‘Am I right, Joanna?’
She swallowed. ‘Yes,’ she said quickly, ‘I’m as important to him as you are to Prince Khalil.’
His head swung towards her. ‘As I…?’
‘I mean, you must be very important to Khalil, for him to entrust you with negotiating such important matters.’
‘Ah.’ He smiled. ‘Of course. You are wondering if my word is Khalil’s bond.’
‘No. I wasn’t. It never occurred to me to doubt—’
‘I promise you, he will abide by my judgement.’ He looked towards her, and suddenly his smile fled. ‘I will not repudiate anything I do this night.’
Joanna’s brows rose a bit. ‘I’m sure you won’t,’ she said politely.
The man wasn’t just arrogant, he was contemptuous as well. ‘I will not repudiate anything I do this night‘! It was almost laughable. How could he say that when he was only the Prince’s minister?
Khalil would be even worse, Joanna thought with a sigh, rigid and imperious and completely egotistical. It was probably a good thing he hadn’t agreed to meet with her. As it was, she’d had difficulty holding her temper with Hassan. Heaven only knew how she’d have been able to deal with someone even ruder.
But she didn’t have to worry about that any more, she thought, permitting herself a little smile. She’d done the impossible, pulled the coup that would set her firmly on a path she’d always wanted, and if she’d have been happier managing it without pushing a bribe under Hassan’s nose, well, so what? If that was how things were done here, who was she to ask questions? She had succeeded, and now she and Hassan were going to drink a toast to their agreement.
Joanna settled back in her seat. Where was he taking her, anyway? Somewhere far from the streets she knew, that was obvious. In fact, they’d left the streets behind completely. The car was racing along a straight, narrow road that disappeared into the night.
Perhaps he was taking her to some place less Western than the restaurant where they’d dined. Perhaps, for all his seeming urbanity, he’d been uncomfortable in its sophisticated setting.
‘You’ve become quiet again, Joanna.’ Hassan stepped down harder on the accelerator and the car seemed to leap forward. ‘Have you nothing to say, now that you’ve got what you wanted from me?’
His tone was nonchalant but Joanna sensed the underlying derision in his words. She shifted into the corner of her seat and smiled politely.
‘I think we’ve each gotten something from the other,’ she said.
‘Of course. You have my promise of co-operation and I—’ He looked at her, his teeth showing in a swift smile. ‘I have the bribe you offered me for it.’
It was what she had just been thinking but hearing it from the man on the receiving end made it different. Surely people who demanded you buy them off didn’t go around admitting it, did they? And, just as surely, they didn’t make it sound as if you were the one who’d done something vile—yet that was what his tone had clearly suggested.
Joanna caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Was he still smarting over the clumsy way she’d handled the bribe offer? She knew she hadn’t done it with any subtlety, that she’d come within a breath of insulting him, something that was not done anywhere but especially not in this part of the world.
‘Everyone benefits,’ he said softly. ‘Khalil is bought off, Bennettco turns a handsome profit—and Abu Al Zouad grows fatter.’ He looked at her, his eyes unreadable in the darkness. ‘All in all, a fine arrangement, yes?’
Joanna shifted uneasily. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘I don’t know what it is between your Prince and the Sultan, but—’
‘Everyone benefits,’ he said again, his tone hardening. ‘Everyone—except my people.’
As if he or his mighty Prince really gave a damn, she thought angrily. But she bit back the words and offered ones that were only slightly more diplomatic instead.
‘It’s too late to have second thoughts, Mr Hassan. You gave me your word—’
‘If you intend to speak to me of honour,’ he said coldly, ‘you are wasting your time.’
Their eyes met and held. All at once, Joanna wished she were anywhere but here, in this fast car tearing through the darkness to some unknown destination.
‘I was only going to point out that we agreed on—’
‘What would you have done if I’d turned down your bribe money?’
