My Desert Rose (11 page)

Katie blushed
again and Miriam giggled.

Chapter
Seven

The second the
doors to their suite closed behind them, Tariq couldn’t wait
another moment to get this woman in his arms. Reaching for her
wrist and before she could protest, he spun her round to face him
and claimed her lips in a fierce kiss.

There was no
way she was resisting him this time and she gave a soft moan as his
hot mouth descended on hers and is tongue demanded entry. Before
she could even grasp the fact that her legs were turning to jelly,
he was pulling off her bolero jacket.
Oh, two could play at that
game.
Tugging off his tie, which she’d wanted to do all night,
she yanked open his shirt, sending little pearl buttons across the
carpet, and then she slid the material over his shoulders and
dropped both his shirt and jacket to the floor.

Finally, it was
going to happen. Since her taste of him in the ocean earlier and
her recent decision to let go and have some fun, she'd been waiting
in a haze of sexual suspense. What they were about to do was going
to change the structure of their relationship, but if the truth was
known, she'd wanted him the second she'd laid eyes on him. Palming
his firm chest, she marvelled at the contours of his muscles and as
her hands roamed over his skin, she could hear his breath speed
up.

One of Tariq's
hands had found its way to her hip and he was currently grabbing at
her dress, trying to pull it up. The other was seeking out her zip.
In his mind, there were too many layers of cloth left between them,
so either way, up or down, the dress was coming off. Finding the
zip, he made quick work of it and then pressed his palm to her bare
back, revelling at the warmth and softness of her skin. "Take it
off," he growled at her.

Taking her arms
out of the sleeve holes she did as he asked and allowed the dress
to slip down her body and fall to the floor, revealing her matching
lilac silk bra and thong. Taking a peek at him through her
eyelashes, she could see the effect it was having on him.

Tariq almost
grunted in approval. Pure splendour stood before him. He wanted her
more than he'd ever wanted anything. Grabbing her arms roughly, he
pulled her into his chest where skin met skin.

The impact
jolted her and then she gasped as she felt Tariq grab her bottom
with both of his large hands and virtually lift her up off her feet
towards him. Taking the hint, she wrapped her legs around his waist
and then felt him move towards the wall. The coldness of it on her
back caused her to moan.

All thoughts of
moving this to the bedroom and taking it slow left Tariq as he used
the wall for leverage while dropping his head to an erect nipple
protruding through the fine silk of her bra. He nipped at it, but
the material was a barrier. "Lift it up," he demanded.

She gave him a
little secret smile and unclipped the front fastening, allowing her
breasts to be exposed.

He groaned at
their perfect fullness before he took one of her peaks in his mouth
and sucked on it, hard.

Katie dropped
her head back against the wall and grasped at his hair. "Mmmm, yes,
I like that," she breathed, as she squirmed a little at where her
clitoris was rubbing on his hard length.

Tariq chuckled
at her demand to get what she wanted as he moved to her other
breast and devoured it.

Katie was now
shamelessly and purposely rubbing herself against him. Waves of
excitement were running through her body. It felt so good.
"Tariq..." she whimpered, as she moved to undo his belt.

A loud banging
on the suite doors nearly caused Tariq to fall over. He couldn't
believe it. "What!" he roared.

"There’s an
urgent message for you, Sayyid," came the voice of Thebes.

"Can’t it
wait?" he answered back in a strained voice.

"No, Sayyid.
You’re father has requested to meet with you in his study right
now."

"Shit!" Tariq
muttered. Lowering Katie to the floor, he leaned into her and felt
the tips of her nipples against his chest. It nearly caused him to
pick her back up again and continue his exploration of her.
Breathing hard to bring himself under control, he murmured in her
ear as he nibbled on it, "I will be back and I promise you that we
will finish this."

Katie felt
dazed. A moment ago she was beginning to soar high on a wave
pulsating bliss, but now all she felt was disappointment. Bringing
her fingers to her lips, she could feel their swollenness from
Tariq's passionate kisses and her body was still vibrating with
unfinished need. All she could do was nod and move away from him to
pick up their clothes.

