To Hassan’s relief, she turned toward the kitchen, away from the windows, and gave it a restrained toss. It flew ten feet straight ahead before dropping like a stone.
“I don’t think boomerangs ever work!” Kali complained “I’ll bet it’s all just a lie put out by the Australian Tourist Board to sell the blasted things.”
“Maybe you simply haven’t said the proper incantations.”
“Incantations?” Kali looked up, her attention caught by the odd note in his voice. “What kind of incantations?”
“Boomerangs are hunting weapons and as such exclusively the property of men. You’re a woman.”
And what a woman, he thought, allowing his gaze to linger on the swell of her breasts beneath her cream silk blouse.
“Maybe what I need is some woman magic to counter the masculine pictographs,” she said, trying to keep the conversation lighthearted, so that if he withdrew from her it wouldn’t embarrass either of them. And if he didn’t withdraw…
She took a deep breath. She might be able to finagle a kiss out of this.
“Woman magic?” Hassan asked.
“Uh-huh, woman magic is a very potent force in all primitive societies.” Kali slowly ran the tip of her tongue over her dry lips as she scrambled for a way to move things out of the realm of spoken language and into that of body language.
Her confidence level soared when she noticed his eyes following her tongue’s movement.
Slowly Kali advanced toward him, drawing pictures in the air with her fingers as she came.
“I am woman. I am all-powerful.” She sing-songed the words, not stopping until she was almost touching him.
To her surprise and delight, Hassan suddenly reached out and pulled her up against him. She landed against his hard chest with a bump that momentarily dislodged rational thought. Automatically she put out her hands to steady herself, grasping his arms. She could feel his hard biceps through the sleek wool material of his gray suit. It was an intriguing combination. Much like Hassan himself was turning out to be.
“Women are many things, but powerful isn’t one of them.” Hassan couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away from her lips. She had the most alluring mouth he’d ever seen.
“You mean this isn’t the time to tell you that I was the best student in my self-defense class at the Y?” Kali tilted her head back, and the movement pushed her breasts into his chest, sending a wave of desire spiraling through her.
“Really?” Hassan’s arms tightened, lifting her off her feet and holding her securely against him. “Try to get free.”
Now why would she want to do a dumb thing like that? Kali wondered, when he felt like the embodiment of every sexual fantasy she’d ever had as well as a few she hadn’t gotten around to yet.
“But it’s woman magic I control,” she murmured, nuzzling her face against his neck. “And woman magic is a little different from brute strength. For example,” she trailed her lips along his jawline and began to nuzzle the skin behind his ear. She could feel his body’s instant response, and it fed her self-confidence.
She took a deep, indulgent breath of the delicious aroma that clung to him, allowing it to fill her lungs. Savoring the sensations unfurling in her, Kali licked the spot she’d been caressing, smiling happily when he gasped.
Emboldened she traced back over his jawline with her lips, exploring the exact texture of his skin. It had a faintly raspy feel to it as if he had a very heavy beard.
Her speculation was cut short as Hassan suddenly turned his head and captured her mouth with his. His lips pressed forcefully against hers, demanding that she open her mouth to his exploration. Instinctively she obeyed, and he shoved his tongue inside with a rough hunger Kali found incredibly sexy.
Reaction poured over her in waves, raising goose bumps on her flesh. Her arms tightened around his shoulders, trying to bind him closer. She hadn’t realized that a simple kiss could feel like this. She could even hear bells.
A monumental sense of loss filled her as Hassan suddenly dropped his arms and stepped back.
Kali gulped in air, struggling to get control of her turbulent emotions. It wasn’t easy. She felt shaken to the very core of her being. Totally unlike herself. And totally unlike the sensible, competent woman Hassan had proposed to. The fear that he might notice her unprecedented reaction and wonder about it was like a shower of cold water on her overheated emotions.
Kali ran her fingers down over the smooth line of her green tweed skirt willing them to stop trembling.
“Here, I almost forgot,” Hassan said.
Kali looked up to find him holding out the engagement ring he’d bought her yesterday.
Kali stared down at the exquisite thing, wondering how anyone could ever forget something so beautiful…even for a moment. The huge emerald seemed to glow as if lit from within.
“It’s even more gorgeous than I remember,” she said, uncertain as to whether she should put it on or let him, as a couple would do in a normal engagement.
But she didn’t want a normal engagement. She’d already tried falling in love, and it had been a complete disaster. Her cool, considered arrangement with Hassan was much better.
She looked up into Hassan’s dark eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. At least it had been cool and considered, she amended. But for some reason, ever since Hassan had gotten back from Australia, he’d been different.
No, she corrected herself as she studied his familiar features. Hassan wasn’t different. What was different was how she was reacting to him. And she had no idea why.
Hassan answered her unspoken question by taking her hand and slipping the ring on her finger.
“A perfect fit,” Hassan announced, wanting to kiss her again. He wanted to see if it felt the same or if his explosive reaction to their earlier kiss had been a fluke. He wanted.some common sense. He choked off his desire with monumental effort. He had absolutely no business kissing her, because tonight he was going to tell her the truth.
But until then he was playing the part of her fiancé and if he didn’t play the part convincingly, he wouldn’t fool her family. And this whole exercise would have been a waste.
Kali watched the emotions flitting across his face, wondering what he was thinking. She didn’t have a clue. Hassan was turning out to be a lot more complicated than she’d originally thought.
But this wasn’t the time to worry about it, she told herself as the cuckoo clock she’d lugged home from Germany four years ago suddenly chimed the half hour.
Hurriedly she got her tan dress coat out of the closet and shrugged into it.
“I told Mom I’d call her from the train station when we get in,” Kali told Hassan as she carefully locked her apartment door behind them. “Someone will collect us.”
“I’ve got a car.”
“But you hate to drive.” She frowned uncertainly at him.
Damn! Hassan mentally cursed his slip. How could he have forgotten the car accident that had killed his uncle and led to the breakup of his parents’ happy marriage? Six-year-old Karim had been severely injured. The whole family had spent the next fifteen years catering to his every whim. The accident had also left Karim with a horror of driving. But maybe Karim hadn’t told Kali the reason he didn’t drive. He didn’t seem to have told her anything else about his background.
“I wouldn’t exactly say that I hate to drive,” Hassan carefully felt his way. “It’s more that I find it a nuisance in New