* * *
Kazim looked around him, his attention diverted by the way the tent billowed in, making the gold fabric shimmer in the light from the lantern. The wind had picked up but something far worse was happening out there. His gaze rested again on Amber, the anger he’d experienced at her deception receding like the tide. He’d brought her to the desert and could well have put her in danger. Once again, someone he was close to was going to be hurt. He adamantly refused to look deeper into that thought.
‘Stay here.’ He took hold of her arms and forced her to look at him. ‘Do you hear me? Stay here.’
‘What is it?’ she asked, her words laced with panic. He knew he’d scared her more than necessary.
‘I will be back in a few minutes but, whatever you do, stay here.’ He injected as much urgency into his voice as possible and the heat of her arms beneath his hands grounded him somehow.
Before he had time to reconsider he left her, tossing aside the curtain to her quarters roughly, and made his way to the main entrance of the tent, now secured for the night. Quickly he opened it and one look outside told him all he needed to know. Nature was taunting them with the threat of a sandstorm, but the frenzied activities of the nomads suggested only one thing.
They were under attack.
‘Kazim?’
He swore and turned to face Amber as she now stood in the main living quarters. ‘Can you ever do as you are told?’ With harsh movements he secured the tent entrance again and hoped the rebels wouldn’t attack in full force. He was torn. Stay with Amber or go to the nomads?
‘What’s happening?’ Her voice quivered with fear but he was still angry that she hadn’t heeded his warning and stayed where she was. In her quarters at the back of the tent was the best place for both of them to be.
‘A desert storm is threatening.’
‘But it could get worse, right?’ She looked at him, her face imploring him to tell the truth. Truth! Would she know what that was?
‘It already has.’
‘What do you mean?’ Panic entered her voice once again, and guilt tugged at him.
‘The rebels are out there too. Attack is imminent.’
Her eyes widened in shock, but she didn’t say anything.
Quickly, he took her arm and propelled her towards her quarters. ‘We will go back to where I told you to stay and sit it out. That is the safest and best option.’ His hand locked around hers, almost dragging her back into her quarters as the fabric walls billowed and the wind wailed mournfully around them.
He pulled her down onto the bed, tossing aside some of the cushions in exasperation. ‘We just wait and hope. The threatening storm may be our saviour.’
‘That’s it?’ she snapped and turned to face him, suddenly so very close that his chest tightened and for a moment he couldn’t say anything. ‘That’s your master plan?’
Amber clung to his arm and he closed his eyes against the raging emotions inside him. She was seeking his protection; even if she didn’t utter a word, her actions told him that. His mind raced back in time, to the moment he’d failed to protect his mother. He could hear her scream and feel the fiery pain in his chest as he was pushed against the sharp corner of a marble statue pedestal.
‘Kazim, someone’s trying to get in.’ Amber’s panicked words hurtled him back to the present and he leapt to his feet, preparing to defend.
Relief surged through him as the son of the nomad elder rushed in, his words as hurried as his entrance.
‘What is it?’ Amber asked as the nomad quickly left. ‘Do you need to go?’
He shook his head, trying to regain his usual control, thankful that the wind had played its part to their advantage. ‘They have gone. It seems the wind is mistress of the desert tonight.’
She sighed in relief. ‘Are you sure they won’t come back?’
‘Not tonight,’ he said as he sat next to her, wanting to hold her. ‘All we need to worry about now is the wind and staying safe.’
‘Are you trying to seduce me?’ she teased and his pulse rate rocketed into overdrive.
‘I would not be deceitful enough to use the cover of an impending storm—neither would I need to.’ He looked deep into her eyes, trying to fathom the emotions that were buried within them. The truth was: he did want to seduce her. With every cell in his body he wanted her; despite everything, he still craved the release being with her could give him.
The intensity of that lust was something he’d never experienced before. Usually the novelty of a woman wore off once he’d bedded her, but with Amber it was different. Was that because he’d waited so long to claim her, to then discover that she too had waited and that she was truly his?
‘I wasn’t trying to deceive you, Kazim,’ she said softly as her gaze lowered, those long lashes covering her eyes, hiding her soul from his scrutiny. But her apology only raised more questions.
‘On our wedding day you tried to be something which I now know you were not. Now I discover you knew of your father’s allegiance with the rebels. How can I ever trust you?’
If he could walk away from her at this minute he would. But he couldn’t. They were trapped together in this tent and, judging by the sound of the wind outside, they would be for some time yet. Could he turn it to his advantage? Find out the truth about the woman he’d married, once and for all?
* * *
Amber sighed. Did he not trust anything she’d said or done? ‘From day one of our marriage it was doomed. You didn’t want to believe me; you only wanted to believe what you saw—or what you thought you saw.’
‘What I saw then and still see now is a woman who was very proficient at weaving a web of lies. The same woman who is unable to deny the facts I’ve just presented her with. You do not know truth.’ His words were slow but firm and she glanced up at his profile, his handsome face drawn into a mask of concentration.
Around them the wind buffeted the tent, seemingly determined to gain entry. Nervously she watched the fabric shifting ominously in the low light from the lanterns. It should be romantic, a time for two lovers to come together and lose themselves from the outside world.
But they were not lovers. What they shared was an undeniable spark of attraction—one that demanded satisfaction and one she was sure would fade in time until it was nothing more than glowing coals amidst a dying fire.
‘I was doing my duty, Kazim. Surely you, of all people, can relate to that?’ They had been forced together by the might of the desert and he had to listen to her, had to see why she’d acted as she had. She pressed on before he added anything and distracted her from her mission. ‘It was made very clear to me that, to inherit your father’s kingdom, it was of the utmost importance that our marriage went ahead.’
‘That, at least, is true.’ He picked up a gold cushion, absently examining the braiding. Anything other than look at her it seemed. ‘I was told much the same. As long as we consummated the marriage it did not matter if we lived together afterwards or not—for a while, at least. That is the only reason I agreed to it.’
‘But you weren’t even able to consummate the marriage.’ Anger burst to life once more inside her, rushing through her veins so insistently she wanted to get up off the bed and run as far away as possible. She fought the urge with everything she had. ‘Why was that, Kazim? Did you hate me that much?’
‘No!’ He rounded