“One moment,” he said again, taking Laura by the arm and leading her around to the other side of the Range Rover where they had relative privacy. “How did your company know that this is the spot where I wanted to build my refuge? Did you tell them about it?”
“No! I swear. I have no idea how they found out about this place,” she said through more tears. “I guess they put two and two together from what I said during my phone call. Burt always was a wily one. Bastard.” She sobbed and Raheem gave in to his wishes at last and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight to his chest. “I’m sorry, Raheem. Please believe me. If there was anything I could do to turn this around, I would. Anything.”
He tucked her head under his chin and kissed the top of her hair. “Did you mean what you said?”
“About what?”
“Loving me.”
“Yes.” She leaned back to look him in the eye. “Yes, Raheem. I love you.”
“Good. Because I love you too, habibi.” His leaden heart lifted, sprouted wings and flew once more. A plan formed, one that was a risk, but might
work, if he could get her onboard with it. “And you meant what you said about doing anything to help me keep this land?”
“Of course,” she mumbled against his shirt. “Anything.”
“Even invest the money I was going to pay you for your salary and stay here with me in Djeva?”
Laura straightened and stepped away from him, gaze narrowed. “What do you have in mind?”
“I want you to be my business partner in the refuge. Fifty-fifty. Equals. It’s totally your decision, of course and I completely understand if you have other plans for the enormous sum I’m paying you. But if you buy in with me, Feraz has agreed to sell me the land today, now, for a million-dollar down payment.”
“Wow.” She blinked at him. “I’m no economics major, but even I know that’s cheap.”
“It is, but it will keep the land in the family. And give me a chance to realize my lifelong dream. Plus, if you’re my partner, it would give you a chance to spend more time here in Djeva and explore our culture and resources even more. You could even implement your fabulous PR campaign to increase tourism and raise more funds for the wildlife preserve. It will be hard work, and we have only five years to pay him the true market value of the land. But I believe we can do it, together. But again, only if you want to. It has to be your decision, Laura. Will you be my partner and help me realize my dream?”
She hesitated, then nodded, tears welling in her lovely emerald eyes. “Yes. Let’s do it.”
“Are you sure? It will mean going public with everything a bit earlier than we’d originally planned. And once things get going, you’ll be working day and night by my side until we get it all up and running properly. You won’t mind any of that?”
She shook her head, her smile transforming into a full-blown, watery grin. “Being close to you indefinitely is the best part of all.”
“I feel the same way, habibi.” Raheem kissed her quickly then took Laura’s hand. “Did you bring your laptop along?”
“I did.”
“Good.” They walked back out to where the rest of the crowd stood. “Feraz, we have a counteroffer we’d like to make.”
15
Six months later…
“No, no. A bit to the left. A little more. Yes, there.” Laura squinted at the local artisan wall sculpture that was being installed at the entrance to the Nazrani Family Wildlife Preserve. She’d commissioned it from a sculptress in Al-Qustra for the grand opening next week and its abstract natural design in copper and bronze worked perfect in this desert setting.
Turns out she’d loved working side by side with Raheem even more than she’d expected. They made a great team, both professionally and personally. Honestly, she would’ve done anything for him, and living here in Djeva had been a dream come true. Even his family had gotten onboard with the project, after seeing how impassioned he was about the animals and his homeland.
Laura turned to walk back to her Range Rover when she noticed Jessenia standing off to the side. She walked back to her vehicle and opened the rear door “Hello, Jess. What can I do for you?”
The other woman had the decency to blush at that. “I believe I owe you an apology.”
“I’m sorry?” Laura blinked, stunned.
“I treated you unfairly after you arrived here and for that I’m sorry. But please understand that I only had my brother’s best interests at heart. But you’ve made him so happy and helped him achieve his dream of all this, so I can’t fault you for that.”
Taken aback at the unexpected kindness, Laura nodded. “Uh, thank you.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I’d stay forever, if he asked me.”
“I shall remember that,” Raheem said, stepping out from the other side of the Range Rover. He walked over and put his arm around an astonished Laura and raised his chin to his sister. “Well done, Jess. I love you too.”