Читать книгу Modern Romance September 2016 Books 5-8 - Natalie Anderson, Carol Marinelli - Страница 13
ОглавлениеFELICIA BRISKLY MADE her way along Dubai’s The Walk, towards the restaurant she had booked for their lunchtime meeting. There was no time to linger, or to take in the delicious view. Kedah’s multiple assistants were kept far too busy for that.
At the age of twenty-six, Felicia Hamilton had a job.
A real one.
Instead of her regular four weeks or so of work for a full year’s pay, and a long pause between jobs, Felicia now found herself working the most ridiculous hours as she travelled the globe with Kedah. Oh, their mode of transport was luxurious—Kedah had his own private jet—but even a mile up in the air there was little downtime. Kedah considered his jet another office, and it was the same at his luxurious hotels.
She’d never have agreed to a year of this had she known.
Except not only had she agreed to it—Felicia herself had been the one to insist on it. He had told her exactly what to expect at the interview. He’d even offered her a trial period, which she’d declined!
Oh, what a fool. Had she taken the trial then she would have been finishing up by now!
Or would she...?
Even after close to eight weeks spent working hard for him Felicia still didn’t believe that Kedah just wanted her as a PA.
She wasn’t even very good at it.
Felicia was the one who generally gave orders. Now each day she stared down the barrel of her to-do list, as did his other assistants. One PA would never be enough for him.
There had to be another reason she was here.
Felicia was trying hard to work it out, but really there was little time for daydreaming. Her schedule was relentless.
She was up at six each day, and it was often close to midnight before she crashed—just as Kedah hit the town with his sweet and oh, so pleasing date of choice for the night.
Felicia honestly didn’t know how he did it.
Since meeting him she was on her second lot of concealer, to hide the shadows under her eyes.
There had been a tiny reprieve last night. Kedah had asked her to book theatre tickets for himself and his latest bimbo—which she had done. But while his absence had given Felicia an early night, she had spent it sulking.
This morning Kedah had been off looking at potential hotel sites, and she had sat in bed on the phone, liaising with his flight crew for their trip to Zazinia tomorrow.
Now she was meeting him for lunch, to go through the agenda for his trip home. There the artist would be able to work on his portrait, and there his father would discuss a wedding with his son.
That had to be the issue, Felicia decided. She was quite sure that Kedah had no desire to marry.
The restaurant she had chosen was dark and cool, and uninviting enough to keep the less than extremely well-heeled away.
‘I have a booking,’ she said. ‘Felicia Hamilton.’
‘Of course.’
When she had booked the restaurant Felicia had told them she was meeting an important guest and would like their very best table. She hadn’t told them just how important her guest was, though.
It was a little game she played, and she smiled as she was led through the stunning restaurant to a gorgeous low table.
Indeed, it was beautiful.
There were plump cushions on the floor and the table was dressed with pale orchids. As she lowered herself onto a cushion she could hear the couple behind her laughing and chatting as she set up her work station.
She took a drink of iced water as she waited for Kedah to arrive, and again tried to fathom what trouble his wedding could pose.
There might be a baby Kedah? Felicia pondered. A pregnant ex, perhaps?
But, no, she was quite sure that Kedah would handle that in his own matter-of-fact way.
What about a pregnant prostitute?
That would surely rock the palace and destroy any chance for Kedah to remain as Crown Prince. Though she couldn’t really imagine Kedah having to pay for sex—or even caring what others thought if he chose to do so.
Felicia took another long sip of iced water. She tended to do that when she thought of Kedah in that way—and she thought of Kedah in that way an awful lot...
Despite her very strict ‘Never mix business with pleasure’ motto, Felicia occasionally indulged in a little flirt with him—or rather, a very intense flirt. And there were odd moments when she felt as if her clothes had just fallen off. He made her feel naked with his eyes, although he was always terribly polite.
