by Cara Albany
He glanced out toward the terrace, certain he'd heard Aliyah's voice. He could hear his sister Nadyah talking, but her voice was too quiet for him to make out what was being said.
The truth was when he'd gotten the call from his sister Nadyah that Aliyah would be here this morning, Shahid had done everything he could do to get to Azim's palace on the outskirts of Qazhar city as fast as he could. The prospect of seeing Aliyah had been enough for him to cancel every one of his meetings for the day and hightail it in his sports car along the thin strip of road that cut a dark line across the desert to the palace.
Shahid took his seat on the sofa. Now that he was here, though, the last thing he wanted to do was insult his brother. He could see the excitement on Azim's face. The reality of the upcoming wedding was just starting to sink in.
Shahid was pleased for Azim. Every time Azim and Lucy were together, it was evident just how much they both loved each other. Azim was lucky, Shahid told himself. Lucy was gorgeous and amazing in every possible way. The tale of how they'd been reunited in the mountains, their subsequent desert journey and Azim's proposal on their friend Raz's boat had amazed everyone who'd heard it.
Shahid twisted his head and glanced through the open doors. From where he was seated, he could see a table and two chairs. But he couldn't see Aliyah or his sister Nadyah. Knowing it wouldn't be too long before he saw Aliyah made anticipation surge within him.
He glanced at Azim. Didn't Azim already know about Shahid and Aliyah? Shahid speculated that his brother was probably so preoccupied with his own wedding that he didn't have time to become involved in the rumors about Shahid and Aliyah.
"Did you manage to contact Abdul about that issue with the transport?" Azim asked briskly.
Shahid dragged his attention back to the moment and peered at Azim. "What thing?" he asked distractedly.
Azim frowned. "You know. Bringing people out here by helicopter?"
"Oh, that," Shahid said distractedly. He paused, his glance flickering toward the terrace. "Yeah, sure. I've got it sorted, Azim. It's not going to be a problem. They just have to some coordination on their end. But he's assured me it will fine on the day," he concluded.
When he looked at Azim he saw his brother's brows were furrowed. Shahid tried changing the subject. He patted Azim on the knee. "So, how are you bearing up under the pressure?" Shahid asked with a grin.
"What pressure?" Azim replied casually.
Shahid narrowed his eyes. "You can't fool me. I'm your brother. I can tell you're ready to buckle."
Azim laughed. "Not likely. You don't know what Lucy's like. She's positively demonic when it comes to organizing things. This wedding is no exception."
"You're letting your wife-to-be arrange everything?"
Azim shook his head and smiled. "Not everything. But she and Nadyah have just about taken over here at the palace."
"Nadyah does like to stick her nose into everything," Shahid observed.
"In the nicest possible way," Azim added.
"Of course," Shahid agreed.
He was just about to turn and look through the terrace doors again when he heard a familiar voice.
"Talking about me?"
Shahid turned and saw Nadyah standing at the door. For a moment he'd hoped to see Aliyah standing by his sister's side. But she wasn't there. He felt a momentary, sinking disappointment, the same sensation that had troubled him so many times these past few weeks. It seemed that Aliyah had been doing everything possible to avoid meeting Shahid. Why would she do that?
Briefly, he considered the possibility that Aliyah had made her excuses to Nadyah and escaped to another part of the palace. But Nadyah's quick, confirming glance back out onto the terrace told him that Aliyah was still out there. Shahid knew that if he was going to speak with Aliyah, as he so desperately wanted to do, he needed to get out onto the terrace.
Shahid stood quickly and went to Nadyah, greeting her with an air kiss. Over Nadyah's shoulder, Shahid saw the empty terrace.
Shahid glanced at Nadyah and saw that she had noticed his obvious disappointment. The corner of Nadyah's mouth creased with a mischievous smile.
"Looking for someone?" Nadyah teased.
Shahid shook his head. "No. What gave you that idea?"
