Hired to Wear the Sheikh's Ring

by Rachael Thomas

‘I’m not the kind of man who takes a woman’s virginity. I’m not worthy of such a gift.’ Harshness had entered his voice but the tension in his body softened when she looked up at him and smiled.

  ‘It’s very chivalrous that you care enough to try and dissuade me, but it’s not going to change my mind. This is my wedding night, after all.’ There was an element of coyness in her voice, which barely concealed the steely determination.

  He touched his hand to her face, a stab of lust shooting through him as she closed her eyes and sighed. She was so beautiful, so incredibly sexy, and the fact that she now wanted the marriage to be real, tonight at least, filled him with hope. Maybe their time together would be much more pleasurable than he’d ever imagined.

  Lust and desire careered around him and he couldn’t take much more. His body was almost exploding with need for this woman and the fact that she would be completely his only intensified that. ‘Are you certain this is what you want?’

  ‘Tonight, with you, is everything I want.’ She moved towards him, reaching up and placing her lips on his in a gentle, teasing way. ‘I want the fantasy of you, this room, everything.’

  He wanted to deepen the kiss, to demand so much from her, but he had a duty to her. He wanted to make sure this first experience of sex was the most pleasurable she’d ever experienced and he couldn’t do that if he lost control now.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE SOFTNESS OF Jafar’s kiss was so intoxicating Tiffany’s mind spun, leaving her light-headed, and she leant against his lean, hard body. There was no question in her mind that she was doing the right thing. She wanted his kiss, his touch, his total possession in a way she’d never known before. The need inside her for this man, her husband, was all-consuming.

  When he stopped kissing her she looked up at him, wondering if he was about to tell her he didn’t want her, that a woman without any sexual experience didn’t interest him. She searched his eyes, now so dark, looking for some hint to what he was feeling.

  ‘I am honoured that you have chosen me as your first lover.’ His voice was as soft as the silk dress she wore and it caressed her senses so gently, easing the nerves that surely went with such a momentous event. ‘I want to make this night special for you.’

  ‘Being here, with you, in this wonderful palace, it is already a special night.’ She looked beyond him towards the large bed, draped in gold silk. A trail of lanterns created the ultimate romantic bedroom for a bride and groom while the remainder of the room was shrouded in darkness.

  Without a word, he took her hand and led her away from the window and the warm night air, through the archway that led to the bedroom. The vastness of the domed ceiling was overpowering—or was it the enormity of what she was doing? She hesitated and he turned to her.

  ‘It is a tradition that those attending the bride leave suitable gifts to be opened after the ceremony and your friend and sister have done that.’ The gentleness in his voice wasn’t reflected in his eyes as the passion and desire she’d seen before she’d told him she was a virgin returned, obliterating everything. He gestured to the ornately decorated table that stood alone at one side of the room.

  She could see several gifts, all neatly packaged with white tissue paper and gold ribbon. ‘Should I open them now?’

  ‘You may do if you so wish, but I would rather continue with the task I started a few moments ago.’ The suggestive rise of his brows made a heavy sensation deep inside her at the thought of him not only unbuttoning her dress, but removing it.

  She moved towards him, lulled by the soft music, the heady scent on the warm night air. Everything was all so perfect. How could she not want to make the most of this moment? He watched her intently as she smiled coyly at him, then slowly she turned her back to him, waiting for him to unbutton the remainder of the buttons, only this time she longed for his fingers to brush over her skin, to set her alight with desire.

  She pulled her loose hair over her shoulder and waited with building anticipation to feel the bodice of her dress move as he dealt with the buttons. His touch when it came was the sensual trail of his fingers down her spine, making her shudder with pleasure.

  ‘You are so beautiful.’ His husky whisper was filled with desire and she closed her eyes against the onslaught of sensations she’d never felt before. ‘I want to explore all of you. Slowly. Very slowly.’

