Tarin glared daggers at his older brother’s back, wishing that he could come up with a viable reason to stop him. But everything Amit had said made perfect sense and was actually far more convenient for Rachel. If she’d had to find her own apartment, she’d need to look around for at least a weekend. And because Rachel was so careful, she’d look at several apartments before making a decision. She’d weigh the pros and cons of each building and the property’s amenities, calculate the commute time, and locate the grocery stores and dry cleaners in the area. He smiled, knowing that Rachel would even drive to her preferred location at night, listen for sounds, walk the streets to make sure she felt safe and comfortable.
Rachel was one of the most detail oriented women he’d ever met. If she hadn’t been so loyal to Talia, and if Tarin didn’t lust after her so badly, he would have tried to steal Rachel away from his baby sister by now. But having Rachel around was…painful. She was so damn beautiful and everything about her, from the way she smiled to the way she walked…it all turned him on! Before she’d moved to Padar after Talia married that ass Santos, Tarin had been in an almost constant state of arousal, just because he’d see Rachel around the palace hallways.
So, what the hell was he going to do now? Rachel would be on a plane, most likely by tonight and, because she was such a dedicated employee, she’d report to work in the morning.
“Hell!” he groaned and turned around.
He remembered the first time he’d seen her. She had been so shy, so tentative and worried that she’d mess up somehow. Talia had raved about Rachel’s brilliance from day one. When he’d stepped into Talia’s office during the first week of Rachel’s employment, he’d seen her drop papers, break a pencil, spill coffee all over her desk, and even trip over her chair.
When she’d looked up at him with those huge, green eyes, blinking back tears of embarrassment, he’d smiled, trying to ease her fears. “It’s going to be okay,” he’d told her gently.
Even then, he’d felt something. It had been strange, like a tingling sensation that had started in his groin. Tarin had tried to ignore it. Rachel was pretty, with delicate features, beautiful green eyes, and hair that…damn, his fingers ached to explore those auburn curls, to see if they were soft or coarse, to twirl one around his finger and see how long her hair really was.
But her hideous flowered dress with the lace around the neck and the full skirt wasn’t anything to draw a man’s eye. She was…pretty but…like a librarian. A sexy, naughty librarian!
That night, he’d had the most erotic dream of his entire life. He’d been taking off that flowered dress, stroking her soft, full thighs and…he’d woken in a cold sweat, his body rock hard and his muscles tight with lust. He’d looked around that night, searching for the soft, warm, female body. But his bed had been empty.
That had been two years ago. His bed had been empty ever since! Tarin had tried to find another woman, searched for someone that might temper this painful lust he felt for Rachel. But no other woman had tempted him even slightly. It was almost like…like Rachel’s damn flowered skirts had ruined him for other women.
He cursed the fact that Rachel was coming back and he blamed his brothers for the speed at which his life was about to careen out of control.
Rachel lugged her heavy suitcase out of the back of her small, economical SUV, dumping it onto the tarmac. “Ugh!” She took a deep breath. One of the ways she’d learned to deal with the intense heat of the desert climate here in Padar, which was similar to that of Izara, was to never work outside during the middle of the day. The cool mornings were lovely and the chilly evenings almost magical. But the heat of the afternoon was truly unbearable.
If she’d had her way, Rachel would be right back in her precious Atlanta, Georgia, where the grass was a soft green at this time of the year. The roses would be in full bloom and the air would be languid with the balmy summer breeze.
Pushing her sunglasses higher up her nose, she slapped a hand down on top of her annoying, floppy hat before it blew away. The gust of intensely hot air that threatened to take her hat with it wasn’t a breeze. It was God’s furnace.
“Good grief,” she muttered, hitching her tote bag higher up onto her shoulder as she headed for the ridiculously large plane that was waiting for her, her suitcase rolling alongside.
An airport worker hurried over to her, his mirrored sunglasses hiding his eyes. “Are you Ms. Morris?” he yelled over the roar of the plane.
“Yes. That’s me,” she yelled back, leaning towards the man’s ear to be heard.
He smiled and nodded. “I’ll take that for you, ma’am. Go ahead and board the plane. We’ll take off as soon as you’re seated.”
Startled, Rachel immediately handed over her cumbersome suitcase, wiping her hands on her flowered skirt. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hold up the others.” Rachel ignored the man’s confused expression as she rushed across the hot cement towards the stairs that had been rolled up to the door of the plane. Grabbing onto the steel stair rail, she jerked her hand back with a hiss. The sun had heated the steel handrail until it was too hot to touch. “Darn it! Why did I do that?” As she raced up the stairs, Rachel gathered up her full skirt so that