Nadyah grinned. "Nothing. Just a thought." She went toward the sofa and addressed Azim. "You were saying about me?"
Azim smiled. "I was just telling Shahid that you and Lucy have just about taken over the wedding preparations."
"And that's a good thing, I assume?" Nadyah asked.
Azim stood and shrugged, a wide grin on his face. "What can I say, sister? I'm just the bridegroom. What do I know?" he said.
Shahid turned and peered out to the terrace. From behind him he heard Nadyah's voice. "Aliyah's in the garden, Shahid," she said.
He turned back to her. He knew his weak attempt to look surprised had failed miserably when he saw the look on his sister's face. There was no way he would ever be able to fool her, he told himself. In any case, who was he really trying to kid? It was Nadyah who had told him Aliyah would be at the palace. Maybe this whole charade was simply for Azim's benefit.
"Maybe I'll go and say hello," Shahid said to Nadyah.
"You do that," she replied. "She can't have gotten far."
Shahid knew his sister was having fun at his expense. She'd always tried to do that to him. It was one of her favorite tactics for bursting his bubble whenever he got too serious or intense about anything.
And, right now, he was certainly feeling intense about the prospect of seeing Aliyah. It had been two months since the wedding. Two months since the inexplicable had happened. Two months during which he had spent virtually every day trying to figure out just what had taken place between himself and Aliyah. Sweet, gorgeous Aliyah. The girl who had been his friend for so long. The girl he had teased mercilessly so many years ago.
But now, she was the woman who had turned his world upside down in the most shocking and incomprehensible way.
"You don't mind if I just leave you for a little while," he said.
Azim and Nadyah shook their heads in unison. Surely it must be obvious, he told himself. He was doing a terrible job of disguising his desperation to get out to Aliyah. He was sure they could see the urgency on his face, hear it in his voice.
Shahid waved a hand toward his siblings and stepped out onto the terrace, feeling the sudden heat of the high afternoon sun. He paused to take off his jacket and hang it over the back of one of the chairs. It was cooler now that he wore only a thin white shirt. Still, his dark dress pants seemed somehow inappropriate. He felt overdressed, but he'd left in a hurry, without time to dress down to something casual.
Shahid went to the balustrade and peered out across the flat green lawn, squinting his eyes to see anything amongst the shadows of the banks of trees that created neat grassy passageways throughout the expanse of the garden.
He felt a flush of irritation at first. There was no sign of Aliyah. Then he saw a movement, far off beneath a tree, and his heart leaped. His body moved almost of its own volition, as if simply seeing Aliyah had triggered something instinctive inside him.
He raced down the steps and onto the lawn, his shoes sinking into the soft grass. He gazed ahead and started to run over in his mind just what he would say to her once he'd covered the hundred metres or so that separated him from Aliyah.
As he strode across the lawn he was momentarily taken aback by the urgency he felt at the prospect of seeing her again. Again, a confusing welter of emotion flared in him. The same unsettling jumble of feelings which had tormented him these past few weeks.
What was he going to say to her? What would she say to him? And then it struck him. Maybe she'd left the terrace because she was trying to avoid him. Perhaps she was intent on fending off his advances. Because that was what he was doing, wasn't it? Making his move. Taking the action he'd been planning every day since they'd danced, every day since he'd held her petite, warm body aga
inst his.
He took a few more steps toward Aliyah. He saw her resting her hand against the back of a stone bench placed in the shade of a tall tree. It was plain that she wasn't running from him. There was that, he told himself. Maybe she'd realized there was no point in trying to avoid him, especially here in the palace. Perhaps the encounter he'd waited so long for was destined to be nothing more than a polite meeting, an exchange of pleasantries.
Something tightened inside him. He knew that wasn't what he wanted. He'd already decided that the time had come for him to tell Aliyah exactly how he felt about her. It had all come together at the last wedding. Holding her close, seeing the look in her eyes, something had awakened inside him. Or had it been something that had been dormant for a very long time? An attraction that had it's roots way back in time, back when they'd merely both been close friends.
