Джеки Браун – The Sheikh's Untamed Bride: Lost to the Desert Warrior / Sheikh in the City / Her Ardent Sheikh (страница 15)

‘Did you ever try?’

Her heart was pounding. ‘Yes.’

‘And what happened?’

Her mouth was dry. The sudden emergence of a memory she’d squashed down brought sweat to her palms. ‘There are some aspects of our past neither one of us wishes to revisit. I think we should both accept that and move on.’ Her desperate statement earned her a long, questioning look.

‘If your sister is in the desert then Salem will find her.’

He blew out the candle, there was a rustle of clothing as he undressed, and then he joined her in the bed.

Rigid with discomfort, heart pounding, Layla shot to the furthest end of the bed and lay still, hardly daring to breathe in case breathing brought her into contact with him. ‘You think I came here to guarantee the continuation of some glittering lifestyle you’ve imagined for me and yet, feeling that way, you still want to share the bed with me?’

‘We’re married.’

‘But you don’t trust me.’

‘Sharing a bed doesn’t require trust, Princess.’ Reaching for her in the darkness, he hauled her against him. ‘It simply requires sexual chemistry, and fortunately we have plenty of that.’

Layla wondered if he could feel her shivering. Wondered if he could feel the heat of her skin and the rapid beat of her heart.

She wanted to ask why he had to blow out the candle before he shared a bed with her, but before she could form words his mouth slanted over hers and his hand slid into her hair. As a concession to the desert heat and the sand she’d tied it back, but he freed it instantly and it tumbled down over her shoulders.

She felt his hand, warm and strong against her bare back, as he pressed her down onto the soft mattress and shifted her underneath him. She felt the weight of him, the strength and the power. Felt his lips move over hers in a kiss that created an instant response. It started deep inside her and then exploded outwards.

Intense excitement shimmered over layers of despair.

Was this how their relationship was going to be?

Days where they saw nothing of each other and nights spent in the dark?

Intimate strangers?

She wondered how his kiss could make her melt when her emotions weren’t involved and tried to control her response to him, but her nerve-endings were already on fire and the erotic skill of his mouth left her with no choice but to kiss him back.

His mouth closed over her nipple and Layla moaned. Just like before, he used all his skill and knowledge to drive her crazy, until she was hot and desperate. The only difference was that this time she knew. This time she knew what was to come. And when he surged into her with sure, deep strokes she climaxed instantly, and again and then again, while he possessed and controlled her totally.

Afterwards Layla lay there, numb. Maybe she should be grateful for the protection of the darkness, but she wasn’t. The knowledge that he could only make love to her if it was in the dark hurt her more than she would have thought possible.

She turned her head, plucking up the courage to talk to him about it, but before she could speak she heard a high-pitched cry coming from close by.

Layla sat upright, heart pounding. ‘What’s that? It sounded like a child.’

And then the screams began.

* * *

Raz moved quickly, his hand on the knife he kept strapped to his belt whenever he was in the desert.

The screams sliced through him, ripping his composure into shreds, because he knew who screamed.

His strides fuelled by a primal need to protect, he tore open the entrance of the tent next to his and saw the child sitting upright, eyes staring in terror, forehead glistening with sweat, as she screamed while Nadia stood there helplessly, hopelessly out of her depth.

‘I can’t get her to stop.’

In seconds he had the child in his arms, folding her tightly. ‘What is wrong with her?’

He heard the raw edge to his tone but the girl simply shrugged defensively.

‘She’s awake but she won’t respond to me. It’s as if she’s having a fit or something.’

He smoothed the child’s hair, gazed into those staring eyes and felt an anxiety so acute it slowed his thinking. He prided himself on the speed and accuracy of his decision-making and yet now, when it was so important to get it right, his brain was motionless.

‘Her breathing is fast. Her pulse is fast. Get someone medical in here immediately.’

A calm voice came from the entrance to the tent.

‘It isn’t a fit and she isn’t awake.’

He turned his head and saw Layla, dressed only in a thin nightdress, her hair tangled and tousled from his hands. Her gaze was fixed on the child. ‘She’s having a night terror. My sister had them all the time at the same age. You shouldn’t wake her.’

“She’s already awake. Her eyes are open.’ Nadia’s eyes were cold and unfriendly.

Raz ignored her. ‘You have seen this before?’ Fear made his voice harsh, but Layla seemed calm and unflustered.

‘Many times. It’s very unsettling to witness, but I can assure you she will remember nothing of it in the morning. Who is closest to her? Who does she know the best?’

Her gaze flickered expectantly to Nadia and Raz drew a deep breath.

‘Me.’ The confession was dragged from him, because he hadn’t yet decided how to broach this topic and this wasn’t the way he would have chosen. ‘I have the closest relationship with her.’

Was she shocked?

If so, she didn’t show it. Nor did she question what that relationship was.

‘In that case you should be the one to tuck her back into bed. Snuggle the sheets around her to make her feel safe. Talk to her quietly. It’s not what you say that matters, it’s the way you say it. You need to hold her securely. Blow out all the candles except one. Darkness helps. When she goes back to sleep, stay with her for about ten minutes. Once she is deeply asleep it’s unlikely to happen again.’ Having delivered that set of instructions, she looked at Nadia. ‘We should leave. The fewer people the better.’

The other girl’s expression was stubborn. ‘She knows me.’

‘It’s better that way.’ Layla’s voice was firm. ‘She needs quiet and just one person she trusts.’

‘Do as she says.’ Raz lowered his voice and eased the child back under the covers. She was quivering and shivering and it broke his heart to see her. His urge to call a doctor was powerful, but for some reason he was inclined to give Layla’s suggestion a try, all the while wondering why he was following the advice of a woman he had no reason to trust.

She’d said it was the tone that mattered, so he spoke nonsense, reciting poetry from his childhood, his hand stroking those fragile shoulders until gradually the little girl calmed and relaxed under his fingers.

Her breathing slowed. Her pulse slowed with it. And as hers did so did his.

Her eyes fluttered shut, those eyelashes dark shadows against cheeks swollen by crying.

Raz sat until the change in her breathing told him she was deeply asleep.

His shoulders ached with tension. His head throbbed with it. Responsibility pressed down on him until he felt not as if he had the world on his shoulders but the universe.

Satisfied that she really was asleep, and unlikely to stir, he rose carefully to his feet and left the tent in search of answers.

Nadia was hovering outside, her expression defensive and defiant. ‘I could have settled her. You should not have asked her advice.’

‘How long has this been going on?’

Her hesitation told him everything.

‘A while.’

That reluctant admission did nothing to ease his stress levels.

‘Why wasn’t I told?’

‘You were away.’

‘But everyone knows I wish to be told of anything that affects my daughter.’

‘I didn’t think it was significant. She doesn’t remember it in the morning.’

Holding onto his temper, knowing that he needed time to cool down before he spoke what was on his mind, Raz clenched his jaw and gestured to the tent he’d just left. ‘Stay with her.’ Ideally he would have stayed himself, but he needed information so he strode back into his own tent and found Layla standing still in the middle of the room, her hands clenched into fists by her sides, stress evident in every rigid line of her body.

She’d lit the candles and the tent was bathed in a soft, gentle light that revealed sheets still rumpled and twisted from the wild heat of their lovemaking.

She turned as he entered the tent and their gazes locked and held.