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Her family plans were getting ready to fly apart, and there was nothing she could do to fix them.
The phone on Julia’s desk buzzed, and she gratefully pushed her lunch aside—milk and a package of crackers—and picked up the receiver. “Yes?”
“This is Trudy, in reception. I was told to notify you when Mr. Oman arrived.”
Swell.
“Thank you. I’ll be right down.”
“I’ll tell him, Ms. Parker.” Trudy sounded star-struck, which wasn’t surprising. One look at Sheik Raoul Oman and she must have melted in her chair. The man had sex appeal that could bring the dead back to life.
Julia glanced in a mirror and smoothed her fingers over a stray lock of hair. She didn’t care if she looked attractive, just neat and professional. Then, squaring her shoulders, she went to the elevator and punched the Down button. A minute later she stepped out and saw the back of Raoul’s dark head.
Flutters hit her midsection even harder, and she gulped down another wave of nausea.
“Sheik Oman,” she said, congratulating herself on the cool, even tone of her voice. “Welcome to Kane Haley, Inc.”
Raoul turned with catlike grace, one eyebrow lifting. “As you know, Ms. Parker, I do not use my title in America.”
She knew. She also knew that nothing could make Raoul anything other than what he was—a member of the royal family in his own country of Hasan…and the father of her baby.
It was the father-of-her-baby part driving hordes of butterflies through her system. Or was it the memory of the way he’d made her feel? She hadn’t wanted to lose control during their brief, explosive affair, but he hadn’t allowed anything but her complete surrender in the bedroom.
Julia’s mouth tightened.
The pleasure had been extraordinary, but you couldn’t live on pleasure. If anything, he’d proved that a man, particularly from his exalted family background, had trouble letting a woman be equal. Even in the most private of circumstances.
“Mr. Haley is tied up in a meeting this afternoon. He asked me to show you around,” she said.
Raoul inclined his head and smiled. “Kane has already explained this matter. I requested that you might take his place.”
“Oh.”
Any hope that he’d forgotten some of the more intimate aspects of their relationship vanished at the dark heat in his eyes. He remembered everything. And he seemed to be reminding her that she was the one who’d chosen to say goodbye. That it was her decision not to prolong the time and passion they’d shared.
But didn’t men prefer temporary relationships?
Even men from other countries?
She wasn’t the most experienced woman in the world, but from what she’d seen, commitment was the last thing the male animal usually thought about.
“Kane was not aware that we were…acquainted,” Raoul murmured. “I thought you might have mentioned me.”
From behind his back Julia saw Trudy mouth the words ohmigod, you know him? The receptionist looked more excited and dreamy than ever. But then, Trudy was the queen of high drama and romance. She lived for office gossip, though in a kind way. She never repeated anything cruel.
“Kane is the president of the company. We talk about business-related matters,” Julia explained, more uncomfortable than ever. “Not about people I’ve met…at a business conference.”
“Ah.” The subtle humor lingering in the depths of his brown eyes made her wince, but there wasn’t anything she could say in protest. Raoul could communicate more with his eyes than most people did verbally, and right now he was laughing at her attempts to pretend nothing had happened between them.
“Well,” she said briskly. “Shall we start?”
“That would be excellent.”
She turned on her heel and launched into a description of the three floors of the building leased by the company. She knew Raoul well enough to know he wouldn’t need any description of Kane Haley, Inc. He was the sort of man who would have investigated the accounting company from top to bottom before he ever considered taking the position as its Chief Financial Officer.
It almost made her smile. Kane Haley had probably felt as if he was being interviewed for the job, rather than the other way around. Of course, the whole thing would have just amused Kane, and it certainly hadn’t blinded him to Raoul’s exceptional qualifications for the position.
Darn it.
When they were finished touring the fourteenth floor, they stopped in front of the elevators. Raoul had suggested they simply take the stairs, but Julia couldn’t reveal that her doctor had recommended no climbing until after the baby was born, so she’d said they were mostly for emergencies.
