The Sheik's Pregnant Lover (Love By Accident) (4 page)

He smiled and moved his hands
to her waist, feeling the softness and noting how slender she really was.  “Getting better.  But you’re not completely sure, are you.”

She took a deep breath and raised her face up to his.  “Yes.  I’m very sure.  But I thank you for giving me the time to back out of it and run screaming out of the woods.”

Rashid stood there for a stunned moment, absorbing her words.  Again, he laughed softly at her quip but didn’t hesitate any longer.  He couldn’t.  Kissing her had now become an imperative, an absolute that couldn’t wait. 

He savored the anticipation though, enjoying her beautiful face and her scared but eager eyes looking up at him as he slowly bent lower.  When his lips covered hers, he pulled her
against him
, feeling her full breasts and her
soft
body as it gently pressed against him.  Almost innocently, he thought. 

The kiss was gentle at first, just a flirtation of a kiss.  He rubbed his lips over hers, testing the texture and enjoying the anticipation.  With her sweet sigh, he lifted his head and looked down at her.  The small
smile and the way she almost pulled back, as if that were the end of their embrace
and it
made him rebel at such a tentative taste.  There was no way he was letting her get away with just that touch.  He wanted more.  So much more!

He pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her and bent again, this time, his mouth wasn’t
tentative
.  He didn’t demand, but coaxed her to participate, feeling her shivers as he slowly deepened the kiss, teasing her lips apart and catching her gasp of pleasure in his mouth as his tongue invaded, tasting her sweetness over and over again. 

Sidra clung to his arms, her fingers wrapping around his biceps as he pulled her against him, his hand moving down against her back and pressing her against his hard body.  She gasped when he deepened the kiss but her mind reveled in the glorious taste of this man who fascinated her so deeply.  She wanted to know everything there was to know about him.  How he thought, what he did, why he loved horses so much and she especially wanted him to kiss her, to kiss her like this forever.  She never wanted him to stop and loved the way he teased and demanded, coaxed and cajoled with his mouth.  She’d never experienced such a kiss before
.  H
aving endured the sloppy kisses of boys before now, she was enamored of this man’s touch. 

As he pulled away, she noticed that his hand was tangled in her hair and his body had hardened in areas that hadn’t been there before.  She blushed as she took a step back, leaning slightly against the rock behind her because she knew her legs wouldn’t hold her. 

“I scared you,” he said as he watched her look down at her hands which were clasped demurely in front of her. 

Sidra looked up, not wanting to appear chil
dish in his eyes.  “Not at all,”
she lied and bit her lower lip, wondering how she could convince him.  “It’s just
that
I don’t even know your last name or anything about you except that you work with horses and you’re a good rider.”

Rashid didn’t correct her that he worked with horses because he sometimes did exercise the horses when he felt the need.  He had an entire stable of horses a t the various houses he owned but that wasn’t his occupation.  Better that she think of him as just another guy from the village instead of his real identity. 

“Let’s walk,” he said and took her hand, placing it in the crook of his arm in an old-world gentlemanly way.  “Tell me about yourself,” he said softly and tried to calm down the raging lust that was surging
through
his body.  She was such a treasure, he wanted to savor her as long as possible.  He’d seen the lie in her eyes and knew that she’d never been kissed like that.  “What do you do?”

Sidra felt better, feeling on safer ground talking about her occupation.  “I’m an interior designer,” she said and answered his questions about her life,
then asked
him how he knew so much about horses.  They walked for about an hour before she realized what time it was.  “I’d better get back to Laura.  She’s generally up about thi
s time each morning and I don’t
really want an interrogation if I’m gone too long.”

He read the hesitation in her eyes and wanted to find the source.  “You don’t
want her to know you’ve spent time with me.
”
  He said it as a statement but Sidra could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn’t understand. 

“It isn’t what you’re thinking.”  She bit her lip and turned to face him.  “I just don’t want her to know because she would want to
ask me questions
that I don’t want her to
know
about.  She won’t relent until I tell her details.
  With you, I don’t want to share those details.
”
  It felt almost dishonest to think of telling Laura about how she felt being with Rashid and how wonderful it was when he kissed her.  She wanted to keep this just between the two of them.  Not because it felt wrong.  But because it felt so wonderfully right. 

He reached out and pushed a strand of hair that the wind had dislodged from the rest of her tresses. 
“
You’ve
shared these details in the past with this woman about your dates?”

Sidra cringed
, but acknowledged that she had shared with her friend
.  “Yes.  We shared everything in school.”

The smile he gave her then was filled with arrogance and Sidra cringed again, knowing she’d revealed too much about how she felt about him. 

“I understand.”

Sidra sighed and shook her head.  “I don’t think you do, but that’s okay.”

He stepped forward, taking her hand and putting it on his chest where it had been before.  “You don’t want to tell her that you’ve kissed me.  Because she’ll ask you about the other men you’ve kissed and will want a comparison.  A ranking.”

Sidra grimaced at his spot on understanding.  “Yes.”

“
A
nd you won’t want to tell her that I’m at the top of the ranking.”
  He smiled smugly down at her. 

For some reason, she wanted to wipe that silly smug look off of his face.  “Maybe you’re actually at the bottom of the ranking and I don’t want her to know that you’re technique is faulty.”

