Sebastian awoke with a soft groan. He wasn’t as young as he used to be, and a night sleeping on the hard ground took him longer to recover from. He shifted slightly, then froze. Something warm and soft was pressing up against his side. Cautiously he opened one eye and glanced down—sure enough, the soundly sleeping form of Miss Knight was flush against him.
He wondered how it had happened. He remembered returning in the small hours of the morning and wearily taking his place back by the glowing embers of the fire. He must have misjudged it and fallen asleep much closer to Emma than he had planned. And now she was burrowing in closer, doing nothing to curb the desire that was already burning so strongly inside him.
She was still fast asleep, and he took a moment to enjoy the sensation. It was a long time since he had woken up to the soft form of a woman beside him. In his desire to keep his liaisons as short-lived as possible he rarely spent the night with a woman.
Emma was beautiful in the first morning rays of sunlight. Her cheeks had a slight rosy tint and her eyelashes rested gracefully on her cheeks. Her hair was falling out of the up-do she had secured it into the night before and curled a little as it fell around her shoulders. Sebastian’s eyes trailed lower. The modest neckline of Emma’s dress had slipped a little in her sleep, and although nothing was exposed he caught a glimpse of the creamy white skin of her chest.
He groaned. He knew he should move. If Emma awoke to find herself in this position she would be mortified. Although... Sebastian shook his head. No matter how interested she had seemed in his naked form the night before, that didn’t give him an excuse to prolong their closeness—if anything it was all the more reason to move away.
Stealthily Sebastian eased himself away from Emma’s still-slumbering form and stood, stretching and yawning as he stepped away.
He watched as Emma’s eyes fluttered open and couldn’t help but smile at the slight frown on her face as she tried to work out where she was. Then all the memories from the day before must have come flooding back as she sat hurriedly and rubbed the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. She straightened her dress, concealing that hint of cleavage, and stretched her arms above her head.
‘I can’t believe I slept so well,’ she said. ‘I never expected to get more than a few hours.’
‘Sleeping in the open air is good for you,’ Sebastian said cheerily. ‘And you would have been tired after the day’s ride.’
Emma nodded. Sebastian went over to the pack with the food supplies in and took out one of the pots he used to heat water over the fire. He grabbed a stick and pushed the embers around. They weren’t hot, just warm.
‘Your coffee will be lukewarm, I’m afraid. We haven’t got time to build up the fire again.’
He filled the pot with water and placed it on the embers, allowing the residual heat from the fire to seep through and warm the water. Then he added a generous spoonful of coffee.
Sebastian returned to his pack and brought out two small loaves of flat, dried bread. Gently he shook Akil awake and handed him one of the loaves. Then he split the remaining bread in half and walked towards Emma.
Silently they sat by the pool of the oasis and ate their breakfast.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget this,’ Emma said when she had finished eating.
Sebastian had to admit it was beautiful; the reflection of the early morning sun was shimmering on the surface of the water and the trees of the oasis cast long shadows around them.
After breakfast Sebastian quickly set about packing up the horses. He was eager for an early start. No doubt the men who had been following them would wake up with the dawn and set off soon after. At least there had been no sign of their approach through the night. For now at least, their pursuers seemed content just to trail them.
Sebastian wondered again just what it was Emma had in her possession, and how these men had got to know about it. He doubted they were interested purely for the historical interest of whatever it was they were seeking out and knew that more likely than not they would be dangerous. He suspected there would be a confrontation before the trip was finished. At the moment he wasn’t sure how they would come out on top, but he was working on a solution.
Just as Akil and Akins rode their horses back into their small camp Sebastian surveyed the scene and nodded in satisfaction. The fire was nothing more than a pile of ash now, no threat to the little oasis they would be leaving behind.
He ushered Emma over to her horse and made a cup with his hand to boost her onto the seat. She had just placed her foot into his hands when she let out a strangled scream.
Sebastian froze; the sound cut through his heart like ice. Quickly he looked her over. There was no sign of blood or a bullet wound, but he couldn’t be sure.
‘My leg,’ Emma whimpered.
Sebastian gently lowered her to the ground under the watchful eyes of Akil and Akins. Emma grabbed at her left calf and Sebastian felt the panic leave him. She hadn’t been shot or mortally injured; she had cramp. Her muscles had protested at the idea of another day spent in the saddle and they had seized up.
Cautiously he lifted her skirt so he exposed her leg to the knee. Emma looked at him with wide eyes but allowed him to continue. Firmly he pressed his hands against the flesh of her calf, massaging and stretching to try and relieve the taut muscle. Emma bit her lip at first as the pain continued, but with Sebastian’s constant ministrations after a few seconds the muscle relaxed and Emma gave a big sigh of relief.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I thought my leg was about to explode.’
Sebastian laughed.
‘It was cramp,’ he explained. ‘A muscle spasm. It’s because you’re not used to riding for so long. The muscle is tired and is letting you know.’
Emma nodded and looked down at where his hands were still kneading the muscle of her calf.
Sebastian quickly stood and backed away, allowing Emma to pull her skirt back to her ankles.
‘Shall we try that again?’ he asked, motioning to the horse.