Felicia knew she’d have trouble saying no if he so much as crooked a finger in her direction. He hadn’t, though—which was just as well, because he’d be in for a rude shock. There was no way Felicia would turn into one of those simpering Your pleasure is all mine, Kedah women he had a very frequent yen for.
Sweet.
That was the type of women he chose—or rather that was how they appeared until they were dumped. Then it was Felicia who dealt with their angry, tearful outbursts.
She had almost been able to picture Beth, the actress, kicking her neighbour’s blind cat when she’d told her that Kedah would not be taking her calls anymore.
‘Have you thought about a gift?’ Felicia had asked her, while trying to keep a straight face.
Yes, she had found out on her third day of working for Kedah that his aggrieved exes were sent a brochure from which to choose a gift.
No diamonds or pearls from Kedah—jewellery was too personal, of course. But a luxury holiday brochure was theirs to peruse. After all, what better than a week in the South of France or a trip to Mustique to help soothe that wounded heart? The only downside was that Sheikh Kedah would not be there.
He had already moved on to the next.
Beth had chosen to take her broken heart for a little cruise around the Caribbean. Felicia might have told her she’d have stood far more chance of a repeat night with Kedah if she’d told Felicia to pass on to him precisely what he could do with his brochure.
No one ever did.
But, while Kedah seemed at ease with his wretched reputation, there had to be more to why he wanted her nearby than to introduce her to the managers of all his hotels around the globe.
Why did Felicia need to know that the Dubai hotel manager was an anxious sort but a wonderful leader? Why had he taken great pains to have her meet his accounts managers and his team of lawyers?
It just didn’t make sense.
She looked up because, from the rustling and whispers amongst the patrons, it would seem that someone stunning had just arrived—and of course there he was.
She had recovered from the faint-inducing sight of Kedah in a suit, but here in Dubai he wore traditional attire and each day was a delicious surprise to the senses. On this fine day the angels had chosen for him a robe in cool, completely non-virginal white, and such was his beauty and presence that he turned every head as he made his way over.
His keffiyeh was of white-on-white jacquard, with knotted edges, and was seemingly casually tied. He was unshaven, but very neatly so. His lips were thick and sexy, the cupid’s bow at the top so perfect one might be forgiven for thinking it tattooed. But this was all natural. Felicia had inspected that mouth closely enough to be very sure of that.
He looked royal and haughty and utterly beautiful, from his expensive cool head right down to his sexy leather-clad feet. Then his eyes lit on her, and the beautiful mouth relaxed into a warm smile—one that didn’t just light up his features, but his whole being.
Auras were supposed to be indistinguishable, even non-existent, yet Kedah wore his golden glow like a heavy fur coat.
He was a wolf in prince’s clothing. Felicia knew that.
Such delectable clothing, though!
And such a stunning man...
Of course it wasn’t only the women who noted his suave arrival—inevitably the head waiter came dashing over, clearly troubled at the inadequate seating arrangements for such an esteemed guest.
‘You didn’t say that you were dining with Sheikh Kedah,’ he admonished her.
‘I did say I was meeting an important guest,’ Felicia said sweetly.
‘Then please accept our sincere apologies. We have given you the wrong table—it is our mistake. Allow me...’ He was gathering up her phone, her tablet, the whole mini-office that she set up whenever she met with Kedah.
‘Of course.’
Felicia smiled to herself as she was bundled over to a stunning table—one where there was no chance of hearing their neighbours’ conversation. The only sound was the gentle cascade of a fountain, the view of the marina was idyllic, and here the floor was entirely theirs.
‘You played your game again,’ he commented as they sat down opposite the other.
‘I did.’ Felicia nodded, and then met and held his gaze.
His eyes were thickly lashed, and he had a way of looking at her that honestly felt as if she were the only person present on the planet. He gave his absolute full attention in a way that was unlike anybody Felicia had ever known.
‘Why don’t you just say in the first place that you are meeting me?’ he asked, because this happened rather a lot when Felicia booked their meetings.
‘Because I like watching them fluster when you arrive.’
