Читать книгу The Billionaires Collection - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 30

CHAPTER FOUR

‘YOU READY TO hit the road?’ a deep voice said from behind where she stood examining a Gerhard Richter painting.

Allegra turned and swallowed a breath of surprise. Added to Rahim’s much more informal tone, he’d shed his ceremonial office clothes for a black cotton abaya, with similar coloured keffiyeh and white iqal. But the combination was somehow more potent. Perhaps it was because the lighter material emphasised the breadth of his shoulders and skimmed his lean hips and thighs.

Or she was going out of her mind ogling a man she had zero interest in. She drew her gaze from his well-formed chest and redirected her eyes to his face, taking care to pin a neutral smile to hers.

Sure, with his informal clothes and his easy smile, Allegra could’ve fooled herself into thinking she was about to step out for coffee with a regular Joe.

But he wasn’t. Rahim was a Dar-Amanian sheikh with a royal bloodline tracing back dozens of generations, and the wealth to match.

A wealth he hadn’t seen fit to share with his people.

‘Yes,’ she responded, a little terser than she’d intended.

He shot her an assessing look but said nothing as he gestured for her to precede him out of the reception room where she’d been ushered to await his arrival.

Staunchly vowing to keep her emotions and opinions in check, she cleared her throat as they once again travelled through endless magnificently decorated reception rooms and hallways. ‘How did your meetings go?’

‘Are you really interested?’

She saw the mocking light in his eyes and chose to ignore it. ‘Of course. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t.’

‘The first one went as expected. The two that followed went badly,’ he replied.

‘You don’t seem too cut up about it.’

He shrugged. ‘Because I was prepared for it. I expected them to go badly. I would’ve been more surprised if they’d progressed smoothly.’

‘Why?’

‘Then I’d have known I was being lied to, and the meeting would’ve taken a turn for the very unfortunate.’ The smile hardened, a dangerous light entering his eyes.

‘Why?’ she parroted one more time.

‘Because I hate subterfuge in every form. I prefer my opponents to be straight up with me, even if the outcome of our confrontation is potentially disadvantageous to me.’

The thinly veiled warning lanced a spear of ice down her spine. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She just hadn’t had time to fully apprise Rahim Al-Hadi of her reason for visiting his kingdom. But still guilt flared high, because after her bath, while Nura had been busy fetching her tea, Allegra had conducted a thorough search of her rooms to see if by a stroke of luck the box was present. She had no intention of leaving without the box, but the right thing to do was to speak to Rahim as originally planned, not go behind his back searching for it herself.

‘Of course,’ she murmured when it became clear he was expecting a response.

With a tiny compression of his lips, he nodded. ‘Good. Come this way. Our ride awaits.’

He led her through a wide golden arch straight out of an Arabian Nights tale. Allegra had to content herself with gaping for a few seconds before they emerged into a wide courtyard the size of a football field. The edges were dotted with the ever-present fountains and several sitting areas, but at the end of it, set upon a large stone circle, were sleek helicopters, decorated with the royal colours and Dar-Amanian emblem.

‘We’re travelling by helicopter?’ she asked as Rahim made a beeline for the aircraft, followed closely by two bodyguards.

‘For most of the way, then we finish the journey by Jeep. Sure you still want to come?’ His gaze seemed to intensify on her face as he said that.

Allegra summoned a smile, determined not to give Rahim an excuse to postpone their meeting. ‘Of course.’

She pulled on the hat she carried, thankful that she always made a point of travelling prepared for every contingency, and double-checked that she had her phone tucked into her khaki cargo pants.

They reached the first large black aircraft. A guard held the door open. Before she could climb in Allegra found herself hoisted up by strong arms. Rahim’s solid, overwhelming presence was a wall of heat at her back, shocking her into gasping when his groin connected to her backside for a searing second. The sensation was so alien she froze for a moment.

‘You’re not afraid of heights, are you?’ he asked, his mouth so close to her ear his breath washed over her skin.

She suppressed a shiver. ‘No, I’m not.’

His hand tightened on her arm for a second, before he deposited her in the front seat. Then he rounded the chopper to join her. ‘Good, then you’ll enjoy the experience. Fasten your seat belt,’ he instructed after handing her a set of noise-cancelling headphones.

Allegra did as she was told. She tried not to watch his sure hands as he readied the aircraft, but the elegant grace with which he handled the controls was astonishingly mesmerising. Dragging her gaze away, she saw other guards piling into the remaining choppers.

Her mouth twisted as Rahim pulled back the throttle and the chopper lifted away from the palace grounds. ‘Do you always travel with such a large contingent of bodyguards?’ she asked, glancing at the other two aircrafts that lifted off behind them.

