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‘Now, come here,’ he said softly. ‘Come here, Lara.’ And he lifted her up, slithering her jodhpurs and her panties away with one brief, economical movement, then lowering her down on top of him, closing his eyes and groaning again as he felt himself encased in her tight, molten heat. ‘Oh, yes,’ he bit out. ‘Oh, yes!’
She held onto his shoulders and began to move.
He opened his eyes and watched her through his lashes. ‘Ride me, Lara,’ he urged thickly. ‘Ride me.’
She abandoned all restraint and misgivings, and all inhibitions, too, forgetting everything except just how delicious it felt, with the hot sun beating down on her and the hot feel of him inside her. She closed her eyes and let her hips slide towards him so that he filled her completely, and she gave a soft, low moan of pleasure as they began to move in rhythm.
Darian was lost in a place more magical than Maraban, his hands holding onto her slender hips as she moved on him and around him, feeling the warmth rise and rise until he heard her shattered and disbelieving little cries once more. And then it was impossible to contain his own pleasure for a second longer as his world split into a thousand shards of sharp-edged ecstasy.
There was silence, bar the distant sound of the mountain wind the Marabanesh called the rabi, which seemed to echo the sounds of their small, gasping breaths.
Lara wiped the palm of her hand over her damp, flushed cheeks and looked down at him, just as the thick black lashes parted and the golden eyes gleamed up at her.
She wanted to bend her head to kiss him, but this did not seem to be the kind of situation which demanded soft and tender kisses. What had just happened had been fulfilling, yes, but in a purely physical way, she recognised with a heavy heart. She wanted more than just physical perfection—but he was not the man to give her more than that.
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‘I’d better move—’ she began, but he halted her with a touch to her belly, making her shiver.
‘No, don’t. Not yet. Stay there—just for a minute.’
‘But the grooms—’
‘They won’t return. I told them not to.’
Lara raised her eyebrows in surprise. ‘I didn’t know your Marabanese was that good.’
He smiled. ‘It isn’t. But, like I said, Khalim taught me a few…key…phrases.’
Lara’s heart began to pound. ‘Like what?’
He felt her move away from him, and he missed her warm, sticky heat. ‘Oh, just the kind of command to ensure a certain degree of…privacy. You know.’
Yes, she knew…or rather she was beginning to get the idea. Royal men took lovers, and for that they would not want a retinue of servants hanging around in the wings. But it was more than just privacy, she realised. For hadn’t Darian just demonstrated in the most efficient way possible just how much he had been accepted into the royal fold?
What else had he discussed with Khalim, apart from how to ensure you could make love to a woman undisturbed? And that was the difference between the two men—Khalim would confide in Rose, but Darian would not do the same with her. Why would he? They were barely more than lovers, and even that was a tenuous link—one which would be broken once they had left Maraban.
Lara reached out for her jodhpurs, and the pair of panties which were still rumpled up inside them, biting her lip as she thought how compliant she always was around him.
‘Stop frowning, Lara,’ he urged gently. ‘Get dressed and we’ll go back to our room.’
Her senses leapt in response to what he obviously had in mind, but she was troubled, too.
She had fallen for Darian big-time, but she had no idea where it was leading.
Or maybe she did. Maybe it was that which troubled her. For this thing between them—whatever it was—wasn’t leading anywhere other than to the inevitable road to heartbreak.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BACK in their room, Darian turned to her and smiled. ‘I feel pretty hot and dusty,’ he murmured. ‘And that bath is big enough for both of us. Shall we take a bath together, Lara?’
She must snap out of it. They were lovers again, and hadn’t she been wanting that to happen? What did she expect—that because they had just shared a delicious and erotic encounter in the stables that he would start offering her the moon and the stars?
She stretched, and yawned. ‘Go and run it, then.’
‘Or shall I have one of the servants do it?’ he teased.
‘Careful, Darian,’ she said steadily. ‘Much more of this and you’ll come back down to earth with a bump when you get back to England!’