Kedah would like to see Felicia fluster—and yet she was always measured and poised and gave away so little of herself.
He would like to know more.
The thought continually surprised him. Kedah did not get involved with staff, yet over the past few weeks he had found himself wondering more and more about Felicia and what went on in her head.
It was a pretty head—one that was usually framed with shoulder-length hair. But today her hair was worn up. It was too severe on her, Kedah thought. Or was it that she’d lost a little weight? And he could see that she’d put on some make-up in an attempt to hide the smudges under her eyes.
Gorgeous eyes, Kedah thought. They regularly changed shade. Today they were an inviting sea-green, but he would not be diving in.
He did not want to muddy things—he needed her on board and, given that his relationships ran to days rather than weeks, he did not want to risk losing her over something as basic and readily available as sex.
Yet all too often they tipped into flirting. Kedah usually didn’t bother—there was little need for it when you were as good-looking and as powerful as he. Yet he enjoyed their conversations that turned a seductive corner on occasion. Though Felicia had promised him discretion, there were times when he wanted her naked in bed beside him. He wanted to laugh as she told him tales about her former bosses.
Or ‘clients’, as Felicia referred to them.
That irked him.
He had seen her list of references, and some of the names there had had his jaw gritting. And, yes—he’d wondered all too often how close Felicia might have been to them. That was another thing that irritated him, but it would hardly be fair to question her about it.
He remembered now that he was cross with her for last night.
‘Felicia, when I ask you to make a theatre booking for my date and myself, please do better in future.’
She knew he was referring to the previous night. At five, he had suddenly decided he wanted two of the hottest tickets in town.
‘I got you the best available seats,’ Felicia said. ‘And I had to call in a favour to secure them.’
‘Again...’ he sighed ‘...you declined to say for whom you were booking.’
‘You told me at my interview that you expect discretion.’
‘I expect the best seats,’ Kedah said. ‘Had they not recognised me, I’d have been stuck behind a pillar. When you ring to make any booking in future, you are to tell them that it is for me.’
‘That will ruin my game.’
‘Tough,’ he said. ‘Right, let’s go through my schedule. I want you to arrange some time for me to go to the States in a couple of weeks.’
And as she stared at him a thought suddenly occurred to her. Maybe he was already married—maybe that was the scandal that was about to hit.
‘Do you go to America a lot?’ she asked.
He nodded.
‘Where?’
‘All over. Though mainly New York. My friend Matteo lives there.’
‘The one with the motor racing team?’
Kedah nodded.
Wild Matteo, who was known for his penchant for gambling and high-octane living.
‘Have you ever been to Vegas?’ she asked him.
‘Felicia...’ Kedah sighed again. ‘Where is this leading?’
‘I just wondered if you’d been to Vegas with Matteo...’ She gave him a smile. ‘And perhaps done something there that you might regret?’
‘I don’t waste time with regrets,’ he said. ‘And I don’t like wasting time—which we are. Let’s go through tomorrow’s agenda.’
They were saved from that, though, as the waiter somewhat nervously approached with mint tea. As Kedah looked up she felt the shifting of his attention. He was polite and engaged with the waiter, and as they spoke in Arabic she watched as he put the young man at ease.
He was arrogant, and yet he was kind.
Arrogant in that he expected the best and most often got it.
But then he could also be very kind.
‘What would you like to eat?’ Kedah asked Felicia.
‘Fruit,’ Felicia said. ‘Something light.’
‘Sounds good.’
He ordered, and when they were alone again he asked her how she was finding the hotel. Given he had not just designed the hotel but owned it, Felicia knew this was no idle enquiry.
‘It’s amazing,’ she told him. ‘Though I’d love to have some time to actually enjoy the facilities.’
Instead rather a lot of her time had been spent driving around to meet with the staff at his other acquisitions, or standing in the blistering sun scouring potential sites for Kedah to build on.
‘I think I’ve found the site for its brother,’ Kedah told her.
‘Do buildings have a gender?’
‘Mine do.’
