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Lucy’s pulse raced off the scale. So Tadj was not only ridiculously wealthy, but all-powerful and royal too. It was too late to refuse his invitation without appearing to be a coward. She didn’t have a number to call him, and she could hardly breach security to ask one of his men to deliver a message. Out of her depth and out of her mind didn’t even begin to cover this mess! Adventure was one thing, but not on this scale.
‘The Emir of Qalala,’ she murmured, biting her lip, turning away as she tried to reconcile the little she knew about a hot guy in a café who had turned out to be one of the world-renowned Sapphire Sheikhs. ‘I had no idea,’ she murmured.
And if she had, would she have accepted Tadj’s invitation?
He was an extraordinary man, and, yes, she probably would have taken the chance. Did his title make a difference? He’d asked if money could change her opinion. She’d never considered a royal title, but she understood that great privilege came with restrictions and complications. Her usual good humour kicked in at this point. No half measures. If she was going to dip her toe in the dating pool, why not go for full-body immersion? She wouldn’t simply be out of her depth at the Sheikh’s party, she’d be like Orphan Annie at the feast, but that chance to peep inside a very different world proved irresistible. Spinning around, she faced her friends. ‘Could you help me get ready for tonight?’
When they chorused, ‘Yes!’ she knew there was no turning back.
Security expert indeed, Lucy thought as her friends jostled around. Just wait until she saw Tadj again! ‘I own one dress, and no high-heeled shoes,’ she explained. ‘My dress is sleeveless and it will be freezing out tonight. If I could also borrow an evening bag, big enough for a lip gloss and my bus fare home?’
Drowned out by laughter and offers of help, she made a silent promise that she would be safely tucked up in her own bed by midnight.
* * *
He’d never been uncertain of a woman. He should have brought Lucy back with him to make sure he’d see her again, Tadj concluded as he strode on board his friend’s superyacht. Lucy was unique and unpredictable. There were no guarantees she’d show up tonight. For once, that really mattered to him.
‘All women are unique, my friend,’ his friend Sheikh Khalid insisted when they met on his arrival in the grand salon. ‘You seem preoccupied,’ the Sheikh added when Tadj grimaced.
‘Unfinished business,’ he supplied economically. Usually, he would welcome both Khalid’s company and his interest, but not this time, because all he wanted to think about was Lucy.
Walking out on deck, he scanned the dock as if she might suddenly appear. Was her head buried in one of her college books, or was she getting ready for the party? There was no way to tell.
‘What do you do with a woman you can’t read?’ he asked Khalid as his friend joined him out on deck.
‘Bed her?’
‘That’s not helpful.’
‘It’s always a good start,’ Khalid argued with an ironic smile.
Everything on board the Sapphire was geared towards seduction tonight, Tadj thought as they both pulled away from the rail. An army of talented florists was currently adding last-minute touches to the container-loads of exotic blooms.
‘You’ll be staying in the Golden Suite,’ Khalid informed him, ‘if that suits you. Make the most of it while you can.’
They shared a wry laugh. ‘That temple to all things gold,’ Tadj commented. ‘It’s enough to put anyone off their stride with the addition of those outrageous erotic hangings.’
‘Not you, my friend,’ Khalid assured him. ‘I would have thought you found those hangings rather tame.’
‘If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were trying to set me up with this woman,’ Tadj responded.
‘How could that be true?’ Khalid queried. ‘I’ve only just learned about her. But, good hunting—you’d be surprised how many women are delighted to be seduced in the Golden Suite.’
‘No doubt spurred on by the inspiration provided by the artwork,’ Tadj commented dryly. ‘But this one’s different.’
‘Different how? She’s a woman, isn’t she?’
Seeing his expression, Khalid shrugged. ‘You’ve got it bad, my friend.’
* * *
Bad? Tadj ground his jaw as he sprang out of the Sapphire’s lap pool. Bad was putting it mildly. Grabbing a towel, he dried his exercise-pumped body with impatience. Warnings should be issued with Lucy, that she could change the direction of his thoughts within ten minutes of meeting her. Even exercise hadn’t helped him today. He’d never known anything like this. Women didn’t get to him; he got to them. Lucy was so young and unsophisticated, she couldn’t know the tricks that others played. Funny, blunt and challenging, she was absolutely irresistible, and irresistible was the one thing he didn’t need. His usual type knew the score, and were sophisticated enough to use him for what they wanted, without complication. The feeling was mutual, but he couldn’t be that way with Lucy. Innocence came at a price, and, though he was no saint, the thought of waking her to physical pleasure was driving him crazy.
Having dressed and checked every timepiece and lump of tech on board in order to convince himself that minutes really could tick by so slowly, he parked the shave and transferred his pacing from ship to shore. He hadn’t experienced this level of anticipation since he’d been an overeager youth. When he spotted Lucy standing in the doorway of the laundry, it was as if an atomic reaction went off in his brain. They locked eyes, and he walked towards her. It was the challenge on her face that aroused him. Her body language said she knew who he was, and intended to make him pay for withholding the information.
‘You have a lot of explaining to do,’ she said.
All he was aware of now was her intoxicating wildflower scent.
‘Am I late?’ he said, glancing at his wristwatch and frowning, as if he didn’t know what she meant.
‘Don’t try that on me,’ she warned him, narrowing her astonishing jade-green eyes in the very best type of threat.
‘Good evening to you too,’ he murmured mildly, maintaining eye contact.
‘Good evening, Your Majesty.’
‘My name is Tadj,’ he reminded her quietly.
‘The Emir of Qalala, I believe.’
He wanted to kiss her as her expressive mouth twisted in a wry smile.
‘What are you doing?’ she protested as he dragged her close.
‘What does a title change about me?’
‘Eve
rything,’ she said as he brushed her lips teasingly with his. ‘Are you going to let me go now?’
‘No.’
The first kiss was extraordinary in that it fired every part of him, and made it vital there were more. ‘Let’s start over,’ he said, releasing her before she was quite ready. ‘Good evening,’ he murmured.
‘Good evening, Your Majesty,’ she teased him, still trying to catch her breath. They stared at each other with a mixture of acceptance and humour. ‘You’ve got a long way to go to recover your credibility,’ she warned, testing her kiss-bruised lips with the tip of her tongue.
‘More tolerance required,’ he suggested.
‘On my part?’ she queried.
‘Yes, on your part,’ he confirmed. ‘Shall we?’ He glanced in the direction of the super yacht.
The Sapphire was a fabulous vessel. Even he was impressed from here, where he could appreciate every inch of it, blazing with light from bow to stern. Party planners had been working tirelessly all day to create a fairyland for the guests, and, though she might still be reeling from the unexpected start to their evening, even Lucy couldn’t hide her excitement.
‘No more deception, and no more surprises,’ she warned as they approached the security gates. ‘Promise—or I’m not going any further.’
‘When you look at me like that...’
‘What?’ she murmured, her eyes darkening.
He would promise her almost anything, he thought, but sensibly confined himself to a wry smile and a shrug.
‘So you’re really the Emir of Qalala?’ she said as the security guards waved them through.
‘I really am,’ he confirmed.
‘I’m impressed.’
‘No, you’re not,’ he argued with amusement. ‘Not by my title, anyway.’
‘Are you always so confident?’
‘Always.’ Except for tonight, he thought, because Lucy was a whole new experience.
‘You’re one of the infamous Sapphire Sheikhs,’ she observed. ‘That alone is supposed to impress me, isn’t it?’
‘Legendary, rather than infamous, I’d hope.’
She shrugged and halted. ‘You should have told me you’re one of the world’s richest men.’
