Phares didn’t disappoint. His touch was sensuous, and Aida felt the shock of it right through to her bones as he teased, fondled and played erotically with the receptive swollen flesh, the desperate sounds she made seeming to inflame and increase his desire to please her. ‘You are so beautiful, so ready to be worshipped. You can’t know how sweet and soft and inviting you are! I want you with every atom of my body,’ he murmured, caressing her intimate folds before lowering his head and taking her in his mouth.
Aida cried out at the contact of his lips. He kissed her for a long time, with a depth and sensuality, a power and a promise, taking her into the warmth of his mouth, drinking her, his tongue probing and licking, and from time to time adding to those caresses the fiery touch of his fingers, leaving her reeling: every inch of her alight, every thought a meaningless jumble.
Aida burned from the inside out, certain she was going to ignite. There was no longer need for her to tell herself not to think as the slow flames of desire flooded her with mindless heat. The magic was voracious, like a forest fire consuming everything in its path. More, more, more … her mouth was dry, she was licking her lips, she wanted it never to stop.
When she could go no further, she closed her eyes tight, letting the pleasure cascade through her, a long, sobbing breath escaping her throat as he made her peak again and again until she was shuddering and crying out so loud that she startled the dozing birds in the willow tree, while everything broke within her flesh in a wild spasm. Phares collapsed beside her, panting, trembling, his body jerking convulsively as he called out her name, Aida’s pleasure having unexpectedly become his.
They remained motionless for a while, satiated and spent, then Phares slid his arm around Aida’s waist and drew her to him, laying her sleepy head on his shoulder and stroking her cheek with a very gentle finger before cradling her in his arms. The air was cold now, though there was still no wind. He had left their sweaters on the cushions beside them and they pulled them across their bodies, not wanting to let go of each other. ‘We will have to spend the night on the boat, chérie. Cuddle up to me and I will keep you warm,’ he whispered, enfolding her further in his embrace.
Aida loved feeling Phares at her side, the heat of his body seeping warmth into her own. She sighed with contentment as she huddled against his length, laying her head snugly in the hollow of his shoulder – it fitted just right. They were together in the misty cold air of the desert night, cloaked by stillness. The flapping winged bennu – the grey long-beaked heron that the Ancient Egyptians revered as a deity linked with the sun, creation and rebirth – silently came to visit them, along with the bright-eyed, timid fox. The slow, soft fall of the heavy night-dew enveloped them, while the petrified desert lying behind them hid its secrets from the rest of the world.
* * *
Following her night of passion with Phares, Aida was assailed with disturbing doubts. Although she realised that she had never felt so good as when she had been in his arms, Aida was more than ever uncertain about his feelings towards her. Sunshine threw a totally different perspective on their moonlight interlude, and it left her perplexed about how she wanted this chapter in her life to move forward.
Still huddled together as the night slipped away, in silence they watched the long fingers of pale, golden light stripe the land as the sun tinted the distant heights of the dunes to a pale rose. The Nile gleamed with delicate mother-of-pearl reflections as gradually sky and river became blue and the north wind began to blow.
‘We’ll go back now,’ Phares said, ‘and we’ll announce our engagement immediately.’
Aida’s heart slammed against her ribs and she sat up suddenly. ‘Engagement?’
Still reclining on the cushions, his dark brows drew together. ‘Why do you sound so surprised, chérie? Didn’t you enjoy our night together?’
She stared down at him, unnerved by his brooding intensity and mystified by his words. ‘Surely one can’t base a marriage on one night of pleasure?’
‘Don’t look so anxious.’ His laughter was softly taunting. ‘We have a head start on most couples who decide to get married.’ He reached out and ran a finger up her forearm, heat in his gaze. ‘A man and woman who can spark each other the way we did last night can set off more explosive reactions in each other. Aren’t you curious to know how much more I can teach you? Yesterday was just the tip of the iceberg …’
His touch made her skin shiver but nothing he said made her feel as though she could trust her heart to him. She moved off the cushions and sat on the bench, gazing at the river, flat as a mirror in the calm of the transparent air. ‘Phares, we want different things from life. Isn’t it better we just remain friends?’
