The Di Sione Secret Baby (The Billionaire's Legacy 2)

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.

CHAPTER FIVE

BY THE TIME the helicopter landed back on the rolling green lawns of Dar-Aman Palace, Allegra was near-ready to jump out of the charged atmosphere. Rahim had barely made conversation, only answering direct questions she posed. His answers weren’t monosyllabic, but from the terse responses, they may as well have been.

‘Why were you meeting with the elders?’ She asked the question that had been hovering on her lips since they took off from Nur-Aman.

For a second, she thought he wouldn’t answer her. But Rahim glanced down at her as they neared the hallway that led to her suite. She breathed a sigh of relief when his steps slowed to match hers. She dismissed the part of her that mocked her for delaying the return to the crassly named women’s wing. Or that she was searching for further redeeming qualities of the man who’d run his kingdom to the ground while keeping himself draped in priceless arts and fast cars.

‘Did you notice the abandoned pipelines that were laid close to the tribe encampment?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she answered.

‘That mountain was where my first ancestor discovered the malachite that Dar-Aman is renowned for. In the valley below Nur-Aman is where we struck our first crude deposit. Those pipes were laid almost twenty years ago. It was a bold and brilliant plan that should’ve brought jobs and sustainable revenue growth to the Nur-Aman people.’

The deep pride in his voice enthralled her, while making her wonder why he’d remained blind to the needs of his people until recently.

‘But?’

‘But they haven’t been touched for over fifteen years.’

‘I could tell. Why not?’

Rahim’s expression showed mingled displeasure and bitterness. Wondering where the latter emotion had come from, she waited for him to answer.

‘Contracts were renegotiated and the oil drilling concerns sold off to faceless foreign corporations.’

‘Aren’t there laws to prevent that from happening?’

He shrugged. ‘They were bent far enough but not broken.’

She pursed her lips. ‘I’m surprised you would freely admit something like that.’

‘I have nothing to hide, Allegra. Especially not about something as important as this.’