‘I’ve halved my bodyguards in the past three months. I can’t reduce their number any further.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because that would be breaking protocol.’

She raised a cynical eyebrow. ‘A protocol that insists you have almost two dozen bodyguards. Isn’t that overkill?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m good at taking care of myself.’ A shadow clouded his eyes for a second before the hazel depths cleared again. ‘I’ve been doing so for a long time. But laws are laws.’

‘Laws can also be changed, especially if it’s in the interest of your people, can they not?’

His gaze sharpened. ‘Of course. But change doesn’t happen overnight. Most often it’s a long and arduous process.’

‘Only if those who seek to unjustly benefit from it choose to stand in its way. It usually takes someone fearless enough who believes in doing the right thing for true change to happen.’

He nodded. ‘I agree.’

‘You do?’

He took his eyes off the controls to glance at her. ‘You seem surprised, Allegra. Why wouldn’t I agree with such a sound assessment?’

Allegra swallowed the automatic response that rose to her lips. ‘Not a lot of people welcome the views of women, especially when it comes to matters of state.’

‘Then it’s a blessing that I’m not one of them, is it not?’ he said with a smile.

She stared at him, wondering if he was toying with her or cunning enough to think he would get away with voicing such barefaced lies. Especially after the speech he’d made about his dislike of subterfuge.

‘Your Highness...’

‘Rahim,’ he invited softly.

Allegra glanced pointedly at the bodyguards seated behind them.

‘It’s fine. They cannot overhear us unless you raise your voice. Besides, I like the way you say my name,’ he said softly.

She gasped, her face heating up as his gaze raked her body, then settled on her mouth. ‘I don’t think this is appropriate,’ she blurted out before she could stop herself.

A sinfully wicked smile curved his lips. ‘Then I’ll spare your sensibilities and direct my conversation to more appropriate topics. Tell me about yourself.’

‘Why?’ she asked in surprise, all sense of diplomacy gone.

‘I’m hoping it’ll be a much better way to pass the time since other subjects trigger an almost...volatile reaction from you?’

She inhaled sharply at his acute reading of her emotions. Contrary to thinking she was making a decent pass at remaining neutral where Dar-Aman was concerned, Rahim had seen right through her.

And he wanted to change the subject. Her continued disappointment with a man she knew better than to hope was even remotely redeemable deepened. She shook her head. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to you about the reason for my visit,’ she pressed.

‘I’d prefer to wait until I can give you my full, undivided attention. You deserve that. Until then, tell me how you came to start your foundation.’

Effectively stymied, she looked down at the desolate but indescribably beautiful landscape beneath her, momentarily dragged down memory lane.

The memories of her mother had grown hazy over the years, but a few precious conversations had remained vivid in her mind, popping up when she least expected them.

First and always, be your own person. Then your voice will be heard. Don’t be like me, Allegra...

Anna Di Sione had delivered that particular out-of-the-blue warning as a six-year-old Allegra draped herself in her mother’s pearls, content that this was a singular pleasure that she wouldn’t have to compete with her siblings for. It had been one of the precious moments she’d spent with her mother that had been theirs alone.

‘I took a gap year after high school, did the whole volunteering while touring the world thing. I suppose in a way I was finding myself.’ She shrugged, uncomfortable about revealing an important part of what had forged her path in life. When she risked a glance at him, he returned her gaze with nothing but cordial interest. ‘Anyway, I found out very quickly that some of the basic things I’d taken for granted were considered impossible luxuries or even forbidden to women in some countries. When I returned home, I discussed it with my grandfather. He started the foundation the year before I graduated from college and I took over and expanded it globally.’

Rahim nodded thoughtfully. ‘Along with its reputation. You should be proud.’

Alarming warmth flowed through her at the compliment. ‘I am. But it hasn’t been easy. Sadly, as long as men think they’re in charge, it’ll be an uphill battle.’

His laugh sent a rumble of sensation down her body. His eyes gleamed with an intense light. ‘You’ll find that I’m not averse to a woman taking charge when the situation calls for it.’

‘You don’t find it an affront to your manhood?’

‘My manhood is secure and robust enough to welcome the challenges of the fairer sex,’ he drawled, his voice deep and mesmerising. ‘I relish it, in fact. But that is not to say I don’t assert control when it’s needed.’

‘Control? Over your women?’

Another smile. This one carnal and lethal. ‘Are we straying into personal sexual territory, Allegra?’

Heat rose up her neck and stung her face, but she didn’t glance away. ‘Just verifying that we’re talking about the same thing here.’

His smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed. ‘What do you think I mean?’

She tried to shrug but the motion was too heavy. ‘Physical force against women...’

