“And what is it you believe I want?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes, though he wouldn’t see it with her head pillowed on his shoulder. Like he thought she wouldn’t know. “Me. Here.”
“I do want that, but there is more I desire, as well.”
“What?”
“Your safety, for one.”
“Seriously?” She sat up and stared down at Asad. “You don’t really think Russell and I are at any risk in the field. Kadar is not exactly a hotbed of crime. And the desert even less so.”
“Not all who come to these mountains are as honorable as the Sha’b Al’najid.”
“And Russell and I aren’t exactly doing our survey in the path of most travelers.” They were in foothills of the desert mountains, hours from the nearest village, twice as far from anything resembling a town or city.
“Who do you think knows of the two Western geologists doing their survey here in Kadar?”
“The sheikh and your family. I doubt even the whole camp knows why Russell and I are here.” They just weren’t that interesting.
Asad got up from the bed and drew on his thobe. “You would be wrong. Every member of my people knows of your purpose and the way you spend your days. Be assured many others do, as well. Gossip travels among the Bedouin like the sand in a storm in the desert.”
“So?”
“All who have heard this juicy tidbit of news are not so scrupulous as you would like to believe. The least dangerous are those that might merely covet your equipment for the money it could bring them.” He tossed her a hooded robe that swallowed her up when she put it on.
Meant to hit him midcalf, it brushed the carpet on her.
“Who is the most dangerous?” she asked, finding it difficult to keep her amusement at his paranoid worries hidden.
“Slavers.”
“Oh, please.” Now he was really reaching.
“Modern slavery is a nine-billion-dollar-a-year industry and a worldwide problem.”
“But the crime rate in Kadar is almost nonexistent.”
“There are always exceptions.” He frowned. “You will not be one of them.”
“If you’re so worried about it, then I’m surprised you’re willing to bring Nawar.”
He slid traditional leather slippers onto his feet. “You do not imagine that we travel into the mountains alone.”
“We did yesterday.”
“Did we?”
“Yes?”
“No. My guards are well trained and maintain their distance to give us the illusion of privacy.”
“You’re not joking.”
“Why would I make light of something so important?”
Why indeed, but the idea of having men lurking in the shadows and watching her was kind of creepy. “So you’re saying we’ve got a troupe of Ninjas hiding in plain sight protecting us?”
“Not Ninja, warriors of the Sha’b Al’najid.”
“You still have warriors in your tribe?” she asked with keen interest, her discomfort pushed aside in favor of feeding her curiosity.
“Every man is trained in the ways of stealth, fighting and the scimitar. It is tradition among my people. There is an elite force, my family’s bodyguards, that are trained in the ways of modern warfare, as well.”
“Your tribe is a lot wealthier than anyone would guess, aren’t they?”
“My family is.”
“But your family accepts responsibility for the Sha’b Al’najid.”
“Yes.”
“Amazing.”
“It is what it is.”
“Badra was such an idiot.”
“You think so?” Asad stopped in front of Iris, looking down at her with surprising intensity.
“I do.” Iris reached up and traced his lips, smiling when he nipped at her fingertip. “She had you and all of this and still, she wanted something else.”
He leaned down and kissed her, not passionately, but not chastely, either. It was intimate and gentle and quick … and it felt really nice. “I am flattered you feel that way.”
Iris wished she could share his equanimity about it. She was beginning to have some serious reservations about her current course of action. Yes, her heart was healing bit by bit, but was it just going to shatter again into a million pieces when she left Kadar?
She’d thought she could keep love out of the equation, but a mere two nights in his bed and Iris was already grasping for a lifeline while she felt herself drowning in dormant emotions.
“It would be a lot easier for me if you could simply act like the selfish user I convinced myself you were after you dumped me,” she complained with more honesty than she probably should have offered.
But he didn’t look like he minded, his dark eyes glowing. “You no longer see me as this person?”
She shrugged, the effect lost under the voluminous folds of his robe on her.
“Iris?” he prompted.
She sighed and admitted, “I’m learning that neither of our perceptions of the past was all that clear.”
“You are right. I thought you were far more experienced—”
Her snort of disbelief interrupted him.
“What?”
“How could you not realize how inexperienced I was back then? I was terrified you would get bored with my lack of prowess and go looking for greener pastures.”
“The passion between us was always so fiery—there was no room for practiced moves. I assumed you were as overwhelmed by desire as I was.”
“I was.”
“Yes, but with less experience.”
“Bragging now, are you?”
“Never. I have no need to brag. You think I am the most amazing lover ever.”
“Conceited.”
“Deny it.”
“You know I won’t.”
“Can’t,” he charged with one raised eyebrow.
She huffed fondly, “Jerk.”
“Is that the proper endearment to use for the man who rocks your world?”
“And what of the woman who rocks yours?” she asked facetiously.
“You will not allow me the proper endearment,” he accused.
“Poor you.”
He shook his head. “You are still determined I should not call you aziz?”
“Very.” That was one thing she was still absolutely sure about. Though her other beliefs and feelings were in something of a muddle, she knew she didn’t want him using the term for beloved when she wasn’t.
“One day you will allow it.”
“I won’t be in Kadar long enough for that to happen.” Considering the area Sheikh Hakim had hired her company to survey, Iris would be in Kadar only a month, six weeks at the outside.
It