‘Friends?’ Phares sat up, his eyes darkening. ‘What we did last night had nothing to do with friendship, Aida. You wanted me in the same way a woman wants a man. I want to marry you because we cannot go on like this – we don’t need to go on like this. I am a normal man with normal needs. I want you as a wife, not as a friend, not as a sister. I want to come home to you every evening, to reach for you in the night … touch you, smell you, taste you without feeling guilty. I reined myself in this time, but I cannot vouch what will happen if I have you in my arms again.’
Aida felt herself blush to the roots. There was no denying it. The images that filled her mind at those words excited her, but it was exactly that excitement that drove her to resist what Phares was asking for. It would never be enough and she would be destroyed.
She turned her head towards him. ‘There will not be a next time, I will make sure of that,’ she said with emphatic finality, trying to belie the yearning that she feared was so blatantly written on her face. ‘I admit what we had just now was certainly more than enjoyable … it was enthralling. But I could never envisage marrying someone just for the promise of physical pleasure. The day I marry, it will be for love … and love had no place in what happened between us last night.’
Though Aida saw the shock in Phares’s eyes at the forcefulness of what she’d said, the corner of his mouth half lifted in a smile. ‘You forget, chérie, that as my wife you’ll have a few more diamonds to deck that beautiful fair skin of yours. You’ll want for nothing.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You think I care about all that?’
‘Perhaps not,’ he said, his look softening. ‘But life would be a hell of a lot easier for you. No more worries about Karawan House’s extensive renovations, and we could live there if you wanted. We can sort out the accounts, and with some Pharaony capital, your land will yield twice as much produce. In a material sense—’
‘I had never realised you were so materialistic, Phares,’ Aida cut in. ‘There is more to life than jewellery, riches and satisfying one’s lust. Besides, I don’t want Pharaony money.’
Phares let out an irritated sigh. ‘Don’t be naïve, Aida. You’re a woman alone in Egypt. If you decide to return to England, as you suggested yesterday, what would happen to Karawan House and your estate? You’re a very rich girl and your property is deteriorating by the day. What will you do, sell it?’
‘I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it,’ she replied testily. ‘You can’t expect me to make snap decisions about the future as soon as I arrive. I don’t want to sell Karawan House or the estate, I never shall, but I haven’t had time to live in it long enough to think about what I’ll do. I know that your father has made an offer to Uncle Naguib to buy it, but you can tell him from me that I’m not interested in his proposition.’
Phares’s tone became persuasive. ‘This is not about the land. Of course your land would be an added bonus, but that’s not why I’m asking you to be my wife. Maybe originally that is how it was, but since you’ve come back …’
‘Since I’ve come back, nothing’s changed. If anything, the situation has become more complicated,’ she shot back, though she had no desire to try to articulate her feelings any further.
His gaze was unwavering. ‘It is not complicated, Aida. You want me an
d I want you. We were promised to each other years ago and now we can unite our families. It makes sense for us to marry.’
Aida wrestled with the twisted skein of emotions inside her, and she wondered why this confrontation was making her pulse race in a strange and terrible way. She wanted to lash out at him, hurt him, provoke him into telling her that he wanted her because he loved her, and that she was all he needed.
‘What a romantic proposal,’ she answered sarcastically. ‘What makes you think I want to unite with your family anyway?’ And before she could stop herself, the old anger and suspicion resurfaced. ‘Do you forget that your father is to blame for my father’s death? Yesterday hasn’t changed any of that.’
Phares’s eyes were like volcanic glass, warning her that she had pushed him too far. In a single stride he was next to her, hands fastened upon her shoulders, warm and hard, relentlessly pulling her upright from where she sat on the bench. Giving her an angry shake, he bent his mouth close to her face. ‘Don’t be a child! Without your blind accusations and your stubbornness we’d be married today with a pack of children. I’d have a purpose in life beyond work and you wouldn’t be roaming aimlessly like a lost soul, prey to a lonely life and wasted youth, fighting a battle that cannot be won for the simple reason that the culprit must be far away by now and you haven’t a chance in hell of clearing your father’s name on your own.’
