Читать книгу Sleeping with the Sheikh: The Sheikh's Bidding / Delaney's Desert Sheikh / Desert Warrior - Brenda Jackson - Страница 11

When Andi stepped through the back door, she was suddenly assaulted by a cold draft of air and a strong case of chills. But it wasn’t the air-conditioned kitchen that had her shivering, or her still-damp skin. Sam was the cause of her present condition.

She could still feel his soft abrading tongue on her breasts, his hands molding her bottom, his body pressed intimately against hers. Just thinking about him made her feel feverish, the low throbbing ache having yet to subside.

Andi hugged her arms across her chest, a sorry replacement for Sam, but she needed to hide the effects of their recent interlude. She realized all too late that she couldn’t escape her aunt’s scrutiny.

Standing at the sink, Tess grabbed a towel from the counter and surveyed Andi from chin to toes. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Sam wearing that shirt this morning?”

Heat skimmed up Andi’s throat and settled on her face. At the moment she felt like a schoolgirl caught necking in the pasture. Okay, so it wasn’t the pasture, but it was pretty darned close. “I had a mishap with the water bucket. He lent me his shirt since mine was soaked.”

Tess’s knowing grin appeared. “You two already having to cool yourselves off after just three days?”

She released a sigh. “Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Tess.” Andi’s, on the other hand, was long out of the starting gate and still running full-steam ahead, thanks to Sam.

Tess’s forehead wrinkled from a frown as her gaze settled on Andi’s mouth. “I’m not imagining the whisker burn on your face, little girl. I might be old, but I’m not stupid.”

Andi walked to the cabinet and retrieved a glass. Her hands shook as she tried to fill it with water. “I didn’t say you’re stupid, Tess. I’m just saying don’t make too much out of this.”

“I won’t if you won’t. In fact, I think it’s best if you stop and consider what you’re doing before you make another mistake.”

Andi glanced up from the cup to Tess, who now looked considerably more serious. “I don’t consider Chance a mistake, Tess, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

Tess leaned against the counter looking primed for a parental lecture. “Of course he’s not a mistake. He’s been a godsend. But getting involved with Sam would be a mistake. He won’t stay this time, either, Andi. You’d do well to remember that.”

If only Tess realized that’s all Andi had thought about the past few days. She didn’t need to be reminded that Sam would leave once again in the name of duty to his country. Knowing didn’t make it any easier to deal with, yet she was determined to keep everything in perspective. She also didn’t expect Tess to understand what she intended to do—make love with Sam in order to get him out of her system.

“By the way,” Tess said as she swiped at the kitchen counter, “the camp called.”

Andi’s chest tightened with panic, and she nearly dropped the glass. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. They called to remind you about parents’ day on Saturday. You have to be there by 8:30 a.m.”

Relief flowed through Andi knowing that her baby was okay. After taking a long drink, she dumped the water into the sink and set the glass aside. “I remembered it was this weekend, but I didn’t know I’d have to be there quite that early. I guess I can ask Sam to feed and water the horses.”

Tess tossed the towel aside and faced Andi, her expression no less stern. “I’ll feed the horses. Sam should go with you.”

The panic returned to Andi once more. “I can’t do that, Tess. Chance might start asking questions. He doesn’t need to deal with any stress while he’s away.”

“And when do you intend to tell him, Andi? Never?”

She hadn’t gotten that far in her thinking. She only knew she didn’t want to deliver any confessions during her son’s first opportunity to establish his independence. “I don’t know when I’ll tell him. Soon, I guess. Before Sam leaves.”

Tess sighed. “That’s up to you, but I still think Sam should go with you.”

“Where are you proposing I go?”

Andi tensed at the sound of Sam’s deep voice coming from behind her. Trapped like a caged rabbit. She had no choice but to tell him about the event.

After facing Sam, Andi’s well-rehearsed smile disappeared when she immediately contacted his bare chest, now at eye level. Her gaze skimmed over the territory marked by sinewy muscle and scattered with dark hair. Her fingers opened and closed with the urge to explore as if they’d been offered a masculine playground designed with a needy woman in mind.

