Chapter 32 #2
“With his mistress’s consent, that is hardly a crime.”
“But that is just it. He is performing errands for her. But what errands, I wonder, would take him to Sven Neilsen’s?”
Jebal froze. “Do you have proof?”
Zoe licked her lips. “No. But he was there. My spies saw him leaving the Dane’s house.” She hesitated. “And he left the Dane with a package—actually it was a sack.”
“And I suppose that you know what is in that sack?”
“No, I have no idea,” Zoe said.
Jebal paced. His face was set, grim. He turned. “If you are lying, Zoe, dear, I shall have you bastinadoed.”
Zoe smiled. “I am not lying, Jebal. And as your wife, I thought it pertinent to inform you of the possibility that Zohara is a spy.” She stared coldly. “Have you never wondered just how she arrived in Tripoli?”
A muscle ticked in his cheek. He did not reply.
“But on which ship did she arrive? The slave trader did not know. No one knows. How did she arrive here, Jebal? And why? Why, Jebal?”
Slowly he said, “I have tried not to think about it. My own spies could not learn the name of the ship she disembarked from, so I dropped the issue.”
Zoe smiled.
Jebal’s jaw tightened. He strode for the door, and through it, Zoe rushing after him. “Where are you going?” She cried.
“I am going to ask Zohara to explain what business her slave could possibly have with Neilsen.”
Alex lay motionless, her pulse beginning to subside. Xavier slipped off of her and lay beside her, also unmoving. One of his arms remained draped over her abdomen, beneath her breasts.
Slowly Alex turned her head, opening her eyes.
He was gazing at her, his expression impossible to read, but his eyes were not cold. Oh, no. His gaze was soft and warm it was tender. Their eyes held.
Alex could not smile. Her heart fluttered wildly.
His palm slid over her stomach, slowly.
Alex inhaled, filled with hope.
“Your skin is beautiful,” he said softly.
Alex stared, praying. There was a softness in his eyes that she had never seen before, and she was so afraid that it was her wild imagination again, playing tricks on her, deluding her, that she was seeing what she wanted to see, not reality—but it was not.
She saw tenderness in his eyes. She was not mistaken. Alex thanked God.
His hand caressed her, brushing the bottom of her breasts. “You are a very beautiful woman, Alexandra,” he said in the same gentle tone of voice.
“Th-thank you,” she managed. “You’re the most gorgeous man I have ever met.”
He suddenly smiled. “How can you speak that way? To label a man gorgeous? Is this not an insult?”
“No, it’s a compliment!” Alex realized he was, just slightly, teasing her. “You are amazingly handsome,” she amended, flushing.
“I’m skinny.” His gaze narrowed. “Are you blushing?”
“Yes.” Alex rolled onto her side, facing him, and traced one of his muscular forearms with her fingertips.
His smile faded. They both watched her hand.
It was amazing how such an innocent gesture could be so provocative and so sensual.
Alex’s loins throbbed. A quick glance told her that he was also becoming affected.
Boldly she moved her hand to the pectoral muscle of his chest. “I can feel your heart. It is racing.”
His look skewered her. “I wonder why.”
She smiled.
He smiled back.
His smile was like the sun bursting through the clouds. Alex wanted to weep. It was a treasure, one she wished never to lose.
Suddenly he bent over her and kissed the swell of one of her breasts. Alex sighed. Tears slipped down her cheeks. He nuzzled her, his beard rough on her skin. And then he caught her nipple with his lips. Tugging on it.
“Oh, God,” was all Alex could manage. She was on her back.
“I don’t understand this,” he muttered, sweeping his hand down her stomach, pausing, then palming her roughly. “You make me crazed.”
“Good,” Alex said, and she gripped his hand where it cupped her sex and pressed it even harder there. “Good.” She felt fierce. Her voice resonated.
He met her gaze, his smoldering.
Then he removed her hand, bent, and kissed her sex. Alex spread her legs wide, moaning.
“This time,” he said, his tongue flicking everywhere, “I want to go slowly. Very slowly. I want to savor every inch of your gorgeous body.”
Alex smiled through the thick haze of lust. Through the seeping tears of joy.
But then he stopped what he was doing. Protesting, Alex gripped his shoulders as he raised his head, only to realize that he was listening intently. In that instant it crossed Alex’s mind that they had been terribly loud while making love—loud enough to be discovered.
She sat up, also listening, and heard Murad’s voice in the corridor—with Jebal’s.
Alex was off the bed like a rocket. So was Xavier.
He hopped into his trousers and began straightening the bedding.
Alex dressed frantically. Her pants were torn in half and she had to knot them beneath her robes.
One thought kept drumming through her head—history hadn’t lied.
They were about to be discovered, and Xavier would be executed at dawn.
Xavier gave her a look she could not decipher, perhaps one of encouragement and support, and he fled outside onto the galleria.
Alex was sweating. She was about to rush into the bathing room to check her face for any telltale signs of their recent lovemaking, but her door swung open and Jebal walked inside.