‘Is abhorrent to me and a crime in my kingdom,’ he inserted thickly. ‘One I fully endorse completely and utterly. Let there be no misunderstanding about that.’

The force behind his words caused her to swallow. ‘I... Of course. To be honest, I’m not sure how this conversation took a left turn.’

He jaw flexed as he banked the chopper towards the west. ‘Psych 101 would suggest a degree of Freudianism. Would I be right?’

Alarm sparked through her at how close he was skating to truths she didn’t want to uncover. ‘You haven’t known me long enough to make that inference.’

‘Time has no meaning when it comes to instinct. You’re passionate about the work you do. That all-encompassing passion had to stem from somewhere.’

‘We all have pasts that shape us, Your Highness,’ she responded stiltedly, not wanting to recall the volatile quagmire she and her siblings had lived in before her parents’ final showdown had ended everything.

‘I agree. Tell me that shaping didn’t involve anything physical and I’ll drop the subject.’

Her eyes widened as she stared at him and noted the naked intensity in his eyes.

Mouth dry, she shook her head. ‘No, I wasn’t physically abused.’

He exhaled and gave a grim nod.

They flew in silence for a few more minutes, during which time Allegra dragged her mind from the painful past to the present. Below her, more evidence of Dar-Aman’s devastated infrastructure sprawled in derelict abandonment. But among it, several new buildings were springing up, evidence of the rebirth Rahim had mentioned.

It didn’t stop her from mourning the majestic loss, though.

He glanced at her as she sighed.

‘You mentioned your grandfather, but not your parents. Are they involved in the charity too?’ Rahim’s voice piped through her headphones.

Her heart lurched at the mention of her parents. ‘I thought you were going to drop the subject?’ she demanded.

Rahim’s mouth twisted in a curiously empathetic ghost of a smile. ‘Easy, habibi. I will let it be if you wish me to.’

The unexpected statement of understanding loosened something inside her. Coupled with all the roiling emotions churning through her, she wasn’t surprised when she found herself confessing, ‘My parents died when I was six.’

He gave another nod but didn’t spout the inane sympathies most people did on the rare occasion she talked about her parents.

‘I guess that’s one unfortunate thing we have in common.’

Allegra frowned. ‘I thought... Didn’t your father pass away only six months ago?’

Rahim’s jaw tightened, his impassive eyes focused on the horizon ahead. ‘He did, but in many ways he was dead long before he drew his last breath.’

She wanted to ask what he meant. Then deny that they had anything in common. But Allegra was reeling from the overwhelming realisation of just how much she’d bared herself to Rahim Al-Hadi in so short a time. And none of those revelations had got her closer to completing the task her grandfather had set her.

She was grappling with a way to tackle the subject when they soared over a steep hill.

‘What’s that?’ She indicated the construction site beneath her.

‘The new racing track to be completed by the end of the year. We host our first top-tier race here next spring.’

Allegra struggled to keep her emotions in check. ‘Did I read somewhere that you were a racer?’ she bit out.

‘Only on amateur circuits. The situation of my birth precludes me from placing myself in such a dangerous profession,’ he replied with a shrug of acceptance and regret.

‘But you own supercars, don’t you?’

He nodded, then glanced at her with a slight frown. ‘Several. What’s your point? And don’t tell me there isn’t one, because I hear an ocean of judgement in your voice. Are you going to accuse me of not caring about my people again?’

‘Do you?’ She searched his face, wondering why his answer meant so much to her.

‘Of course,’ he replied, his voice deep and unwavering. ‘I don’t believe in throwing money at a problem until I know the root cause of it.’

‘From where I’m standing the root cause of your country’s problems is very easy to see. You may be doing something now, but it begs the question why no one outside of your precious palace has cared enough until now. If they had, your kingdom wouldn’t be in this state.’

A grunt of disbelief echoed through her headphone, followed a deathly silence where she only heard the echo of her own voice. A quick glance behind her showed degrees of horror on the faces of the bodyguards before they quickly averted their gazes.

God, what had she done?

Clenching her fists in her lap, she tried to scramble for something to mitigate the bomb she’d just thrown in her own way.

Chagrined, she took several deep breaths. Rahim Al-Hadi got under her skin with an ease that was frightening. And yet she knew she’d stepped over the line. Way over the line. ‘Your Highness...’

‘You’ve said enough for now, Miss Di Sione. While I do not wish to bore you with the protocols of my country, I need to warn you that further insults aimed at me will result in your arrest, or worse. So perhaps you need to curb any more observations until we’re alone?’

Before she could attempt to bumble her way through yet another explanation to excuse her runaway tongue, he banked the chopper, this time heading west and away from the dazzling waters of the Arabian Sea.