‘From conception?’ Felicia asked. ‘Do you decide before you start the design that this one is going to be a boy?’
He smiled, and for Felicia the rays were as golden as the sun outside as he pondered her question.
‘I guess I do,’ he said. ‘I want to go and have another look at the site after lunch, and then meet with a surveyor. You’ll need sensible shoes.’
Joy!
Their lunch was served—citrus fruit and dragon fruits and sweet plump figs, as well as a light lemongrass mousse that just melted on her tongue. As they ate he asked her more questions about the hotel and she answered honestly.
Most of the time he liked it that she did—he was terribly used to his staff pandering to him. Her opinion was always refreshing, as well as at times rather blunt.
Kedah was, of course, up in the royal suite at the hotel, where every detail was taken care of and his every whim predicted. He wanted to know what it was like for a Western businesswoman traveller, so she was slumming it on the luxurious twenty-fourth floor with her own lap pool and butler.
‘It’s gorgeous.’
‘Tell me what I don’t know.’
Felicia thought hard. It really was difficult to be critical about somewhere so divine, but she pondered his question for a moment and was finally able to find a tiny fault. ‘I think the service is a bit inconsistent.’
He watched as she bit on a piece of dragon fruit and waited for her to elaborate.
She soon obliged.
‘Like, last night there weren’t any chocolates on my pillow.’
‘Poor Felicia.’
‘I’m just saying,’ she told him. ‘You come to expect these things. Now, if I’d never had chocolate on my pillow I wouldn’t have missed it, but I really sulked last night when they forgot...’
Or had she sulked because Kedah had gone off, out to the theatre? She wasn’t sure, but certainly chocolate would have helped if that had been the case.
‘First world problem.’ She smiled.
‘Noted,’ Kedah said. ‘If you came back to Dubai would you choose to stay there again?’
He was rather taken aback when she immediately shook her head.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Why?’
‘I like trying new things.’
‘If you’re satisfied there should be no need or inclination to try anything else. I want to know why you wouldn’t return.’
‘Well, it’s stunning, but...’ She let out a breath and then decided she should perhaps check before being completely frank. ‘Kedah, do you really want me to criticise one of your babies?’
I dare you to, his eyes told her. ‘Go on,’ he said politely.
‘Well, as nice as it all is, I find it to be a bit impersonal,’ Felicia responded, and she watched his tongue roll into his cheek. ‘You did ask.’
‘I did.’
‘It just needs those extra touches,’ Felicia offered.
‘Such as...?’
‘I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe coloured towels, or something. I’m sick of white.’
She was—for she looked at his robe and she wanted it gone. She looked down to her hands and wanted them to be suddenly wrapped in his.
And that was the trouble with Kedah.
Not the terribly long hours, nor the jet lag, and it wasn’t even the endless little black book she ran for him.
It was this.
These moments sitting with him.
These moments when flirting was a thought away...when she felt every conversation would be better executed in bed.
‘You can do better than that,’ he said.
Felicia had to drag her mind back to their conversation, actually force herself to remember they were discussing his hotel and not lean across the table and tell him that, yes, she could do far, far better.
‘I don’t have much experience in hospitality, remember?’ she snapped wondering for possibly the millionth time what the hell he had hired her for.
Kedah could be boring!
Truly.
It was a terrible thing to admit but, just as when he had dimmed the lights and, instead of thrilling her, had proceeded to numb her brain with his hotel presentation, now—when they were in sumptuous surroundings and there was all this energy present—they sat discussing, of all things, towels.
He was driving her to distraction.
‘The décor is black and brown in my American chain of hotels,’ Kedah mused. ‘The towels there are too.’
‘Yum...’ Felicia snarked.
‘It actually works very well.’
‘Why am I here, Kedah?’ She was exhausted with not knowing. ‘Why are we sitting here discussing bloody towels...?’
‘Décor is important.’
‘Then hire someone who cares!’ she snapped. ‘And tell me why I’m here.’
‘You’ll know when you need to.’
