Page 7 of The Sheik's Kiss

No, that was too tame of a word. She was…inspired! Yes, she badly wanted to accept his dare. Because as surely as she was standing here breathing oxygen, she knew she’d find corruption and abuse of power within his government. Humans were inherently greedy. The need to survive, to accumulate resources in order to ensure one’s survival, was built into the human DNA. It was the reason so many people considered police officers and fire fighters to be so alluring. Their skills didn’t ensure the survival of their off-spring. But those skills offered a better chance of survival. It was the same with men, or women, who were wealthy. Wealth and power provided a better chance for the survival of offspring.

Some could ignore their greed and work towards the common good. But others were evil and would hurt as many people as possible in their efforts to gain power and resources, either through money or other means.

Her childhood had been tragically altered because of one man’s greed. It was the main reason she loved forensic accounting so much. It gave her an outlet for her revenge against the greedy corporate heads that wanted to hide their criminal behavior behind creative accounting practices.

Needing some fresh air as well as a different perspective, Mandy grabbed her purse, then rushed out of her house and dove into her car. Fifteen minutes later, she pulled up outside of her mother’s house.

“Honey!” Jenny Sullivan exclaimed as soon as Mandy stepped through the door to their old house. “I wasn’t expecting you until Sunday!” Immediately, Mandy’s mother wrapped her up in a warm hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

“It’s great to see you too, Mom,” she whispered, hugging her mother tightly.

Pulling back, she tried to hide the angst in her features. “I need some advice.”

Jenny immediately nodded. “I’ll make some tea and you can tell me all about it,” she said. “Everything okay with your business?”

“Work is booming, Mom,” she admitted. “Because of Clarissa, I have more clients than I can handle.”

Jenny laughed, shaking her head as they walked side by side into the kitchen. “Darling, Clarissa was the impetus of your success. But if you were a bad accountant, then the clients wouldn’t still be coming to you for financial help.”

She was right, but Mandy still needed to give her friend credit for trusting her to fix her accounting issues after she’d learned of her inheritance and the unscrupulous men who were trying to steal it from her.

Mandy sat down at the kitchen table, pressing her upraised hands to her face for a moment. “It was just a fluke that I was in the initial meeting with Clarissa when her old accountants were trying to swindle her.” Her hands flopped onto the table as she sighed.

Jenny put the kettle onto the stove and flipped the switch to heat the water. “It was luck that you were in that meeting, but it was hard work that got you to where you are today.” She took two cups down from the top shelf of a cabinet. These were the real porcelain cups, the ones that were only used when company came.

“Why are you bringing down the good cups?” Mandy asked, pulling open the freezer and, bingo! She grabbed the bag of cookies that her mother always had in the freezer. Bless her heart, Jenny Sullivan loved baking and always had sweets ready for when a visitor stopped by.

Her mother smiled at her over her shoulder as she said, “Because I think that this conversation deserves the good tea cups.”

Mandy might have laughed, but she wasn’t sure if she should be concerned or relieved. Instead, she looked down at her fingers, lacing them together.

“What’s on your mind?” her mother asked as she adjusted the heat under the kettle.

Mandy felt a sense of warmth and rightness settle over her as she watched her mother bustle about the kitchen. She pulled out cream and honey and set them on the table, then grabbed a peanut butter cookie to nibble on as she picked up the box that contained her herbal tea collection. “Okay, talk!” she ordered when she finally settled down in the chair on the opposite side of the cheaply made, wooden table.

Mandy looked around and noticed the inexpensive features of the tiny kitchen. “Everything in this house feels right and comfortable,” she observed, admiring the flowered, ruffled curtains guarding the window over the kitchen sink and Mandy knew that most home builders did that – put a window over the sink. Ostensibly so that one could look out at the backyard while scrubbing dishes.

“Everything in this house feels familiar,” her mother countered. “That’s different from feeling comfortable.”

“I suppose so,” Mandy replied, then added some honey to her blackberry tea. “I’ve been offered a contract by a very powerful man,” she finally admitted. “In fact, we were discussing it right before I came over.”

Her mother poured cream into her Earl Grey tea. “And you don’t want to take the contract because this man is powerful.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact. Jenny knew her daughter extremely well.

“Exactly.” She sighed and gazed down at the pretty, porcelain cup. “However, the contract he’s asked me to work is…intriguing. And challenging. It would be more of the forensic accounting that I love doing.”

“And that would get you out of the daily grind of the normal accounting that you do for your other clients, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t mind doing that kind of work.”

“Yes, you do,” Jenny laughed. “You hate that kind of accounting.” She laid a hand over Mandy’s. “Admit it, dear, you’re an investigator at heart. You love numbers because they are safe and familiar. It’s the same reason you are so comfortable coming here. Everything is safe and normal and there aren’t any surprises.” She smile gently. “You hate being taken by surprise, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons you enjoy forensic accounting more than, say, tax accounting or bookkeeping. You enjoy discovering other people’s secrets.”

Mandy smiled as well, nodding. “Yeah, you’re right.” She inhaled deeply, and then let the air out of her lungs slowly. “This contract…it’s with the Sidrina government.” She lifted her eyes, looking at her mother. “The head of that government hired me to do two things.”

“And they are?” her mother prompted, not surprised by the powerful government’s name.

“I would be investigating the women that the Sheik of Sidrina is considering for his next fiancée.”

Her mother chuckled. “That woman! I saw the video of her. What a mess! Why would he consider such a gold digger?”

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