The Chatsfield: Series 2. Кейт Хьюит
“Of course. Obviously.”
“Good,” he said.
His stomach tightened, his entire body screaming at him to give in. To chase the feelings that were firing through his blood.
But he could not. It was impossible. Now and always. No matter how much he might want it.
If there was one thing the years had taught him, it was that he desired things that would ruin him. That would ruin other people.
He had no choice but to deny himself.
When they were back at the palace, back in their own quarters, things would be easier. They had to be. Otherwise he would find himself sleeping outside in the cold again, just to try and get a handle on his control.
“All right, then, shall we go?”
She nodded, a determined light in her eye that had nothing to do with going to eat breakfast, he was sure. “Yes, ready.”
* * *
Sophie could feel the tension stretching between herself and Zayn in the close confines of the SUV. She should never have been so honest with him earlier. He should never have been so honest with her. What had they been thinking?
More to the point, it was disturbing that what had passed between them was honesty.
How could she be attracted to him? How could she have confessed all of her secrets to him, and how could she still want to kiss him? None of it made sense. She knew better than to expose her inexperience, she knew better than to let anyone know when she felt in over her head. And yet she had done just that today when she had confessed to him that she’d only kissed one man, and only once. And then she made matters worse by immediately confessing that she would like to kiss him. It was all bad. All very, very bad.
And it all felt worse now that they were sitting in the close confines of the vehicle, driving down the road that seemed endless, with no sign of civilization anywhere around them. But overhead, the sky was starting to change color. The pale blue taking on a silver edge as clouds formed, rolling in quickly, looking ominous.
The farther away they got from the dunes, onto harder ground, the worse it became.
“What’s happening?” she asked, looking out at the swelling clouds.
“Nothing good.”
“Like...not normal not good?”
“Worse,” he said, looking out the windshield and up. “It is normal. And I have a feeling I know what’s going to happen.”
Fear twisted her stomach. “What?”
“Are you familiar with flash floods?”
“What, like on a personal level? No, I can’t say that I am.”
“I fear we are about to have one. And if we are, then the best thing we can possibly do is pull over and wait it out.”
“Is that all we can do?” She was feeling panicky now, and it had nothing to do with their previous conversation. In fact, at this moment, it was all but forgotten.
“We should get to higher ground. Hopefully I can set the tent up before it starts raining.”
“You have a tent?”
“Of course. It’s important to know how to survive out here, if you’re going to go out.”
“Well, I guess it’s my luck that I went out with the sheikh who happens to be a Boy Scout.”
“I don’t know about a Boy Scout. But I do know how to keep us alive.”
The relief that washed over her was palpable. Silly, because not even a drop of rain had fallen yet, and she was already imagining great torrents of water rushing down the road to meet them. She was being overdramatic again. But then when one was concerned about being washed away on a tide, was there such a thing as being overdramatic?
He maneuvered the vehicle off the road, and she gripped the door handle, trying to brace herself as they rolled over bumps, up an untraveled hillside. “I’m going to keep driving until I feel like we’re high enough, okay?”
She was somewhat touched that he seemed to have sensed her nerves, and somewhat defensive also. Because she didn’t like people to see her weaknesses, but then hadn’t she already showed hers to him? Not now, but earlier. Anyway, she supposed there were no points for pretending she knew what she was doing out here. It was obvious she didn’t. She was a stranger in a strange land, so to speak.
The thought made her feel an odd kind of weightlessness, and it had nothing to do with the pitching and rolling of the vehicle. Out here, in this vast, unknown desert, there was no reason to pretend. Because he already knew.
“Okay.” They kept on driving until they reached the top of the ridge, and then Zayn put the vehicle in Park.
“We’ll make camp here. We may not need to stay, but if it does start to rain it will flood the road. All of it will run down the side of this embankment, and none of it should pool here. We should be safe.”
“Your tent is going to keep us dry in a torrential downpour?”
“Of course it will. It isn’t as though it’s the sort of thing you could buy at a sporting goods store. It is made for this kind of weather.”
“I suppose that’s the perk of being royalty.”
“This has nothing to do with being royalty. Nothing to do with the latest technology. These tents were made by Surhaadi’s finest craftsmen. Using the same techniques that have been used for hundreds of years. We have always had rain such as this in the desert, and sandstorms. And we have always needed to seek shelter away from it.”
She looked back up at the sky, which had grown even angrier in the past few minutes. “I suppose we should hurry.”
“What do you mean ‘we’?” He opened the driver side door and got out.
She opened her door, and followed. “Well, I didn’t figure I would leave you to set up the tent all by yourself.”
“Do you know how to set up a tent?”
“Not really. Not much camping happening while growing up in suburban New York. But still, I thought you might need help holding some things, or something.”
He raised the dark brow. “Or something.”
He rounded the SUV and opened the back hatch, pulling out a compact bundle. It didn’t look like it could be much of anything, much less large enough for the two of them. But then, she doubted it would be anything half so large or luxurious as the one she had stayed in with the tribe last night.
“Will Jamal and his people be all right?” It occurred to her suddenly that they seemed to be at a lower elevation.
“Yes, that area is not so affected by these thunderstorms. The ground has more moisture and the water sinks faster. Even if they get a downpour it’s very likely it won’t flood.”
“It’s amazing how different it can be only fifty miles away.”
“Yes, indeed. The capital city is built at a higher elevation so that torrential downpours like this don’t affect the infrastructure. Jamal and his tribe stay farther east where they are not as likely to get floods. It’s this in-between part that is less hospitable to all.”
He picked up the bundle and slung it over his shoulder, walking across the expanse of bare ground to a place on the ridge that seemed to be flat. At least as flat as they were going to find on the rocky terrain.
He started to unpack the bundle.
“Is there anything I can do?”
He looked up at the sky. “Well, if it starts to rain you could always hold an umbrella.”
“You’re joking, right?”