Читать книгу Red-Hot Desert Docs - Carol Marinelli, Amalie Berlin - Страница 19
Оглавление‘I HEAR ABOUT you going out on dates?’
They were back in the tent, lying on the opulent bed and still wet from the hot water. She could see the bruise her teeth had made on his shoulder and she felt sore but sated.
‘Yes, I’ve had many first dates.’ Adele smiled.
He didn’t ask about her being on the Pill and she remembered telling him that she was when she’d been hit.
She knew she had missed taking a couple of them. When she had stayed overnight at the hospital and possibly the day after that she hadn’t taken it.
There was no point saying anything yet, though.
There wasn’t exactly a glut of pharmacies in Mamlakat Almas.
She would deal with that later.
Adele had everything she wanted in this moment and many more times throughout the night.
She came to his hand and he came to her mouth.
They spent the night making love rather than waste a moment sleeping. Together they made up for lost time.
But all too soon morning started to creep in.
Zahir pulled back a drape and he dressed in his robe and left the tent as Adele lay there, watching the stars disappear and the day invading in a glorious riot of yellows and pinks.
‘We’ll leave soon,’ he said when he returned from wherever he had been.
She didn’t want to leave.
She had never felt more at peace than here in the desert.
‘Are you looking forward to going home tomorrow?’ Zahir asked.
‘I’m...’ Adele couldn’t answer. She wanted to see that her mother was okay but she wasn’t looking forward to it as such. And she wanted to sort out where she lived. She loved her career but just couldn’t quite envisage Zahir not being there.
No, she couldn’t answer honestly because the truth was that she wanted to be here, sharing his bed.
He saved her from lying with a kiss but she could hear the maids setting up for breakfast in the lounge and she pulled back.
‘Where did you go?’ Adele asked.
‘To visit my brother’s grave. I always do when I am here. I finally spoke with my mother about all that happened.’
‘That’s good.’
‘I can see now that she had pre-eclampsia,’ Zahir said.
‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you.’
‘No, I respect that you didn’t,’ Zahir said. ‘I know that you think my father must be mad but...’
‘It must be so difficult for him,’ Adele broke in.
Her response surprised Zahir but Adele had given it a lot of thought. ‘The one time your mother stepped outside tradition he lost his son.’
He thought about that as Adele went to bathe.
She came back pink and dressed in a silver robe and neither wanted to leave, so they lingered over breakfast.
She drank a lovely infusion of hot lemon and mint and they ate sweet cakes and he saw that she was holding back tears.
‘It isn’t over,’ he said. ‘We have tonight. You will be in my bed back at the palace.’
She shook her head.
‘The staff aren’t going to say anything. They are good people and we will be discreet. My parents won’t find out for ages and I am fully prepared for that.’
It wasn’t that so much that troubled her.
It was the next day when she went home.