Tariq followed
her into the bedroom, watching her slim legs in the silver
stilettos. Each step caused the cheeks of her buttocks to sway in
the pieces of string from the lilac thong. It was killing him and
he was as hard as hell. Maybe they should just finish it quickly on
the bed and end this torture, but he knew she deserved more than
just a quick screw. Pulling out a clean shirt, he heard her shower
turn on. There had better be a good excuse as to why there'd been
an intrusion.

Entering his
father’s office he immediately began demanding what it was that
couldn’t wait until tomorrow, but one look on his father’s face and
he stopped in his tracks. It appeared his father had aged ten years
in the last thirty minutes since he’d seen him. "What’s going
on?"

Malik gestured
to a seat and his son sat down. "Another ship has been
targeted."

Tariq was
shocked. "What? When?"

"This evening,"
his father replied solemnly.

Guilt instantly
assailed him. While they'd all been eating dinner and making small
talk, his men had been suffering. "How can that be? We changed the
schedule and ordered extra security on each ship."

"Someone must
have known, as they were ambushed by two pirate ships between Yemen
and Socotra."

Tariq ran his
hand through his hair. "That’s impossible. Only you and I know of
those changes."

Malik shook his
head. "Only you, I and the head of operations at the port in Yemen
knew."

"Do you think
he’s the head guy behind all the hijacks, deaths and thefts?"

Malik again
shook his head. "The pirates aren’t interested in the oil as it can
be traced. I think they’re being paid to steal it and offload it
somewhere. The deaths are their way of having 'fun'. I don't think
any of the deaths were part of the plan, but it would require
someone with big money and the head of operations doesn’t have that
kind of cash."

"Maybe it's a
competitor?" Tariq wanted to hear what his father knew and
suspected without bringing Hassan into the picture.

"No," Malik
sighed wearily. "The next big oil producer after us is Amira’s
brother, Prince Saud, and we are accepted as family rather than
competition. I just spoke with him and he has offered us the use of
his ships to transport the oil, so it’s not him. I believe it’s
someone closer to home."

"Like who?"
Tariq held his breath. If his father opened up to him, then they
might be able to work as partners in the plan that Tariq was
formulating."

"I’m ashamed to
say it son," Malik replied with sadness infusing his voice.

Tariq watched
his father rub his tired eyes in worry.

Malik
continued, "I checked Hassan’s accounts. I know it’s snooping, but
in the light of this situation I wanted to eliminate all the
possibilities. What I found was disturbing."

Tariq’s eyes
glittered with unspoken knowledge in the light of the desk lamp.
"Let me guess, you found out he was extracting large sums of cash
and then depositing larger sums of cash some days later."

Malik looked
stumped. "You knew?"

"I suspected. I
think he’s paying the Somali pirates to steal the oil, and have it
shipped to a holding zone and then is selling it at a higher
price." Malik went so pale at those words that Tariq wasn’t sure he
believed him.

A moment of
silence hit the room as Malik digested the implications. "If this
is true, then he’s not only stealing from his own family, he has
murder on his hands."

Tariq hung his
head in shame. The family name would be forever linked with the
responsibility for the deaths of his men. "I have a plan, Father,
but it does involve us setting up a dummy cargo ship..."

Malik’s
eyebrows went up. "Okay, let’s hear it."

Chapter
Eight

Even though
Tariq's mind had been eased by sharing his suspicions with his
father, the thought of his men aboard that ship had deeply
perturbed him. At the moment he didn't know whether they were dead
or alive. Within the next hour he would be leaving for the port,
but right now he just needed some fresh air before going back to
Katie and explaining everything. Making his way through the patio
doors of the library, he walked around to the back of the house
where the well-lit gardens merged with the desert sands. Sitting
down on part grass and part sand, he stared out over the vast ocean
and listened to the waves as they swept along the beach. The hairs
on his neck prickled and he knew someone was approaching.

"Hi there, all
alone are we?"

That was the
one voice he really didn't want to hear right now.

Amira's.