In the barn she hadn’t taken the time to study the details. In fact, she’d intentionally avoided the details after Sam thwarted her seduction. But she couldn’t ignore them now, though she thought it best to stop looking with Tess playing audience.

She put on a casual smile and pulled her gaze back to his face. “Actually, it’s no big deal really. The camp is holding a parents’ day on Saturday.”

His brows drew down into a frown. “Parents’ day?”

She shrugged. “You know, games, a barbecue, that sort of thing. Pretty boring stuff.” Especially for a man like Sam who probably spent his days in some elaborate palace surrounded by jewel-encrusted bowls of fruit and scantily clad women provided for his entertainment. She almost laughed over the absurdity of that stereotypical image, and silently cursed to think it might be an accurate assumption.

Forcing the thoughts away, she turned her attention back to Sam and noted her drenched shirt gripped tightly in his grasp. “I would like very much to go,” he said.

“You would?”

“Yes. It would provide the opportunity to spend more time with my son.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Tess said.

Andi quelled the urge to tell her aunt that no one had asked her opinion on the matter. “I’m still not sure it’s a good idea. Chance might wonder why you’re there.”

Sam’s features turned tightrope tense. “You may tell him I’m there as a friend. I will not force you to say anything more, if that’s your concern.”

The anger and hurt in his tone made Andi flinch internally. She had already denied him many opportunities to know his child, though not intentionally. After all, he had been the one to disappear from their lives. He had been the one to discard her as if what had existed between them meant nothing at all.

Still, she had to consider Chance’s opportunity to know his father. “I’ll think about it.” And she would, long and hard.

Tess brushed past Andi on her way toward the hall. “I’ll leave you two alone to discuss it while I sit on the porch and snap some peas.”

After Tess left the kitchen, Sam offered her the soggy T-shirt. “Perhaps you would like to return my clothes to me.”

Andi couldn’t suppress a devilish smile. “Do you want to do it now?”

“Do what?”

“Exchange shirts.” She took a few steps and stopped immediately before him, close enough to touch the copper surface of his bare skin. “Unless you need something else from me?”

He released a frustrated sound, somewhere between a growl and a groan. “I prefer you stop making offers I cannot accept.”

Determined to keep his attention, she ran a fingertip down his sternum along the stream of dark hair, and paused at his navel. “You can’t accept them or you won’t?”

“We’ve been through this, Andrea. I am not able to accept.”

She sent a quick glance at the proof that he was still willing to play along. “You seem more than able to me.”

He held her hand against his belly and kept his gaze fixed on hers as he exhaled slowly, his muscles tightening beneath her palm. Andi held her breath, wondering if this time he might decide to accept her offer. Maybe this time he would give up and give in, knowing this was what they both wanted. Even though he tried to deny that he did want her, she wasn’t too dumb to read the signs. His eyes were dark, almost desperate, warring with indecision and desire. A slight sheen of perspiration covered his chest and forehead. His respiration sounded unsteady.

No, she wasn’t too dumb to recognize that he wasn’t at all unaffected, either here in the kitchen, or earlier in the barn. As affected as he had been seven years ago.

“Is this really all you want from me, Andrea?” he asked in a low, controlled voice as his fingertips stroked her knuckles. “This and nothing more? And afterward, will you then be satisfied?”

“Yes, I will,” she said in a voice she didn’t recognize.

He pushed her hand away and took a step back. “Perhaps you will, but I will not. If I have you, I promise I would want you more than once, and often, until I again must leave. Ask yourself truthfully if you would want to make love knowing nothing more will ever exist between us.”

With that he tossed her wet shirt onto the table and strode out of the room, leaving Andi to ponder his words, the raw truth she heard in them. If she did have him once again—all of him—would it ever be enough?

There would never be enough time now.

Sam tossed his cell phone onto the sofa next to him and sent a string of mild curses directed at his duties. According to his father, the current situation in Barak demanded Sam return home immediately. Sam had bargained for two more weeks instead of four, on the pretense that he still had investments he needed to oversee. Only one week to spend with his son upon his return. Never enough time.

He shoved the newspaper’s financial section off his lap, then scolded himself for acting like a child in the throes of a tantrum. Anger wouldn’t serve him well at this time. He could only make the best of a situation beyond his control.

