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.
33
JEBAL’S GAZE WAShard and bright and he stared darkly at her.
Panting, Alex stared back.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
Alex saw Murad appear behind Jebal. His eyes were wide, frantic. And Zoe was with him, smirking. Alex’s pulse thundered in her ears. She felt that the collapse of her entire world as she had known it these past two years was imminent.
“I was working out,” she said.
Jebal blinked at her.
“I have been working out,” Alex repeated more firmly. “I felt better today. I was doing my jumping jacks.” Her tone was terribly high and terribly loud and clearly defensive.
He nodded, glancing around her room. Alex followed his gaze, praying that there was no visible sign of Xavier anywhere. Then Jebal lifted his eyes, which were piercing. “Why did you send your slave to Neilsen’s this morning?”
Alex gasped. “Wh-what?”
Jebal strode forward. “Were you passing information to Neilsen? To the Americans? Are you a spy, Zohara?”
Alex stepped away from him. “No! I am not a spy!” Her mind raced. “I gave Neilsen some of my things for safekeeping, Jebal, because of the enemies I have here in the harem.” She glanced bitterly at Zoe, who still smiled serenely. “Not important things, but personal things of great value to me. Then I decided I wanted everything back. I sent Murad to get my possessions. That is all.”
“That is an incredible excuse,” Jebal said flatly.
“It’s the truth.”
“Show me your things.”
