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He wanted her so badly he didn’t know how he’d manage to wait to bed her until after the royal wedding ceremony, scheduled a month away.
All he wanted to do was get her alone, rip off her headdress and elaborate gown. He wanted them both naked with their bodies entwined. He wanted to push deeply inside her, again and again, until her softly sensual body was rosy and flushed as she screamed her pleasure, digging her fingernails into his skin...
With a shuddering breath, Omar looked at her. His hand tightened on hers, then he held it up high, turning to face the crowd. “In one month’s time,” he cried loudly, “we will have a royal wedding, and she will be crowned your queen!”
This time, the cheers were so loud the stone thundered beneath his feet. With a final wave, he turned and escorted Beth past the columns, inside the pointed arch that led into the royal palace.
Her hand was unresponsive in his own. As Khalid and his council followed, Omar led her through the grand rooms of the royal palace. But she walked as if hardly aware of their surroundings.
“What happens to the other four?” she whispered. Trust Beth to worry about their feelings, he thought.
He shrugged. “They’ll be escorted to the vizier’s palace, where their bags have already been packed. They’ll leave Samarqara within an hour.” He paused. “Except Laila. She may stay. She’s, after all, a citizen.”
Beth looked relieved. “Good.”
He frowned. “You don’t need to worry about them. They’ll return to their extremely successful lives with three extra million dollars, a new wardrobe and an interesting memory.”
Beth seemed strangely intent. “But Laila—”
Omar stopped, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Forget her. I want to talk about you. About us.”
He felt her tremble beneath his hands. Then she took a deep breath, glancing back at the glowering advisors and sour-faced vizier.
Following her gaze, Omar said, “Thank you for arranging the bride market, Khalid. It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.” Looking at Beth, he took her hand in his own. “Your service will not be forgotten.”
“Sire,” the vizier said in a pinched, unhappy voice, “if we could just talk, for a brief moment...”
Looking down into Beth’s luminous hazel eyes, Omar’s only thought was how to get his bride-to-be alone. He growled, “Later.”
“But, sire—”
“Later.” He turned to the men coldly. “That will be all.”
His advisers bowed and scattered beneath his glare. Only Khalid lingered, his long face tight with repressed anger, before he, too, bowed and disappeared down the wide palace hallway.
“I don’t think he likes me,” Beth said.
“Khalid is stubborn, but he will soon realize what a treasure you are.” He paused, tilting his head. “How did you make the people chant your name?”
A shadow crossed over Beth’s eyes. “It was my fault. I knew I wasn’t supposed to stop the palanquin, but I couldn’t resist...”
As she relayed the story of how she’d saved the child from being trampled in the market square, Omar stared down at her in wonder.
He wondered how he could have ever considered any other woman but Dr. Beth Farraday, even for a moment. With deep respect, he lifted her hands to his lips, and slowly kissed her knuckles, one by one, allowing the warmth of his breath and lips to linger against her skin.
He felt her shiver. Then she blurted out, “Omar—I have to—”
Three maids walked down the hall, passing them with wide eyes. Omar’s hands tightened on hers. “Let’s go somewhere we can be alone.”
Swallowing hard, Beth said in a stilted voice, “Yes.”
Tugging gently on her arm, he led her down the hallways of the royal palace, past the elaborate pointed arches and columns, beneath tiled ceilings soaring high overhead in colorful patterns of lapis lazuli and gold leaf. Omar was proud of offering Beth such a beautiful home. He’d overseen the palace’s restoration ten years before, determined to make it even better than it had been, before it had been destroyed by war in his grandfather’s time and neglect in his father’s.
He led her up past the lavishly restored throne room, the ballroom, the salons. He barely paused to point out a two-story library filled with books, including parchment and scrolls thousands of years old, from the time of the caliphs, containing the history of his country that he couldn’t wait to share with her.
Later.
Finally, he led her up the sweeping stairs in the tower to his bedroom. “This is the king’s bedchamber.”
