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When he drew to a halt Iseult jumped out and preceded him into Jamilah’s office, aware of eyes everywhere taking this in. She knew very well that Nadim had a right to be angry with her for overstepping her mark—but this angry?
Jamilah was there too, but Nadim dismissed her with a curt instruction in guttural Arabic. She sent Iseult a questioning look as she walked out and quietly shut the door behind her.
Nadim raked a hand through his short hair and turned to face Iseult. She refused to be intimidated and waited for the explosion. But it didn’t come. Nadim just said easily, ‘Was it too much to expect that I might leave here for a couple of weeks and hope that you wouldn’t get into trouble?’
But then she saw his flashing dark eyes, and the thin veneer of his civility became apparent. Iseult could sense that he was holding back with supreme control, and it made her quiver inwardly.
Even so, she hitched up her chin and crossed her arms defensively again. It was impossible for her not to react defensively with this man—he shook her right to her foundations. ‘You’re right. I shouldn’t have gone into that enclosure. Why don’t you just say what you’ve got to say and let me go?’
‘Where did you get the nerve to think you could go near such a dangerous yearling and attempt something so foolhardy?’
Iseult saw a pulse throb in Nadim’s temple and had to focus on his words. She frowned. ‘Dangerous? What are you talking about? No one said anything about him being dangerous…’ She was genuinely confused now.
‘The reason that yearling is on his own and apart from the others is that no one has been able to get near him. I’d left explicit instructions that no one was to attempt anything with him until either myself or Pierre got back. Only three weeks ago he kicked one of the trainers, who luckily escaped with just a cracked rib.’
Iseult was stunned at this information—and stunned to recognise how gullible she’d been. Clearly Alain and the other trainer had set the new girl up in spectacular style. ‘I had no intention of doing anything in the first place. I was watching Devil’s Kiss exercising and someone mentioned that they were having trouble with a yearling. I went to look at him, that was all.’
She stopped and looked away, and then back to Nadim. How could she explain this to him? ‘But then, when I saw him, I just…saw that I might be able to handle him…and I did. I can’t explain it. It’s not something rational. If I’d had any idea he was considered so dangerous of course I wouldn’t have gone in there. I’m not a complete idiot.’
Nadim folded his arms too, making Iseult feel hot in her belly when she saw his muscles bunch. Then he frowned suspiciously. ‘No one encouraged you to try your hand at breaking him in?’
As much as Iseult knew that the trainers had been mischievous in deliberately misleading her, she wouldn’t say anything. She’d walked into their trap. She was the newbie, and there under sufferance. She wouldn’t do herself any favours by squealing.
So she shook her head miserably and said quietly, ‘No.’ And then more fiercely, looking directly at Nadim, ‘It was purely my idea.’
Nadim dropped his arms and prowled close to Iseult, making her breath hitch. ‘Apart from your arrogant boldness at thinking you could s
ucceed where no one else had, no one in the training area is allowed to go in without adequate head protection, and that is non-negotiable. I’ve sacked trainers for not wearing proper protection.’
Iseult looked up at Nadim and dropped her arms. ‘I was not being arrogant—I just saw the yearling and thought I might be able to help. And how would I know about wearing protection if no one thought to tell me?’
His blistering tone cut her off. ‘Dammit, woman, do you have to argue with everything I say? You should be in the habit of wearing protective head gear no matter what. Horses are unpredictable. You had everyone mesmerised by your horse whisperer routine, so it’s no wonder no one mentioned the hat. I promised your father I’d take care of you, but I can’t do that if every time I turn my back you turn into a walking liability.’
To disguise the sharp pain which lanced her at the thought that his apparent concern was just born out of a sense of responsibility to her father, Iseult said cuttingly, ‘Oh, so now you’re best friends with my father, who you deemed unfit to run his own stud farm?’
In an instant Nadim had reached out to haul Iseult into his body, his hands tight around her upper arms. Iseult opened her mouth in shock, and had the split-second realisation that Nadim was going to kiss her just a breath before he did. She recognised in that moment that since she’d laid eyes on this man she’d wanted this, with a wild singing in her blood. There was not even a moment of hesitation. Every cell in her body was fizzing and jumping.
Iseult had never been kissed before. And certainly not like this. Not with such intensity that it felt as if she were burning up from the inside out. Somehow she was vaguely aware that Nadim had rested back against something and had pulled her even closer, right into the cradle of his thighs, where she could feel the shockingly hard press of his arousal. It made wet heat explode between her legs.
His hands finally let go of her arms to snake around her back, and of their own volition Iseult’s hands went to the back of Nadim’s head, tangling in the surprisingly silky strands of his hair. The moment went on and on, suspending them in time and space. It was as if Iseult’s world had gone from zero to a thousand on a sensual voltage scale that she had no control over.
Iseult’s mouth opened, instinctively seeking more, and Nadim groaned deep in his throat, his tongue meshing with hers in a hot dance. She could feel her hair being pulled free of her ponytail and falling in a heavy weight down her back. Nadim tugged on it gently, to force her head back, and she sucked in a gasp when she felt his mouth and lips trail hot kisses down her jaw and neck, finding where the pulse beat out of control and sucking there for a moment.
One hand snaked up under her T-shirt and Iseult’s belly clenched in delicious anticipation when she felt him find and cup her breast. She groaned when she felt his impatience, and he snaked that hand around to open her tight sports bra, releasing her heavy breast into his hand.
With her eyes still shut tight, as if opening them might make the spell break, Iseult let Nadim guide her head back to him, and his mouth slanted hotly over hers again, tongue stabbing deep as that hand cupped and moulded her unfettered breast. Between his thumb and forefinger he caught the hard nipple and teased it, squeezing and pulling. Iseult’s hands tightened around his skull—and in that moment she felt the shift in energy—as if they had both woken from the sensual spell at exactly the same time.
Iseult opened heavy-lidded eyes and looked into deep dark pools full of recrimination. She was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling, and Nadim still cupped her breast intimately.
With an abrupt move he put his hands on her arms again and physically moved her back. Iseult’s legs felt so unsteady for a moment that she swayed and had to put out a hand to the back of a nearby chair.
Nadim’s voice broke the taut silence. ‘That shouldn’t have happened.’
Iseult winced inwardly to hear Nadim say the words so curtly, and cursed herself. What had she expected—that he would take her in his arms and profess that he couldn’t get her out of his head? That she was driving him mad with desire? And how had she gone from hating this man for taking a wrecking ball to her world less than three weeks ago to wanting him so badly right now that she shook all over?
‘No, it shouldn’t have happened,’ she agreed faintly. She couldn’t look up. Her shaking hands went behind her back to do up her bra, hiding her too voluptuous breasts from view once more. When she’d developed too early she’d got used to hiding her breasts, terrified that she’d get teased like other buxom girls at school. And then, with riding every day, it had been more practical to wear sports bras to contain them.
She saw his shoes come into her vision, and then a hand tipped her chin up. Even her skin there burned at his touch.