‘Are you married?’ The question tumbled out. ‘Was there a drunken mistake that turned into a Mrs Kedah that I’m going to have to explain away?’
‘Is that why you were asking about Vegas?’
He put his head back and laughed and she wanted her mouth on his throat.
‘Felicia, I’m not married.’
‘Is there a baby...?’
‘You have too much imagination.’
‘Er... Kedah, I don’t think you and your lady-friends are merely holding hands. Accidents happen.’
‘Not to me,’ he said. ‘I make sure of that.’
He honestly admired Felicia, because even as they discussed his strict use of birth control she didn’t blush.
‘However,’ he mused, ‘it wouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Your father would welcome the news?’ Felicia asked, in a somewhat sarcastic tone, but it didn’t faze him.
‘It would be dealt with. I wouldn’t be the first Crown Prince in our history to have a child out of wedlock. But Vadia would deal with that sort of thing—not you. Enough now,’ he said, and went back to his schedule. ‘We’ll meet in the foyer at five tomorrow morning and get to Zazinia around midday,’ he said. ‘My time will be taken up with family stuff. There won’t be much for you to do.’
‘So why can’t I just fly home?’
She was itching to get home—for a night in her flat without the alarm set for the crack of dawn the next morning. For a full twenty-four hours away from the burn of his eyes.
‘Because...’
He couldn’t answer straight away. Usually he didn’t bring his London PA home with him. Occasionally he brought Anu, because she was from Zazinia, but there was absolutely no reason for bringing Felicia other than that he wanted her there.
‘It’s cheaper to have you there with me than to fly you home separately.’
‘Oh, please!’ She smiled sweetly.
‘The Crown Prince’s wing is being refurbished. I might need you...’
‘To haul stone from the quarries?’ she teased.
‘To take some photos and jot down my suggestions.’ He was stern. ‘If it’s not too much trouble?’ She really was a terrible PA. ‘As I said, I’ll be busy with formal stuff. My portrait needs to be completed. Then there will be a dinner with my family.’
‘That will be nice.’
Kedah gave her nothing—not a roll of the eyes, not even a small smile at her slightly sarcastic comment—but she knew there was trouble between the brothers.
‘And then there’s the matter of your wedding.’
‘Yes.’
‘And will you?’ Felicia asked. ‘Be taking a bride?’
‘I might.’ Kedah nodded.
He was tired of his father using his marital status as an excuse for things not to move along. Perhaps he would call his father’s bluff and tell him to get things underway.
When he had said that he might be considering marriage, for the first time Felicia’s expression faltered. She fought quickly to right it, but Felicia knew she’d been seen and so moved to cover it.
‘I loathe weddings. I hope I shan’t have to arrange that?’
‘Don’t worry.’ He shook his head. ‘The palace will take care of all that. You’ll just be arranging a few final wild nights for me, leading up to it.’
‘Look out, London.’ Felicia rolled her eyes.
‘Look out, world,’ he corrected, for if he were to marry then he intended to use his last weeks of freedom unwisely. Except he hadn’t been. Lately he hadn’t. Last night it hadn’t just been the seating arrangements that had got on his nerves.
It had been the company.
He had wanted Felicia beside him, and that might have been the reason he had dropped his date back to her hotel early.
‘Then again,’ Kedah said, ‘if I am to choose a bride in a matter of weeks, perhaps it is time for me to be more discreet.’
She did not meet his gaze. Perhaps she had missed the opening, he thought, for she was signalling the waiter and asking for more water.
That was bold for here in Dubai. Usually only a male would signal the waiter, but then that was Felicia: bold.
Tough.
She was possibly the one woman who would not go losing her head if they were to sleep together.
‘Felicia...’ he said, and then, for once unsure how to broach things, he asked another question. ‘Are you enjoying your work?’
‘Not really,’ she admitted. ‘It’s nothing like I expected. I thought I’d be putting out fires after big Kedah-created scandals.’
‘How did you get into all that?’
