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Her sudden outburst took him by surprise. So the meek-looking girl had some spirit after all? That might be a drawback if it meant she would not fall in with his plans, but then again it might make this a more interesting exercise than he’d imagined. Right now, though, he could do without getting her off-side.
‘You misunderstand me,’ he soothed. ‘I do not doubt your affection for my mother. I am saying merely that you will have no reason to miss her.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘That you are traveling to Jamalbad with us.’
‘Me?’
‘You are needed in Jamalbad.’
‘As Nobilah’s companion?’
He looked down at her. He would have to remember to thank his mother—she had made his job so much easier. ‘Fatima will be at least six weeks regaining her strength following her surgery.’
‘So you’ll be extending my contract?’
‘In a matter of speaking. I promise you it will be worth your while.’
Something about the way he said that managed to pierce the bubble of enthusiasm she’d been feeling at the news.
Jamalbad—she’d loved the very thought of the place since Nobilah had first mentioned it. The earth buildings looking as if they’d emerged fully formed from the surrounding sands, the white shell-encrusted palace walls glistening in the midday sun, the jewel colours of the women’s robes. The thought of seeing it for herself had been nothing short of a dream, and now she was being offered a chance to make that dream come true. And yet something about the offer seemed almost too good to be true.
Something didn’t feel right.
‘Surely there are plenty of women in Jamalbad who could perform the role of Nobilah’s companion?’
‘I have no doubt of that. Would that stop you from going?’
‘Well, no, but—’
‘Then perhaps you have had a better offer?’
‘No, it’s not that.’
‘Then it is settled.’ He smiled. ‘Come,’ he said, directing her back to the table, where the tea sat waiting, ‘have tea with me.’
Morgan wavered. She wasn’t sure she wanted to have tea with him. Especially now she felt she was being railroaded into going to Jamalbad—which was crazy when visiting Jamalbad was something she wanted to do. But tomorrow?
She almost never acted on impulse. That was her twin sister Tegan’s department. Gutsy Tegan, who’d come home from her aid work in Somalia and agreed to swap places with Morgan for a week while she attended a wedding in Fiji. Gutsy Tegan, who’d had no choice but to stay on for two months after Morgan’s broken leg and surgery. Gutsy Tegan, who’d fallen in love with Morgan’s boss from hell and turned him into the perfect husband.
Tegan would jump at such an opportunity, she knew. But Morgan had always been the quiet one. The sensible one. She hauled in a breath, only to find it tinged with the rich scent of the man beside her—sandalwood, exotic spices, musk—an alluring mix that seemed to latch into her senses and beckon to her.
But tomorrow?
‘It’s just not as simple as that,’ she said at last.
‘It’s not?’ he asked ingenuously, with a shrug. ‘It is only tea.’
Exasperated, she slipped into a chair when it was clear he was not going to take no for an answer. Without asking he picked up the delicate teapot and, with an unexpected sensuality of movement, tilted the pot to pour tea into her cup. It was there in the curve of his fingers around the teapot. It was there in the steady pour of tea into her cup, in the heady scent of spices in the heated steam. It was there in the unwavering way he met her gaze with those golden eyes that seemed to see right inside her.
She cleared her throat, hoping it might go some way to clearing her mind. ‘I didn’t actually mean the tea. I’m talking about going to Jamalbad with you…I mean with Nobilah.’
‘I know what you meant. But you’ve already said that you don’t have a better offer. You yourself said you love what Nobilah has already told you about Jamalbad. I am offering you the chance to go there and see it for yourself. Why should you have any reason to turn down this opportunity?’ He paused, his cup almost to that sensuous slash of mouth. ‘Unless there is a man?’ He shrugged. ‘A boyfriend, perhaps?’
Maybe it was the earnest way he said it, but Morgan wanted to laugh out loud. Except one look at his eyes warned her not to. He was serious.
‘Does Jamalbad have a problem with women who have boyfriends?’
‘Would it be an issue for you if it did?’
She tried to hold his gaze, but she knew the rising heat she could feel colouring her skin would give her away anyway. ‘No,’ she acknowledged with a shake of her head.
He nodded. ‘That is for the best.’
She blinked. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Jamalbad is in a lot of ways a modern Arab emirate. However, we come from a very traditional society where women are still prized for their…shall we say, “purity”? While you are in our country, we would expect you to behave with a certain modesty.’
‘You mean as opposed to jumping into bed with every man I meet?’
His cool golden gaze collided dispassionately with her own. ‘I wouldn’t have put it quite so coarsely myself.’
‘Yet you have no problem thinking it.’ She replaced her cup on her saucer. ‘Well, it may just surprise you to know that there are some women in Australia who don’t jump into bed with every guy they meet.’
