“No, thank you, I’m fine.” She shifted her large bag cross her like it was a shield.
“Please, sit.”
Dr. Martin gave him a timid nod, then took a seat next to the arm of the sofa. She looked as though if he said boo she would run. That did not matter. What did was how good she was at her job. Tariq sat on the sofa across from her and crossed one ankle over the knee of his other leg. It was time to get down to business. “I understand you want to talk about my job offer.”
“Uh... I wanted to see if you’d consider a compromise on the position you offered me.”
“I’m listening.” He watched her. Her hair remained tightly pulled back and her glasses had slipped down her nose. She wore almost nondescript clothing and the big black bag remained hugged to her chest. Not a single piece of jewelry was visible. She seemed to dress not to be noticed. Did this woman live in a hole and crawl out to go to work in a lab?
“I have lost my funding. I was wondering if you’d consider putting funds into the lab here where I can continue my work with the understanding that your country would have first access to any of my findings.”
He stared, shaking his head before she’d even finished. “That will not do. I want someone working in my country. With my people.”
Her voice contained a tight, desperate tone. “But I can’t do that.”
“Why? I will see you have a place to live. A driver. All the comforts.” He leaned forward, watching her closely. She did have interesting eyes. There were tiny flakes of gold in them.
“I can’t just fly off to some place I don’t know.”
“We have already had this discussion. I am offering you a chance to continue your research. I do not think you will be disappointed in the lab I have set up. Wouldn’t you like to continue your research?”
She tightened her arms around her bag. “I would. It’s important. I’m very close to a breakthrough.”
Laurel wasn’t sure to what he was referring. She wasn’t planning to stop her research. Her new discovery was so close. Did he know something she didn’t? Quitting now would be impossible. She narrowed her eyes. “Why are you asking that?”
“It was you who came to me saying that you needed funds to continue your work.”
“That doesn’t mean that I am giving up. I can’t. I’m too close to an advance. I’ll find funding somewhere since you won’t consider providing it.”
“I am sorry, I cannot. My funds are my people’s. I don’t have any to give you.”
He must be a wealthy man. After all he was a prince. “You don’t have personal funds that could be used?”
“I do not. They were invested in the lab. You should reconsider coming to Zentar.”
She glared at him as panic grew. Why couldn’t he understand? “I cannot. I have explained that.”
“I have only heard excuses. I have what you need. You no longer have a lab to work in here and I am offering you one. I do not understand the problem. Perhaps you do not care as much as you say you do.”
That statement couldn’t have hurt more if he’d slapped her. Okay, that did it. He’d gone too far. She jerked to her feet, mindful of the fact this was his hotel suite. Keeping her voice low, she asked, “How dare you?”
His look remained steady. “I dare because I need you leading my lab. There is important work to be done.”
Laurel had been on the verge of losing her temper. The idea of going halfway around the world terrified her. What would her parents say, her siblings, about her living in Zentar? She just couldn’t do it. Or could she? The Prince wasn’t leaving her any choice. Laurel released a heavy breath.
“We can agree on the need for more research. Since you’ll not relent I will come to Zentar and set up your lab. In return you will see to it that I get to do a study of your families that have two generations of the disease. Beyond that I make no promises.”
“Excellent.” His smile reminded her of a conquering hero’s. “I will delay my return one day so that you can get your affairs in order.”
She gaped at him in disbelief. “One day?”
He put his foot on the floor. “I am sorry but that is all the time I can allow.”
Her lips formed a tight line and her gaze went to somewhere over his shoulder. She had so much to do.
“My assistant can help you with anything you might need.”
She blinked. “I won’t have time to see my family.”
“I’m sorry. Once the lab is operational you may return for a visit.” At least he sounded sincere.
Straightening her shoulders, Laurel moved to the edge of the cushion. “Well, if I’m to be ready to go then I need to be headed home. I have a lot to do.”
Tariq followed her toward the door. “There is just one more matter.”
She looked at him. “Yes?”
“You will need to marry me.”
CHAPTER TWO
“WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?” Laurel stood with her mouth gaping open. There was no way she was going to marry him! It was taking all she had in her to even travel to Zentar. Marrying some man she didn’t know was out of the question. “What do you mean, I have to marry you?”
“My country still holds to traditional values. They expect a single woman to be under the care of a man. No one is going to answer your personal health questions without you having a man’s name associated with yours. Our social rules have not changed that fast.”
“You have to be kidding.” Her bag swung at her side.
He gave her a direct look. “I assure you I am not.”
“You don’t want to marry me.” Laurel couldn’t believe the turn this conversation had taken.
“It’s true. I had no plans to marry. Ever.” His words came out flat and to the point.
“Then why would you marry me?”
“Because I know your work is important and I know what must be done to get you to come to Zentar.”
“And you’re willing to put your personal life on hold?” This man was unbelievable.
“If that is what is necessary.”
She watched him closely. “If I agree, this will be a marriage in name only. You understand?” The idea of getting tangled up with the Prince made her shudder. She was so out of her depth. Once before she’d been in this position and she’d vowed never to go there again. Who would have thought lightning would strike twice in the same place?
“I would expect nothing less.”
He made it sound like the thought had never crossed his mind to treat it as a real marriage. Or had it? Laurel wasn’t sure she liked being dismissed so easily. The hot sizzle of attraction she felt apparently didn’t go both ways. That suited her just fine, or did it? “Couldn’t we just say we’re married and not make a further deal of it?”
“No. If the media discovers that, my people would feel deceived.”
“They want this way?”
“How I live in my home is my business. They need not know.”
She couldn’t do that to her parents. “Can I at least tell my family? They can be trusted.”
“No. The media may ask them about it. I don’t want them to be forced to lie or for their faces to show something different from what our Minister of Communication may have put out.”
Her chest hurt with the thought of her mother and father. “My paren
ts are going to be so hurt.”
“In time you can explain it to them.” He sounded determined rather than sympathetic.
There was no way they would ever understand. Maybe she could slip off and be back before they had to know much about what was going on. She could just tell them she would be out of town for a while for work. “What’s your family going to think when you show up with an American woman they have never heard of?”
“The King knows who you are. The others I will tell that I have chosen you as my wife and that will be it.” He said that like a man who didn’t make a habit of answering to anyone.
“You say your country is very traditional. Will they accept me with no questions?”
“I did not say there would not be questions. Many, I am afraid. But in the end it will not change my decision.”
“Me coming with you is that important?”
“It is. We are agreed?”
Laurel pursed her lips then finally nodded.
“Then I will make the arrangements. We marry as soon as we arrive in Zentar.”
* * *
Two days later Laurel gripped the armrest of the luxury airplane seat and squeezed her eyes tight. She questioned her sanity for the thousandth time, leaving all she had ever known for a far-flung kingdom in the Middle East to work for a man she hardly knew in a lab she’d never seen. And to top it off—marry him. What had happened to her happy, ordered life?
“We are in the air now,” the Prince said from the seat across from her. The mirth in his voice rang clear. “You can open your eyes.”
“I’d rather not.”
“So what is your plan? To spend the next ten hours with them closed?” His humor had turned to disbelief.
“Maybe.” She sounded childish but she didn’t care.
His hand came to rest over hers for a second. A shiver of awareness zipped through her. “You do not want to miss this view of Chicago.”
Laurel opened an eye a slit. She met the Prince’s look.
“Look out here.” He nodded toward the oval window but made the statement with enough authority she didn’t dare not do as he requested. With her eyelids raised only enough to make out the window, she leaned toward it.