Shahid ran a hand through his dark hair and sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves that had taken hold of him. He tried to fathom what was happening to him. He'd never felt like this about any of the other women he'd had in his life. And there had been plenty of them, he reminded himself. Probably too many, if he was entirely honest with himself.
But that was all in the past now, he told himself. All that concerned him now was Aliyah. He peered toward her. She had taken a seat and was leaning back, her face lifted up to the branches of the tree, and he could see that her eyes were closed. Even from here he could see that she was trying to calm herself. Was she trying to pretend that she didn't know he was coming to her?
Now that he was closer, he could see just how amazingly beautiful she was. He felt a stirring as he saw the fullness of her body beneath the pale blue dress she was wearing. The hem of the dress ended at her knees and he saw her bare legs and the flat shoes that enclosed her small feet.
Her dark hair tumbled back across her shoulders and her elegant, bare arms were stretched out along the edge of the back of the seat. Shahid drew in a sharp breath, feeling his heart race, his pulse pounding. There was a tightness in his throat and he wondered if he was even going to be able to get out the words he'd rehearsed.
He took a few more steps and then he was a mere few feet away from her. He halted beneath the shade of the branches. For a moment he just gazed at her, taking in the beauty of her pretty features; the full lips; the high cheekbones; her arching brows. Her eyes were still closed and he could see her chest rise and fall with each breath. Her skin seemed to glow with health and there was the hint of a smile at the corners of her tempting mouth.
There was no doubting the truth.
Not anymore.
Aliyah was heart-stoppingly beautiful. He wondered how he had gone so long without noticing that simple fact.
The breeze swept through the trees, and the branches shifted slowly.
Aliyah opened her eyes and saw Shahid. She straightened suddenly and rose quickly from the seat.
"Shahid!" she exclaimed. "I didn't hear you." He noticed that her voice quivered with sudden emotion. Such a sweet voice, he told himself.
She shifted awkwardly and straightened her dress as if overcome by an intense self-consciousness.
Shahid stood his ground and grinned at Aliyah.
"I hope I didn't startle you," he said.
Aliyah smiled. "Of course you surprised me," she admonished him.
"You looked like you were going to fall asleep," he said with a teasing tone in his voice.
Aliyah shook her head. "I love this garden. I remember when we used to play here as children," she said.
Shahid gazed around the garden. He could recall so many long, lazy days here with his brothers and with his sister and Aliyah. It all seemed like it had happened an eternity ago.
"It's beautiful." He smiled. "Every tree has a story to tell," he teased.
Aliyah squinted at him. "Some things should remain unsaid. Don't you think?"
Shahid laughed. "I guess you're right. I know Nadyah still gets upset if you talk about how I threw her in the fountain."
Aliyah laughed. "I think she still avoids going anywhere near it. Even to this day."
Shahid took a step closer to Aliyah. In response she leaned away, the back of her knees pressing against the bench.
Aliyah fussed with her loose, dark hair and glanced back toward the palace. "I thought you and Azim were discussing the wedding," she said.
"We were. But Nadyah told me you were out here." He gazed at her, trying to convey just how much he had wanted to come to her. "So, I couldn't resist coming out and having a chat."
Aliyah's eyes widened, and she arched one brow. "A chat?" she asked.
Shahid nodded. "Does that sound so unusual?"
Aliyah shrugged. "I suppose not. I haven't heard from you since the wedding two months ago," she replied.
Was that a hint of annoyance in her voice, he asked himself. Had she been expecting him to call her? Had their embrace at that wedding reception meant so much to her, after all?
"I've been busy," he answered, aware of just how unconvincing it sounded.
"Busy? Of course. Your business interests."
Shahid drew in a deep breath and glanced across the broad expanse of freshly cut lawn. "Would you like to walk?"