The terrain below swiftly changed from lush greenery to shrub land before merging seamlessly into the undulations of the Dar-Aman desert. Silence fell within the aircraft as the rotors whipped through the hot air.

When one of the bodyguards leaned forward and pointed, Rahim nodded and started to descend towards the convoy of sturdy SUVs lined up on a flat clearing.

The moment they landed a group in traditional Berber garb, led by an old man who was clearly the elder, strode forward. His wizened face creased in a smile as he hugged Rahim, then kissed him on both cheeks, before touching his hand to his heart several times.

Slowly stepping down from the chopper, Allegra observed the welcoming gestures—which she knew from her cultural interactions were reserved for revered guests and family. After several minutes, Rahim looked over to where she stood. In an instant the cordial expression melted from his face.

Without speaking, he nodded to one of his men, who came forward and indicated that she get into one of the many SUVs.

The realisation that she wouldn’t be travelling with Rahim brought sharp, disconcerting disappointment that threw her for a stunned second. She plastered a smile on her face when she noticed curious eyes turned on her. Silently, she took her seat. The smile was quickly wiped from her face when the convoy raced away from the choppers, taking a terrain that convinced her she’d broken more than one bone in her body by the time the rough, turbulent half-hour ride came to a halt on the fringe of a group of canvas-brown Bedouin tents. From either side of the settlement craggy mountains rose, and Allegra understood the need for ditching the choppers to make the final leg of the journey by land.

The scene was spectacular, if more than a little rough on her bones. Gingerly she got out of the car. And found Rahim standing in front of her.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

His large frame vibrated with an icy anger that told Allegra her outburst in the chopper remained very much an issue between them. It surprised her that he was going out of his way to enquire about her comfort considering he was very displeased with her.

‘I’m fine. Listen, about what I said...’

He gave a firm shake of his head. ‘We will discuss this later.’

Rahim bit out instructions in Arabic and all but two women and the elder remained. At his further instructions the women rushed forward and bowed. ‘Laila and Sharifa will take you to get cleaned up and serve you some refreshments. We will return to the palace once my meeting is over.’

He started to walk away.

‘Your Highness...’

He whirled abruptly towards her. ‘You seem intent on drawing quite severe conclusions about me. Am I really so irredeemable?’

The direct question and the fact that he seemed genuinely puzzled by her observations took her aback. Since she had no answer that would be diplomatic enough, she countered it with one of her own. ‘Why are you so keen for me to take an interest in you?’

He tensed slightly, but then shrugged. ‘How else will you set aside your prejudged bias and see the light?’

‘I’m not reacting to anything that’s not right in front of me.’ Knowing her response was directed more at him than at his kingdom sent a wave of shame through her.

His dark brows clamped beneath the shade of his keffiyeh. For several heartbeats he just stared at her. ‘Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all,’ he mused darkly. He nodded to the ladies hovering nearby. ‘I will be done in two hours and we’ll return to the palace.’

He was gone before she could reply.

When the women stepped forward and indicated that she follow them, Allegra sighed inwardly and summoned another smile.

An hour later, after an attempt to ride a disgruntled camel, and a short trail up several sand dunes to a point between two distant mountains to witness the most spectacular sunset, she washed her hands and feet, and sat cross-legged on a plump, richly embroidered cushion in a cool, stunningly decorated tent.

The half a dozen women who crowded around her spoke varying degrees of English, and Allegra was shocked to find that most of them had been pursuing academic careers at one point in their lives. Careers that had come to an abrupt halt around the same time about fifteen years ago.

Her tentative queries as to why drew dismissive shrugs, then furtive glances and lapses into heated Dar-Amanian when Allegra probed further.

Realising she’d broached a touchy issue, she attempted to change the subject only to clamp her mouth shut when her nape prickled with the keen awareness that she was under scrutiny.

The finger she’d been absently licking froze on her lower lip as her head snapped up and her gaze collided with Rahim’s.

He glanced from her face to her fingers, then to the empty dishes spread out before her, the icy look in his eyes emphasised by his cocked brow.

‘Dare I venture that the past two hours haven’t been pure torture for you?’

Allegra reddened. ‘Not entirely,’ she replied.

‘It’s time to return to the palace. That is, of course, if you can bear to tear yourself away.’

He stood watching in brooding silence as she washed her hands and stood. Again his expression was a mixture of anger and puzzlement.

The moment she reached him, he turned and strode out, his stature and billowing robe cutting an imperious figure through the crowd gathered to wave their sheikh off.

As she quickened her steps after him, Allegra found herself admitting she didn’t like silent and brooding Rahim Al-Hadi.

Not one little bit.