Halima tweaked Sylvie’s shawl over her head, and then they were walking down the corridor. She felt a little like a bride being walked to face her fate.
Sylvie chastised herself for being so compliant. Of course she wanted to leave. Of course she had no intention of going off to this admittedly, intriguing-sounding oasis with a man who felt nothing for her and yet made her body come alive in a way that made her want to descend with him into a pit of fire.
She was going to tell Arkim she had no intention of—
All her thoughts faded to nothing when they rounded the corner into the main hall and Sylvie saw Arkim waiting for her.
CHAPTER SIX
HESIMPLYTOOKher breath away. It was as if she’d never seen him before. He was so tall and exotic, in a long dark blue tunic. Still stern...
It made her yearn for things: to see him smile, unbend. To know more about him. Dangerous things.
The staff left their bags between two Jeeps and melted away into the shadows. Sylvie was aware that this was the moment when she should make it absolutely clear that she had no intention of going with Arkim to this oasis. But she was rooted to the spot—caught and mesmerised by those obsidian eyes.
There was an intense silent conversation happening between them. He was issuing a direct challenge with that fathomless gaze. A challenge that she felt in every pulsing, throbbing beat of her blood. A challenge of the most sensual kind. A challenge to step up and own her femininity in a way she’d never done before. A challenge to go with him.
She felt giddy...breathless. The palms of her hands were damp with perspiration that had nothing to do with the heat.
It came down to this: did she want this man enough to throw her self-respect to the winds and risk the bitter sting of self-recrimination for ever? Did she want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right? That ultimately she couldn’t resist him? And did she want to risk the worst kind of rejection?
He moved, and her breath hitched at the sheer grace and beauty of his masculinity. He stopped in front of her. She could see the tension in his form and on his face. It made something inside her soften, uncoil. Closer, like this, he was infinitely more seductive, less formidable. And infinitely harder to resist.
‘There are two Jeeps behind me.’
Sylvie had seen them. She nodded.
‘The one on the left will take you back to the airfield where we landed the other day—if you want it to. The one on the right is the one I’m taking to the oasis. I told you last night that we’d both be leaving, but I’ve decided to stay. I want you to stay with me, Sylvie. I think there are things about you that I don’t know...that I want to know. And I wantyou. This isn’t about the past or the wedding any more. I’ve made my point. This is about...us. And it’s been about us since the moment we met.’
His mouth twisted.
‘Perhaps our failing all along has been that we didn’t pursue this attraction at the time. If we had we wouldn’t be standing here now.’
Sylvie’s chest contracted with a mixture of volatile emotions. ‘Because you’d be married to my sister? That’s heinous—’
His finger against her lips stopped her words. He looked disgusted. He took his finger away, but not before Sylvie had the strongest urge to take it into her mouth.
‘No. Ineverwould have pursued your sister with marriage in mind if we had had an affair.’
Affair.The word hit her hard. Arkim didn’t need to clarify the fact that Sylvie would never in a million years be a contender for marriage or a relationship.
Right now she felt very certain that she would be getting into the Jeep on the left. But then his mouth softened into those dangerously sensual lines and he slid a hand around her neck, under her hair. Suddenly she couldn’t think straight.
‘If we don’t do this...explore our mutual desire...it’ll eat us up inside like acid. If you’re strong enough to walk away, to deny this, then go ahead. I won’t come after you, Sylvie. You’ll never see me again.’
She wanted to pour scorn on Arkim’s words. The sheerarrogance! As if shewantedto see him again! She should be pulling away from him and sayinggood riddance. But there was a quality to his voice... Something almost...rough. Pleading. And the thought of never seeing him again made her want to reach out and grip the material of his tunic in her fist. Not walk away.
God.What did that mean? What did that makeher?
Arkim took his hand away and stepped back. Sylvie almost reached out for him. She teetered on the cliff-edge of a very scary and precipitous drop into the unknown. His words seduced her:There are things about you that I don’t know...that I want to know.
A fluttering started low in her belly. Nerves, excitement. The thought of going with him...getting to know him more...letting him be intimate with her...was terrifying. But the thought of leaving...going back to her life and not knowing him...was more terrifying.
Sylvie’s gut had been guiding her for a long time now—taking her out of the toxic orbit of her stepmother and her father’s black grief at the age of seventeen—and it was guiding her towards the Jeep on the right-hand side before she could stop herself.
Arkim displayed no discernible triumph or sanctimony. He just held the passenger door open for her to get in, closed it, and got in at the other side. Sylvie was aware of the staff re-materialising, to put their bags in the back of the Jeep, and once that was done Arkim was pulling away and out of the castle.
She tried to drum up a sense of shame for her easy capitulation but it eluded her. All she felt was a fizzing sense of illicit anticipation.