‘Listen, Mr Hassan, if you’ve a problem with Prince Khalil’s accepting money…’ Joanna clamped her lips together. What was needed here was a touch of diplomacy, not anger. ‘I wasn’t suggesting that you were—that you should…’ She shook her head. ‘It’s not my place to make judgements, but—’
‘Of course it is. You and your estimable father both make judgements. You judged Abu Al Zouad worthy of Bennettco’s largesse, you judged Prince Khalil a man to be easily bought off—’
‘Easily?’ His supercilious tone made Joanna bristle and she spoke sharply, before she could stop herself. ‘Who are you kidding? I know how much is waiting for him in that Swiss bank account, remember?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Wait a minute. Is that what this is all about? Are you going to try and hold us up for more?’
‘And what if I did? You’d pay it. You’d pay whatever you must to get what you want.’ He shot her a look so deadly she pressed back in her seat. ‘That’s how people like you do things. Don’t waste your breath denying it!’
Joanna stared at him. What was happening here? A little while ago, he’d been all silken cordiality, and now he was treating her with an abrasive scorn that bordered on insult. He was scaring her, too, although she’d be damned if she’d ever let him know it. Well, not scaring her, exactly, that was too strong a word, but it was hard not to wish they were still seated in the civilised environs of the Oasis Restaurant.
Was that why he’d dragged her to the middle of nowhere—so he could insult her? That was certainly how it seemed. Even if he hadn’t, even if he’d been deadly serious about taking her somewhere for a glass of champagne, she had absolutely no interest in it now. All she wanted was for him to turn the car around and take her back to the city, to lights and traffic and people.
‘I’ve changed my mind about having champagne,’ she said, swinging towards him. She waited for him to answer but he didn’t. After a moment, she cleared her throat. ‘Mr Hassan?’
‘I heard you. You’ve changed your mind about drinking with me.’
‘No, I mean, it’s not that. I just—I—um—I misjudged the time earlier.’ Damn! Why was she offering an explanation? ‘Please turn the car around.’
‘I can’t do that.’
Can’t? Can’t? Joanna stared at him. ‘Why not?’
‘We are expected,’ he said.
‘You mean, you made a reservation? Well, I can’t help—’
He swung to face her suddenly, and even in the shadowy interior of the car, she could see the sharp anger etched into his face.
‘The sound of your voice annoys me,’ he said coldly. ‘Sit back, and be silent!’
Her mouth dropped open. ‘What?’ she said. ‘What?’ She stared at him, waiting for him to say something, to apologise or offer some sort of explanation, but he didn’t. ‘That’s it,’ she snapped. ‘Dammit, Mr Hassan, that’s the final straw!’
‘I don’t like women to use vulgarities.’
‘And I don’t like men to behave like bullies! I’m telling you for the last time, turn this car around and take me back to Casablanca!’
He laughed in a way that made her heart leap into her throat.
‘Is that a threat, Miss Bennett?’
‘My father will be expecting me. If I’m not at the hotel soon—’
‘How charming. Does he always wait up for your return at night?’
Her eyes flew to his face. What was that she heard in his voice? Disdain? Or was it something more?
‘He’ll be waiting to hear how our evening went,’ she said quickly. ‘And unless you want me to tell him that you—’
&n
bsp; ‘Why would he do that?’ He gave her a quick, terrible smile. ‘Was there ever any doubt of your success?’
‘Of course. There’s always a chance of a slip-up when—’
‘How could there have been a slip-up, once he put you in charge of dealing with the bandit Khalil?’ The awful smile came again, clicking on, then off, like a light bulb. ‘Surely he expected you’d get the agreement for him, one way or another.’
Joanna clasped her hands together in her lap. Something was happening here, something that was beyond her understanding. All she knew was that she didn’t like it.
‘If you’re suggesting my father doesn’t have every confidence in me,’ she began, but the man beside her cut her short.
‘Confidence?’ The sound of his laughter was sharp. ‘In what? You’re no more a vice-president at Bennettco than that woman we passed in the street a while ago.’
‘Of course I am!’
‘What you are,’ he snapped, ‘is an empty-headed creature who knows nothing more important than the latest gossip!’
Colour rushed into Joanna’s cheeks. ‘How dare you?’
‘What is the name of your secretary at Bennettco?’