Anticipation whooshed out of him, frustration rushing in to fill its void, shooting to unknown levels.
No one had ever refused him before. Not once, let alone twice. Certainly never a woman. It was he who refused women’s offers, had never been interested enough to make any himself.
Now he was, and he’d offered, twice, and twice she’d turned him down.
It had to be his offering skills. They were non-existent. He’d better develop some. Fast.
But until he got his bearings, found out how she could be approached, her reticence overcome, he needed time and. Wait!
She had just given him the key to securing that time, far longer than what the most leisurely lunch could have afforded him.
He smiled down on her. “So you’re interested in getting down to business, eh? How about we bypass the interview and head directly to where business is conducted? Surely you wouldn’t refuse me escorting you to your new base on Damhoorian soil.”
She blinked. “What …? Where do you mean?”
“GAO’s newly opened base of operations in the kingdom. As I understand it, you signed up in the old office. I think you’ll be very interested to see the new facilities and go over the specifics of GAO’s expanded mission in the region.”
She stared at him, a dozen emotions struggling for dominance over her expressive features. Chagrin, interest, frustration, curiosity, agitation, bashfulness. He was interested in one in particular right now. Capitulation.
When he judged it had overridden all other reactions, he whispered his challenge, “So what will it be, Janaan?”
She gulped, another rush of peach staining her velvet cheeks. Then she finally sighed. “Oh, all right.”
Her muttered concession was the most welcome thing he’d ever heard in his life. It was also the last thing she said. At least the longest. He only managed to get monosyllables out of her from then on. He was certain it was her way of showing him how angry she was that he’d cornered her, that she’d succumbed to his maneuvers. He was also certain anger was a mere impurity tainting her real emotions, all hot and eager and overriding.
He got to her as badly as she got to him. And the best and unprecedented thing was that it was him who got to her, not who he was.
He knew she had no idea who he was as she was treating him with no deference at all. Even after she’d found out he was someone important, at least to her, she’d remained as painfully, delightfully forthright as she’d been from moment one. He doubted she’d change her tune even when she found out exactly who he was. This was another unprecedented occurrence that he.
“Is this it?”
Her subdued yet awed question brought him out of his elated musings.
And, indeed, their destination was in sight. The sprawling establishment erected to serve the joint efforts of GAO and his kingdom’s Ministry of Health.
Its sight somehow brought reality and full wakefulness descending on him with a flat-fisted thump.
What in Ullah’s name had he been thinking, feeling—doing?
What did he think he was about to do?
He should drop her off, give orders for her to be given every courtesy and service as long as she stayed in Damhoor and make sure he never saw her again.
CHAPTER THREE
“IS SOMETHING WRONG?”
Malek saw Janaan’s clear blue eyes clouding with confusion, and wondered how to answer her.
“Everything is wrong” didn’t appeal as a reply. Even though it was the only answer. The truth.
If he’d succumbed to this lightning-bolt attraction within minutes of meeting her, and now had to exert all his will to keep his hands off her, who knew what he’d be tempted to do if he had her in close proximity for much longer?
The answer to that was certain. And if he’d thought he had enough upheavals to deal with, those certainly paled in comparison with what any level of involvement with her—a foreign woman and a doctor coming to his region in a worthy relief effort—would be. It was out of the question that he.
“OK, I don’t feel the extra head I’ve grown.” Janaan ran both her hands over her head. “But the look in your eyes is making me certain it’s there.”
And he laughed. Ya Ullah, that was all he needed. To find out she had a sense of humor. One that tickled him so readily.
“It would be more of a good thing in your case.” He barely caught back the hand that longed to mimic her actions and shook his head, attempting to clear it, to shake off the urge. “I apologize for blanking out on you. It seems I’m not fully awake.”
And what he wouldn’t give to blame exhaustion for it all. But he couldn’t. He’d been exposed to many kinds of danger in his life, but nothing compared to the potential hazard of prolonging his exposure to her. Sanity was crying out for him to end this. And he would. He had to.
He dropped her gaze, stepped out of the car the moment it came to a halt, came around to her.
He thought it a terrible idea to touch her again but out of bounds of his will, his hand asked for hers. “Shall we?”
She gave it to him, her own inability to resist surging with her color, her lips trembling as she sprang out of the car at the same moment he gave her a supporting tug. Both actions brought her full against him.
It was only a second before Janaan staggered back, severing the contact. And that second had been enough to tell him that his worst projections were nothing. His body had never roared with arousal like that.
“S-so … w-when did all this get built?”
He looked down at her and his chest tightened with regret. She glowed under his kingdom’s sun, from the inside out. He narrowed his eyes against her radiance more than against the sun, read her attempt to jog him back to reality.
She succeeded in making him aware of their audience. His men, hovering around, waiting for his orders. He turned to them and delivered them. Arranging the end of this magical interlude.
With his plan in motion he felt less guilty, even felt entitled to let his hand run up her exposed arm, wrap around its satin resilience as he steered her inside the building, telling himself that the shudder that engulfed his body was due to the transition from the blistering heat to the interior’s coolness.
He would take this with her, say and do what felt natural. It would be over soon. Too soon. He wouldn’t let the upcoming separation pollute the time he’d allowed himself with her.
He relaxed his knotted brow, smiled down at her. “In delayed answer to your question, the construction was finished four months ago, the rest two weeks or so ago. We’re staffing now.”