“Try to contain your hormones,” Ivan said. “He’s some guy who’s been tailing Samira. We think Mr. Langdon’s hired him to spy on her.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t like me to have friends,” Samira said. “He’s got this strange obsession of checking that I really don’t know anyone in America.”
“Sounds odd,” Clara said.
“Yes, he can be a bit odd at times. But he’s shown me such charity.”
Clara tore her eyes away from the hunk outside. “So,” she said, smiling at Samira. “My brother tells me I’m an aunt?”
Samira grinned. “That’s right.”
“Congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you.”
Ivan held her hand under the table. “I’ve asked Clara not to tell the rest of the family. I’d love to get this whole thing fixed, then take you both home to meet everyone properly.”
Nerves swirled through Samira’s body at the thought of meeting the whole Quinlan clan at once. “Okay.”
“You should bring her to Adam’s wedding,” Clara said. “She’d be very welcome.”
Ivan cringed. “Oh god, that’s this weekend.”
“Ivan, don’t you dare miss it – Adam will be heartbroken, as will mom and dad.”
“I know, it’s okay. I’ll be there.”
The waitress plunked the coffees on the table, then drifted off again.
Clara sat up tall. “Right, Samira, down to business. We must do all we can to ensure you don’t get deported. I spoke to my friend at immigration earlier, and he said you need to get back your passport immediately – then he can begin the process of creating an application for you to remain in this country. It might take some time to get all the paperwork done, but he thinks he can issue an emergency visa to allow you to stay until then. But he can’t do anything without your passport.”
“What if me and Samira just get married?” Ivan asked.
Clara sipped her coffee. “That won’t guarantee she can stay here. We’ll need to build Samira’s case – that’s what my friend said.” She glanced at her dainty Rolex. “Look, I need to get back to the boat later tonight, but why don’t we meet up the day after tomorrow. Then we can see whether my friend has any more info for us.”
“Sure,” Ivan said. “And in the meantime, Samira can get back her passport from Langdon. And if talking doesn’t work – I’ll ty my method.”
Clara rolled her eyes at Samira in response to Ivan’s threats of brute force. Samira chuckled, feeling connected to this hardnosed Quinlan woman. She realized there was a lovely young lady under that designer suit, who cared a lot about her brother – and his girlfriend.
Ivan draped his arm around Samira’s shoulders, causing her muscles to melt with secure warmth. “No one’s breaking apart my family. We’ll get this fixed, I swear –just make sure you don’t marry Mr. Langdon in the meantime, sweetheart, okay.”
Samira laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t be marrying anyone any time soon.”
Chapter Eight
Samira and Ivan said goodbye to Clara and stepped back into the weak evening sunshine. It was still stiflingly humid out here, and the AC in the diner hadn’t been very effective, so Samira was looking forward to sitting in the truck and enjoying an icy blast of cool air. She also couldn’t wait to be alone with Ivan – the journey back to the ranch should be fun. And hopefully they might be able to sneak off to his cabin and make love before Mr. Langdon noticed she’d been gone all evening.
All she needed was her passport back, and then they could leave Texas...
She almost linked her fingers through Ivan’s as they ambled toward the truck, but she remembered at the last moment that they weren’t supposed to be touching in public, because of the private investigator.
Speaking of which, where was he?
Samira glanced behind herself and saw him leaning against the wall of a hardware store, ligh
ting up a cigarette. He was staring right at her, not even trying to be subtle. Ivan followed her gaze, and she tried to grab his arm, but it was too late – he was already turning around and storming over to confront the guy.