She hesitated. Usually there was no way that Felicia would discuss her personal life, and yet if she wanted to know more about him maybe it was time to reveal something of herself. And he was good company.
Terribly so.
She might not be thrilled by her job description, but there was no doubt that she enjoyed being with him.
It was when she wasn’t that her issues arose.
And so she found herself telling him a little. ‘My father had a prominent job, but as far back as I can remember he got embroiled in scandal. Affairs, prostitutes...’ Felicia coldly stated the facts. ‘My mother and I were regularly schooled in what to say and what not to say. How to react...how to smile. Now I get paid to tell others the same.’
‘Did your mother leave him in the end?’ Kedah asked.
‘No, after all he’d put her through it was my father who ended the marriage,’ Felicia said. ‘All the times she’d stood by him counted for nothing in the end. He planned how to leave her and did all he could to protect himself and his new girlfriend. The family home went—as did my boarding school. And I found out that my friends weren’t really my friends. By the time he had dragged out the court proceedings I was well out of school. I left at sixteen and got a job in an office to support my mother.’
‘Yet you are the PA everyone wants. Why?’
‘My first boss. I never even saw him much, apart from setting up a meeting room. Anyway, scandal hit—as it often does—and the PR people he had working for him were seriously clueless. I knocked on his door and told him I could sort it for him.’
‘How old were you?’
‘I’d have been about nineteen,’ Felicia said.
‘He believed you?’
‘He had no choice. He was up to his neck in scandal. I spoke to the press. I laughed at their inferences. I dealt with it just as I’d been taught to while I was growing up.’
‘How is your mother now?’
Felicia didn’t answer. She just gave a small shrug.
He sensed that she was finished talking about it. The subject moved back to work and there it remained, even after their meal had concluded.
Yet Kedah was curious.
‘You’ll need sensible shoes,’ he reminded her as they walked to his car.
‘Then you need to buy me some.’
She attempted humour, but she was still all churned up from thinking about her mother.
A little while later they stood on a man-made island and Kedah told her his vision for the hotel he was thinking of building there.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
Usually he cared for no one else’s opinion, yet he was starting to covet hers.
‘It sounds a lot like the other one.’
It was possibly the most offensive thing she could have said, and yet her honesty made him smile.
‘That’s why I call them brothers.’
‘Can’t they just be siblings?’ Felicia asked. ‘Could this one not be a girl?’
He thought for a moment and, as terrible an assistant as she was, Felicia gave him pause.
Perhaps he could consider a gentler version of the other hotel. The Dubai skyline was ultra-modern, and there were some stunning architectural feats. From tall rigid towers to soft golden buildings in feminine curves. Perhaps it was time to try something different.
‘See over there...?’ He pointed. ‘That was my first design. Well, along with Hussain.’
‘Now, that’s definitely a he!’ Felicia said, because it was a huge phallic tower, rising into the sky.
‘You’re getting the idea.’ Kedah smiled. ‘It was my first serious project. Well, my second. I had designed a building for my home, but it was vetoed.’
‘Is that a modified version of it?’ Felicia asked.
‘No. That design could never have worked here. There was a mural and...’ He shook his head. ‘I worked on this with Hussain. He is from my homeland, and studied architecture with my father, but his hands are tied there too...’ Kedah halted.
‘In what way?’
He thought for a moment and realised there was no harm in telling her, and as they chatted they walked away from the car and towards the water’s edge.
‘There are so many regulations back home. No window can overlook the royal beach...no building can be as high as the palace...’
‘I’m sure you could work your way around them.’
They had toyed with each other and, yes, occasionally they had flirted, and of course Kedah had wondered what it would be like to know Felicia in the bedroom.
Now with one sentence she had changed things.
It was as if she had a little jewelled sword in her hand and had sliced straight through the chains that kept anybody from entering his heart.
She was the very first person who had not immediately derided his vision for his homeland.
Here was someone who did not instantly reject nor dismiss his ideas.
