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The desert heat hit Keira the minute she stepped out of the air-conditioned car. It was post-monsoon now, and she couldn’t imagine what it must be like in the oppressive heat before the rains came.
The air was sharp with the smell of glue and paint, stinging her nostrils and making her catch her breath.
Their arrival had obviously been noticed, because the door to the factory owner’s office had opened and the owner himself was hurrying towards them. Keira saw the anxious look he gave Jay, and felt sorry for him. Jay was an extraordinarily formidable man, especially when his mouth was compressed and he was frowning, as he was doing now.
‘Hello, Mr Singh,’ Keira greeted the factory owner. ‘Please let me introduce His Highness Prince Jayesh to you.’
Keira could see how awed the factory owner was by Jay—which was hardly surprising. Jay dwarfed the other man, physically and materially, and poor Mr Singh was looking more anxious by the second.
They were ushered towards the office with many bows and a great deal of ceremony. The factory owner was plainly on edge, but no more than Keira was herself. This was a big test of her ability not just to locate and order furniture, but also to ensure that what she had ordered worked with the whole scheme.
She sensed that Jay had accompanied her not just to check up on her, but in the hope that she might fail—and that, of course, added to her anxiety.
‘And now, Miss, if you will come, please, and see your shelves?’ Mr Singh invited once they had gone through the formality of drinking tea.
Mr Singh led them into an anteroom of the factory, where Keira’s shelving had been put on display.
To her relief it was exactly what she had wanted: constructed in sections so that it could be put together in different combinations, to cover an entire wall or merely part of it, either low or high on the wall. These particular shelves had been painted black and then rubbed down for a modern look.
Keira went up to them to inspect them properly, checking the quality of the paintwork and then testing the shelves themselves for stability.
‘They are good, yes?’ the factory owner asked eagerly.
‘Yes,’ Keira confirmed.
The factory owner’s mobile phone rang. As he turned aside to answer it Keira ran her hand along the underside of one of the shelves, wincing when her finger was pierced by a small splinter of wood and quickly withdrawing her hand to inspect the damage.
‘Let me see,’ Jay demanded peremptorily
The factory owner had excused himself to deal with his call, and suddenly the small room felt very claustrophobic now that she was alone in it with Jay.
‘It’s only a splinter,’ Keira told him. But he was ignoring her, reaching for her hand and taking hold of it before she could stop him whilst he frowned over the splinter and then expertly removed it.
A single small drop of bright red blood had formed at the exit to the wound, but Keira barely noticed it. All her attention was concentrated on the fact that Jay’s fingers were still curled around her wrist, and that he was standing close enough to her for her to hear the sound of his heartbeat.
Her own heartbeat increased in speed. The drop of blood quivered in response to it. Jay looked down at it, and then lifted her hand to his mouth.
Keira drew in a sharp breath and then discovered that she couldn’t release it. She started to tremble.
The slow curl of Jay’s tongue around her finger felt like rough velvet stroking her skin. Molten heat invaded her body. She wanted to close her eyes and stay with him, savouring this feeling for ever. She wanted…The sound of footsteps outside the door as the factory owner returned jerked her back to reality. She pulled her hand free and exhaled unsteadily.
The factory owner was saying something, but she couldn’t concentrate, so it was Jay who responded to him.
How could something so simple be responsible for the sensations and emotions tearing her apart?
CHAPTER NINE
THEY were just over halfway back to the city when Keira happened to glance in the passenger-side wing mirror and notice the stormclouds that were rapidly darkening the sky behind them, piling on top of one another in a leaden grey and densely packed mass.
Jay had obviously seen them too, because he depressed the accelerator and told her crisply, ‘Looks like we could be in for a downpour.’