Normally she didn’t babble, but the continuing amused glint in Raoul’s expression and the memory of their past relationship was turning her logical brain into mush.
They stepped inside the empty elevator car, and no sooner had the doors closed than Raoul pressed the Hold button.
“Bien-aimée,” he said softly. “It has been a long while.”
Julia’s heart skipped a few beats. “Not so long. Just two or three months,” she tossed off, as if she didn’t have a clear idea how much time had passed. Fat chance. She had a biological reminder growing in her womb, telling her exactly how long it had been since they’d last seen one another.
“Over six months,” he corrected. “June was a beautiful time in your nation’s capital.”
She kept her gaze glued to the Hold button he was depressing. “We’d better get going, or someone will think the elevator is broken.”
“They will simply think the machine is slow.”
“Raoul—”
“Julia,” he mocked, using her same exasperated tone. “It is good to hear that you remember my first name.”
Unaccustomed heat bloomed in her face. “I remember.”
“As do I.” He lifted his free hand and stroked the curve of her cheek. “I remember many things.”
“Please, Raoul. It was nice, but it was just one of those temporary things.” Guilt nearly made Julia choke on the words, because, while she had intended things to be temporary between them, she’d deliberately done everything possible to ensure he’d give her a child.
It was my last chance to be a mother.
Julia bit on the inside of her mouth, knowing she deserved that small stab of pain. Raoul hadn’t been her last chance for motherhood, but the longer she’d waited, the smaller her chances would have gotten. Endometriosis didn’t always result in infertility, but it was a common result of the condition. She’d gone to the conference still in shock after hearing the bad medical news, and when she’d met Raoul it had seemed like the answer.
“I did not choose for it to be so very temporary. You are the one who made this decision.”
Raoul didn’t look amused now, but angry, and she could well imagine him as an imperious desert ruler of old. She should have known it would irritate him, not getting to be the one who broke things off. Men liked to be in control, which was why she didn’t want her child’s father involved in their lives.
She’d had enough experience with overbearing, dominating men who thought they ruled the universe just because fate had given them a particular set of chromosomes. Her military father was a case in point. Sure, not all men were like that, but she hadn’t had any luck telling who was a control freak and who wasn’t.
“We really have to be going,” she said. She tried pulling his hand from the button, but he held fast. “Raoul, let go.”
“We must talk.” Raoul watched the changing expressions in Julia’s face and wondered why she had been so adamant about ending their affair at the conclusion of the conference. Even now she fascinated him, stirring his body in a way that made it imperative that he wait before leaving the privacy of the elevator car. It would not be prudent to allow anyone at Kane Haley, Inc., to see his undisguised response to another employee.
“We have nothing to talk about,” Julia snapped.
A flicker of admiration crept through Raoul. At any time Julia was glorious, but angry? Gold flashed from her hair and eyes, color brightened her silken skin and she breathed deeply, emphasizing the womanly part of her that he’d already enjoyed so much. He drew a harsh breath of his own, exerting control over his unruly body.
“Nothing?” he asked. “Perhaps you would like to explain why you gave me an incorrect phone number.”
Julia’s eyelids dropped, concealing the hazel gold of her eyes. “Did I?”
“You know you did. Although the lady at the dry-cleaning establishment was quite cordial, I did not wish to speak with her, I wished to speak with you.”
“You could have called the company and gotten the number.”
“Since it was obvious you did not wish to speak with me, I respected your wishes. Now I question if that was the correct decision. You are being very evasive, Julia.”
“I told you—”
“Yes,” Raoul interrupted impatiently. “You told me many things. Some I have chosen to ignore.”
“That’s arrogant.”
“Isn’t that what you expect? The sheik who is as arrogant as his royal Arabian heritage?”
“It’s not your royal anything making you arrogant,” Julia returned. “It’s…” She stopped, clearly feeling she’d already said too much.
“Ah, yes. You do not think well of my sex, I think.”
“It isn’t necessarily your sex I was thinking about. In some ways that part is impressive.” Her gaze flicked downward for a brief moment, and he grew hard again.
She was impudent.