“Problems, Sam?”

Sam watched as Andrea strolled into the room and dropped down onto the sofa next to him, wearing a guarded expression and a pair of silk pajamas the color of fine champagne. The scent of orchids filtering into his nostrils served to make him forget his current troubles as did the sight of her dressed in feminine attire. Yet he refused to let her distract him. Now that he’d learned he would have to leave sooner, he had much to discuss with her.

“I’m afraid I must cut my visit short. I have been summoned home.”

Her blue eyes widened. “Tonight?”

“No, but I will not be able to stay as long as I’d intended. I must return in two weeks.”

Seeming to relax somewhat, she tucked her legs beneath her and sipped a glass of iced tea. “Was that Rashid on the phone calling to deliver the good news?”

“I spoke with my father. It is his wish that I return.”

She frowned. “Do you always do what he tells you to do?”

Sam had expected her disapproval, but he hadn’t expected her forthright query. “I have obligations, Andrea. Surely you understand, now that you have a child.”

“I don’t see Chance as an obligation,” she said, ire in her tone. “I see him as a joy, not as a chore or a servant.”

Sam lowered his eyes to his hands, clasped tightly in his lap, biting back the sudden surge of anger. “Would you expect me to ignore my responsibilities?”

“I’d expect that being a prince might make you a little happier.”

His gaze snapped to hers. “On what do you base this assumption, that I’m not happy with what I am?”

She shrugged. “You don’t look happy, not like before. I’ve rarely seen you smile, much less laugh. In fact, most of the time you look way too serious. That’s not the Sam I remember.”

Sheikh Samir Yaman had replaced the Sam she remembered. The Sam she had known had yet to be tainted by the responsibility placed on his shoulders as the eldest son of a king. “That carefree college student you knew no longer exists.”

“Oh, I think he’s still in there just dying to get out.”

“Unfortunately, that is not the case.”

She set her glass on the coffee table before them and hugged her knees to her chest. “I’d hate to think that’s true, Sam. I’d also hate to think that Chance would ever be subjected to the kind of pressure that would make him lose his spirit and his love of life.”

If the truth were known, so would Sam. “I doubt that he will ever lose those attributes considering his mother.”

Andrea’s smile curled the corners of her beautiful mouth. “I suppose that’s a compliment.”

“Yes, very much so. I greatly appreciated your free spirit, your passion for living.”

“And I appreciated your passion, too.”

Sam was inclined to believe that she meant the passion they had experienced in each other’s arms. He refused to travel that road of regret tonight, not with her so near, looking like temptation incarnate. He wasn’t that strong.

He cleared his throat and leaned back against the sofa, hoping to seem relaxed when in fact he was anything but. “I have learned to deal with the demands of my station. It is who I am.”

“It’s a title, Sam, not who you are. My father never tried to make me something I’m not. Neither did Paul. They just let me be myself.”

“If my memory serves me, Paul once said that it would take a front-end hauler, a steel cable and an ancient oak to tie you down.”

Andrea tossed back her head and laughed, filling Sam with joy over the sound. “That’s a front-end loader, and yes, he did say that, and I’ve heard you say worse. You guys were always teasing me. You lived to drive me nuts.”

“You were an easy target.”

She smiled. “A moving target most of the time, you mean. Especially when you both came at me and threatened to tickle me senseless.”

Sam grinned at the memories. “I believe you have very sensitive knees.”

Andrea hugged her legs tighter against her chest. “Don’t you even think about it, mister.”

He inched a little closer despite the voice that told him to keep his distance. “It might be amusing to see if that continues to hold true.”

“Still the bully, just like before.”

“Before it was the only way to make you do my bidding.”

Her smile faded and her expression softened, taking on the appearance of a woman more than willing to submit to his demands. “That wasn’t the only way.”

Sam was suddenly catapulted back to that night at the pond. Never had any woman given him as much with such sweet abandon. And considering she’d been barely more than a child all those years ago, he could only wonder what she would be like now as a woman.

Inching closer until she was flush against his side, she brushed his hair away from his forehead. “Do you ever think about that night, Sam? Not about Paul, but about what happened between us?”

