The Return of the Sheikh (5 page)

Before she was momentarily struck stupid and kissed that smug, sexy smile off his face, Madison made a hasty exit.

She hadn’t lied when she’d admitted she’d been propositioned before. She
had
lied when she’d claimed she hadn’t been tempted to cross professional lines, because she had—the moment she’d reunited with Zain Mehdi.

Three

P
erception is everything…

Zain had to agree with Madison on that point. He’d always been perceived as a man with a strong affinity for attractive women, a fact he could not deny. Yet that standing had provided the means to carry out his covert activities over the past seven years, and earned him the Phantom Sheikh title. His absence had always been blamed on a lover, and most of the time that had been far from the truth.
Most
of the time. He hadn’t been celibate by any means, but he had not had as many affairs as what the media had led people to believe. If he had, he would have been perpetually sleep deprived.

He also recognized that giving in to temptation with a woman like Madison Foster—an intelligent, beautiful and somewhat willful woman—could possibly lead to disaster. Still, he wasn’t one to easily ignore temptation, even if wisdom dictated that he must. And at the moment, Madison looked extremely tempting.

Zain remained in the open doorway to his suite in order to study her. She stood at the veranda’s stone wall, looking out over the valley below, her golden hair flowing down her back. She’d exchanged her conservative clothing for more comfortable attire—a casual gauze skirt and a loose magenta top that revealed one slim, bare shoulder. He didn’t need to venture a guess as to the color of her bra, since she didn’t appear to be wearing one. That thought alone had him reconsidering the merits of wisdom.

Zain cleared his throat as he approached her, yet she didn’t seem to notice his presence. Not until he said, “It’s a remarkable view, isn’t it?”

She sent him a backward glance and a slight scowl. “Why do you keep sneaking up on me?”

He moved beside her, leaving a comfortable distance between them. “My apologies. I did not intend to startle you. I only wanted to make certain you have everything you need from me.”

She faced him, leaned a hip against the wall and rolled her eyes. “Are we back to that again?”

“My intentions are completely innocent.” Only a half-truth. He’d gladly give her anything she needed in a carnal sense.

She took a sip from the cup clutched in her hands. “Sorry, but I’m having trouble buying the innocent act after your recent admission.”

That came as no surprise to Zain, and he probably deserved her suspicions. “I will do my best to earn your trust.” He nodded toward the cup. “I gather that’s Elena’s special tea.”

“Yes, it is, and it’s very good.”

“Do you have any idea what might be in it?”

She lifted that bare shoulder in a shrug and took a sip. “I suspect it’s chamomile and some other kind of herb. I can taste mint.”

He turned toward her and rested one elbow on the stone barrier. “Take care with how much you drink. It could be more than tea.”

“Too late. This is my third cup, and do you mean alcohol?”

“Precisely.”

“Is that allowed?” she asked.

“Elena is free to do as she pleases, as is everyone else in the country, within reason. We’ve always had a spiritually, economically and culturally diverse population, due in part to people entering the borders seeking—”

“Asylum?”

“And peace.”

She turned back to the view and surveyed the scene. “Then Bajul is the Switzerland of the Middle East?”

“In a manner of speaking. I might not have agreed with all my father’s philosophies, but I’ve always admired his determination to remain neutral in a volatile region. Unfortunately, the threat to end our peaceful coexistence still exists, as it always has. As it is everywhere else in the world.”

She took another drink and set the cup aside. “The landscape is incredible. I hadn’t expected Bajul to be so green or elevated.”

“You expected desert.”

“Honestly, yes, I did.”

Another example of inaccurate perception. “If you go north, you’ll find the desert. Go south and you’ll find the sea.”

She sighed. “I love the sea. I love water, period.”

He took the opportunity to move a little closer, his arm pressed against hers as he pointed toward the horizon. “Do you see that mountain rising between two smaller peaks?”

She shaded her eyes against the setting sun. “The skinny one that looks almost phallic?”

That made him smile. “It is known as Mabrứuk, our capital city’s namesake. Legend has it that Al-’Uzzá, a mythological goddess, placed it there to enhance fertility. Reportedly her efforts have been successful, from crops to livestock to humans.”

