‘You’re passionate about your work.’
‘I am. I take what I do very seriously.’
‘As do I, Allegra.’
Deep azure eyes met his. Despite their heavy scepticism, the colour reminded him of the whirlpools he used to play in as a child at his family’s beach house outside the city.
From nowhere his mother’s voice cautioning him to be careful lest he got sucked into the water flared across his mind. The memory was vivid and unexpected, enough to make him frown.
Shrugging away the mildly unsettling feeling as an inevitable consequence of the decisions he knew he had to make concerning his kingdom, he looked at Allegra, and found her staring back at him.
‘Is something wrong? I really don’t mind staying at the hotel if...’
‘I’m a man of my word, Allegra. I extended an invitation. I will not take it back.’
Alighting, he extended his hand to help her out. He saw her hesitate a moment before accepting his aid. A whisper of a smile touched his lips.
He’d also experienced the sizzle when they’d touched back at the airstrip. Back then he’d thought it a figment of his imagination. Or a product of his year-long abstinence. Sex had been the last thing on his mind once he’d found out his father had fallen ill and died without Rahim’s knowledge. Guilt and bitterness had effectively killed his libido, and he’d been in no hurry to resurrect it once he’d arrived in Dar-Aman and seen what his father’s apathy and neglect had caused his people. What the result of his own disinterest and self-imposed estrangement had wrought.
Allegra’s hand slid into his. Heat flared in his belly and arrowed straight to his groin. Beneath the flowing robes of his abaya, his heart thundered as he stared down into her eyes, then to the colour surging beneath her silky skin.
He had no intention of bedding Allegra Di Sione, but he’d bedded enough women to know his effect on them. Sexual tension was a hugely effective tool. One he would shamelessly use to get Allegra to do his bidding if that was what it took.
Holding on to her hand, he let his thumb caress the soft space between her fingers. She gave a tiny gasp and tried to pull her hand away.
Rahim held on, absently aware that he was getting just as equally affected by the attraction crackling between them. But he had enough control not to allow it to go too far. He would play on it only until he got what he needed from her. He blithely ignored the sting of his conscience.
‘Welcome to my palace,’ he murmured.
She blinked, then jerked and looked around her before glancing back at him. ‘I... Thank you.’
With one last caress, he allowed her hand to drop, aware that Harun and a few advisors lingered close by.
He strolled through the quadruple doors that led into the extensive space too large to be named a hallway. Two dozen pillars, which had provided endless amusement to play hide-and-seek as a child, rose from the floor and flared in gold and silver painted tentacles to the ceiling.
Beneath his feet, gold and silver inlaid marble floors gleamed and echoed his and Allegra’s footsteps as they crossed the wide expanse to the east wing.
Rahim was aware of Allegra’s suppressed gasps with each new visually stunning Moorish archway and new room they passed through. For the first time in his life, he was forced to see his home through another’s eyes. Objets d’art and rare, priceless paintings he’d taken for granted since birth took on a new meaning. The precious collectibles his father had showered on his mother were laid out in cabinets and displayed on shelves and walls at every turn.
A touch of unease fizzed through him at the thought of the excessive display of wealth—which, now that he took a moment to acknowledge, bordered on the obscene—and he gave a small sigh of relief when they walked through another archway and reached the double doors he sought.
Allegra glanced behind her. ‘We’re alone,’ she observed. Then she blushed, hurrying to elaborate. ‘I mean, I thought your advisors were accompanying us so they could speak to you.’
‘They are, but they’re not allowed in the women’s wing. Only I am.’
Her lips pursed in an unmistakable show of anger. Her eyes flashed before she lowered them. ‘The women’s wing? And you have the access-all-areas pass because you’re the sheikh, I suppose?’
‘Naturally.’
‘And here I thought you were a modern man, Your Highness. You do realise that some would think you positively archaic that you still segregate your women?’
‘I’ve never been one for popularity contests. And there is a good reason for keeping separate sleeping quarters for the women under my roof.’
Her mouth worked, as if she wanted to challenge him as to what those reasons were. Before she could, the doors to the suite were thrown open.
The young girl who emerged took one look at him and dropped to her knees with a loud gasp.
‘Your Highness, everything is ready as you requested.’
‘Good. You may stand up now, Nura.’
She scrambled up, but kept her head bent low.
He turned to Allegra. ‘Nura will be your personal maid while you’re here. If you need anything...’
‘It really is unnecessary. I don’t need a maid.’ Allegra sent a stiff smile the young girl’s way. At Nura’s crestfallen expression, she added, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m used to taking care of myself, and I don’t want to waste your time. Time I’m sure will be better spent elsewhere?’
Irritation bubbled beneath Rahim’s effort to remain a civil host. ‘Nura will remain here. Every member of the palace staff has a role. Nura’s is serving you during your stay.’ When Allegra continued to look mutinous, he exhaled in frustration. ‘Things are done a little differently here, Allegra. The earlier you accept that, the smoother your visit will be. I’m sure we both want that?’
‘We do,’ she replied tersely.
‘Good. Then it’s settled.’
Her gaze clashed and battled with his, but she didn’t respond. Instead she followed Nura into the suite, the young maid’s eagerness garnering a less stiff smile from Allegra.
He followed, despite the pressing awareness that he was needed elsewhere. While she was absorbed in the room that his own mother had used as a girl before marrying his father and relocating to the royal bedchamber, Rahim’s gaze traced her elegant neck, lower to her slender waist and rounded bottom, to the slit at the back of Allegra’s dress, which displayed her elegant legs.
Again heat stamped through him, harder this time, reminding him that he was very much a red-blooded male, who’d gone too long without the release that had been his to take once upon a time.
He’d taken and indulged a little too much in hindsight.
A predicament he wouldn’t be able to fix without Allegra’s help. The reminder curbed the insane need to reach out and trace his hand over that trim waist, change that expression on her face from condemnation to something more...malleable.
Halting the direction of his thoughts, he refocused his attention higher. She held one of the many trinket boxes that had been his mother’s personal joy, her interest keen as she examined it.
Sensing his regard, she hastily placed the Russian artefact down and faced him.
‘When will we have a chance to talk, Your Highness?’ she asked.
‘I have back-to-back meetings this morning, and engagements outside the palace this afternoon. We will speak after the banquet.’ It would give him time to summon