Even after seven years, those memories still haunted his dreams in sleep and his thoughts upon waking. “I remember.”

“Do you ever wish that it hadn’t happened?”

How could he explain so she would understand? He caught her hand and brushed a kiss across her palm. “I suppose that if I could change anything about that time, it would only be two things.”

With fine fingertips she traced a path along his jaw. “What would they be?”

“That I could have saved Paul from his fate. And that I could have stayed.”

Her face lit up as if he had offered her the stars that held her dreams. Leaning forward, she whisked a kiss across his cheek. “Thank you.”

He did not deserve her gratitude, then or now. “Nothing has changed, Andrea. We cannot go back. I will still leave you again.”

She framed his jaw in her slender fingers. “We could make up for lost time. There are a lot of hours in fourteen days.”

Not nearly enough, Sam decided. Not nearly enough distance between them, either. Normally he was a man with a firm resolve, but Andrea unearthed his weakness, could mold him as easily as if he were made of clay. As he stared at her lips, he became caught in the grip of longing.

Sam claimed her mouth for a kiss fueled by a power he didn’t know he possessed. In the far reaches of his mind, he realized he should be experiencing some guilt, since he was promised to another. But that woman was as unfamiliar to him as the concept of turning his back on his country and his legacy. He could only consider the sweet heat of Andrea’s mouth, the gentle foray of her tongue against his, the feel of her lithe body curled against him as he deepened the kiss and tightened his hold on her.

The passion that was so much a part of Andrea came out in the kiss. Her hands roved over his back in steady strokes as if she were memorizing this moment. He caught a handful of her hair as if to moor himself against the onslaught of heat, of desperate desire. When she draped one leg over his thigh, he curved his palm over her waist. They parted for a moment, but only a moment, to draw air before their mouths united again. How easy it would be to touch her, Sam thought. How easy to show her pleasure. He slipped his hand between her thighs and Andrea wriggled her encouragement.

Reality soon caught hold and Sam became aware that if he continued, he would not be able to stop. He would toss away all his reasons for avoiding this very thing and carry her to bed, make love to her all through the night, destroying his determination not to hurt her more than he already had.

Breaking the kiss, he tipped his forehead against hers as he tried to regain his respiration. “You are still too hard to resist.”

“Then why even bother?”

He pulled back and searched her blue eyes. “You know the reasons why. Because I—”

“Have to go back to the magic kingdom,” she said, then scooted away from him to the other end of the sofa. “You don’t have to remind me again.”

“I’m glad you are finally beginning to understand.”

She picked up a throw pillow and held it against her breasts. “Now that we’ve established you’ll be leaving, for about the hundredth time, I’ve come to a decision.”

“About?”

“Chance. I’ve decided you can go with me to the camp.”

Sincerely pleased, Sam smiled. “Good. We can travel in the limo instead of that wreck you call a truck.”

He snared the pillow she tossed at him in one hand before it hit his face. “What’s wrong with my truck?”

“Nothing if you’re hauling feed and hay and traveling only a short distance. I believe my mode of transportation provides more comfort and reliability. And if you’ll recall, our son expressed his desire to ride in it. Rashid can drive us.”

Andrea chewed her bottom lip for a moment before raising her eyes to his. “Maybe that is a good idea. Plenty of room in the limo. Lots of room, in fact.” She smiled once again. A smile that could only mean trouble for Sam. “In fact, I just bet you could stretch out if you wanted to.”

“Andrea,” he said in a half-warning tone, a great effort considering the arrival of visions of Andrea beneath him, naked, in the dimly lit limousine.

She stretched her arms above her head, giving him a good view of her breasts unencumbered beneath the satin, then rose and stood above him. “Relax, Sam. I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

Exactly what he feared, for if given the opportunity, Sam knew precisely what he would want to do—make love to her as if tomorrow would not arrive.

In many ways, at least in regard to his time with the mother of his child, that was very close to the truth.

“Got a minute to gab, Andi?” Tess asked the following day.

Andi looked up from gathering a few things for the trip to camp and gave her attention to Tess. “Sure. What’s up?”