“Interesting,” she said. “Do people have to go to the mountain to procreate, or does it have a long radius?” She followed the comment with a soft, sensual laugh. “No pun intended.”

Discussing procreation with her so close only made Zain’s fantasies spring to life, among other things. “I suppose it’s possible, but that’s not the point I was trying to make.”

She turned and leaned a hip against the wall. “What point were you trying to make, Your Highness?”

She seemed determined to disregard his terms. “Zain.”

Madison blew out a long breath. “What were you going to say before the topic turned to the baby-making mountain,
Zain?
”

He liked the breathless way she said his name. He liked the way she looked at the moment—slightly disheveled and extremely sensual. “I was going to point out that beyond the ridge there are two lakes. Perhaps I’ll take you there in the near future.”

“That would be nice, as long as you don’t expect any baby making.”

He certainly wouldn’t mind making love to her in the shadow of the mountain, or perhaps in the lake. Without the resulting baby, of course.

He forced his thoughts back to business matters. “My intent would be to show you the key to Bajul’s future.”

“What would that be?”

“Water.”

She appeared to be confused. “For a fishery?”

“Food and water are commodities in the region,” he explained. “We have more rain than most, and our lakes have deep aquifers. They also have the capacity to sustain our land for many years to come, and that means bountiful crops and livestock. Those commodities could serve as an export for countries that suffer shortages as long as we make certain we protect our resources. My plans include exploring innovative and eco-friendly ways to treat and preserve the water from the lakes.”

She laid her palm on his arm. “That sounds like a wonderful plan, Zain.”

The simple touch sent a surge of heat coursing through his body. “That plan will not come to fruition unless I can convince the council it’s our best recourse as opposed to oil.”

She unfortunately took her hand away. “But you’ll have your brother’s support, correct?”

If only that were true. “He’ll be the hardest to convince. He will most likely side with the council and suggest drilling as soon as possible. I refuse to allow that unless we have exhausted all alternatives.”

“I don’t understand why the two of you seem to butt horns at every turn.”

This would require more than a brief explanation, yet he felt she had the right to know. “Most believe that the crown automatically passes to the firstborn son. In my family’s case, the reigning king can designate a successor, and he designated me, not Rafiq. My brother has resented that decision for years.”

She shook her head. “I guess I assumed Rafiq was younger, although he does seem older in many ways. Not in appearance, because the resemblance between the two of you is remarkable. But he’s very stoic.”

“He’s thirteen months older,” he said. “And he is serious about preserving traditions that should be deemed obsolete in this day and time.”

“I take it you’re referring to arranged marriages.”

Unfortunately, that was one change he wasn’t prepared to make, even if it impacted his own future. “The tradition of selecting a bride with a royal heritage is necessary. Only a member of royalty can understand the royal life.”

“Of course, and keeping the blood blue must be very important.”

He ignored the bitterness in her tone. “I know how antiquated it might sound, but yes, that does hold some importance.”

“Then why did you give your brother such a hard time about it?”

“Because I do not believe in committing to someone if you haven’t explored an intimate relationship prior to committing to marriage. I would never have bought my Bugatti without test-driving it first.”

Her eyes went wide. “You’re comparing a woman to a car?”

“No. I am only saying that sexual compatibility holds great importance in a marriage, or it should. How will you know you are compatible in that regard unless you experience intimacy before you make a commitment?”

She looked skeptical and borderline angry. “In my opinion, sex shouldn’t carry too much weight. As they say, passion does have a tendency to fade.”

“You sound as if you speak from experience. Have you been married?”

“No, but I was in a long-term relationship, and he’s the reason I no longer have my dog.”

“So you parted because of a canine?”

She briefly smiled. “We were the cliché. He wanted a house and kids and to live in suburbia, while I wanted a career in the city.”

“And you have no desire to have a family?”

An odd and fleeting look of pain crossed her expression. “I have no intention of giving up my career for a man. My mother fell into that trap with my father.”