‘That is encouraging news. And would you count yourself in their number?’
She stood up quickly, the metal legs of her chair scraping across the sandstone tiles of the pool surrounds.
‘What is this? Next you’ll asking for some kind of medical certificate or something.’
‘That won’t be necessary,’ he said, rising alongside her. ‘I think you’ve made your point. You see, the women of the palace are easily influenced by the lure of the western life, and, while I encourage their education in most respects, there are some practices I would prefer them not to adopt.’
‘Well, you have no fear on that count. They’re hardly likely to learn anything from me.’
His golden eyes glimmered in a way that sent vibrations dancing along her nerve-endings. Why did he look that way at her? Like a jungle cat sizing her up for the kill rather than someone who had to decide if she was morally upright enough to be invited to his country?
‘I expected you to be totally docile, but you surprise me with your anger. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are when you are angry?’
His words blindsided her. Nobody had called her beautiful—not since Evan—and she couldn’t believe what he’d said anyway. But the man opposite her was right about one thing—she was certainly angry. Morgan Fielding—who prided herself on staying cool under pressure—was cracking up. Something she’d never done even with Maverick, the boss with the worst reputation in the Gold Coast.
‘Well, then,’ she said, uncomfortable in the loud silence that followed, ‘given that I have such a fiery temper, I wonder if I have given you yet another reason not to be considered morally upright enough to accompany Nobilah to Jamalbad?’
She tried to toss the question off lightly, to head off the mounting tension filling the air between them, but his eyes just crinkled at the edges, their golden depths deepening like warm caramel.
‘On the contrary,’ he murmured, his voice deep and resonant. ‘You will be perfect.’
CHAPTER THREE
TEGAN eased the sleeping baby from her breast and offered her to her twin. ‘Would you like to burp her, seeing as you won’t have the chance again for a while? Maverick will be home in a couple of minutes, and I just want to finish the salad.’
‘Please,’ Morgan said, taking the infant and propping her gently over her shoulder as she swayed from side to side, rubbing the infant’s back.
After a frantic few hours helping Nobilah pack and arranging her own affairs, it was so restful to hold her new niece while standing looking out through the palms to the placid waters of the Gold Coast canal beyond. There was still plenty to organise, but Nobilah had insisted Morgan take some time to visit her sister and her family before she left. Very soon her sister’s husband, Maverick, would be home, and their conversation would not be so open. Right now it was worthwhile to be able to talk sister to sister.
Baby Ellie rewarded her ministrations with a very unladylike burp. She laughed as the infant briefly nuzzled her neck before settling back into a doze. ‘Oh, I’m going to miss you, little one,’ she said, pressing her lips to the baby’s head.
‘When will you be back?’ her sister asked from the spacious kitchen.
‘I’m not exactly sure. A few weeks, I guess.’
Tegan looked up sharply. ‘You mean you don’t know when you’re coming back? That you’re being whisked away to some tiny Arab emirate and you have no idea when you’re coming home?’
Morgan shrugged. ‘Sheikh Tajik didn’t say, but I guess it’s just until Fatima recovers enough to take over her duties again. I don’t expect it to be for more than a few weeks.’
Tegan opened the refrigerator, pulling out the salad dressing she’d prepared earlier.
‘So what’s he like, this Sheikh?’
Morgan took a deep breath, her lungs filled with the fresh scent of newborn baby, while her mind battled to get a grip on the confusing images and impressions of Sheikh Tajik. It was hard to mesh the images—the dutiful son who had taken over the leadership of his country after his father’s tragic death. The man who had bossed her mercilessly by the pool and told her everything was settled before she’d even had a chance to assimilate the news of her invitation to Jamalbad. The man who’d gazed into her soul with those golden eyes and left her strangely shaken…
‘I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘I only met him today.’
‘So he’s not tall, dark and handsome, then?’
This time Morgan shook her head with no hesitation at all. ‘No,’ she said, ‘not exactly. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, and his hair is dark…’
‘But he’s not handsome?’
Morgan wavered. “Handsome” seemed too soft a word. He was strong-featured. With eyes that saw too much and revealed nothing that didn’t scare her. No, he wasn’t just handsome. He was beyond handsome.
He was disturbing.
A tremor moved through her and she clutched tiny Eleanor to her chest to disguise it. ‘Not exactly,’ she replied, wishing for a change of subject.
‘And is he married?’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘You tell me,’ responded Tegan with renewed interest as she arranged a couple of things on the table. ‘You’re the one who seems a bit affected by him.’
‘Forget it,’ Morgan lied. ‘It’s just that this is all a bit sudden. Besides, you know I’m not looking for a relationship.’