Pacing the length of the bedroom, Tess paused to toy with various keepsakes on the bureau. “I have something I need to tell you.”

Andi tossed the picnic blanket aside and took a roost on the edge of the bed, gearing up for a “Sam” lecture. “I’ve agreed to let him go with me, if that’s what’s bugging you.”

Tess finally faced her. “I know. Sam told me. But this doesn’t have a thing to do with him.”

Realizing Tess meant serious business, Andi patted the mattress beside her. “Have a seat and tell me what’s got you in such a mood.”

Tess joined her and wrapped an arm around Andi’s shoulder. “Honey, Riley has asked me to marry him.”

“So what else is new?”

“This time I said yes.”

Andi’s heart took a nosedive over the prospect of losing the one person she had come to count on through thick and thin, a proverbial port in the storm, her touchstone.

Hiding her selfishness with a smile, Andi proclaimed with a goodnatured pat on Tess’s thigh, “Well it’s about damned time.”

Tess gave Andi’s shoulder a motherly squeeze. “Then you’re okay with this?”

“Are you asking my approval?”

“I’m asking how you feel about it.”

Rising from the bed, Andrea took her place at the bureau where Tess had been a few moments before, her back turned to her aunt so she wouldn’t give herself away. “Of course I’m okay with it. I’m thrilled.” She didn’t sound at all thrilled.

Biting back the tears, Andi drew in several cleansing breaths. Tess’s careworn hands coming to rest on her shoulders almost proved to be her undoing.

“I know the timing seems pretty bad with Sam here again,” Tess said, “but Riley bought himself one of those new-fangled homes on wheels and he wants to travel.”

That brought Andi around to face Tess. “You mean you’ll be gone all the time?”

“A lot of the time. We’d like to see the country in our golden years, before we’re too old to enjoy it.”

Andi attempted another smile, but her lips felt as stiff as a metal pipe. “That sounds great, Tess.”

Tess tried to smile, as well, but it, too, seemed forced. “During the summers you and Chance can come along with us, when he’s out of school.”

“Oh, yeah, Tess. I’m sure Riley would love having us along while you’re still on your honeymoon.”

“Next year, silly girl. We’re not going to tie the noose until after Sam leaves.”

Andi shrugged. “Why not now? Sam can be Riley’s best man. Heck, how many people can say they have a prince standing up for them during the nuptials?” Her attempt at humor rang false, and she realized her aunt saw right through her.

Tess brushed Andi’s hair away from her shoulders, a gesture so endearing and familiar it made Andi’s heart ache, and the stubborn tears threatened to appear once again. “Your time will come, Andi girl. You only have to open yourself up. You can do that once Sam’s gone again.”

Did everyone have to keep reminding her about Sam’s impending departure? Was everyone so bent on believing that her world revolved around him?

Andi swallowed past the boulder in her throat, determined not to cry over something she couldn’t control. “Whether Sam’s here or not makes no difference to me, except where Chance is concerned. There’s nothing more between us.” If only Andi had sounded more convincing. If only she really believed that.

“There will always be something between you two, Andi. A child, and two different worlds. He can’t give you what you need, but someday you’ll find a man who can.”

Andrea wanted to stomp her foot and cuss like a ranch hand. She wanted to scream that this supposed “special” man didn’t exist in any world, especially hers. Instead, she said, “I’m satisfied with my life, Tess. My work and Chance are all I need. And I’m thrilled for you and Riley. You’ve been the only mother I’ve ever known, and if you hadn’t been there when Daddy and Paul died, I don’t know what I would’ve done. You deserve some happiness, too.”

Tess tugged her into a solid embrace. “I’ll always be here for you, honey, God willing.” She pulled back and studied Andi’s face through the eyes of a mother concerned for her child. “Just like I was for all the hurts and heartaches, and for Chance’s entry into this crazy world, I’ll be there when your prince leaves again.”

Your prince. Andi had never been one to put much stock in fairy tales, or to believe that some knight would come along and rescue her. Sheikh Samir Yaman had shattered those dreams long ago, and he would shred her life again if she let him.

But she wouldn’t let him destroy her. As always, she would survive. She and Chance together. Andi didn’t need a prince, even one she would probably love forever.