His hair was slicked back against a well-shaped skull and in the shadows the lines of his face were stark, his jaw hard. He arched one ebony-black brow and once again Aneesa had the gut-clenching realisation of how extraordinarily handsome he was. It was a physical sensation she’d never experienced with Jamal, even though she’d believed herself to be in love with him. The realisation sent shock through her system.
‘Shouldn’t you be kissing your groom about now?’
His laconically spoken words and their accompanying picture sent a wave of nausea through Aneesa. Barely thinking, she said numbly, ‘All Jamal will be concerned about is his precious reputation.’
Hearing her own voice loud in the silence made shock grip her anew. She had to leave. Get away from here, but just as she started to move she realised that her legs had turned to jelly. To her utter horror and chagrin, she folded to the ground from the waist down like a rag doll, the previous minutes’ events crippling her.
So quickly, that she didn’t have time to register, the man had hauled himself out of the pool and was crouched beside Aneesa, water sluicing off his taut body. Big hands came under her arms and suddenly he was lifting her up as if she weighed no more than a doll.
Amidst the shock of reality hitting her, and his proximity, a torrent of words clamoured to get out. ‘I’m so … sorry … had no idea anyone was here. I ran … had to get away. I’ll go … leave you alone … shouldn’t be here …’
Aneesa was aware that her teeth were chattering and that the man was effortlessly supporting her as he led her back through the doors and into a luxurious living room, switching on low lights as he went. His arm around her was like a steel support, and the wet body she could feel through her sari felt like a warm wall of hard muscle.
He brought her over to a sumptuous couch and sat her down with a gentleness that belied his obvious strength. When she was seated he crouched down and looked up into her face. However handsome she’d thought him before, up close he was quite simply breathtaking.
Even though his hair was wet, she could see that it was cut almost militarily short. His blue eyes were deep set, over a patrician nose which gave him a look of royalty. A thin upper lip spoke of a cool control, but his full lower lip spoke of passion and an innate sensuality, and even though he was a complete stranger Aneesa had the almost overwhelming urge to run her finger along that lower lip and see if his icy blue eyes would darken with the promise of sensual satisfaction.
Aghast at the totally uncharacteristic and wanton direction of her thoughts she recoiled back and then wished she hadn’t as it gave her a better view of his broad shoulders and tautly muscled chest, covered with a smattering of masculine hair.
Something flashed in his eyes and he drew back too, asking, ‘Will you be OK for a minute if I go and put some clothes on?’
Aneesa’s head nearly fell off she nodded it so vigorously. She couldn’t even speak and just watched with a dry mouth as he stood to his full imposing height, and strode away. Helplessly, her eyes drawn to the sheer athletic grace with which he walked. He had a broad back, which tapered down to narrow hips and then lower to where his short swim trunks hugged the globes of his muscular bottom. His skin was a burnished olive as if he spent much time outdoors, and dimly she wondered if he might be some sort of professional athlete.
With a flood of heat rising from her belly upwards Aneesa finally dragged her gaze away and groaned, bringing her hands to her face. What was wrong with her? She’d just sent her whole life into a tailspin and here she was drooling over some stranger’s half-naked body.
The only thing stopping her from getting up and running at that moment was a curious sense of lethargy and also the very real fear that she’d collapse again. Also she owed this man an explanation for bursting into his penthouse suite. She told herself she’d just wait till he came back and then apologise and leave, and hopefully by then she’d be in a fit enough state to walk out with some measure of dignity, and find some other sanctuary where she could lick her wounds.
Sebastian stepped out from under the cold spray of the quickest shower he’d ever taken and roughly ran a towel over his body. He’d had to take a cold shower because merely putting his hands under Aneesa Adani’s arms when he’d helped her inside had unleashed a flood of desire so forceful that he’d nearly lost control.
He could still feel the gentle swell of her breast against his side, the silky brush of her hair as it had swung against him and an enticing scent of exotic flowers. Her skin was as soft as he’d imagined it might be earlier.
He cursed himself as his body started to respond to the mental images again and he enforced rigid control, dragging on a pair of black trousers and a white shirt. Clearly she didn’t feel the same level of intensely immediate attraction if the way she’d recoiled just now was anything to go by. And what the hell was she doing here anyway? She should be in the midst of her wedding right now, and yet she’d looked like a car crash victim. Albeit the most beautiful car crash victim he’d ever seen.
Grimly he recognised that he obviously hadn’t misread her look earlier. Her mouth … He had to grit his jaw just thinking of how it had trembled. How she’d pressed those lips together to try and contain her emotion. And how it had made him want to reach up and pull her head down to his so that he could press his mouth against hers and see if she tasted as sweet as she looked.
He’d just finished his first punishing set of lengths when she’d burst onto the terrace and for a second he’d believed he might be hallucinating. Or going mad. He’d spoken out loud as much to dispel the image before him, but then she’d screamed and turned around, clearly stunned to find anyone there. And as soon as he’d realised that she was very real, his brain had gone into meltdown.
Chagrined to be brought to this level of lack of control, Sebastian took a deep breath and went back out to the living room.
Aneesa heard the stranger returning and stood, but almost immediately she swayed. In a second he was by her side again—and dressed, she noted with relief. He pushed her back down onto the couch gently.
His voice was grim. ‘You’re not in any state to go anywhere.’
Before Aneesa could protest he was handing her a glass which held about an inch of dark golden liquid. She looked up and said huskily, ‘I don’t drink.’
He held it out. ‘Consider it medicinal. You need something, you’re clearly in shock.’
Belatedly she noted the English intonation of his accent. With a slight tremor in her hands she took the glass, relieved that their fingers didn’t touch, and wrinkling her nose, she took a sip, wincing as the fiery liquid burnt its way down her throat. Almost immediately she could feel it settle into her stomach and a resulting warm numbing glow spread outwards.
She sensed rather than saw him move away and when she could muster the courage she looked up to see him standing a few feet away with arms crossed, leaning insouciantly against the glass doors. The white of his shirt couldn’t disguise the powerful chest underneath, or the way the muscles in his arms bunched. He watched her intently and she flushed.
She bit her lip and then said, ‘I’m very sorry for disturbing you like this. I had no right to barge in.’
He frowned then, black brows drawing together over those mesmerising eyes. ‘How did you get in?’
Aneesa faltered for a moment, much of her journey here was hazy. ‘I think through a service lift, into a utility room …’
His mouth tightened with displeasure and Aneesa read it to mean that he was angry with her. She started to apologise again. ‘I’m so sorry—really, I had no idea where I was going—’
He cut her off. ‘It’s not your fault.’
Just then a phone rang, making Aneesa flinch. Her heart started to hammer again and she looked from the phone on a nearby table to the man in horror. ‘They must be looking for me … ‘
As he pushed himself away from