Taken by Storm (ROMANTIC REALMS COLLECTION) (14 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tahj sat on the edge of his cot, thinking about everything he’d said and done with Bashea the night before. He had done this a lot lately, sitting and thinking about Bashea. What could have caused her to become so angry with him?

A few minutes later, when Bashea whipped open the front flap and strode into his tent, he looked up in surprise. It was unheard of for an unmarried woman to enter a man’s tent, unless summoned there by him. Tahj was expecting another tongue lashing, but instead she hesitated.

“May I come in?” she asked awkwardly.

Tahj just stared. Wasn’t she already in?

Tentatively she slid over to where he sat, never taking her eyes off him. To his surprise, when she got within a foot of him she knelt on the dirt floor. Tahj licked his lips, trying to think over the intolerable pounding of his heart. Before he could come up with an opening sentence, Bashea placed both hands on his thighs and began to rub them. Startled, Tahj flew to his feet, almost knocking her over.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he squeaked.

Bashea was taken aback. “M-making myself submit to you.”

Tahj took a step back, pushing his bed with him. “Why?”

Bashea’s face flashed red. She rose to her feet and began pacing.

“You know, Prince Tahj,” she spat¸ “usually when a woman makes herself submissive to a master, he doesn’t ask her why she is doing it.”

“B-but you’re not just any woman, Bashea,” he stammered.

Bashea’s brow furrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?” Before he could answer, she interjected, “Isn’t that what you want?”

“No!” Tahj shouted emphatically.

Bashea’s face fell. “I see,” she murmured. “I’ll just go, then.”

She turned to flee, but Tahj grabbed her arm. “Bashea, no. Please, wait!” She stopped, but kept her face turned from him. His frustration got the better of him. “You are the most difficult woman I have ever known!” he lamented involuntarily. “I just don’t understand you.”

She whirled around, and Tahj could see there were tears in her eyes even as they flickered over his face. Unconsciously his hands slid down to hold hers loosely. Bashea found her voice. “That is strange, because sometimes I feel as if you are the only one who can.”

Prince Tahj’s eyes searched hers. “I want to,” he murmured earnestly. “Please, can you just sit down and talk with me for a while?” he pleaded.

Bashea nodded with a sigh, dropping her gaze self-consciously as he led her over to his bed, where they sat down next to each other. An awkward silence settled over the tent while Tahj contemplated what he wanted to say.

“Can you tell me why you are so angry with me?”

Bashea bit her lip. “Do you not find me beautiful?” she finally blurted out.

“Of course I find you beautiful! What man wouldn’t?” Tahj responded, flabbergasted by her question.

She seemed confused by this. “Then…you are simply not attracted to me then?”

“What?”

“You are not attracted to me,” she repeated, mustering some resolve. “That is fine. I can understand—”

He jumped to his feet. “As if you didn’t know I was insanely attracted to you, that my heart skips a beat whenever you are near—” Tahj’s mouth froze. Had he really just said that?

Bashea stood as well, her eyes clouded with bewilderment. “Then why did you not touch me last night when you were in my bed?”

A light went on in Tahj’s head. Now he understood. How could he have been so thickheaded? Bashea felt like he was rejecting her. He reached out and touched her hair, letting it slip through his fingers, a gesture filled with longing. “Bashea, I respect you. And…” He hesitated. “I know what those other men did.” She shook her head adamantly as if trying to ward off the thought. “But I don’t want to hurt you.” His face was earnest, and then his voice became husky with emotion, though he spoke distinctly. “And I don’t want you to think I am like them.”

Bashea gazed up at him, searching his eyes. “Will you touch me now, Tahj?” she asked quietly. “I want you to touch me.”

“Bashea,” he murmured, his voice full of tenderness. He took a step forward and brushed a finger over her lips. She closed her eyes, her faced etched with pain, a single tear sliding down her face. He slid his arms around her and her eyes flickered open.
Good. I want her to see how much I love her.

