Claimed by the Sheikh by Rachael Thomas

afterthought.
    â€˜Are you not enjoying the polo?’ Kazim’s voice startled her and she looked up, prickles of embarrassment colouring her face and a zip of awareness shooting down her spine.
    â€˜I was thinking of Annie,’ she said tentatively after his admission last night. ‘I’m worried she will think news of Claude’s treatment is a hoax; after all, she has no idea who you are.’
    Kazim took two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter and set them on the table before sitting down opposite her, his long legs intimately close to hers, and she trembled, shocked by his nearness. ‘You are correct. Annie had no idea who I was, or indeed who you were,’ he said firmly. ‘But that is all sorted now.’
    â€˜It is?’ she questioned as she picked up her champagne in an effort to appear calm. How had Annie taken that news? Knowing Annie, she wouldn’t have accepted Kazim’s explanation without giving him the third degree and she smiled to herself, wondering how he’d coped with that. Maybe she should have put more in her note, explained who Kazim was, at least? ‘But did you tell her about Claude’s treatment?’
    â€˜I told her, exactly as I promised,’ he said as he looked out at the polo match. ‘Hasim, my cousin, the man I trust above all others will accompany them to America. They leave today.’
    She glanced at him. ‘So soon?’
    Applause rippled around them and she glanced out as a goal was scored. She looked back at Kazim, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the match.
    â€˜When I want something I will do whatever is necessary to make it happen.’ The hidden innuendo didn’t go unnoticed. He’d as good as told her last night that he wanted her. Was this his way of making it happen?
    She watched as he sipped his champagne, loving the way the sun shone in his onyx hair. In fact she loved almost everything about this man. Despite all that had happened, she had done so since she’d first been introduced, the day she’d been told of their engagement by her parents. But she couldn’t let him know that; she couldn’t leave herself open for another rejection from him. She already knew from experience how lethally charming he could be if needed, just as he could be brutal and honest.
    â€˜Thank you.’ She returned her attention to the polo match, not wanting him to see even the smallest trace of confusion on her face, because confused didn’t go halfway to explaining the tumult of emotions within her.
    â€˜I always honour my promises,’ he said as he moved closer to her, keeping his words just for her ears.
    She turned quickly, her face suddenly so very close to his and, despite her sunglasses, she was sure he knew exactly the riot of feelings that were racing deep within her; she could see the same unrest mirrored in his eyes.
    â€˜Very commendable,’ she said, adopting a light-hearted tone she was far from feeling, needing to gain control again. She had to distance herself from him, if not physically then certainly emotionally.
    He leant forward, putting his empty champagne flute on the table, his gaze holding hers all the time. The simmering sexual tension that rippled between them seemed to suddenly be at the point of exploding.
    â€˜Finish your champagne,’ he said, his voice seductively husky, churning her stomach and sending heat coursing through her veins.
    Her breath caught in her throat and she licked her lips, which had suddenly become very dry as the intensity of desire in his eyes surfaced. The molten bronze swirled against midnight blackness and nothing or nobody else existed. It was just the two of them.
    Hesitantly, she took another sip; the bubbles fizzed in her mouth and he watched every tiny movement of her lips.
    When she took the next sip heat curled around her body as if his strong arms held her against him. Then, in a slow and controlled move, he leant