Even Hussain, to whom he had entrusted his visions, constantly told Kedah that he dreamed too big for his home.
‘It’s complicated, Felicia.’
‘Life is.’
‘We should get back,’ he said, and he took her elbow to guide her back towards the car.
‘What time are we meeting the surveyor?’
‘Two,’ Kedah said, and his voice was suddenly brusque. ‘Though I won’t need you there. Go back to the hotel and use some of the facilities.’
‘You’re giving me the afternoon off?’ Felicia frowned. ‘Why?’
‘I can be nice.’
‘I never said you couldn’t.’ She gave him a little nudge.
It was just that—a playful nudge. But Felicia did not play like that and neither did Kedah.
It was a tease—a touch that would have gone unnoticed had they been more familiar.
Yet they were not familiar.
They just happened to ache to be.
And so instead of walking they stood there, on an empty man-made island. His driver was some distance away, endlessly on his phone, and as the hot wind whipped at one of her loose curls Kedah resisted tucking it behind her ear.
‘Will you tell me something, Felicia?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Do you flirt with all your clients?’
‘I don’t flirt.’
‘I disagree.’
He was rather too direct.
‘While I accept,’ Kedah continued, ‘that you don’t tip up your face or bat your lashes—in fact you don’t invoke any of the more usual tactics—you do flirt. And I just wondered if it was the same with all your...clients?’
She heard the implication. ‘You make me sound like a whore.’
‘Please forgive me for any offence caused—absolutely none was meant. I am just curious as to what you are here for. I employed you as my PA and yet you don’t seem to want that job.’
‘I’m tired of the games, Kedah, and I’m tired that even after eight weeks you still don’t trust me with the truth.’
‘Okay—here it is. I believe the Accession Council will meet soon, and that there will be turbulent times ahead as my suitability for the role of Crown Prince is called into question.’
‘I know all that,’ Felicia said. ‘So where do I fit in?’
‘I need someone who knows the business—someone who, when it all kicks off—’
‘Kicks off?’ she checked.
‘I believe my brother will have the backing of the elders. More troubling for me is that I believe my father may support him also. If that is the case I shall be forced to take it to the people to decide. That would cause a lot of unrest and bad publicity...’
‘You’d want me to convince your people that just because you’ve run a bit wild...?’ She paused as Kedah smiled—a lightly mocking smile.
‘Felicia,’ he said. ‘My people love me.’
She didn’t get it. She could not see where she might fit in to all this. ‘They love you regardless?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I would never expect them to support me regardless. They love me because of what I stand for, what I can do for them.’
‘Oh.’
Kedah did not want to tell anyone—unless he was forced to—that the scandal that was looming was not one of his making.
Correction.
Sometimes he did want to tell her.
Back in the restaurant, when Felicia had spoken of her father, he had wanted to share his own truth. But that was an unfamiliar route for Kedah and so still he’d held back.
He held back from revealing the full truth now.
‘I am spending time in Zazinia. You can deal with the empire I have built and answer with ease the many questions that will be hurled.’
‘That’s it?’ Felicia frowned. ‘That’s all you want me there for? To deal with the press? I don’t believe you.’
That had been it.
Kedah had wanted someone tough and strong to take care of the press as he devoted his time to his country. He knew how bad things were likely to get if the elders and Mohammed called his parentage into question.
Never had he considered revealing that to another—especially not a lowly PA.
And he wasn’t now.
Instead he was considering discussing it with Felicia—the woman who had held him entranced since she had stood outside his office eight weeks ago.
He was supposed to marry soon. He did not need her tearful and scorned. And yet with every minute that passed between them he felt as if they were falling slowly into bed, into sex, into want. She could deny it, yet he felt it. And if they were about to cave then he needed to know she could remain strong, that sex could be separated from the vital tasks ahead.
And possibly, Kedah pondered as she stared back at him, Felicia was the one person who would be able to do that.
It irked him that she considered him a client.
And it troubled him that she might have been involved with some of her clients in the past.