Aliyah's gaze followed his and for a moment she seemed to be weighing up whether she really wanted to agree with his suggestion. Finally she nodded and gave him one of her broad smiles. He felt his heartbeat quicken.
Aliyah took a few steps toward him and he considered easing his arm across her back, but there was something stiff about her demeanor that warned him such a gesture might be too hasty.
As she passed him he caught her scent, a delicious mixture of sweetness and fragrant intensity.
He eased alongside her, matching her pace. As he walked by her side she glanced up at him. Her eyes shimmered in the bright sunshine. There was that familiar good-natured expression, the same one he'd known so well for so many years. But now, that expression of sheer goodness was tempered by a caution that he hadn't seen before.
Was she worried about his sudden appearance? He'd have to work hard to put her at ease. But, at the same time, he realized, he'd come here for a reason. He had to know how she felt about him; had to find out if she was even thinking about him as something more than a friend, something more than just someone from her past.
Chapter Three
Shahid's sheer presence was overpowering, Aliyah told herself as they ambled across the lawn side by side. Her heart was pounding like it hadn't done since that time at the wedding reception. She hoped he hadn't noticed just how nervous and also how pleased she was to see him.
Why had he come to her? She'd been convinced that their encounter two months before had been all but forgotten. Especially by Shahid. Surely for someone like him, a night like that would have been commonplace. She was sure he had plenty of other things to do instead of thinking about her.
But, here he was. And she was walking by his side trying not to reveal the childish excitement she was feeling at being with him. As they walked, they didn't talk for a short while, and she had a chance to savor his masculine beauty. There was no doubting how handsome Shahid was. All the Al Mahrez brothers were special, sharing good looks that must have seemed unfair to other less blessed families.
Shahid was taller than Aliyah. His broad chest filled the plain white shirt and there was a hint of dark chest hair above his top button. Long, powerful legs moved easily, a panther-like casualness marking his every step.
But it was his face that was truly startling. Captivating.
Aliyah had never seen a man with such even features, such high cheekbones and a jawline that declared such strength and determination; lips that just demanded a feminine thumb trace a line along their fullness; the sharp, sculpted slash of a hawk-like nose. His entire presence exuded power, a dominating calm focus that she was sure some found utterly intimidating.
And then there were his eyes; dark, limpid pools that held quick intelligence, flashes o
f passion and good humor.
With a sudden flickering, his gazed settled upon her, just as she was looking up at him. She quickly wrenched her gaze away, feeling the heat on her cheeks, a childish embarrassment at being caught.
When she looked back at him, she saw the corners of his mouth had creased into a gratified smile. He'd caught her looking at him.
What a fool she was, she scolded herself. Of course she was interested in Shahid. What woman wouldn't be interested in Shahid?
No wonder there were so many stories about Shahid, she told herself. A man with such raw sexuality would be an irresistible attraction for any woman, and Qazhar had many women who would do whatever it took get as close as possible to Shahid.
So, why was he here, today, she asked herself. Was it simply to pay a polite call on Azim, find an excuse to come to Aliyah, and perhaps try to explain away the closeness they had both shared weeks ago? Because it had been a closeness. She was sure of that. She'd been certain about it every night since, as she'd lain in bed thinking about Shahid's firm body pressing against her, remembering how it had felt to have his arms enclosing her in a tight embrace.
She glanced up at Shahid. Unusually for Shahid, he looked slightly uneasy, as if he had things on his mind.
"Cat got your tongue?" she teased, grinning at him.
His brows rose and his gaze settled on her. "Huh?"
"What's going on behind those eyes?" she asked in a mischievous tone.
Shahid responded to her teasing, the corner of his mouth twisting with a grin. "I was just remembering all the fun we used to have here," he said.
"What? Me and Nadyah and you?"
Shahid's gaze darkened a little and he slowed the pace of his walking. "No, Aliyah. You and I."
She felt her mouth ease open in surprise. There was a real intensity in his voice. "You and I?" was all she could force out in response.