  She clutched her hair tighter as her control slipped away, thawing her virginal body like the sun rising over a frost-covered landscape of England, bathing it in the heat of the desert sun. She sensed him move closer, her body tuned into his every move, anticipating his touch. The kiss he pressed against her bare shoulder forced a sigh of pleasure from her lips and she moved her head to one side as he kissed up her neck.

  ‘I want to show you the wonders of making love,’ he whispered in her ear before kissing back down her neck.

  ‘Show me,’ she responded in a throaty whisper, wondering if that seductive voice was really her.

  He pulled her against him, her partially bare back pressing against the gold silk of his wedding robes, feeling the hardness of the diamonds that decorated them. She turned to look at him as his arms circled her waist. Then his lips claimed hers and she stretched her body, needing to deepen the kiss, to show him how much she wanted him, wanted this.

  A harsh stream of words tore from him as he broke the kiss and she could feel his chest rising and falling as rapidly as hers. Was he angry? Uncertainty threatened. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘How can anything be wrong with a woman like you in my arms?’ He gently pushed her forward, turned her round and she was about to step away when she felt him working on the last of the bodice buttons.

  * * *

  Jafar forced himself to control the fierce passion surging through him. The need to rip the dress from her, take her to the bed and claim her was so fierce, so intense, he’d had to focus hard on those damn buttons. Who the hell put so many buttons on a wedding dress?

  ‘Now I will finish what I started.’ As the last of the buttons were freed he stood and looked at her back, his gaze trailing down her sexy spine as he willed his body to slow the pace, forced his needs back under control.

  He slid his hands inside the dress and around her waist, feeling the silk begin to move, to slip away. In a slow purposeful move his hands massaged up her sides, then up over her shoulder blades and finally he pushed away the shoulders of the modest wedding dress that had never really concealed her fabulous figure from him.

  Tiffany pressed her arms against her, allowing the sleeves to slide downwards, exposing the full glory of her naked back. His breathing was hard and laboured and he took a deep controlling breath, resisting the urge to push the silk away from her hips to reveal more of her.

  Patience.

  In a bid to hold onto his control, to take things slowly, he moved his fingertips down her back. The shudder of pleasure and soft sigh she gave was almost too much, but he held onto his control. Instead he put his arms around her waist, spreading his palms over her bare stomach before moving upwards to her naked breasts. He caressed the swell of them, desire throbbing through him as she leant back against him, gasping in pleasure. He circled the hardness of her nipples with his fingertips, lowering his head to kiss her neck once more.

  Her scent, the same intoxicating one he’d noticed before, pushed his desire higher, as did the taste of her skin on his lips.

  ‘Jafar,’ she sighed his name as he kissed up her neck, his fingers still teasing her nipples.

  Slowly.

  The word pulsed through him and again he moved away from her, his hands lingering on her waist briefly before he pushed the silk dress down until it billowed out around her legs in a mass of white and sparkling diamonds. The white panties she wore accentuated her pert bottom.

  ‘So beautiful.’ His throaty words warned him again he was in danger of losing control, of giving into passion far too quickly. ‘Turn round.’

  Slowly she turned, the silk of the dr
ess still around her lower legs, the brightness of the white reminding him of her virginal body, waiting to be claimed—by him. He took her hand, helping her to step out from the dress, unable to take his eyes off her long, slender legs as she did so.

  Without breaking eye contact he led her away from the puffed-up silk of the dress and towards the vast bed. The sound of her heeled shoes on the marble floor was wonderfully erotic. She was naked apart from the white panties and heeled shoes and so sexy, so beautiful.

  ‘I don’t know where to begin with your robes.’ The demure tone of her voice was in complete contrast to the image she created as she stood next to the silk-covered bed, the glow of the candles caressing her pale skin.

  She wanted to undress him? The idea sent his body into overdrive and all he could think about was lying naked with her, seeing her pale skin next to the darkness of his. He unclipped the gold decorations at the collar of his wedding robe.