This time he deposited Emma in the saddle without any problems, untied her horse then quickly mounted his own. Within a few minutes they had left the oasis behind them and were striking out farther south into the desert.
* * *
‘I give in,’ Emma said as she lowered herself to the ground. ‘I don’t know how women are expected to ride all day in such heavy skirts.’
Seb eyed her appraisingly. Her attire was unsuitable for the desert. He knew the best thing you could wear was a long, loose robe, as the locals did. Emma’s dress was long but it certainly wasn’t loose. The bodice constricted her torso and the layers of skirts got wrapped around her legs every time she tried to manoeuvre. The second best thing you could wear in the desert was a comfortable pair of trousers and a loose shirt that covered as much skin as possible from the burning rays of the sun.
‘The offer still stands,’ Seb said. ‘I have some trousers and a shirt you’re most welcome to wear.’
Emma looked at him thoughtfully, as if carefully weighing up the pros and cons. Seb could just imagine her perched up on the horse with a pair of trousers stretched tight around her womanly curves, the material outlining perfectly the contours of her buttocks and thighs. He swallowed. Maybe he should be discouraging her from taking him up on his offer. He found her far too attractive for his own good already, when most of her figure was hidden under the skirts of her dress.
‘Maybe I could try them just for this afternoon, see if a change of clothing really would make a difference to my comfort?’
Seb dismounted, handed the reins of his horse to Akil and started rummaging through one of his packs.
‘The trousers might be a bit on the long side,’ he said, eyeing up Emma’s petite form, ‘and the shirt a little baggy.’ He handed her the two garments and a belt.
Emma looked around them. They had stopped for lunch in the shade of a bush. Seb looked at the scraggy mass of branches—maybe a bush was a bit generous. Whatever it was it didn’t give them much protection from the sun, and it certainly didn’t provide privacy for changing. There wasn’t another bush for as far as the eye could see, or anything else that would shield Emma from prying eyes.
Seb spoke quickly to Akil and Akins in Arabic. He instructed them to walk the horses slowly for two hundred paces in the opposite direction.
‘You’ve got about four minutes until the boys turn around.’
Emma still didn’t move.
‘What about you?’ she asked.
‘I thought I’d help,’ Seb said with a grin.
He almost laughed at her horrified expression and slowly turned his body so he was facing away from her. After twenty seconds of silence he heard the rustling of material as she began to divest herself of her dress. Seb was sorely tempted to turn around. At the oasis he had behaved like the perfect gentleman, not peeking at her once whilst she emerged from the pool despite having caught her staring at him. Now his resolve was weakened, every minute he spent with her he seemed to want her more, the desire was bubbling away beneath the surface and soon he knew it would boil over. Perhaps one look, one peek, would be enough to keep him purely simmering for a while longer.
‘Ooh...ow!’ he heard from behind him.
It was the excuse he had been waiting for. He spun around. Emma was standing a couple of feet away, her dress lifted up so it obscured her face. She wasn’t naked in front of him, a thin chemise covered most of her, but the cotton was flattened against her body and Seb could see every curve and contour. He took a step towards her, telling himself he should just turn back around but not able to comply. Emma had got one of the fastenings of her dress caught in her hair and was now struggling to free it. The dress wouldn’t go up over her head or pull back down and Seb could see the more she struggled, the worse she was making the situation.
He crossed over to her in two short strides and stilled her with his arms. He heard her gasp at the contact but she didn’t protest. Gently he untangled the fastening from her hair and lifted the dress off over her head.
Emma lifted her eyes to his and they stood locked together for a few seconds. She was looking at him with such desire burning in her eyes Seb knew he wouldn’t be able to refuse her anything. Slowly he reached out with his hand and placed it on her waist, flattening the chemise against her skin. He could feel the heat radiating from her as he pulled her closer towards him and he revelled in the easy way in which her body moulded against his. Emma tilted her chin upwards and, with his arm still holding her firmly in place, Seb lowered his mouth onto hers. Her lips were moist and sweet and inviting. Seb kissed her gently at first, but as she let out a soft moan his kiss became more urgent and all-encompassing. As she parted her lips he gently dipped his tongue inside her mouth and elicited another groan of pleasure.
As he kissed her Seb’s hands started to caress her body. He wanted to remember every curve and every touch. His fingers glided over her softly rounded buttocks and then back to her narrow waist and then up to her shoulders, retracing their steps on the return journey.
As Seb’s hand rested again on Emma’s buttocks it slowly dawned on him what he was doing. He was seducing her. He was ruining her. He was doing everything he’d promised himself he wouldn’t.
Gently he pulled away and put a step between them. He knew the minute Emma saw the regret in his eyes. Her expression changed from one of happiness to embarrassment and anger. Quickly she covered herself with her arms and started to tug on the trousers beneath her chemise. Seb ached to help her, to caress her thighs as he pulled the trousers up over her legs and secured them around her perfect waist, but he knew that would only make things worse.
‘Turn around,’ Emma said, her voice nearly breaking on the first word.
Seb wanted to reach out and touch her, pull her towards him again and kiss her so deeply she’d forget she was angry with him, but he knew he couldn’t. Kissing her once was a mistake, twice unforgivable. Kissing her a third time would just be cruel to both of them.