‘Snakes?’ How was she expected to focus her mind on snakes when all she could think about was him?
‘This is their home, Your Highness, and during the day they’re sleepy and often at their most dangerous. They don’t always appreciate being disturbed.’
His gaze flickered over the sand beneath his feet, and then he gently lowered her to the ground, her body sliding down his in a slow, deliberate movement that simply increased her internal agony. Her stomach swooped and she knew that the sudden explosion of heat inside her had nothing to do with the strength of the sun’s rays beating down on them.
The sudden harsh intake of his breath indicated that he’d felt it, too.
For a moment they stood there, his fingers biting into her hips, and Alexa couldn’t breathe or move, her thoughts and senses smothered by the proximity of his body. She was supposed to be thinking of snakes and the dangers of the desert, but all she could think about was him and she felt a flash of panic. What was it about this man that had such a powerful effect on her? She never had trouble focusing, never, and yet suddenly.
All she could think about was the kiss they’d shared, and she could see from the slow burn of fire in his eyes that he was suffering a similar torment.
‘I’m not that familiar with the rules of the desert.’ She forced herself to pull away from him and he released her instantly.
‘The Sultan would not forgive me if I failed to protect you.’
‘So what do they look like, these snakes?’ Her body showed no sign of recovering from the searing heat of the contact. There was a maddening ache between her thighs, and her lips were so dry that she tried to moisten them with her tongue. ‘Are they well camouflaged?’
‘Extremely well camouflaged. The ability to disguise themselves well is the only thing that stands between them and death in this environment.’ His voice was tight and angry, and Alexa knew that he was no more absorbed by the conversation about snakes than she was. In fact, if a snake had picked that moment to come and bite them, there was a strong change that neither would have noticed.
‘So now what?’ She took another step away from him, hoping that distance might succeed where logic was failing.
‘We eat and drink.’ Reaching into the car, he pulled out a flask and handed it to her. ‘Water. It’s another essential part of desert survival. In this heat, you must drink.’
Taking the flask, her fingers brushed against his, and she almost dropped the precious water on the ground. ‘This so-called road isn’t exactly busy, is it?’ Trying to disguise the fact that her hands were shaking, Alexa lifted the flask to her lips and drank. Then she glanced over her shoulder again, as she’d done repeatedly since they’d left the airport. ‘Obviously there isn’t much traffic between the airport and the Citadel.’
‘This is only one of several roads. Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?’
‘No, thank you.’ Her stomach was churning so badly she knew she wouldn’t be able to eat a thing. ‘It’s hot.’
‘Indeed, it is. Even within the stone walls of the fortress the temperatures can reach fifty degrees. Many Western women would find the heat and the dust intolerable. You have led a sheltered life in an air-conditioned palace.’
Sheltered?
He had no idea! ‘The heat won’t worry me.’ But she had a feeling that he wanted it to worry her and for a moment she felt puzzled. Why would the Sultan’s bodyguard have an opinion on her impending marriage? Why would he even care?
Karim put the water back in the cooler. ‘We should get going. We have a long way to go before darkness.’
‘Where are we sleeping tonight?’
‘Out in the desert, Alexa. Where else?’ He opened the car door for her, a faint smile playing around his firm, sensual mouth. ‘You can lie back, look at the stars and dream of the Sultan. Take the opportunity to rest while you can.’
CHAPTER FIVE
THEY reached the tents just as dusk was falling and the setting sun was a deep orange ball in the darkening sky.
Karim was suffering agonies of mental and physical tension. He wasn’t sure who had been affected most on the journey. It had been long, trying and extremely hot, and he had succeeded in making it hotter still by choosing to talk about topics which would have been best avoided given the intimacy of their current situation.
His plan to plant seeds of doubt in her mind by his descriptions of the Sultan had backfired in the most spectacular way. He’d been in an almost permanent state of arousal since she’d lain underneath him in the bedroom, and his poor choice of conversation topic had merely increased the relentless sexual tension that gripped him. The more he’d talked, the more he’d imagined and the more he’d imagined, the harder it had become to drive.
At one point, he’d been sorely tempted to stop the car and douse himself with the remains of their cold water in a brutal attempt to return his brain to sanity.
But he hadn’t taken that option, and to make matters worse—to raise his temperature still further—his expansive description of the Sultan’s sexual appetites hadn’t appeared to worry her that much, which presumably indicated that she believed herself more than capable of matching them.
In the end he’d stopped talking, hoping that a period of reflection might be sufficient to induce the degree of doubt in her mind that he’d been hoping for. But instead of brooding she’d simply snuggled down and fallen asleep yet again, leaving him to cope alone with a rampant attack of unrelieved sexual hunger.
He should have woken her, but he’d taken one look at the blue-black shadows beneath her eyes and the pallor of her skin and found himself unable to rouse her from a sleep she so obviously needed.
Wondering when he’d become such a soft touch, Karim brought the vehicle to a halt outside the tents and glanced at her in exasperation.
All she seemed to do was sleep.
Clearly her hectic lifestyle was catching up with her.
His mouth tightening, he decided that enough was enough. If this woman became Zangrar’s queen it would be disastrous, and his absolute priority had to be to prevent it happening. ‘Your Highness.’ She didn’t stir and his tone hardened. ‘Alexa.’
Her eyelids lifted and Karim tumbled headlong into her soft, blue gaze, and suddenly all he wanted to do was spend the foreseeable future exploring the possibilities of her mouth …
Feeling as though he was losing his grip, he dragged his eyes away from hers and tightened his grip on the wheel. ‘We’ve arrived.’
‘Arrived?’ Her voice husky, she stretched with feline grace, and then suddenly sat upright sharply. ‘Oh my goodness—you should have woken me!’
Wondering whether she was more dangerous awake or asleep, Karim gritted his teeth. ‘You were tired. We’re spending the night here.’
‘You sound cross.’ Pushing her hair away from her face, she glanced sleepily out of the window. ‘I can’t believe I fell asleep again.’
‘You’ve obviously been having too many late nights.’
‘I just don’t sleep well at home.’
Remembering the picture he’d been shown of her being removed unconscious from a nightclub, Karim was tempted to point out that in order to sleep she had to be in her own bed. Then he remembered that antagonizing her was not his objective. ‘The heat in the desert can be draining.’
‘You should have woken me up and let me drive.’
‘There