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‘Just be glad you don’t have to do this in ridiculous footwear too,’ she said, extending her leg to show him her four-inch heels.
His gaze roamed over her thigh and down to her ankle, blazing a trail along her flesh.
‘Elegant,’ he murmured.
The gruff compliment reverberated through her torso as his gaze finally arrived back at her face.
She hastily draped the satin back over her leg.
Good grief, Liah, why not give him an eyeful of all your charms?
She couldn’t prevent the shudder as the heat centred in her core.
He lifted a black tailored jacket off the back of a chair, slipped it on then did up one of the buttons, completing the devastating effect.
He really did look spectacular, his dark skin and rugged features as striking as they were intimidating. The formal wear only seemed to enhance his raw masculinity, the aura of command which clung to him. Whatever his background, it was clear he was a man used to commanding men...and no doubt women too.
But not this woman. You’re your own woman, Liah. Remember that.
She squeezed her thighs together, determined to ignore the insistent pulse that had centred between them.
Then, to her surprise, he offered her his elbow. ‘Let’s get this over with before the foolish thing strangles me.’
Another chuckle escaped her lips. But the hot blast of appreciation in his gaze as she touched his muscular forearm and felt it tense beneath the expensive fabric choked the laugh off in her throat.
CHAPTER THREE
SHEISFASCINATING. And I want her.
Kamal found himself staring again at the young woman beside him, who was chatting with considerable authority about her horse Ashreen to the Queen of Zafar, an Irish woman who he understood was a cousin of the royal family by marriage and owned a world-renowned racing stud in Kildare.
Princess Kaliah’s passion for the subject of horses and racing was evident in the way her eyes gleamed, and her tawny skin literally glowed with enthusiasm.
She had remained by his side throughout the evening, introducing him to everyone and talking with depth and knowledge on a variety of topics, both trivial and complex. She had made an effort to involve him in these conversations—and for once he had not found her interventions condescending or annoying. In truth, she had beguiled him.
He knew she was being so attentive to please her father, but to his surprise she had not shirked the responsibility as soon as she could. Instead, she appeared to be working overtime to put him at his ease.
Good luck with that.
How could he be at ease when he kept catching her intoxicating scent, and while tantalising glimpses of her unfettered breasts, moving against the line of her gown, and her toned thigh every time she walked, was driving him insane.
Would it really be so wrong to seduce her before I start searching for a suitable wife?
The errant thought made the slow burn in his gut flare.
Probably not a good idea. For all her wild-child ways, Kaliah Khan was a future queen. The sort of woman who would have expectations he could not fulfil.
Although, to his surprise this evening, she had been forthright—including him in the joke, rather than attempting to make him the butt of it.
As much as he still wanted to resent the reckless young woman who had railed at him at the race track, he was finding it harder and harder not to notice her passionate response to him.
Women had always been straightforward to him—a means of slaking his physical needs, but little else. He had never conducted an in-depth conversation with any of the women he had slept with, because all he had ever needed was confirmation that they were happy to tumble into his bed for the night.
Kaliah Khan, though, was an enigma. Her obvious interest in him was both captivating but also somehow unclear—the woman had been reckless enough to ride a virtually wild horse at breakneck speed, so her reticence now made no sense to him.
Hence the intriguing mystery she represented.
He had seen the flush of awareness back in his suite, and had suspected the decision to help him with the bow-tie had been a means of flirting with him. Perhaps even to tease him, the casual brush of her fingers on his throat enough to tie his guts in knots for the rest of the evening. But he sensed innocence, rather than calculation, every time he caught her watching him.