He stared down at her, at her hair half flung across her eyes, the buttons of her dress still half undone. His face was lean, hard, and the look on it made her breath catch. Her pulse beat heavily in the silence that hung between them.
‘Let me go,’ she whispered, turning her head away.
‘Look at me,’ he ordered.
She gazed up at him. For a brief moment the atmosphere between them was alive with vibrations, swift missiles of thought and feeling that flew from his eyes into hers, exploding in little shafts throughout her body. There was something in his eyes that seemed to touch her deep down, where her jumbled feelings were most vulnerable and yet desperate to remain undetected.
He was not hurting her but he was making it impossible for her to struggle, holding her so tightly that she could hear his heart thumping in his chest. She felt the burning imprint of his hard-muscled body begin to stir hers to an even greater response than the night before. He lowered his head, his ardent gaze boring into her belligerent blue eyes, searching for answers even she herself didn’t know.
‘Aida, Aida,’ he murmured at last, close to her mouth. ‘If you had allowed me all those years back, I would have been the doting father whose loss you feel so keenly, the sympathetic brother you never had, a protective husband content to lie like a dog at your feet, a gentle, considerate lover sensitive to your every need. I would have shielded you against anyone who tried to hurt you. But instead you chose to leave, and now you come back more beautiful and desirable than ever, awakening the beast contained within every man … I want you, Aida, with every fibre in my body, every cell in my brain. I think I’ve always wanted you. And it may have escaped your notice, but I always get what I want … and despite your stubborn resistance I know you want me too.’
Aida strove to control the heady mixture of feelings that welled up in her. She looked up, not yet conquered, full into his eyes.
‘Maybe you’ve never met your match before,’ she breathed, her eyes flashing a blue flame. ‘Perhaps I’m not of the same breed as the women you’re used to.’
Phares laughed softly as her words tailed away and he pressed himself against her, making her knees almost give way. She felt the potency of his desire pushing against her, sending hot spears of need quivering deeply along every vibrant nerve, confirming what she had tried so desperately to deny.
She felt his fingers relax their hold round her shoulders a little, but he didn’t let her go at once. Instead, he murmured in her ear, ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating, chérie,’ before taking her lips in a most sensuous kiss, his tongue wandering into the intimate recesses of her mouth, a never-ending kiss that seared right through her bones.
Despite herself, Aida felt her hips mould themselves to his and gave herself up to the pure magic of Phares’s caresses as his hands roamed her body. Her fingers encircled his neck, seeking the warmth of his thick, raven-black hair as she returned his kisses; then leaving her lips, his mouth sought out the angle of her jaw, the hollow beneath her ears, the smoothness of her neck down to her shoulders.
It was only when his exploring fingers started to slide her dress off her shoulders, exposing one of her breasts, that she struggled against him in spite of her wild longing, and managed to break free momentarily from the spell he was weaving.
‘No,’ she breathed, almost in a swoon. ‘This is madness!’ She staggered back, pulling the top of her dress back on, running distraught fingers through her dishevelled hair. ‘Please, Phares,’ she whispered, staring at him wide-eyed and vulnerable. ‘Please don’t, it’s not fair.’
‘Aida,’ he coaxed, ‘don’t pull away from me.’ He stepped forward as if to take her in his arms again, but she backed away, her hands held up to ward him off. His breathing was irregular as he murmured, ‘Opportunities are precious, life is fleeting. Yesterday we were young, tomorrow we shall be old. Remember that, Aida. One day you and I will marry.’
‘It is not possible,’ Aida replied, trembling.
‘All things are possible, if one wishes them to be. Ah, Aida, you are like most women! You fear what you most desire.’