And sweetly naughty.
In the old days of his country a woman such as Julia would have been a disgrace, but no longer. As a youth his grandfather had embraced new ways of thinking about women, and for two generations they had been free to speak their minds in Hasan.
Sometimes that wasn’t always a blessing.
“I still do not understand why you wished such a temporary arrangement,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be your nature.”
“Of course it is.”
Despite the denial, her gaze shifted once again, this time in evasion, and Raoul sighed.
“You are not promiscuous, chère.”
Julia glared. “Stop calling me…French things.”
He suppressed a smile, demanding control of his mouth. French endearments came naturally to him. Though his grandmother had spent far more years in Hasan than in her homeland, she remained exquisitely French, from the tips of her toes to the top of her perfectly coiffed head. He had spoken her native language from the time he was in his cradle and was named for Grand-mère’s own father.
“Julia, the fact remains that you are not the type for such casual encounters.”
“That’s ridiculous. You know nothing about me and don’t have a clue about my romantic life.”
He smiled knowingly. “A man knows when a woman has not been intimate for a while. There is a certain hesitation in her body when he—”
“Never mind,” Julia said hastily, certain her face was burning from embarrassment. Raoul was too knowledgeable for comfort, and if he was convinced she’d been celibate for a long time he would never believe the baby wasn’t his. The question was, what would he do once he figured it out?
Maybe she should tell him first.
Or maybe she should quit her job and leave town.
Oh, right. That’s a great solution.
She enjoyed the stability of her position at Kane Haley, Inc., and she was darned good at it. The Assurance and Advisory Service Division where she worked was growing by leaps and bounds. She had an excellent salary, and a number of friends here in Chicago. Leaving was not an option, particularly with a baby on the way.
All at once the demanding arrogance vanished from Raoul’s face, and he removed his hand from the control panel. “You are right. People will wonder if we overly delay the elevator.”
His expression had closed to the point she would never have guessed they were discussing anything more intimate than the corner deli, and she shook her head. How could a woman hope to understand a man like Raoul Oman?
Quickly, before he could change his mind, Julia pressed the button for the fifteenth floor and waited as the car swooshed upward. Normally she did take the stairs, preferring to be more active. But the baby was more important than anything else, and she was following everything the doctor said to the letter. And it should still be all right, as long as she did her best to stay quiet and eat as much as her stomach could tolerate.
The tour of the fifteenth floor went reasonably well, and they moved to the sixteenth without Raoul broaching more personal conversation.
As they passed the door of her own office, Julia’s feet faltered when she saw the president of the company inside, staring at her desk with a kind of fierce concentration.
“Kane, is something wrong?” she asked.
“My meeting is finished,” he said. “How was the tour, Raoul?”
“Ms. Parker has been most informative.”
“Hmm. That’s good. Fine.”
Raoul lifted his eyebrows. He’d never seen Kane Haley so distracted. They’d met a number of years before, and both men had formed an immediate liking for the other. When the position of CFO had come available, Kane had immediately contacted him to see if he was interested.
He had been.
Raoul cast a glance at the slender blond-haired woman standing at his side. In no small way, Julia was responsible for his decision. She fascinated, annoyed and frustrated him beyond measure. While a part of him appreciated her reluctance for a more permanent arrangement, he couldn’t help being intrigued.
Truly, he did not understand. Weren’t all women anxious for those permanent bonds?
Certainly, the parade of marriageable women his mother had vexed him with had wanted everything that an alliance with the royal house would bring—wealth, power, position, the title of princess in a country whose princesses were revered and protected. The paparazzi would find no welcome in Hasan; the people would see to it.
Julia cleared her throat, apparently uncomfortable in the silence. “Kane, I’m sure you have things you wanted to discuss with Mr. Oman. In the meantime I’ll get back to work.”
Kane gave her a peculiar look. “How have you been feeling, Julia?” he asked, ignoring her suggestion.
“Just fine,” she assured, though she seemed confused by the inquiry.
“Somebody mentioned you’d been sick several times—in the restroom.”