Tegan regarded her solemnly. ‘But you’re obviously desperate to have your own family.’
Morgan opened her mouth to defend herself, but Tegan was right there.
‘Just look at the way you are with Ellie! Don’t try telling me you’re not getting clucky.’
‘I love my niece. Isn’t that normal?’
‘It’s not normal to be pining over a failed relationship years after the event.’
‘I am not!’
Tegan gave her a searching look that left her sister in no doubt she disagreed. ‘Look at yourself, Morgan. You’ve buried yourself in your work for years, covering yourself up like a nun—just because that idiot Evan didn’t appreciate what he had.’
Morgan grunted. ‘Oh, he appreciated what he had, all right. Getting engaged to me meant he could protect his precious family from the truth about him. He used me, and I was so stupid I fell for it.’
Tegan placed the salad on the table and came over to wrap an arm around her sister’s shoulders, giving them a squeeze. ‘Hey, you were in love with him.’
‘No,’ Morgan said, shaking her head. ‘I thought I was. But I was just in love with the idea of being in love—and with the idea that someone wanted to marry me. He didn’t want me at all, except to use me. I’m never letting anyone do that to me again.’
‘Which doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself off from the entire world! You’ll hardly find a man if you lock yourself away. In fact, I’m glad you’re going on this trip. Who knows where it might lead?’
Morgan didn’t answer straight away, instead thinking that since marrying Maverick her sister had become a hopeless romantic. She kissed the sleeping infant’s hair and laid her down in her bassinet, tucking the light blankets in around her. Her task complete, she turned to her sister.
‘I know you only want me to be as happy as you are now, but I really think you’ve got the wrong idea. I’m going to the desert for a few weeks to keep a middle-aged woman company, nothing more. So if you think I’m going to be coming home with any more than a toy camel, then you’re in for a big disappointment.’
After dinner Maverick offered to drive Morgan back to the sprawling mansion that served as a holiday home for Nobilah, stopping off along the way to let her pick up her passport and a few odd things she wanted to collect from her apartment, and to let her neighbours know she’d be away for a few weeks.
It was late by the time Maverick steered the car through the gates and pulled up outside the mansion that stood silent and imposing under the bright moonlight.
‘Thanks for the lift,’ she said, keeping her voice low as he hauled her bag from the boot and swung it down onto the paving alongside her. ‘You take care of my little sister and Ellie.’
‘You know I will,’ he replied, placing one hand on her shoulder. ‘But who’s going to take care of you? Tegan’s worried about you going off with no idea of when you’ll be back.’
‘Don’t you start,’ she said, wishing everyone would stop mirroring the very misgivings she was having. It was one thing to head off to Jamalbad to accompany Nobilah. It was another thing entirely to know that Sheikh Tajik, with his golden eyes and unsettling presence, was going to be part of the package. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, as much to convince herself as anything, and she stretched up to give her brother-in-law a hug and a heartfelt kiss on the cheek.
His long arms enclosed her and he gave her a mighty squeeze that lifted her feet from the ground before, with a final kiss and saying, ‘Take care,’ he was back behind the wheel.
Morgan waited while he drove away, one hand lifted in a silent farewell. She didn’t know how long she would be away, but she knew she would miss her Gold Coast family and her new niece. Then the car turned onto the road and disappeared from view, and the fingers of her open hand curled as a prickling sensation needled its way down her spine. This was it, the point of no return, and that realisation sent excitement vying with a menacing anxiety inside her. But she’d told Maverick she’d be fine. She’d better start believing it, given she’d be on the plane in less than eight hours.
With a sigh, she bent down to pick up her bag. It was whipped out of her reach from behind. She gasped and reeled around, only to find a mountain standing between her and the door.
‘Where have you been all this time?’
‘You startled me,’ she managed to say, her hand covering a thumping heart she knew would never completely settle back to normal—not while she was in this man’s presence. ‘I can carry my own luggage, thank you.’ She held out her hand to take the bag, but he ignored it.
‘Why are you so late?’
Shock turned to indignation. ‘I didn’t realise you were going to wait up for me. What an honour.’
She regretted the jibe the moment it had left her mouth—what was it about this man that brought out the worst in her?—but he merely brushed it aside by slashing his free hand in the direction of the departed vehicle. ‘Who was the man you were whispering to? That you were kissing?’
‘Why, Sheikh Tajik,’ she purred, with more bravado than she had ever known, ‘I didn’t realise you cared.’ Then she attempted to coolly brush past the looming mountain in her path, knowing that if he could hear the blood thumping in her veins he would know she was anything but cool.
But his hand shot out and circled her wrist before she could pass, trapping her alongside the long, hard length of him. ‘You told me you had no boyfriends.’