He slowly lowered his lips to hers. The kiss contained the suppressed longing of every minute they had spent together from the beginning. It started off sweet, but when he pulled her in closer he felt a strange sense of possessiveness overtake him
. This was the woman for him, the one he had waited for, and he simply had to have her. He changed the angle on the kiss and his fingers clutched, wove themselves into her lush hair, claiming her.

Tahj hadn’t meant to let the kiss get out of hand. He knew he had to control himself with Bashea, so as not to scare her, but the fragrance of her skin, the taste of her lips, the desire he saw in her fathomless, dark eyes just before he kissed her—all these worked together to scramble his thoughts, and all he could do was dive in deeper to try to find himself again. He felt Bashea melt against his body, and it was as if he could feel the anger and hurt seep away from her, absorbed into him, somehow, and then it just dissipated. Her mouth was unbelievably sweet and soft, and when a small moan escaped her it rang in him, fueling his want more.

Tahj felt an animal tear from a cage inside him, incensed and yearning to take, and to take, and to still take more, until it was satisfied, but even as he did he heard a small voice calling the beast back. Reason told him this wasn’t the time or the place to give in to his desires.
Wait,
it told him, and with each heartbeat it got louder,
wait!
until it shouted down the animal which growled in him and, with effort, he drew back, still holding her arms.

“Wait!” he found himself shouting into her face.

“What?” she asked, looking confused.

“We can’t!” Tahj released her arms and turned in a tight circle, pacing away from her with hands on his hips. He stopped a few feet away and then made the mistake of raising his eyes to hers. She was breathing rapidly, face flushed, lips full and moist. She looked so beautifully off-balance. And the animal leapt.

“Dammit!” He took two swift steps forward and grabbed her, tilting her head up to again ravage her mouth. This time Bashea gave as well as she took, her tongue dancing with his and causing a bright shaft of desire to spear to his loins. He felt her quiver and pulled her closer. She allowed her hands to slide up his back as her chest pressed against him.

She arched and he nibbled on her neck, reveling in the alluring fragrance of her hair and the taste of her milk-honeyed skin. “Tahj,” she murmured feverishly. The sound of her voice caressing his name aroused him to new heights, and he thought he would never tire of this woman; the need for her would never run dry.

And then, with a sigh, he pulled away and laid his forehead on her shoulder. All that could be heard was their panting and the simultaneous pounding of their hearts. More composed, Tahj raised his head to look at her briefly before they slid into an embrace.

Clearly overwhelmed with emotions, Bashea laid her head on his chest, and Tahj rested his cheek on her hair, closing his eyes and treasuring her closeness at last.

After several seconds Bashea’s voice came, muffled, from his chest. “I’m sorry I was being mean earlier.”

He smiled. “I understand.”

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “Why is that?”

He laughed, kissing her on the forehead. “I just do.” He sighed, unwilling to let her go but knowing he must. “Now, you’d better get out of here before your brothers find out you’re in here and hunt me down.”

She smiled up at him teasingly. “What, are you afraid of them?”

“Are you kidding? They could pulverize me.” He trapped her wrists behind her back and pulled her in again, hard. She giggled. “And I think they know I am in love with you. Bagrat’s been giving me the evil eye since I showed up here.” He released her hands but didn’t step away.

In an uncharacteristic move, Bashea reached up and stroked his face tenderly. “I don’t want to go.”

“And I don’t want you to go.” He let his lips brush hers again and then sighed. “But you are an unmarried woman.”

She closed her eyes. “I know. I know,” she murmured, her voice a mere whisper. Appearing to draw on some inner strength, she pulled away a little, but still held his hands. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yes,” he responded confidently. “You’ll see me later.”

Bashea backed away, a wistful smile on her face, letting his hands drop. Without another word she turned and was gone.

* * *

The rest of the day was agonizing. For see her he did. He saw her when she brought water to the fields, but they were not alone. He saw her at the noontide meal, but they were kept separate by the fact that her brothers seemed to be ever-present. And just as they were striding toward each other in camp with relieved smiles on their faces, glad to have finally found each other alone, Kamran strode out of his tent in between them and their faces fell. How infuriating to have finally spoken of their feelings for each other only to never get a chance to be together again.

