Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [27]
He leaned down and cupped her cheek, his dark gaze intense. “All you can and ever will be to me is a beautiful memory that I will keep locked inside forever. Our two cultures make anything else impossible. Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asked quietly in a husky voice filled with regret.
Slowly Delaney nodded her head as she gazed up at him. “Yes, I understand.”
Without saying anything else Jamal dropped his hand from her face, turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Delaney buried her head in the bedcovers as she fought back the tears that burned her eyes.
Chapter 7
Delaney slowly opened her eyes to the brilliance of the sun that was shining through her bedroom window. Refusing to move just yet, she looked up at the ceiling as thoughts and memories of the night before scrambled through her brain.
She lifted her fingers to her mouth as she remembered the kiss she and Jamal had shared. Her mouth still felt warm and sensitive. It also felt branded. He had left a mark on her that he had not left on another woman. He had given her his special brand of kissing that had been so passionate it had made her lose consciousness.
Closing her eyes, Delaney gave her mind a moment to take stock of everything that had happened last night, as well as come to terms with the emotions she was feeling upon waking this morning.
Yesterday Jamal had pretty much spelled everything out to her. He had told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted her. But then in the same breath he had let her know that the time they spent at the cabin was all they would have together. He had obligations and responsibilities in his country that he would not turn his back on. He had a life beyond America that did not include her and never would. In other words, she would never have a place in his life.
As a woman who had never engaged in an affair, casual or otherwise, she had felt indignant that he would even suggest such a thing to her. But last night after he had left her alone in her bedroom, she had been able to think things through fully before drifting off to sleep.
Jamal’s life was predestined. He was a prince, a sheikh, and his people and his country were his main concerns. He admitted he wanted her, not loved her. And he had stated time and time again that what was between them was lust of the strongest kind, and as two mature adults there was nothing wrong in engaging in pleasure with no strings attached.
What he offered was no different from what her brothers consistently offered the women they dated. And she had always abhorred the very thought of any woman being weak enough to accept so little. But now a part of her understood.
Things had become clear after Jamal had brought her into the room and placed her on the bed. And after listening to what he had said then, she had known: she was falling in love with Jamal. And now, in the bright of day, she didn’t bother denying the truth.
Although her brothers were dead set against ever falling in love, a part of her had always known that she would be a quick and easy victim. Everyone knew that her parents had met one weekend at a church function and less than two weeks later had married. They claimed they had fallen in love at first sight and always predicted their children would find love the same way.
Delaney smiled, thinking of her brothers’ refusal to believe their parents’ prediction. But she had, which was one of the reasons she had remained a virgin. She had been waiting for the man she knew would be her one true love, her soul mate, and had refused to sell herself short by giving herself to someone less