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Being treated like this by Drax wasn’t just hu, it was also unbearably painful When he had left her the previous day she had been on an eh Then it had been easy to believe that he had meant what he’d said—that he did indeed love her After all, she loved hi about naun to feel the chill wind of her own anxiety Then she had sat in her roo to see Drax and to be reassured that she had not siined what had happened between theone to sleep, hugging to herself theDrax
Now, of course, it was abundantly plain to her what that happened Drax had got carried away by sexual desire and had said things to her that he had later regretted The distance he was deliberately creating between the sure that she realised how he felt—or rather how he didn’t feel Mingling with her pain was anger Was he keeping his back towards her because he was afraid that if he looked at her she would behave like a co hi that, but she had soh toto fear from her
Determinedly Sadie kept her own back towards hi her He was so different fro to hi with him, did not cause her heart to pound with the force of the love-induced adrenalin surging through her veins There was no sense of breathless awareness, no sto to rip off Vere’s clothes and greedily satisfy her need to possess him Vere was just a very pleasant man, with a kind smile, who looked like theother than a curiosity about him because he was Drax’s twin
She already kneithout having to turn round that Drax hadcloser to her She could feel the heat co off her body and she yearned to step back into him, to turn around so that she could touch hie that it
contorted her body and stopped her breath
Drax took a step towards Sadie She wasn’t looking at hi at Vere He knew that she had looked at him when she had been escorted into the Presence Chamber, but he had not allowed hi that if he did so he would not be able to stop hiive her up, but at the saive his first and total loyalty to his twin The fault was his own If he had not made that boast to Vere that he would find him a wife, if he had not offered Sadie to Vere…But he had done those things, and it was not Vere’s fault that he too had recognised how special she was Just listening to the soft warmth in her voice as she answered Vere’s questions filled Drax with such a surge of murderous jealousy that when it subsided he felt physically sick with self-disgust He loved her How could he endure not just a future without her but seeing her happy with his twin?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘SO THIS oasis is where the agree herself to shthearted as she waited for Vere to answer her
It had been Hakeem who had come to her, two days after Drax had told her he loved her and then turned his back on her, to tell her excitedly that she was to join the Royal party at the traditional annual celebration to reement when Dhurahn had become part of the newly formed union of independent Arab states at the Oasis of the Two Doves, on the edge of the desert’s empty quarter
They had arrived at the oasis late the previous afternoon to find a small but very luxurious encampment of traditional black pavilions erected close to the oasis, and s staff on hand to attend to their every need
Once inside the large pavilion assigned to her, Sadie had been awed by its luxury and comfort She even had her own private bathroom, complete with a shower
But what she didn’t have was Drax The oasis was beautiful, but herit impossible for her to enjoy and appreciate it She hadn’t been able to eat the breakfast she had been served, and she had come here, to this quiet part of the oasis away from the tents, to hide her confusion and misery from everyone else and to try to decide what she should do
And now here was Vere, who had been so char to her, and so kind, but who just wasn’t the man she wanted and loved While Drax, whoh she did not exist No wonder she felt so sick at heart
‘Has Drax told you that we are having to cut short our stay at the oasis?’ Vere asked
Sadie shook her head, unable to bring herself to admit that Drax hadn’t said a word to her since they had arrived the previous evening