Prince Hafiz's Only Vice. Susanna Carr

And she couldn’t let that happen.

      Hafiz frowned. “Lacey...”

      “Ssh.” She silenced him by pressing her fingers against his parted lips. “Please.”

      He covered her hand with his and placed soft kisses in the heart of her palm. “I don’t want you to leave,” he said against her skin.

      “Then, come away with me!” She impulsively tangled her fingers with his and pulled him away from the door. His torn expression shamed her. She drew back and let go of his hand. “I’m sorry. That was wrong.”

      He moved swiftly and crushed her against him. “I can’t leave Rudaynah,” he whispered, his breath ruffling her hair. “And you can’t stay. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I’m only half alive when you are not around.”

      He didn’t want to give her up, but he had the strength to do it when she wanted to ignore the inevitable. Hafiz would flourish without her while she wilted into a slow death. “In time, you’ll forget all about me.”

      He tightened their embrace. “How can you say that?”

      “You will,” she predicted with a sigh. It happened to her before, and nothing she did would stop it from happening again. “You need to leave.” Now, before it became impossible. Before she threw herself at his feet and begged him to stay.

      “Yes.” He gradually relaxed his hold but didn’t let go. “This was already a risk.”

      She looked up into his face. The scent of the desert night clung to his warm skin. The steady and strong beat of his heart pounded under her hand. The passion he felt for her shone in his eyes. This was how she wanted to remember him. “Goodbye, Hafiz.”

      He lowered his face and gently brushed his mouth against hers. Like Lacey, he kept his eyes open, needing to commit this last kiss to memory. The unshed tears in her eyes blurred his image. Lacey’s lips clung to his. The craving to deepen the kiss radiated between them. She felt his need to carry her away and the struggle to leave her behind.

      “I have to go,” he murmured against her mouth.

      “I know.” The world tilted as he withdrew, and his arms dropped away from her. She felt exposed and weak. A single tear spilled down her cheek. “I wish...” She stopped and bit her lip.

      “You wish what?” When she didn’t answer, he grabbed her upper arms with his large hands. “Tell me,” he pleaded, his fingers biting into her flesh.

      “No.” She shook her head. She had to be strong and ignore her wants. For both of them. “I wish you...happiness.”

      Hafiz shook her slightly until tendrils of her hair fell in front of her face. “That was not what you were going to say. Don’t end this on a lie,” he ordered, agony threading his voice. “Don’t leave me with a half-spoken wish, so that I will go mad trying to figure out what you wanted to say.”

      Lacey looked away. She’d ruined the moment, all because she couldn’t let him go. “I can’t.”

      “Tell me what you wish,” he said against her ear, teasing her willpower with his husky voice full of promise. “I will make it come true if it’s in my power.”

      “I wish we...” She swallowed. Damn her weakness! “I wish we had at least one more night.”

      She saw the gleam in Hafiz’s bronze eyes. Her request unleashed something dark and primitive inside him. He wanted to claim her, possess her so completely that she would never forget him. As if she could.

      “I can grant you that wish,” he promised as his features sharpened with lust. “Tonight.”

      “No.” Lacey shook her head. They had to stop now. If she went to bed with him tonight, she would do everything in her power to keep him there. “We can’t. You are an engaged man. The sultan has warned you—”

      “This is my wish, too.” He gathered her close and lifted her in his arms before he strode to the bedroom. “Don’t deny me one more night.”