Dinner was no better. Radeem had decided to leave in the morning and return to his home, and he demanded all of Tahj’s attention as he planned his cross-dessert journey to Vadeed, anxious now to return to his wife and family.

“So, if I stick to the foothills here,” Radeem repeated, gesturing with a stick to the crude map they’d scratched into the ground, “I should be able to avoid the most paralyzing heat and reach Vadeed in…about four days, correct?” The pair sat on a log by the fire.

“Hmmm?” Tahj answered absently, searching again for Bashea in the dimming light.

Radeem poked him in the foot with the end of his stick.

“Aooww!”

“What’s the matter with you? I’ve had to repeat myself, like, four times. I might as well have left already for all the attention you’re paying me.”

“I’m sorry, my friend.” Tahj turned to face him squarely. “Now, what was it you were saying?”

“Ugh!” Radeem cried in frustration, jumping to his feet. He jabbed his stick at his makeshift map, dragging the end through the dirt to obliterate it. “What’s the use? I got it figured out without you.”

“I’m sorry,” Tahj said sincerely, also rising. “I’m just…distracted.” Bashea came into view behind his friend, and again Tahj’s eyes strayed to her. “… a bit.”

“I can see that,” Radeem retorted peevishly. “Just what is it that’s got your mind so occupied, anyway?” When Tahj didn’t answer right away, Radeem followed his line of vision. “Oh! It’s Bashea, isn’t it?” Noting the startled look on his friend’s face, he continued. “So, what was with that little tiff you guys had earlier? She seemed really angry.”

“Nothing, nothing…who…Bashea?” he added innocently. “We just…we always fight.”

“Yes. I noticed. You’ve got feelings for each other, don’t you?”

“What? No!” Tahj responded adamantly, but noting the frown on Radeem’s face he decided to come clean. “Perhaps we do…”

“I knew it! I knew it,” Radeem boasted.

Tahj pushed him out of the firelight, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Be quiet, you idiot,” he hissed. “Do you want Bagrat and Jahmeel to hear you?
” He glanced over to where the brothers were adding wood to the fire.

“What? What’s the big deal?” Radeem responded in a whisper when Tahj finally removed his hand. “Don’t they approve of Bashea having a relationship with a crowned prince?”

“I’m not a crowned prince,” Tahj reminded him. He glanced in the pair’s direction and thought about Bagrat’s visit to his tent earlier. He almost seemed to be granting Tahj permission to pursue Bashea, but… One look at the duo’s frowning faces had him changing his mind. “And, no. They do not approve. I don’t think they would approve of anyone courting Bashea.”

“Courting?” Radeem said in surprise, loud enough to earn him a smack in the arm. “Courting,” he whispered loudly. “It’s courting now, is it?”

“Be quiet!” Tahj shouted, drawing more attention to their discussion than Radeem had. He grabbed his captain by the sides of his shirt and dragged him farther out of the firelight. “If you don’t stop now, I swear I’ll kill you in your sleep,” he hissed, dropping his voice belatedly.

“What’s going on?” Bagrat asked as he ambled over from the other side of the fire. Tahj lowered his head, but Radeem spoke up.

“You owe me twenty Abbas.”

“What?” Bagrat’s head swiveled from Radeem to Tahj. “Have you been after my sister?” he growled.

“No! No!” Tahj answered hurriedly. But then he turned his back to the big man and took a few steps away from him. After a beat he shook his head and whirled around. “All right, yes!” He stepped forward defiantly. “Yes. I’m ‘after’ your sister, as you so tactfully put it.”

To his surprise, Bagrat smiled and began to chuckle, clapping him on the shoulder. “The god’s blessings then, my brother.”

“Th-thank you,” Tahj responded in surprise.

“You’ll need it,” Bagrat added, shaking Tahj’s hand with his free one, his eyebrows raised and his eyes twinkling. “Jahmeel! Come here! The young prince wishes to court our sister, Bashea.”