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‘This morning you said it would be inappropriate.’
‘This morning I felt very much in the wrong for taking advantage of an innocent.’
‘But that’s not how it was,’ Ella countered squarely. ‘I knew what I was doing.’
‘What is done is done. But on reflection, I see no reason why we should not be together as long as we treat each other with respect and honesty,’ Zarif framed stubbornly, ramming down every misgiving, long fingers smoothing the impossibly soft skin of her slender waist while he drank in the scent of her. It was so many years since he had spent an entire night in bed with a woman. He had never slept with his lovers and even Azel had only been an occasional overnight visitor but the idea of returning to find Ella in his bed every night was amazingly appealing...although he could never afford to forget that she was a supreme indulgence that came with time limits.
‘So you show respect and apologise by giving me clothes, flowers and a diamond bracelet,’ Ella remarked gingerly. ‘Don’t you know any other way to show care or concern with a woman? Do you always just buy things?’
Zarif was stunned by the question, which cut right to the heart of his previous dealings with women. Yes, sadly he did just buy things. To say sorry for a cancellation, to express sympathy for a loss or dismissal, to say thank you for an especially good night.
In the silence, Ella gulped. ‘It just makes a girl feel a little cheap...that’s all,’ she told him abstractedly, her voice dwindling because she did not want to start an argument.
‘I have had very few...what you might term relationships,’ Zarif admitted grittily. ‘I am not trying to buy you. Why would I when I have already bought you?’
Stinging tears of painful surprise washed the backs of Ella’s eyes. She pulled away from him and turned defensively onto her side. She had spoken without thinking, foolishly forgetting how she had ended up married to him. But how could she have forgotten? How could she have forgotten for one moment how big a part his fabulous wealth had played in their relationship? Without that wealth, without her parents’ need for security, she would not be with him now.
‘You didn’t buy me outright,’ she contradicted in a small, tight voice. ‘You bought a year-long lease. That’s not the same.’
In the dimness, Zarif
suddenly grinned with sheer appreciation. He loved that distinction that she brandished like a weapon, refusing to grant him full ownership. A year-long lease? Only Ella could have come up with that qualifier.
‘And of course we both know that you won’t be extending the lease at any stage,’ Ella completed thinly, and swallowed hard before adding, ‘You know, if this is us being respectful and honest with each other, Zarif, you can keep it! We’re just tearing everything apart.’
Involuntarily, Zarif reached for her. They had both spoken the truth, although admittedly not in a productive manner, but he did, however, have a great reverence for the truth, regardless of how tactless or wounding it might be. Yet a tiny, tiny hint of a sniff from the far side of the bed sent him flying across it before he could think better of his behaviour and he tugged her small rigid body back across the divide into his arms.
‘Nothing has been torn apart. You are still the same woman. You gave up your freedom for your parents’ benefit. How can I not respect such strength and loyalty?’ he demanded.
Ella breathed in so deep she was surprised she didn’t swell up like a balloon and float away. Some of her rigidity eased and she allowed her body to bend into the heat and solidity of his. ‘You really mean that?’ she checked.
‘I do.’
‘By the way, if you decide you want to buy me something...you could make it something small and cheap,’ she told him impulsively. ‘You know, like the silver pendant and bracelet you bought me for my twenty-first birthday?’
Zarif almost laughed out loud but he held it back. Presumably she had never had that first gift of his valued nor had she studied its marks. The pendant and the bracelet were not silver, they were platinum and designed by one of the most famous jewellery designers alive. Although at the time he had not wanted to give her a gift that attracted attention by being too excessive, his desire for her had been so powerful that a small, cheap gift could never have matched what he then believed she was worth. ‘Do you still have it?’ he asked curiously.
‘Yes, that set is still one of my favourite pieces,’ she muttered sleepily.
* * *
Ella wakened still wrapped in Zarif’s arms. ‘What time is it?’ she whispered.
‘Almost six. I have to get up soon but you can lie as long as you like,’ he breathed lazily, sliding against her, the hard thrust of his intentions obvious to her even in her drowsy state.
Heat burned low in her body and she couldn’t believe it after the night they had shared. ‘I need a shower,’ she told him uncomfortably.
‘No, you smell of me and a long adventurous night of loving and you wouldn’t believe how hot I find that, habibti,’ he husked, long fingers rubbing at her engorged nipples and sliding lower to tease the most sensitive spot on her entire body. ‘You make me insatiable.’
But if that was his flaw, it was one she shared with him, her head falling back against a broad shoulder as he lifted her thigh and eased into her in a long, slow, gentle glide that left her bereft of breath and protest. Her body stretched to hold him and a piercing sweetness gripped her racing heart at how natural and right it felt to lie with him like that. With subtle erotic movements, he stroked her inner depths with fluid insistence and the pleasure rose and rose and rose until she couldn’t contain it any more and it spilled over into bliss as she gasped her excitement into the pillow beneath her.
When she wakened the second time she was alone and hot and she got straight out of bed to stand directly below the whirling fan on the ceiling and flinch at the tenderness that motion wrenched from the long night of loving, as he had called it. Only it wasn’t love, she reminded herself, it was just sex. Incredibly good and satisfying sex, she was willing to admit, but love had nothing to do with it. She showered and breakfasted and dressed, determined to go out and at least see the city rather than pass the day in aimless pursuits. Zarif had a purpose in life and she needed one as well, even if it was only the role of acting tourist for a year, she reflected ruefully.
Hamid phoned while she was eating to offer her a tour of the palace. She played for time. ‘When will Zarif be back?’ she asked.
‘He will be in meetings with the council most of the day,’ his chief aide informed her.
A germ of an idea occurred to Ella. ‘And those are like parliament...held in public? I’d like to attend today,’ she told Hamid cheerfully. ‘Perhaps someone could translate the proceedings for me.’
