Page 6 of The Sheik's Kiss

Her eyebrows rose, but she hid it quickly, smoothing her expression to neutral. “I’ve agreed to help you. That should be enough.”

His body tightened even further. A challenge!

“And yet, I suspect you have other concerns. Am I right?”

She huffed a moment and Zahir wanted to pull her into his arms. Would she huff like that when he made love to her? He couldn’t wait to find out!

“Here’s the issue, Zahir,” she replied, distracting him from his fantasies. “I know about men like you. Powerful men are one of the reasons I’m so good at my job.” She paused, staring up at him as if willing him to understand. “It’s one of the reasons I take my work so seriously.”

“You have…concerns?”

She shook her head. “No. No concerns. Just a warning.” She shifted her feet. “My family has had to deal with wealthy, powerful men who think that the rules don’t apply to them. Men who like to throw their power around, who hurt the working class people.”

She spoke with intense anger and resentment. He was surprised by how much her emotions affected him. Perhaps it was simply because most people hid their emotions from him. Diplomacy was his world and the people in his sphere knew how to manipulate through words and manners. Mandy was…open and honest. This was startlingly appealing.

Zahir wanted to move closer, but kept back, his desire to understand her overriding his growing need to touch her.

“Are you referring to yourself?” he prompted. But the look in her eyes told him that her reaction wasn’t based off something that had happened to her personally. He eyed her carefully. “Or to something that happened to your parents, maybe?”

She stepped closer, literally shaking with rage now. “Don’t you dare talk about my family!”

To her family then. Zahir moved closer, intrigued and concerned despite her anger. “What happened, Mandy?” he asked, his tone softening. Gone was the sexual awareness. In its place was a simmering anger on her behalf and a shockingly strong need to protect her.

She looked surprised by his anger for a moment, then her features hardened. “None of your business!” she whispered.

“Was it your father?” he guessed. “Did someone hurt your father?”

Her face closed down, every part of her body was carefully neutral now. “My family is fine, Zahir. Just drop it.”

He considered his options and came to a quick decision. “I will drop it for the moment, since you have agreed to help me with my problem.” He didn’t state that he was going to help her with whatever had hurt her. For some reason, he had a driving need to crush the person who had hurt Mandy.

“Thank you,” she replied stiffly, but her shoulders were still rigid with tension.

He grinned, then suppressed his amusement yet again. “I will discover your secrets, my dear,” he replied, then lifted his hand, brushing his finger lightly over her cheek. He was prepared for her to pull away, so he was surprised when she didn’t. In fact, the anger suddenly dissipated and a look of stunned shock washed over her. Belatedly, she pulled away, but that hesitation was…intriguing.

“You’ve helped Clarissa, Levi, Sean, and Matteo.” He looked at her curiously. “What is it about me that represents something from your past that has hurt you so deeply?”

She shook her head, then pushed her hair off her shoulders with both hands and moved away from him. “My friends are good, caring people who have worked hard to create businesses that treat everyone fairly, especially their employees.”

“Ah! So that’s it! Do you think my practices are corrupt?”

She stiffened, then jerked her head with agreement. “Power corrupts, Zahir.”

“And absolute power corrupts absolutely, eh?” Now he understood. “You think that I abuse my power as ruler of Sidrina.” It wasn’t a question. “Then I propose another aspect to our contract.”

“I don’t think–”

“Before you reply, hear me out.” He moved to the doorway and laid a hand on the knob. “I’m hiring you for two separate projects. The first one, you will help me ferret out any financial problems with the candidates for marriage.”

“Of course. And I will find the traitor hiding in your administration. We’ve already discussed this.” He could see in her eyes that she wanted to reject both contracts. But she was too professional. Mandy understood the boost to her agency’s reputation once she’d completed this mission.

“Exactly.” He pulled the door open. “Someone in your past hurt you, either through a government abuse of power or caused by corporate greed.” He narrowed his eyes, then added, “Possibly both.” He stepped into the doorway, half in-half out. “Think about my contract in a different way. This is your opportunity to save someone from whatever happened to you and your family in the past.”

And with that, he left, pulling the door closed behind him.

Mandy stared at the door, shocked by his challenge. Was he right? Was his spin on the contract really that deep? Did he truly want her to dig into the various governmental agencies and figure out who was abusing their power for personal gain?

The challenge intrigued her.

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