With that, Raheem took Laura’s elbow and guided her out of the store then out of the mall, his touch as impersonal and cold now as it had been intimate and heated during their kiss. As they climbed back inside the Range Rover and headed for the palace, Laura was torn between the amazing awareness still sizzling between her and Raheem and the sickening fear that she could very well have just made the worst mistake of her life.
10
To say that Raheem’s world had been rocked by that kiss in the scarf store would be the understatement of the century. He spent the rest of the afternoon locked in his offices within the palace trying to catch up on his never-ending stream of paperwork and failing miserably. Didn’t help that each time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Laura standing there, staring at his mouth like a starving dog staring at a steak. Then there was the feel of her in his arms, all softness and warmth. And each time he licked his lips he fancied he could still taste her there—sweetness and sunshine and bright minty goodness. It was enough to drive a lesser man to his knees.
Good thing Raheem was no lesser man.
In fact, he was so distracted he didn’t even notice the time until one of the servants came and knocked on his door to announce that dinner was ready. He stood and followed the man down the hall, eager to see Laura again and see if she was feeling the same rush of adrenaline and need that he was each time he remembered their embrace behind the scarves.
Instead, he found the dining room full of too many bickering sisters and no sign of Laura anywhere around. His brothers also were strangely absent. He took his seat at the table and wished he’d chosen to have his meal sent to his rooms instead. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his sisters. He did. But four of them together, against one of him, was just a migraine waiting to happen.
The four women abruptly stopped chattering and stared at him.
“Good evening, brother,” Jessenia said, dabbing the corners of her mouth with a linen napkin. “I hope it’s not a problem that we went ahead and started without you. We weren’t sure what your plans would be, what with your little American guest and all.”
Raheem sat back as a servant placed a plate of salad in front of him. “Laura is not my guest. She is my employee.”
Even as he said the words, images of them kissing behind the scarves blazed through his mind. Employee wasn’t the right word to describe Laura either. After all, he’d certainly never been caught canoodling with anyone else who worked for him or his family. But he wasn’t quite ready to put another title to her yet either. He liked Laura. Liked hanging out with her and showing her his country. She was smart and funny and kind. She listened to and appreciated his ideas without bias or condescension. Having Laura around was refreshing.
And distracting.
He looked up to find all four sisters staring at
him expectantly.
Damn. They’d obviously asked him something and he had no idea what.
“I’m sorry?” Raheem said, around a bite of romaine lettuce and sweet vinaigrette dressing.
Jessenia narrowed her gaze on him, Cala rolled her eyes, and Najma gave a disgusted shake of her head as she continued texting on her phone. To be honest, Raheem was surprised to see Naj tonight. Usually she found any excuse not to join the family at the dinner table. Only young Razi was smiling and laughing like Raheem was the funniest thing she’d ever seen.
“I asked exactly what you’ve hired Miss Bliss to do here,” Jess said, her tone sharp.
“Despite the fact that it’s none of your business, I’ll tell you that she is working with me on a marketing campaign to raise money for the new wildlife refuge I wish to establish.” He grabbed a roll from the basket on the table and tore into it. A collective gasp rang out from the women followed by a low murmur as hushed conversation took place.
Growing up around four women, two older than him, two younger, Raheem had learned early on to tune them out whenever they ganged up on him. Tonight was no exception. He slathered butter on his roll then went back to his salad, awaiting the inevitable barrage of questions once they’d regrouped. Good thing he’d brought along a copy of the evening paper to look through while he ate.
“I see,” Cala said at last, her voice as tight as Jess’s had been. “What exactly do you know about this Laura Bliss woman?”
“Enough to see she’s the best person for this job,” Raheem replied, not looking up.
Another gasp, which he ignored, followed by more murmurs.
“Are you aware that she’s been seen meeting and negotiating with local craftswomen for your project?” Jess said. “That is our territory, as you well know, brother. I do not appreciate having your little girlfriend traipsing about, doing things that are the duty of the royal family.”
“Nor do I,” Cala said.
“Or me,” Naj added, after a swift elbow to her side from Cala.
Razi giggled and shook her head. “Silly Raheem.”
“First of all,” Raheem said, pushing away his empty salad plate and looking up at his sisters at last. “Djeva is a free country. Anyone is free to associate with anyone else they choose, royal or not. Second of all, none of you have lifted a finger to help me with my project since its inception, so to complain now about a woman who is working hard to get the job done is absurd. And thirdly—”
“Thirdly, you promised me that job, Raheem!” Jess threw down her napkin and stood. “You specifically sat here last month and told me that I would be your partner in establishing the wildlife refuge. And now you go off and hire some American woman who just happened to wander into our camp one night to do my job. You claim to know enough to hire her, but I doubt that’s true, brother. How could you? You’ve known her all of three days. She meets with these vendors behind your back. She goes running off to who knows where for hours at a time. And she still talks to that movie company she claims to work for, the one she claims sent her out into the desert and allowed her to get lost. Did you ever stop to think that perhaps Miss Bliss isn’t what she claims to be at all?” Jess inhaled sharply, her cheeks flaming and her eyes sparkling with fury. “Did you ever stop to think for one second that she’s not the right person for this job? No, you didn’t. Because you are only thinking with the head between your legs instead of the one on your neck where she’s concerned, brother!”
With that, Jess stormed out, leaving the rest of them staring after her, astonished. Raheem blinked several times, still trying to take all that in. Yes, Laura had been left to her own devices for most of this past week, but that was more his fault than hers. He’d been stuck in meetings. And she’d mentioned her production company before, hadn’t she? Stating she still hadn’t told them about working for him, but she’d had a plausible excuse. Perhaps her phone calls to them now were just to handle that aspect of things.
Or not.