  ‘It is much easier than removing you from your gown,’ he teased as he moved towards her, his robe open at the neck. He held the fabric towards her. ‘Pull this.’

  Her eyes were wide and full of desire, her delicious breasts rising and falling with each breath as she reached out to take the gold fabric from him, her fingers brushing his. ‘Like this?’

  The question was teasing and slowly she pulled, a provocative smile of satisfaction on her lips as she exposed his chest, her gaze lingering on him, scorching his skin. He pointed to the fastening inside the robe at his waist. ‘And then this here.’

  She pulled the fastening and the gold robes slithered down him like a serpent so that he too now wore only underwear. Unlike Tiffany, he didn’t stand in the gold silk robe, but kicked it casually aside, along with the soft leather sandals fashioned especially for his wedding.

  ‘Now we are equal.’ She bit her lower lip and looked at him coyly from beneath long lashes.

  ‘Not quite.’ Jafar lowered himself to his knees at her feet and ran his hands down her legs, over her knees and to her shapely ankles. ‘These need to go.’

  She lifted her foot and he slid the shoe from her, placing it on the floor as he looked up at her. Then, before his lust got the better of him, he let her foot go and did the same again, this time tossing the shoe aside as he began to stand up, pausing to press a kiss, first on her thigh, then on her stomach, then upwards to her breasts. Wild fire erupted in him as he took one nipple in his mouth, nipping at it.

  ‘Oh,’ Tiffany cried as she pressed her fingers into his hair and he moved to the other breast and began the torment once more.

  He moved his kisses lower again and looked up at her, knowing he couldn’t take much more of this. His control was slipping rapidly away. He took the fine lace of her panties and pulled them down her legs, resisting the urge to rip them from her and push her back onto the bed and cover her body with his. She stepped out of the skimpy lace and he kissed her thigh, moving upwards towards the very centre of her femininity, lingering there as he kissed the softness of her skin. Wanting more, wanting to taste her.

  Not yet, he told himself.

  * * *

  Tiffany dragged in a deep and ragged breath as the warmth of Jafar’s caressed her skin where moments ago the soft white lace of her panties had been. She stood breathing hard, wanting more than his breath on her skin. She was completely naked and so incredibly aroused she could hardly think.

  Just as her legs weakened, threatening to buckle her knees, Jafar stood up, so close to her that the soft dark hair on his chest grazed her sensitised nipples. How could anyone stand this? It was exquisite and torturous at the same time. She wanted it to stop but at the same time she didn’t want it to ever end.

  ‘Lie down,’ he demanded, his eyes so dark with desire they were almost black. She did as he’d bid, sitting on the edge of the massive bed, then leaning back on her elbows, watching him as if she’d been waiting for this moment with this man all her life.

  He didn’t take his eyes from her as he divested himself of his underwear, leaving him powerfully and wonderfully naked. His skin was olive dark, the candlelight seeming to illuminate every contour of every muscle. Hungrily she drank him in, her gaze sliding down the light covering of dark hair on his muscled chest, down over an incredibly defined flat stomach to the length of his erection.

  She bit at her bottom lip, a dart of uncertainty soon chased away by the increasing beat of desire deep within her, the need to feel him intimately against her, feel him inside her, possessing her in the most natural way. Instinctively she moved herself backwards on the bed, looking directly into his eyes as he joined her, bracing the strength of his body over hers.

  He kissed her, holding himself away from her, and she kissed him back, demanding more from him as she slipped her tongue inside his mouth. A wild sensation erupted within her and her hips lifted to him, seeking the release she knew only he could give, the release she wanted so badly that she was losing her mind, losing her ability to think.

  A wild flurry of words she didn’t understand unleashed from him as he broke the kiss, looking almost out of control as his body remained tantalisingly over hers. What had he just said? The question flew from her mind as he began the torment on her nipple again and she let her head fall back onto the silk covers, sighing softly and giving herself up to the pleasure of his kisses. He moved to the other nipple, making her body wriggle, then he moved lower again.

