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Thank you for helping my countrymen.
In her line of the medical profession she would rarely use a stethoscope so he doubted she had brought one with her. Especially since she had asked to borrow one that day at the clinic.
Nasser had provided him with daily reports. He had said Laurel seemed pleased with the gift. He also said she had been keeping long hours at the lab and that more than once he’d had to insist she leave at midnight.
Tariq worried she would burn herself out or become ill. He could not remember ever experiencing this much concern for anyone besides his family. Perhaps he felt responsible for having brought Laurel halfway around the world, away from all she knew and loved. Whatever the reason, he was not comfortable with these new feelings whirling in him.
He had corralled his temptation to go to Laurel’s room when he had arrived home tonight, believing it was too late to disturb her, plus he did not want to appear overly eager to see her.
So, to burn off some frustration he had decided to come to the pool. He slowed to an easy glide. If he could not shut his mind down then maybe his exhausted body would override it.
The rustle of leaves and a movement to his right caught his attention. He trod water, watching the spot. A person stepped into the moonlight. Laurel.
His heart beat extra quickly, much to his dismay. He was a grown man who had seen and experienced enough of life that he should not be reacting to a woman this way. As one normally in command of his emotions and any relationship, this was a new situation for him. Around Laurel, though, he was off the path as if following a special star in the desert sky, unsure where he was headed.
She turned to go back the way she’d come.
“Don’t go.”
“Tariq?” She stepped closer.
“Yes.”
“I was not told you were home.” There was a note of confusion in her voice, but there was also an unmistakable tone of excitement.
“I got back about an hour ago.” He swam closer to her.
“Oh.”
“I would have let you know, but it was so late.” She looked amazing in the moonlight. A sleeveless long dress with a scooped neck clung to her curves. If he were to guess, she was braless. “I thought you would be asleep.”
“I love this garden so, I come here for a few minutes each night before I go to bed. It’s so lovely.” She advanced to the edge of the pool in a tentative manner. “I’m usually alone.”
“Would you like me to leave?” He waited for her answer, watching her closely.
“No. After all, it’s your pool.”
That wasn’t the answer he had been hoping for, but he would take it.
She stood over him. “Thank you for the stethoscope. It was really thoughtful. Now I won’t have to borrow one. I will pay you back.”
He had wanted to do something special for her. Could she not understand that? “Can you not accept a gift?”
She focused on something behind him. “I can, but I don’t generally get them from employers.”
Tariq crossed his arms on the deck of the pool. “I am more than that. I am your husband, if only in name. If that is not sufficient reason, then accept it from a friend.”
She looked down at him. “I would like for us to be friends.”
Her soft words flowed in the sweet fragrance of the air. “Come and join me, Laurel.”
“I didn’t think to pack a swimsuit.”
He wanted to tell her she did not need one but that would frighten her away. “At least sit on the side of the pool and tell me about your week.”
Laurel regarded him a few seconds, her moonlit face giving no hint of her thoughts, before she gathered her long dress up and around her thighs. She had amazing legs. Maintaining her modesty, she sat, letting her bare feet dangle in the water.
From his vantage point Tariq determined he had been right. She wore no bra. Her nipples pushed against the fine knit fabric. His manhood twitched in reaction to the teasing view.
Laurel swished her feet back and forth. “It’s so cool.”
“It is so because it is fed by a spring. This used to be the palace well. The palace was built here because of it. Modern improvements have made the palace increasingly efficient, reducing the amount of water diverted from the spring’s source. Now there is enough to keep the pool refreshingly full.”
“Your ancestors were smart.”
Tariq moved back in the water so he could see her clearer. The only light came from underwater illumination around the pool and the moon. “I like to think so. I understand you interviewed my brother and his family while I was gone. Zara and Roji as well.”
Her shoulders straightened. “Yes. The King invited me to dinner. Everyone seemed open to my questions. Thank you for seeing to it. I know it wasn’t your wish.”
“I also understand that it was the only night you actually came home from the clinic at a reasonable hour.”
Even in the dim light he could see her eyes narrow. “Has Nasser been informing on me?”
Tariq swam toward her. “It’s part of his job to answer my questions.”
“Nothing about you is repentant, is it?”
Tariq cupped her heel in his hand. She hissed softly but did not pull away. He brushed the pad of his thumb over her ankle bone. Her attention remained on his hands as he answered, “I have nothing to be repentant for. I was concerned about you, Laurel.” He waited until she looked at him. “I missed you.”
Laurel’s heart beat at the same rate as one of her spinning blood test machines. She contained a moan just behind her lips. Tariq’s wet hand moved up her calf then slid back to her foot. She gripped the edge of the pool to quell the impulse to slip into the water with him. Tariq lifted her foot out of the water and placed a kiss in the arch.
“What’re you doing?” The words came out as a squeak.
“I’m showing you I desire you. So soft. So smooth.” His hand repeated its travels.
“You don’t desire me. I’m just convenient. I’m not even your type.”
“Normally I would agree. But the fact is you interest me, Laurel Al Marktum.” He put emphasis on the last name. “A great deal.”
“The great bachelor Prince could only want me for one reason.”
“And that would be?” His voice was deep and sultry like the warm night air.
“As a conquest.” She’d been that before but never again. She wanted a love for a lifetime.
“Laurel, what happened to make you so cynical?”
“Let’s just call it college life.” This was a subject she had no interest in sharing with anyone, especially him. She had only confided to her roommate and her sister what Larry had done to her, and hadn’t talked about it in all the years since.
“It can sometimes be difficult.” Tariq let go of her foot and moved beside her. Seconds later he lifted himself out of the water, twisted his hips and sat beside her in all his bare-chested glory.
Her hand craved to touch. She bit the tip of her tongue to keep from licking a rivulet of water from his shoulder. Laurel had never seen a more enticing man. Tariq’s muscles rippled under his dark skin with every movement. His broad shoulders tapered to lean hips where his swimming trunks rode low, leaving no doubt he was all male. His thighs were thick and his athletic calves narrowed to sculpted feet.
He was the complete package of what Laurel believed a man should look like. Why was she so superficial that she would let his looks affect her so? She knew well that appearances could be deceiving. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. She was no Red Riding Hood anymore.
Water sluiced off him. She shifted, pulling her dress out of the way of a stream of water. “You’re getting me wet.”
“Stop evading the question. What happened when you were in college?”
“Nothing I wish to share.” Using her big toe, she splashed wa
ter into the center of the pool.
“I would like you to tell me, since it affects me too.”
She glared at him. He watched her, eyes unreadable. “Just how does it affect you?”
“Because you are projecting whatever happened onto me. Not giving me a chance.”
Had she really been doing that? Was she keeping Tariq at arm’s length because of Larry? “Very well, since you insist.”
“I do.”
Laurel couldn’t believe she was about to confide in Tariq of all people. Maybe it was because she knew of his secret guilt over not having hemophilia, or perhaps it was her belief he was an honorable man, but regardless she was only going to tell him the big-picture parts. “My college boyfriend was on the football team. I never understood why he had picked me. The girl with the glasses who studied all the time. Nevertheless, I was crazy about him and he acted the same about me until I went to bed with him. He dumped me that very night and had no further use for me. I later overheard some guys on his team laughing about how he had won a bet because he had taken my virginity.”
The tendons in Tariq’s arms stood out from him gripping the ledge of the pool so tightly. He said something in Arabic that she guessed was a foul word. She had no idea what the expression meant but she would agree. “Now are you satisfied?”
“Satisfied? I will not be until the day I punish him for hurting you. So you let this idiot of a man-boy dictate to you how you see all males?”