Her past obviously was as complex as his. “That wasn’t the life she chose?”

She downed the rest of the tea. “Oh, she chose it, all right. She gave up a career as a medical researcher to globe-trot with her diplomat husband. I’ve never understood how someone could claim to love someone so much that they’d set their aspirations aside for another person.”

“Perhaps it all goes back to shared and sustained passion.”

She released a sarcastic laugh. “Sorry, but I just can’t wrap my mind around that. In fact, I don’t even want to think about passion and my parents in the same sentence.”

Her skepticism both surprised and intrigued him. “Have you never experienced a strong passion for someone?”

“As I’ve said, it’s overrated.”

Apparently she hadn’t been with the right man. A man who could show her the true meaning of desire. He could be that man. He wanted to be that man despite his original intention to drive her away. And so went the last of his wisdom.

He surveyed her face from forehead to chin and centered on her mouth. “You’ve never been so attuned to someone that when you enter a room, that person is all you see? You’ve never wanted someone so desperately that you would risk everything to have them?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “Not that I recall.”

“I cannot imagine you would have voluntarily missed out on all that lovemaking has to offer.”

Her eyes took on a hazy cast. “What makes you think I have missed out?”

He traced her lips with a fingertip. “If you had, you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the existence of phenomenal sex.”

He expected her to argue the point. He predicted she would back away. He wasn’t prepared when she gripped the back of his neck and brought his mouth to hers.

All her untapped passion came out in the kiss. He could taste the mint on her tongue, could sense any latent resistance melt when he tightened his hold on her. He had no doubt she could feel how much he wanted her when he streamed his hands to her hips and nudged her completely against him.

He should halt the insanity before he carried her to his bed, or dispensed with formality and took her down where they now stood. Yet stopping didn’t appear to be an option—until she stopped.

Madison wrested out of his arms, looking stunned and well kissed and quite perturbed. “What was that?”

Zain leaned back against the wall and dared to smile. “That was uncontrolled passion. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you didn’t recognize it.”

She backed up a few steps and tugged at the hem of her blouse. “I tell you what that was. That was a huge mistake on my part. That was too much talk about that darn baby-making mountain.”

When she spun around and listed to one side, he clasped her arm to prevent her from falling. “Perhaps it was the tea,” he whispered in her ear from behind her.

“Perhaps I’m just an idiot.” She pulled away again and spun around to face him. “I’m going to bed now.”

“Do you wish some company?” he asked as she backed toward her room.

“Yes… No, I don’t wish any company.”

With that, she turned and disappeared through the glass door, leaving Zain alone with a strong urge to follow her, and an erection that would take hours to calm.

Now that he’d sampled what Madison Foster had to offer aside from her political expertise, he didn’t want her to leave yet. He wanted more. He wanted it all.

*

She wanted to scream. She wanted to pull the covers over her head and forget what had happened the evening before. She wanted to tell the person who was knocking to go away and come back in day or so. Maybe by then she would be over her mortification enough to make an appearance.

Instead, Madison shoved the heavy eggplant-colored spread aside, left the bed and put on her robe on the way to answer the summons. If she happened to encounter the reason behind her current distress, she just might have to give him another piece of what was left of her mind. Or invite him in…

She yanked open the door to discover Elena once again standing on the threshold, tray in hand and a cheerful smile on her face. “Good morning, Miss Foster. Did you sleep well?”

“Like a rock.” Like the dead or better still, the drunk. “What was in that tea, Elena?”

She breezed into the room and set the tray on a table near the glass doors. “Chamomile and a few other things.”

Madison tightened her robe. “What other things?”

Elena straightened and swept a hand through her silver hair. “Some herbs and honey and schnapps.”

Schnapps. That explained a lot. “You should have warned me. I drank three cups and had to take a twenty-minute shower to sober up before I could find the bed.”

“My apologies,
cara.
I only wanted to aid you in relaxing.”

“I was definitely relaxed.” So much so she’d melted right into Zain’s mouth.

Elena pointed in the direction of Madison’s chin. “I have a special balm that will help with that irritation.”