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“What?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
He leaned forward and grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly between his. “The news has been talking of my father’s illness all day. For all the women I’ve known, and even so-called ‘friends’ who have gone on holidays with me, a handful have called with condolences. None of the women have. I admit that I haven’t endeared myself to them, but you asked, and I can tell you care. You see more than just the title and the fortune. Please, come with me. Help me build something real in Zomelia, or at least let me try. For that, the least I can do is help you and your daughter.”
Brenda sighed and looked back at him, at his strong chin and his goatee tinged with the nascent silver of salt-and-pepper. Damn if this man doesn’t put George Clooney to shame. “Thank you, I appreciate that, but I can’t help but feel that it’s too much to ask.”
“I’m the one asking you to come to a country you’ve never seen and be my companion as my father lies ill. I think this is more than a fair exchange.” He paused then and he shifted his gaze, studying the white linen of the table top as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. “There are things I think you’ll need to adjust to when we’re in Zomelia, aspects of culture shock, but I think so far we’ve ironed most things out.”
She quirked her head at him and tried to keep the pain out of her voice. “But I’m more than just another acquisition, right?”
He nodded and brought one of her hands to his mouth to kiss the back of it. “You, my phoenix, are more than just a negotiation,” he said. “And I intend to show you that.”
“I hope to let you.”
***
Brenda raised her eyebrow up playfully at Jamsheed. “So, you do rent things out?”
She laughed again, feeling lighthearted for the first time since Haley called her with the bad news. It felt like things were possible again. Here she was with the man she’d fantasized about for months, and he had rented out the entire London Eye, the most famous Ferris wheel in the world and one of the most legendary landmarks in Europe, all for them.
“I prefer some gestures. Besides, have you been on the Eye before?”
She shook her head. “I mostly have time to work. When I have dated, the guys, of course, are local Brits and usually Londoners themselves. They want to do the pub thing and grab a pint. No one does the sights, and I haven’t seen nearly as many as you think. Unless you count from a Metro bus as I go past things to and from my apartment.”
Jamsheed wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they slipped into the carriage for the Ferris wheel. She loved having him near her like this. Not only was the chill breeze of the London air causing goosebumps to rise over her shoulders, but she craved nearness to him. She reveled in the heft of him as he leaned against her, the stubble of the side of his cheek on the side of her temples as he drew her in. God, and the way he smelled, that natural hint of his own masculine musk mixed with turmeric and cloves. Everything about him was as exotic and alluring as the land he was in line to rule.
“Then tonight you get to see everything, just as any proud tourist would. I couldn’t imagine whisking you off to Zomelia without letting you see the Thames and the places that make London one of the crown jewels of the world. Of course, Zomelia is more gorgeous; the diamond above all other stones.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” she admitted as they strode to the windowed walls of the carriage.
Below, the water of the Thames stretched out like black ink between sites she’d seen but never taken time to marvel over since coming to the city: the London Bridge, the houses of Parliament, and Big Ben himself. The Ferris wheel was adorned with blue twinkle lights all over that sparkled around them and cast dazzling patterns on the water below.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Jamsheed said, leaning lower. His breath tickled against her ear, raising goosebumps over her flesh. Heat flared in her belly, and Brenda’s cheeks flushed, as if a riot of heat was blossoming throughout her body. “So few wonders in the world.”
“I wouldn’t call the Thames exactly the pyramids or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.”
He grinned back at her, his teeth gleaming under the light and standing out against his olive complexion. “I’m not talking about the river, my phoenix. I’m talking about you.”
Brenda swallowed a lump down. She hadn’t felt anything close to this much longing in her life, even with Haley’s father when she was young and stupid and thought that summer love would last forever. She’d certainly never had her body burn for a man before; not the way it felt consumed by a veritable forest fire now.
“What?”
Jamsheed shifted her body toward her until he was pressed against her, until she could feel the ridge of his length pressed against her abdomen. “I don’t know how far you want to go with anything.”
“I can’t go all the way overlooking London. I’m not that daring, and it’s the age of YouTube. Someone would catch us, and I can’t explain that to either my mom or to Haley.”
“I wouldn’t ask something so brash of a true lady like you,” Jamsheed confessed. “However, I fear I might explode if I don’t kiss you right now. Would that be all right?” He punctuated his request by stroking her cheek. “For a while now, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind, phoenix. No one else would do. No one was as gorgeous compared to your alabaster skin or fiery red hair.”
She grinned back at him, joy overtaking her in a way it rarely had. At least this type of raw sexual need and exuberance. She had other sources of maternal joy or familial joy in her life, but this was something new, something blossoming in her soul that she’d never missed because she’d never felt it before.
Wrapping her arms around his neck she inclined her head toward his lips. “I’ll combust if you don’t touch me, so I’ll take it as an insult if you don’t.”
“Then I mustn’t disappoint a lady,” he said.
His lips were on her in an instant, soft and beckoning, even as the whiskers of his goatee scratched and tickled her chin. Strong hands, so large they seemed to envelope every inch of her back and rear, held her closely as his length pressed to her belly. Her skirt was too tight to allow her to wrap her leg around his waist but a large part of her wanted to climb him like a tree.
That spicy smell of turmeric tickled her nose again, and she was lost in sensation and the passion between them as his tongue plumbed her mouth’s hidden depths. Her tongue twisted with his in a dance for dominance, and she mewled against him. Caution was thrown to the wind in this embrace. She had nothing to hide from him, and now that they were setting out for Zomelia together, Brenda didn’t see the point in holding back.
She spent far too much of her life holding back. It was as if her life came in waves. She’d been bold and daring one summer and, though she loved Haley and would never trade anything for her daughter, she also had closed in on herself ever since. Brenda had played it safe for over two decades, and she was tired of it. It wasn’t running off to Vegas to bet her (small) life savings on something, but she was willing to take a chance on love.
