Page 14 of Unknown Royal Baby

‘Perhaps it would be easiest if we started with how your previous work fitted you for your current position.’

At Rashid’s words she reluctantly turned to him. ‘I can supply my résumé if necessary. I worked my way up through a series of positions until I was personal assistant to Berthold Keller.’

That grabbed her audience’s attention. Rashid’s eyes widened. ‘The property magnate?’

‘That’s him.’

‘But you must be no more than in your mid-twenties. That’s a very senior position at a young age.’

She’d turned twenty-seven a few months ago. ‘I’m pleased to say my previous employer valued competence over seniority.’

She spared Isam a sideways glance, challenging him to comment, but of course he said nothing. At least this session was destroying the last of her silly yearning for a man who’d only existed in her imaginings.

‘I’m very good at what I do.’

Cilla had said she had an old head on young shoulders. She was organised and hard-working, with an eye for detail, traits learned from her great-aunt, along with the desire to be financially independent.

‘So why did you leave?’

‘Working for Mr Keller involved a lot of travel, which was stimulating, but over time I realised I wanted to stay in London.’ Because Cilla, her feisty, independent great-aunt, had grown physically fragile. ‘It was Mr Keller who recommended me to the Sheikh.’

In response to Rashid’s questioning look, Isam nodded. ‘He’s a friend. I respect his judgement.’

Then he rose, resting his palm on the gleaming wood as if for support. But any thought that his injuries had weakened him physically were banished as he straightened to stand tall and imposing. There was no weakness in this man just as there was no softness.

It had been her mistake ever to imagine such a thing.

Even so, Avril’s pulse spurred in anticipation of his invitation to follow her for a private conversation.

‘If you’ll excuse me...’ his gaze swept the three of them ‘...there’s something I must do. I’m confident you’ll make good progress without me.’

His gaze met hers for the briefest of seconds. This time it wasn’t blankly disinterested. His eyes looked stormy and she could almost imagine a bolt of lightning tearing through the room. She shivered in response to some unseen reverberation.

Then, to her astonishment, Isam left without a backward glance. As if she held no more interest for him.

CHAPTER FOUR

ISAMSTRODETHROUGHthe suite, his steps growing longer and faster. The straitjacket binding his shoulders and upper arms tightened and the talons ripping through his gut sharpened, threatening to shred his self-control.

Finally he reached the sanctuary of his room.

His head throbbed with a familiar ache that he’d learned to despise. It was the reminder of all he lacked. Of the weakness he hid from all but a trusted few.

But he didn’t reach for pain relief. Instead he sank into a tall wingchair, leaning his head back against the upholstery and squeezing his eyes shut.

Instead of darkness he saw grey, shot through with snatches of light. They were fragments, like a shattered window pane, separate and useless.

Like you.

He firmed his jaw. No, not useless. Just not as he was.

A bitter laugh rumbled up from his chest but he didn’t let it escape. He couldn’t allow self-pity.

Besides, what had he to feel sorry about? He was alive and almost whole. Whereas his father...

Isam breathed through the racking pain of loss that still, sometimes, seemed too great to bear.

Easier by far, and necessary, to concentrate on the problem that was Avril Rodgers.

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