Then again, if he wanted the toughest of the tough perhaps it should not.
There was no polite way to ask.
‘Your eyes were the shade of the sea at the restaurant. Now they are hooker green.’
Her breath tightened and she flashed him a look of fire.
‘It’s an actual shade,’ he said. ‘And you are flirting, Felicia. Your eyes invite me closer at times.’
‘Perhaps I’m just responding in kind.’
‘I want you,’ he told her.
He just stated his case.
Her clothes felt as if they had disintegrated again. She felt as if she were standing there stark naked even though his eyes never left hers.
‘I am thinking now that unless you go I shall cancel the surveyor and take you up to my suite...’
‘And you presume that I’ll join you? You just assume I want you too?’
Felicia tried—she really did. But had his driver got out and started clapping she’d have joined him. Because it was a joke that she didn’t want Kedah. She was so turned on.
Click your fingers and I’ll come turned on.
And he smiled that arrogant smile that told her he absolutely knew she would join him should he so choose.
‘The thing is I need you working for me more than I need you between the sheets.’ Right now that was debatable, but although Kedah regretted little, he knew that this he might. ‘I don’t want tears in the morning, and I want you to continue to work for me rather than moping about in Mustique, so I suggest that you go back to the hotel and have a think. I don’t want you agreeing to something you might later regret.’
‘You’ve got a nerve.’
‘I know I have.’
‘Kedah, I’ve booked for your date to be collected for you at ten tonight...’
‘That gives you several hours to make up your mind. She can easily be cancelled.’
Oh, yes, if there was a scale of playboys then Kedah would definitely be at the extreme end.
In all her imaginings—and, yes, there had been plenty—they were talking one moment and then somehow had moved seamlessly to bed. Never had she thought she’d be so frankly propositioned. That Kedah would have her cancelling his date so he could slot her in.
Thankfully he’d just made it a whole lot easier to say no!
‘I don’t need several hours to make up my mind,’ she answered. ‘Enjoy your night.’
She turned her head as a car approached. It would seem that the surveyor was here.
‘I’m going to enjoy my afternoon off.’
‘Do.’
* * *
She didn’t.
The lap pool was paid a visit, but it did not clear her head, and a lengthy massage, although divine, did little to relax her.
Dinner for one felt lonely that night.
But she made herself sit through it.
Ten p.m. came, and when it had safely passed she went up to his suite.
He was out.
Clearly Kedah waited for no one.
The maid was there, preparing the bed, and the butler helped her to pack up his things for their early-morning start.
She stared at the bed with a mixture of pride and regret.
Pride that she had not succumbed.
Regret that she would never know how it felt to be Kedah’s lover.
She set his alarm for four and headed down to her own suite. As she opened the door, still cross—so cross with him for his suggestion—still he made her smile.
There were chocolates on her pillow.
Many, many chocolates on her pillow. All perfectly wrapped.
But more than that, as she walked into the bathroom to strip, she was met with a rainbow of colour.
Kedah wasn’t boring, and even towels could be sexy, Felicia thought as she showered and then chose from the selection.
There were deep crimsons and burnt oranges—but she bypassed them and reached for another towel...one possibly the shade of hooker green.
She should be offended, and yet Kedah had removed that. From the day she had met him she had rightly guessed that he saved his issues for outside the bedroom. If sex was reduced to a business arrangement then so be it for him.
Could she do it, though?
Could she simply submit for the bliss of knowing what it was like to be made love to by him?
Kedah seemed to think it was doable. But then he assumed that she was tough and that he was simply another client.
Oh, no, he wasn’t.
He was slowly stealing her heart.
What if she never revealed that?
Felicia had been trained to hide her true feelings from a very young age. This could possibly serve as the ultimate test.
Wrapped in her towel, she walked to the bed and peeled open a chocolate. As she tasted it, dark, sweet and silky on her tongue, she saw a note.
Handwritten by him.
Think about it.
She couldn’t stop thinking about it—no matter how she tried.
