The Arabian Mistress

Percy rolled his eyes. ‘Before the day’s out, you might be surprised.’

Ignoring that forecast, Faye asked, ‘How is Adrian and why haven’t I heard from him?’

‘I sent him and Lizzie off to Spain for a fortnight with the kiddies. He still hasn’t a clue you’re out here. Well, I’ll not beat about the bush,’ her stepfather announced with the aspect of a man about to make a weighty announcement and pausing for effect. ‘I’m here to fetch Faye home, Tariq.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ Faye whispered shakily.

Without further ado, Percy slapped down a cheque on the table beside him. ‘I’m sure old Latif has brought you up to speed on my good luck in the lottery. So there you are, everything that’s owed to you, including accrued interest.’

Tariq elevated a level dark brow. ‘You are here to repay me for the settlement of Adrian’s debts?’

‘As well as the five hundred grand you shelled out to keep Faye quiet last year after that clever stunt you pulled in your London embassy.’ Percy gave him an outrageous wink.

Faye could feel the cringe factor growing by the second.

‘You refer, I believe, to our wedding,’ Tariq said quietly.

‘Whatever you want to call it, but I’ll tell you one thing—I couldn’t have done better myself! It’s not often anyone puts one over on me but I have to confess you did all right.’

‘You tried to blackmail me,’ Tariq reminded the older man.

‘No, I didn’t try to do that, now be fair,’ Percy urged with unblemished good humour. ‘I only took you to one side and asked you how it would look if it got out into the newspapers that a man in your privileged position had been carrying on with a kid, Faye’s age!’

‘I was nineteen,’ Faye gritted in disgust.

Blithely ignoring her, Percy continued, ‘It was my job to look out for Faye and you can’t say it wasn’t.’

‘You do have a point.’ Faye was stunned to hear Tariq concede.

Percy beamed. ‘I don’t mind admitting I was gob-smacked when I lifted the phone extension and heard her offering you dinner with bed thrown in. To look at her, you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and there she was talking like a right little raver—’

‘I appreciate your frankness,’ Tariq slotted in at speed.

Face red as fire, Faye was staring into the middle distance, mortification looming so large that it did not immediately occur to her that Percy had just carelessly confirmed her own version of events that awful night a year back. But then what did he have to lose by lying now? And what on earth did he mean by slapping down a cheque and saying he was here to fetch her home like an old umbrella that had been left behind?

‘I mean, I knew you were leading her down the old garden path—’

‘How very astute,’ Tariq remarked.

‘You think so? It was dead simple as I saw it. In the long run, I’d be doing Faye a favour if I saw you off—’

‘And you certainly achieved that,’ Faye enunciated with pronounced care, the old bitterness clawing at her for the first time in weeks.

‘By the way, I invested that five hundred grand for Faye in a family business. So if Faye has been suggesting I ripped her off, it’s just sour grapes,’ Percy contended with a decided touch of aggression. ‘Right, Faye…I’m sure His Royal Highness here is a busy man…isn’t it time you were getting your stuff together?’

‘Faye is not a commodity you may buy back,’ Tariq murmured icily.

‘Why would you even want to take me home? You don’t give two hoots what happens to me,’ Faye contended tightly.

‘I wouldn’t leave my worst enemy in this neck of the woods!’ Percy declared in full self-righteous mode. ‘I got robbed of my bottles of whisky just coming through the airport!’

‘Our customs officials are not thieves. Visitors are not allowed to bring alcohol into Jumar but it is available in most hotels,’ Tariq said drily.

‘Look, Faye…I may not always have been a great stepfather,’ Percy conceded with growing impatience. ‘But, let’s face it, you never liked me much either and there’s no point you hanging on here hoping you’re going to hook a wedding ring—’

‘None whatsoever,’ Tariq interposed in a smooth agreement that sent Faye’s startled eyes flying to him in bemusement. ‘My great-grandfather gave his favourite concubine a sapphire anklet which has been worn by the wife of almost every ruling prince since then in place of a ring.’

‘You see what I mean?’ Percy rolled his eyes in speaking appeal at Faye. ‘There’s nothing normal about that, is there?’

Faye tilted her head over to one side and stared down at the beautiful anklet with very wide eyes. Knowing that Tariq found the very sight of it adorning her slim ankle incredibly sexy, she had become rather attached to the anklet once he had shown her how to undo it.

‘What’s that on your leg?’ Percy suddenly demanded of his stepdaughter.

‘Faye is my wife,’ Tariq breathed wearily.

‘Bloody hell…how did you manage that, Faye?’ Percy studied her with beady eyes practically out on stalks.

‘We’ve been married for over a year,’ Tariq said.

‘You mean—?’

‘Our wedding was perfectly legal,’ Faye informed her stepfather thinly.

‘Well, fancy that…’ In an apparent daze Percy gaped at Tariq, thunderstruck by their revelation. ‘And there I was thinking you were a real sharp operator! You could have had her for nothing but you actually went and married her?’

Faye saw Tariq stiffen with outrage but as he took a sudden threatening step forward she grabbed the hand he had curled into a clenched fist. But Percy had already taken fright at what he had seen in Tariq’s lean, strong face and he went into retreat so fast he went backwards into the table and hit the floor with a tremendous crash. Soaked by the vase of flowers he had sent flying, he lay there like a felled log, before sitting up with a groan.

‘If you value your own safety, you will not attempt to enter Jumar again,’ Tariq delivered stonily.

‘Goodbye, Percy,’ Faye said without regret.

Tariq led her back out to the hall. ‘Clean out the drawing room, Latif. Have him conveyed straight to the airport and escorted onto his flight.’

‘I wanted to hit him,’ Tariq growled, curving a protective arm round her taut shoulders as they went upstairs together. ‘My one chance and you interfered. Why?’

‘He said one thing that made me feel bad. He said I never liked him either.’ Faye sighed that reminder. ‘He was right and that’s probably why he never took to me.’

‘Even at five years old, you were a lady with good taste. He is a very crude man.’

‘Never mind, he won’t be back. I wonder if I will ever see Adrian again—’

‘Of course you will. If necessary, I will extract your brother and his family from your stepfather’s clutches,’ Tariq told her soothingly.

‘Percy is much more embarrassing than Majida,’ she groaned.

‘He asked Latif what the going rate was for a woman in Jumar,’ Tariq said not quite steadily.

‘He did…what?’

‘Latif believed he was referring to either slaves or prostitutes and was offended to the extent that he could not bear to remain in the same room, but it was you that Percy was talking about!’ Beneath her arrested gaze, Tariq threw back his head and laughed with helpless appreciation. ‘You whom I would not surrender at any price!’

‘I think you could have mentioned before now that the anklet was more than just a piece of jewellery,’ Faye remarked.

‘Ah, but I was playing it cool and there is no cool way of telling a contemporary woman that every possessive bone in your body thrills to seeing a chain round her ankle,’ Tariq pointed out with a slight grimace.

She smiled. ‘A chain with special family significance.’

‘I must give you your ring back. It belonged to my mother.’

That he had still given her that wedding rin

g on that long-ago day when so much strife and misunderstanding had lain between them touched her.

‘The anklet was also supposed to provide the luck of the something blue on our wedding night,’ Tariq admitted.

Her eyes widened. ‘You know, you’re much more thoughtful than I ever give you credit for.’

‘I owe you a profound apology for ever doubting your word on the score of Percy’s blackmail attempt.’

Faye flushed. ‘I did give you the wrong impression with that phone call I made and I suppose I ought to explain that now. You see, I hadn’t the faintest idea that you were serious about me and I knew your father was dying…and I thought you were just going to vanish out of my life—’