In response, Rashid leaned over her, his hands on the rock behind her holding him up so he was looming over her.  “I wouldn’t want you to be dishonest at this point in our relationship, Sidra,” he said and his lips captured hers in a kiss that took her breath away.  He didn’t touch her except with his mouth but as his lips moved over hers, he took possession, her mind scattering as she tr
embled with the need for more while
he ravished her thoroughly. 

By the time he lifted his mouth away from her, she was shaking with the need for more, her body trembling while her hands fisted in his shirt.

He looked down at her, his eyes on fire and lit with a need that made her gasp with both fear and the same need.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered softly.  One hand untangled from his shirt and she placed her hand on his cheek.  “That was thoughtless of me and I shouldn’t have teased you like that.”

“Was it only teasing?”

She sighed and her eye
lids dropped to cover her shame.  “No.  And I’m sorry for that as well. I was trying to…”

His finger came up to press against her lips.  “I know what you were doing.  But please, we have only a short time together.  Let’s promise to be honest with each other until you have to leave.”

She looked up at him, swallowing the shame and frustration she was feeling.  “Okay.”

His finger moved from her lips across her cheek, lightly tickling her earlobe and getting a shiver in response. 
“Will you meet me here again tomorrow morning?”

“Yes,” she replied without thinking.  She wasn’t even sure how, but she’d get here. 

“Good.”  He bent down and pressed a gentle kiss against her lips.  This was a gentle kiss though.  Barely there before he pulled away.  “Go now.  Before I don’t let you.” 

Sidra smiled up at him, but she slipped underneath his arms and hurried back along the path.  She looked back at him, expecting him to be climbing back onto that enormous horse and riding away but when she glanced back, he was standing there staring at her, his hands on his hips and an odd expression on his face. 

She waved to him, but hurried back towards the village, needing to get there before Laura woke up for the day. 

She stopped and got some freshly baked muffins and hot coffee at the village bakery before heading back to Laura’s flat.  When she walked in and found her friend just belting her robe, she was glad to have the muffins as an excuse for her absence.  “Good morning!” she called out as she placed the container on her friend’s breakfast table, handing her the large cup of coffee with extra cream and sugar while she took the one with just sweetener.  “Did you sleep well?” she asked and almost laughed at Laura’s expression of happiness as she took a sip of her coffee. 

Laura was
a night owl who normally was up until about midnight while Sidra was more of a morning person, preferring to be up watching the sun rise and being the first into the office.  “What are we going to do today?” she asked, knowing that Laura had probably made plans for the entire day, filling it with
sightseeing
and history, which she claimed England had the best history while the Americans were only playing at knowing their history. 

Since Laura always said it with a wink in an attempt to rile Sidra into an argument, she never took offense.  And sure enough, Laura had the schedule all planned out.  They would be visiting the Tower of London, British
Parliament
, a drive by Big Ben, lunch at a quirky outdoor café, then off to Trafalgar
Square, several gardens and a museum.  All topped off by a dinner at one of the trendiest restaurants and a play at one of the theatres right by the Thames.  By the time they were back at Laura’s flat, Sidra fell into bed, exhausted.  But not before she set her alarm, not wanting to be late for her secret meeting with Rashid in the morning.

Chapter
3

Sidra was sitting on what she now thought of as her personal rock the following morning.  She was bone tired, but the thought of seeing Rashid invigorated her like nothing else could.   She’d just sat down on the rock, pulling her jeans clad legs up around her when “The Beast” poked its enormous nose through the trees, with Rashid on the animal’s back.

She couldn’t hide the excitement on her face when she saw him and every nerve ending in her body came to life. 

He didn’t smile back, but tossed the reigns over a tree branch while swinging his legs over the saddle at the same time.  He came towards her, his eyes never leaving her face while he made his way through the still damn trees. 

Without saying a word, he pulled her into his arms and lifted her into his arms, kis
sing her so thoroughly that she couldn’t think of anything other than wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer.  She seemed to be just as desperate to kiss him back as he was and her body wrapped around his.  When she felt his hands under her sweater, she gasped, but when he pulled his hand away, she grabbed his wrist and put it right back where it had been, kissing him frantically because she knew she only had this morning and two more like it.  She wasn’t even sure if he would be able to get away from his job to be here the next two mornings, so she didn’t want to waste time on being shy. 

“You’re beautiful,” he groaned as he pulled away, looking down at her as his hands slid up her waist, watching her reactions to see if he was pushing too hard too fast.  As he looked at her, his hand came off her waist and touched the delicate skin under her eyes.  “You look tired,” he said, gently touching the dark circles from lack of sleep.

“Laura had me out late last night watching some existential play about cannibals.”

He chuckled.  “I take it you didn’t enjoy the performance?”

She blushed and shook her head.  “I wasn’t really paying much attention to it.”

He shifted slightly so that his body was pressing against her more thoroughly and his body hardened even more when he saw the desire intensify in her eyes, a flush coming over her lovely cheeks.  “Were you perhaps thinking of me?”

“Yes,” she gasped, her hands moving up his chest and her hips shifting
on her own
to cradle him more intimately.  When he shifted again, she
gripped his s
houlders and stiffened.  “Don’t
do that!” she cried and bit her lower lip, holding herself very still.  He was pressing right where she wanted him, but she was embarrassed by the need pumping through her body. 

Rashid knew exactly what was happening and he wanted to tear her clothes off right at that moment and watch her climax in his arms,
although
with him buried inside her heat and not with all their clothes on.
But this was the best he could do and her reaction inflamed him, making him ache to see her climax.