her. It was a warm, sunny day and birds were flying overhead. A part of him wished he could be that carefree, with no responsibilities and only the commitments that would make him happy. But that wasn’t the case. As his father had not hesitated to remind him a few minutes earlier, he was a prince, a sheikh, and he had responsibilities and obligations.

Jamal stopped walking when he saw Delaney. She was
sitting on the dock with her legs dangling over the edge, letting her toes play in the water. A light breeze stirred her hair about her face. She tossed it back in place, then leaned back on her hands to stare up at the birds; the same flock he had seen earlier.

Leaning against a tree, he continued to stare at her. He smiled. Seeing her sitting there, peaceful and serene, was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, and he wanted to keep it in his memory forever. And knew that he would.

A battle was raging within him, love versus responsibility. Deep in his heart he knew which would win. He had been groomed and tutored to take on responsibilities all his life. But this thing called love was new to him. It was something he had never experienced, and for the first time in his life he felt lost, like a fish out of water.

A shiver passed through him. He loved her with a passion he hadn’t known was possible, yet he had to let her go because duty called.

He forced himself to walk toward her, and when he got to the edge of the dock, he whispered her name and she turned and met his gaze. The look in her eyes and the expression on her face told it all. She didn’t know the why of it, but she knew he was leaving.

And from the way her lips were quivering and from the way she was looking at him, she didn’t have to say the words, because he immediately knew how she felt. The silent message in her eyes told him everything, just as he knew the silent message in his was exposing his very soul to her. For the first time it was unguarded…just for her.

They had both played the game and won…but at the same time they had both lost. He hadn’t played fair and she had played to win and in the end they had gotten more than they had bargained for—each other’s hearts. But now they were losing even more—the chance to be together.

“Come here,” he whispered softly, and she stood and came into his arms willingly. He held her like a dying man taking his last drink, pulling her to him and holding her close, so close he could hear the unevenness of her breathing and the feel of her spine trembling. But at the moment all he wanted to do was hold her tight in his arms, close to his aching heart.

They stood that way, for how long he didn’t know. He stepped back and looked at her, wondering how he would survive the days, weeks, months and years, without her. Wondering how a woman he had met only three weeks ago could change his life forever. But she had.

He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and said, “Duty calls.”

She nodded slowly as she studied his features. Then she asked, “It’s more than the business with the sheikh of that other country, isn’t it?”

He met her gaze. Deep regret was in his eyes. “Yes. I’ve been summoned home to marry.”

He watched as she took a deep breath, saying nothing for a few moments. Hurt and pain appeared in her features although he could tell she was trying not to let them show. Then she asked in a very quiet voice, “How soon will you be leaving?”

He thought he could feel the ground under his feet crumble when he said, “As soon as Asalum can make the necessary arrangements.”

She tried to smile through the tears he saw wetting her eyes. “Need help packing, Your Highness?”

A surge of heartache and pain jolted through him. This was the first time she had called him Your Highness without the usual haughtiness in her voice. He reached out and clasped her fingers and brought them to his lips. In a voice rough with emotion, tinged with all the love he felt, he whispered, “I would be honored to accept your help, My Princess.”

He pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his, zapping her strength as well as his own. The inside of her mouth was sweet, and he kissed her the way he had kissed her so many other times before, putting everything he had into it.

Without breaking the kiss he gathered her up into his arms and carried her over to the hammock. He wanted and needed her now. And she had the same wants and needs as he did, and began removing her clothes with the same speed he removed his. He then gathered her naked body in his arms and placed her flat on her back in the hammock. Straddling her, he used his legs to keep the hammock steady as he entered her body, almost losing it before he could push all the way inside. His entire body filled with love as he sank deeper and deeper into her. All his thoughts were concentrated on her.

For a moment, like the hammock, he felt his life was hanging by cords, but when she wrapped her legs around his waist and looped her arms around his neck, he knew she was all he would ever need and was the one thing he could never have.

But he would have these lasting memories of the time they had spent together. They were memories that would have to last him a lifetime. He began moving, thrusting in and out of her, his hunger for her at its highest peak, knowing this may very well be the last time he had her this way. Over and over again, he withdrew, then pushed forward again, wanting her and needing her with a passion.

Under the clear blue sky, with the sunshine beaming brightly overhead, he made love to his woman with an urgency that overwhelmed both of them. The muscles inside of her squeezed him, as he pumped into her relentlessly.

In the deep recesses of his mind he heard Delaney cry out as completion ripped through her, once, twice and a third time, before he finally let go, letting wave after wave of sen
sations swamp his body, and he shuddered deep into her, filling her fully.

He dug his heels into the solid ground to hold the hammock in place as he held her hips in a tight grip, experiencing the ultimate in sexual pleasure with the woman he loved.

Jamal and Delaney heard the sound of Asalum’s car when it pulled up in the driveway. The older man had phoned earlier to say a private plane had arrived to take the prince back to his homeland and was waiting for them at the airport.

After making love outside they had come inside and showered together, only to make love again. She had sat on the bed and watched him dress in his native garb, trying not to think about the fact that one day soon another woman would be the one to be by his side.

When he had finished dressing, looking every bit a dashing Arab prince, a handsome desert sheikh, she helped him pack without a word being exchanged between them. There was nothing left to say. He had to do what he had to do.

Delaney inhaled deeply. She had known this day would eventually come, but she had counted on another week with him. But that was no longer possible. It was time for him to return to the life he had without her to marry another. She looked up and saw him watching her. She had been determined to make their parting easier but now…

“Will you walk me to the porch, Delaney?”

“Yes.” She felt tears gathering in her throat. Crossing the room to him, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on his lips. “Take care of yourself, Jamal.”

He reached out and stroked her hair back from her face—a face he would remember forever. “You do the same.” He inhaled deeply and said, “There were times when I wasn’t as
careful with you as I should have been, Delaney. If you are carrying my child, I want to know about it. I’ve left Asalum’s number on the nightstand next to your bed. He knows how to reach me at any time, day or night. Promise you will call and let me know if you carry my heir.”

Delaney looked up at Jamal, questions evident in her eyes. He knew what she was asking. “It doesn’t matter,” he said softly. “If you are pregnant, the child is mine and I will recognize it as such. Your child will be
our
child, and I will love it…just as much as I will always love you, its mother.”

Tears streamed down her face with his admission of love. It had not been his intent to tell her how he felt, but he couldn’t leave without letting her know their time together had meant everything to him, and without letting her know that he had fallen in love with her.

“And I love you, too, Jamal,” she whispered, holding him tight to her.

He nodded. “Yes, but this is one of those times when love is not enough,” he said hoarsely. “Duty comes before love.”