  She gasped out loud, her eyes flying wide as she felt his tongue caress her intimately. His fingers gripped her thighs as he continued the torment, making her body buck and writhe, taking her to heights of pleasure she’d never imagined possible.

  Just when she thought she was going to break apart, to shatter into hundreds of tiny pieces, he began kissing his way back up her body. This time his was much closer to her and as if her body had taken over she pulled up her knees, wrapping her ankles around his legs as she clung to his back. The heated hardness of his erection pressed against her, but it wasn’t enough and she lifted her hips, gasping as she felt him slowly possess her.

  She pressed herself provocatively up to him, drawing him deeper inside her until he completely filled her and his name came to her lips. ‘Jafar.’

  He looked down at her and before he could say anything, or stop, she kissed him hard, demanding more from him, from this moment. She wanted to live the fantasy to the full.

  She caught the deep guttural growl that tore from him as he kissed her back, setting her on fire as he began to move inside her, deeper and harder. Everything turned wild, as she gasped against his lips, lifting herself up to him, digging her nails into his back. He thrust deeper and harder, taking her to a height of wild pleasure she’d never imagined possible.

  ‘Tiffany.’ He growled her name, followed by a rush of words she had no hope of understanding, but it only intensified the experience and she clung to him as her body began to float among the stars.

  It was pure ecstasy and as she floated back down to earth, she became aware of his body, sweat slicked and hot, against hers as he lay on top of her.

  With a thud of her heart the words I love you tried to force themselves past her lips, but she bit down hard to keep them in. It was just the wildness of the moment. She’d lost her virginity to a man she found compellingly attractive. It was nothing more than heated lust of the moment. It could never be more than that. She was just being fanciful.

  * * *

  Jafar woke as dawn stretched her fingers of soft orange light across the desert sky. His body was heavy with the effects of last night and with a smile of satisfaction he recalled the moment Tiffany had kissed him from his sleep in the early hours and they had once more enjoyed one another’s bodies as hot passion had ruled over them.

  He moved in the vastness of the bed, expecting to find her naked body, but the bed was empty. He sat up and looked around the almost dark room, the candles having long since gone out. She was standing by the ornate table, dressed in one of the two gold robes left for them and holding o
ne of the gifts he’d suggested her sister and friend leave for her, as would normally happen to a bride in Shamsumara—especially a royal bride.

  ‘According to our tradition you should have opened them last night,’ he said, a teasing note in his voice as he flung back the covers, got out of bed, pulled on the other pale gold robe and walked over to her.

  She turned to face him and smiled. She looked different. A night spent in his bed had given a glow to her pale skin, accentuating the freckles he found so irresistible. ‘I was otherwise occupied last night.’

  Her bashful words made him smile, as did the memory of just how occupied they had been. When he’d agreed to this deal with her, he’d never expected his wedding night would have been what it became. A hot passionate night, the like of which he’d never known before—ever.

  He moved behind her, pulling her against him as his body stirred, demanding satisfaction from this woman once more. ‘We could be occupied again. In fact, we have a whole week in which to occupy ourselves.’

  She laughed softly, a very sexy sound, and he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, feeling the zing of passion rising between them. ‘I have gifts to open first.’

  First? He liked the sound of that, the promise of once again taking her to his bed. He watched as she opened the first gift, a beautiful necklace with a heart pendant. Her slender fingers trembled slightly as she opened the heart locket to reveal a small photo of her sister and niece.

  ‘Shall I fasten it on for you?’ He could feel the mood dip. She must be thinking of home and all she’d left behind.

  ‘Yes, please.’ Her soft whisper was almost too much for him as he took the necklace from her and she lifted her hair, just as she had done last night when he unbuttoned her wedding dress. After he’d fastened it he stroked his fingers down her neck and along her shoulders, feeling the heat of her skin beneath the silk wrap.

  ‘Open the other and then I will call for breakfast.’ What he really wanted was to pick her up and take her back to his bed, but sense prevailed.