"I'm just
taking in some air," he replied coolly. She sat down next to him
and his skin crawled. If all of his suspicions were true, then
Amira was just as responsible for the deaths of his men from
previous hijacks as Hassan and the killers were. She and Hassan may
not have actually pulled the trigger and the deaths might not have
been a part of their plan, but they hadn't done anything to prevent
it from happening either.

"The ocean is
so romantic at night, isn't it," she said softly.

"Hmmm," he
muttered, as he turned to look down at her. The features of her
face shone in the light of the gardens. Physically, Amira was
faultless, she was exotically beautiful, but there'd always been a
part of her that bugged him. It was in the little things that she
did. Even as a child, she'd had this obsessive streak running
through her. He remembered picking a flower for her once and as
he'd placed the delicate bud in her palm, she'd closed her fingers
over it and crushed it while giving him an odd smile. It had made
him shiver. Another time, she'd been given a kitten for her
birthday and she'd possessed it so completely that several times it
had nearly died from suffocation. The poor thing was not allowed to
leave her side and he'd watched her wrap it up in scraps of
material and virtually snuff the life out of it.

Searching her
face, he could see the remnants of that child in the slight smile
to her lips and he watched in caution as she fluttered her
eyelashes at him in fake innocence.

"But sometimes
it gets so cold out here," she remarked, as she linked her arm
through his.

It felt like a
snake wrapping itself around his arm. When he'd turned down his
parents' marriage proposal between him and Amira, he'd felt immense
relief. For three years prior to this, she'd followed him around
everywhere. It had got to the point where he'd felt trapped, just
like that kitten, and there was no way he could've spent the next
forty years of his life feeling as though he couldn't breathe.
Right now, that same feeling was rising up in him. "Well, it's
late, so I'd better be off." He untangled himself and stood up to
leave, but she jumped up too.

"Tariq?"

One half of him
wanted to move away as fast as he could, but the other half was
warning him not to make any sharp moves. Another rebuff would only
fuel her fire. Glancing quickly towards the house and then back to
her, he felt a surge of longing for Katie. "What, Amira?"

"What does
Katie have that I don't?" she asked in a small voice.

He cocked his
head. How do you say 'everything' without sounding like a mean
son-of-a-bitch? "I don't know. It's not something specific, she's
just...Katie."

"But you and
me, we were meant to be together, everyone in our families said
so."

He felt her
hand land on his chest, over his heart. A tremor of repulsion
rippled through him. "Amira, our families doesn't always know
what's best for us, and we wouldn't have been right together." But
before he could remove her hand, she'd put her other one behind his
head and pulled it down, smacking her lips against his and catching
him off guard.

The last time
they'd kissed was just over six years ago. It was that very feel of
her in his arms which had confirmed his decision to refuse the
proposal. The kiss had drawn nothing out of him, no desire and no
passion. It had been cold and empty, just like this one was.

Gripping the
tops of her arms, he pushed her away and she toppled back and fell
to the soft sand. Wiping his hand over his mouth in disgust, he
snapped at her, "What on earth are you doing?" He didn't want to
wait for her answer. The woman was clearly obsessed with him and on
top of that she was married to his brother for God's sake!
Abruptly, he turned and walked further down the beach to where he
and Katie had been earlier that day.

"You'll regret
this, Tariq. I'll make sure of it!"

The coldness of
her words followed him down the beach and made him shudder. There
was no way he could go back to Katie now with Amira's vile touch
and energy all over him. Maybe he could face her after a brisk walk
and preferably a shower to wash Amira off his skin.

****

Katie was
gobsmacked. Watching from the recess of the balcony, she'd seen the
whole thing. After Tariq had left, she'd taken a leisurely shower,
exfoliated, moisturised and perfumed herself before slipping into a
black lace teddy. Two hours later she'd been still been waiting for
him to return, drumming her fingers on his pillow next to hers. To
fill in some time, she'd come out onto the balcony to listen to the
sounds of the night air, when she'd caught the profile of Tariq
walking from the house towards the beach. Excitement had nearly
made her slip on a dressing gown and go down there to meet him, but
then she'd caught Amira following him.