‘Somewhere special?’
‘Somewhere that means a lot to me.’
‘Your palace?’
‘Come on—you can take a cushion with you.’ As he spoke he chucked her a cushion and she caught it.
‘What’s this for?’
‘For the horse,’ he said. ‘To protect his back from you bouncing up and down on it.’
Laughing, she chucked the cushion back at him, and somehow in between the tension between them disappeared.
‘Or,’ Raffa said as he thought about it, ‘you could ride in front of me. We’ll travel faster that way.’
‘Do I have to ride at all?’
His eyes darkened with amusement. ‘The more you ride, the easier it gets.’
‘Do I really look that gullible?’ Casey demanded, smiling at him as she planted her hands on her hips.
‘Shall we find out?’ Raffa challenged. ‘Come on.’ In his hands there was a shimmer of something blue. ‘Get dressed and we’ll go.’
‘What is this?’ Casey held up the exquisite silver- embroidered robe Raffa handed her. ‘This isn’t the robe I was wearing earlier.’
‘But you’ve been prepared for the Sheikh since then.’
‘Hah!’ Casey exclaimed, balling it up and tossing it back at him. ‘I’ll wear trousers for riding, thank you. And I should remind you—’
‘What?’ Raffa cut across her with a very wicked look indeed.
‘I’m pretty hopeless on a horse.’
‘But I’m not,’ he pointed out. ‘So no excuses.’
She had never felt safer or more at risk in her life. Seated in front of Raffa on his magnificent black stallion, it was impossible to feel she might tumble to the ground—but that was no help when it came to the far worse peril of falling in love.
The sensation of having her long hair streaming behind her as the stallion raced across the desert plain while Raffa held her safe was amazing. If he had decided to think up the most romantic journey on earth, he couldn’t have made a better job of it. The sky was littered with stars, while the moon lit their way, and the mountains were jagged fingers that seemed to beckon her ever deeper into the wild land that Raffa called home. He held the reins loosely in one hand and kept her close with the other. She could feel his warmth and his strength, could hear his heart beating, while his fresh minty breath brushed her cheek.
Closing her eyes, she leaned back, allowing her hips to move to the rhythm of the stallion’s explosive gait. Far from hating horse-riding, as she always had, she was beginning to love it, and to hope the magical journey could last for ever.
It would last for ever in her memory, at least. How could it not, when she was riding through the desert night in front of a sheikh who encapsulated every fantasy hero she’d ever had? With his black robes flying behind him and his face hidden behind the mysterious howlis. She was wrapped in an erotic fantasy that far exceeded everything she could dream up.
And Raffa’s palace? Casey wondered. What would that be like?
It would be located far from the public gaze, she decided, and protected by the granite peaks they were riding towards. It would be hard to find—it would be an eyrie, a fortress, a lair fit for the golden lion of the desert. There would be sumptuous rooms protected from the relentless desert sun beneath cupolas of solid gold, and there would be intimate courtyards where lovers could meet unobserved. On the walls inside the palace there would be painted erotic scenes, and of course a sheikh-sized bed, over which a softly whirring fan would turn lazily to cool the lovers on their tangled sheets. Jewel-studded walls would bear silent witness to their lovemaking, while fountains in the garden beyond the windows would sing a siren song to the rhythm of their sighs…
AS HE reined in, slowing the pace to allow the stallion to pick his way along the rocky approach to the mountains, he wondered what Casey was thinking. She had been quiet for a while now, and she was such a dreamer. He hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed by what he had to show her. He was opening up part of his life to Casey, because the hunt for someone to work for him had become so much more, and he was hungry to find out everything there was to know about Casey Michaels.
Urging his stallion Raad—the word meant thunder in A’Qabani—up the first incline, he noticed the great stallion’s ears prick up as he scented the place they both loved—the place they both considered home.
For once Casey was lost for words.
Raffa turned to her. ‘You’re not disappointed?’
She looked at him as he brought the prancing stallion to a restless halt.
‘Disappointed? How could I be?’ They were at the foot of a sheer cliff, where an icy stream, its source hidden somewhere far above them, tumbled in a series of frothing waterfalls to a moonlit pool. This had to be one of the lesser known wonders of the world.
Springing down from the saddle, Raffa reached up to help her dismount. ‘You’ll find the water surprisingly warm— though I should warn you the torrent coming down from the peaks is freezing cold.’
‘But the pool is heated by the sun?’
‘The relentless desert sun,’ Raffa agreed, holding her just above the ground so their faces were disturbingly level.
‘You can put me down now…please?’
His eyes beneath the concealing howlis glinted dangerously. ‘Or I could throw you in.’
‘Please…please don’t.’ With humour…His eyes were glinting with humour, Casey saw with relief. ‘So you’ve brought me to another spa?’
‘Nature’s spa,’ Raffa agreed.
She could have happily stayed in his arms for ever, but the horse was stamping impatiently and so she stepped away, while Raffa slipped the reins over his stallion’s head. Unfastening the girth, he removed the saddle. She took it from him and rested it carefully against the stubbly trunk of a palm tree while Raffa led the stallion round to let him cool down. When it was safe for him to drink, Raffa removed the bridle too and set him loose.
Casey’s heart ached with longing. She wanted so much more than Raffa was prepared to give. She watched him stroke the stallion’s quivering flanks, knowing what she would do for that same soothing touch. Raffa was so good at everything— he had even made her forget her own lack of skill on horseback, to the point where she’d almost believed she could ride.
Ride? She could fly with Raffa’s arms around her.
But she mustn’t make too much out of this expedition. If anything had been going to happen between them it would have happened at the oasis. This was just an opportunity for Raffa to share the treasures of his country with her; treasures she would be expected to market to the world if she got the job…
‘Come on,’ he said, stretching out his hand to her.
‘Come where?’ She hung back, suddenly feeling shy and uncertain now the horse was happily drinking and Raffa’s attention was all on her.
‘I want you to see something. You have a little climb ahead of you.’
‘A little climb?’ Casey glanced anxiously at the sheer rock wall in front of her.
‘I can carry you, if you like.’
Hearing the amusement in his voice, she assured him, ‘I’m quite capable of standing on my own two feet, thank you.’
‘There