His obsidian gaze was lit with intensity. ‘Give me a chance. Give us a chance. Fine, I admit I’ve been going too quickly. In my panic to lose you, I’ve rushed things. I let you leave eight years ago, because I didn’t realise what we could have together. We’re meant for each other. No man and woman were ever better suited to one another than we are.’
He took a step nearer and studied her face. ‘And, Aida, believe me, I will do everything in my power to help you clear your father’s name, one way or another, even if it takes a miracle.
‘Say you’ll marry me – if you want to wait, so be it, I’ll wait as patiently as I can, but let’s get engaged.’
He spoke with such passion, Aida didn’t know what to think. Was this a declaration of love? she wondered, her heart beating faster. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Rihlat al-alf mil tabda bikhatwa, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. Let’s take it one day at a time and learn to know each other.’ He came closer, bending forward, and Aida felt his lips touch her forehead with extreme tenderness. ‘I’m going to Cairo for a couple of weeks. I won’t press you for an answer today, just think about what I’ve said and we’ll talk again on my return.’
There was a new expression in his face, one she had never seen before.
Aida sighed. He was saying a lot, but not the three short words she longed to hear – which would have swayed her: I love you. Still, she could feel herself weakening in the face of such passion.
‘Fine, we’ll talk about it on your return.’
His eyes filled with devilment. ‘Then shall we seal this contract with a kiss?’
‘No, we shall not,’ she said emphatically, although she still craved the delicious impression of Phares’s mouth on her lips.
‘Your wish is my command, chérie.’
Phares took his place again at the end of the long, elegant boat with the tiller resting underneath his arm, while Aida sat on one of the seats at the side of the felucca. He manoeuvred the sailboat into the middle of the river and they set off through the fresh morning air.
On the banks of the Nile the sands sparkled with a peculiar glitter like some mysterious treasure, making Aida feel as though she was still caught in a dream. She gazed uneasily at Phares, whose face was turned to the sun. Perhaps it was inevitable that she had not been able to resist the dark fascination of this pharaoh, this man who despite not having a drop of Arab blood running in his blue veins had somehow soaked up the instincts of those desert dwellers
who raced their horses on the dunes, with falcons on their wrists and an almost barbaric glint in their eyes.
Phares was like the soul of Egypt itself that coursed through her veins … she could run from him for a while but he would always draw her back to him.
* * *
When they arrived at Karawan House, Dada Amina greeted them with a huge smile. Aida breathed a silent sigh of relief. As she had hoped, the old servant had taken for granted that she had spent the night at Hathor with her friend Camelia, like she used to in the old days. Not for a second had it crossed this simple, kind woman’s mind that Aida had been up to anything untoward.
After Phares left, having politely refused Dada Amina’s offer of coffee, explaining that he was needed at his hospital, the housekeeper took a close look at Aida’s face.
‘You look tired, habibti. I bet you were up half the night gossiping with Camelia,’ she said. ‘Just like old times, I expect.’
Aida gave a weak smile, feeling slightly flustered. ‘Yes, it was. I think I need a bit of time in my room, maybe catch up on some sleep.’ Dada Amina wasn’t quite ready to let her off the hook. ‘It was a good party, yes? You seemed to be getting on well with Phares Bey.’
She turned away, evasive. ‘Yes, it was kind of him to give me a lift home.’ She gave a small yawn as though to mark the end of the conversation and, making her excuses, headed for the staircase.
Aida could feel Dada Amina’s disappointed eyes on her back but she couldn’t talk – not now. There was so much going on in her head … so many crazy thoughts to sort out … and she needed to do so without her old nurse’s advice – or Phares’s overbearing presence, for that matter. His proximity stopped her from thinking rationally. Mind you, she was too tired to ponder it all in any rational way, and realised it would be wiser to sleep for a few hours. She was on too much of a high to assess all that happened and what it meant to her. Her whole body was aching, her cheeks burning as her mind relived the night of passion they had shared.
Song of the Nile Page 27
