Desert Destiny
Page 16
‘That you are the Sheba?’ he said softly, touching her. ‘It could be. But we will never know, my love. No winged angel will come down with the proof of reincarnation, and no amount of wondering will ever provide you with the answer.’ He kissed her deeply, then said under his breath, ‘I only know that I love you with all my heart, and that I want you to share my world.’
‘Darling, when?’ she asked hoarsely. ‘When did you know you loved me? Was it before we even met?’
‘How could I fall in love with a photograph?’ he said, laughing. ‘Darling, I am an unusual man, but not that unusual!’
‘Then…?’
He studied her, unsmiling. ‘I think the moment of real love was when you saved my life by killing the snake in the desert.’
‘No!’
‘You looked so brave and beautiful in the moonlight with blood on your sword and the courage of a warrior in your eyes!’ His hands tightened on her as he said thickly, ‘How could I help but feel knocked backwards by a wave of love so great that I could not speak?’
‘Darling…’ she said shakily, ‘that was the moment I knew I loved you too!’
Then we are truly united!’ he said under his breath. ‘And it is proof, I hope, that my love defies the legend of Sheba more than it adheres to it.’
‘So it’s not just my golden hair that attracts you?’ she asked huskily.
‘My love,’ he drawled, ‘you are not the only golden-haired woman I have ever known!’
Her eyes darkened with jealousy and she said thickly, ‘Oh!’
He laughed, eyes teasing. ‘Now you are jealous, my love, and you have no need to be. Not jealous of another woman, not jealous of Sheba. It is you I love, Bethsheba, and only you.’
‘No rivals?’ she asked, heart thudding.
‘Only the desert,’ he said softly, ‘but it is a love you share, and together we will find everything we need in its golden wilderness.’
‘You prefer to live in the desert?’
‘Yes, I prefer it,’ he said with an amused smile. ‘I love the West. I love its art and music and theatre and society. I love the Champs Élysées and Harrods and Times Square.’ He laughed, drawling, ‘Shall I go on? To San Francisco, Hong Kong, Sydney…’
‘What’s that song about how nice it is to go travelling, but oh, so nice to come home?’
‘Exactement!’ he said deeply, kissing her. ‘For here I am the man I was born to be. Here I am free to ride across the golden wilderness as a man against the elements. No money or power or success can protect me out there. And that is as it should be, for that is as man was born to be.’
She studied him with pride. ‘But how deep do the ways of the desert world go, my darling?’ She struggled to find the courage she needed to ask the next question as her eyes darkened. ‘I—I mean—all those women, are they…?’
‘They are not my mistresses,’ he said softly, ‘though there have been many. But for some reason, my love, I confess, I am a one-woman man. It is not in my nature to take woman after woman. I find it dulls the excitement rather than adding to it. How can a woman truly please me if she feels she is performing for her master rather than sharing a joyful sexual experience?’
Bethsheba flushed, lowering her lashes.
‘I like the woman I make love to,’ he said deeply, ‘to reach fulfilment herself. How can she do that if she is tense?’
She buried her hot face in his throat with a groan. ‘And I reached fulfilment with you the first time! Oh, embarrassment!’
He laughed, kissing her. ‘My darling, you knew I loved you!’
She raised her head to look at him, eyes on fire with love. ‘Can it be true,’ she whispered huskily, ‘that I have found my love forever?’
‘Believe it,’ he said fiercely, ‘with all your heart! You will stay here in the desert and be my queen, bear me sons! When the West calls we will fly to it! But always we will be together—have no fear of that!’
‘You will be my sheikh!’ she said huskily.
‘And you my warrior queen!’
‘Suliman,’ she said hoarsely, ‘you are everything I could ever have dreamt of in a husband and lover from the moment of my birth!’
‘But is that not the way of kismet?’ he said thickly, and his hard mouth claimed hers in a kiss that led to other things…
eISBN 978-14592-6264-5
DESERT DESTINY
First North American Publication 1998
Copyright © 1991 by Sarah Holland
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Table of Contents
Cover Page
Epigraph
Dear Reader
Title Page
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Copyright