Page 14 of Hiding in the Sheik's Arms

She wanted to reach out and touch Khal. She wanted to reach out and grab his head, pull his mouth down to hers so that she could kiss him. She wanted to…well, those fantasies were ridiculous. He was her boss. Nothing more.

Chapter 11

Khal suppressed the urge to pull Tasha into his arms. For some reason, he sensed that she was suddenly remembering something painful in her past. And yes, he knew that Tasha had enduredsomethinghorrible in her past life. What that was, He didn’t know. His security team had done a thorough background check on her. They probably knew her secrets, but according to the information he’d read, Tasha O’Connor had been an exemplary employee in Senator Nathan King’s office. She’d gone from an intern after graduating from Georgetown University, to the senator’s personal aide. She’d advised him on numerous issues, writing brilliant recommendation papers on a variety of issues.

She’d applied that knowledge to her job here in Lativa. Her analysis was precise, offering the pros and cons of every argument. She never tried to sway him on his decisions. Tasha merely offered information and analysis.

She was definitely coming back to life.

A year ago, Khal had thought of his new personal aide as an intelligent, capable woman with a mysterious past. His security team hadn’t uncovered any red flags other than a mysterious, one day stint in the hospital just before coming here.

Maybe that hospital stay was the clue to why she’d been so numb?

“We’ll go out to the site tomorrow,” he announced, watching her expression carefully.

Tasha’s fingers tightened on the railing, her whole body freezing at the suggestion. When her eyes lifted, gazing up at him, he saw the flash of terror spark in those chocolate depths. But Tasha’s iron will and pride valiantly suppressed her fearsand she nodded sharply. “I’ll arrange it,” she told him, then turned and left the security office.

Khal watched her go, noting the stiff back and tension in her shoulders.

What was that about? He’d just noticed that Tasha was coming alive and now…? Was it because she lived here at the palace and was worried…? He couldn’t imagine what she might be concerned about.

He thought about ordering his security team to look deeper into her past. There was a secret there that he wanted to understand. But he suppressed the impulse. First of all, everyone in the security office was working hard to find out why an electricity station had exploded. The station wasn’t new, nor was it old. The station had been working well for over fifteen years. So, it couldn’t be an issue with connections that had been installed poorly, nor was the explosion caused by connections that had deteriorated over time.

No, deep down in his gut, Khal knew this explosion was caused by human interference. And it was malicious.

Towards what goal, though? That was the million dollar question, he thought as he looked around, taking note of the issues he saw on the monitors. He’d get more resources out there, but Tasha was right, he had to be careful. Was this explosion meant to pull all of the available resources to one place, only to have a secondary crisis hit where there was no one to protect his people?

Damn, this was complicated. He wished he had someone to talk to, someone to bounce ideas off of. But Raj was presumably out wooing another woman. Joran was helping, but Khal had already sent his brother off to arrange military resources to the explosion site. Plus, he suspected that Joranwas going to disappear soon, off to places unknown. Joran never remained at the palace for long. He’d only come home to greet their…!

“Damn!” he muttered under his breath. “Marianna!” He’d completely forgotten about the girl! Turning, he was just about to push through the security doors and say hello to his newfound sister when someone called out.

“You’re Highness!” his security director called out. “They’ve found the source of the explosion!”

Immediately, his sister’s arrival was pushed out of his thoughts. He made a mental note to have dinner with her. She was probably lonely and confused. And felt abandoned. But the well-being of his people needed to take priority at the moment.

“What is it?” he demanded, looking at the tablet that had just been shoved into his hands.

Chapter 12

Evan Helmsley chuckled as he watched the news. The news anchors theorized that the explosion at the electric power plant was due to interference from Uftar, the country north of Lativa. It was a ridiculous thought since there was no reason for Uftar to attack Lativa. The two countries had been…not friendly, but peaceful for several years now. There were no official peace treaties in place at the moment. At least, none that Evan knew about. Granted, his political knowledge about the two countries was pretty minimal, but as far as he knew, there weren’t any obvious tensions.

Until now, he thought as he put his booted feet up on the coffee table in front of him. He lifted the beer to his lips and took a long swallow. Evan never allowed himself to get drunk, but a beer every once in a while was an enjoyable break. His lifestyle was necessarily nomadic. He owned a condo back in the US, but he was rarely there. It was a nice place to visit, but his work required him to constantly be on the move.

Officially, he was a land surveyor for a corporate company in the United Kingdom. He had a website and even an address. The address was fake, but no one looked too deeply into his cover story. And it allowed him to travel all over the world. Every country was eager to let a land surveyor into their borders in the hopes of luring foreign investments. And since a land surveyor was the first step any company took before committing to a project, Evan was basically invisible. No one paid much attention to a land surveyor. There was no financial commitment yet, so no need to care one way or another what actions he took within a country’s borders.

Oh, there was the occasional town or village official who realized what Evan’s presence could mean for their area. Andyeah, bribes were offered and happily accepted. Evan vowed to every official who offered a bribe that he would write the “report” in that official’s preferred direction. Evan didn’t even consider those bribes to be illegal since he never solicited the bribes. He considered those bribes to be his bonus money.

But watching the chaos he’d created with a simple mechanical switch connected to whatever available electrical circuits were available…this was even better! The idiot talking heads were theorizing, without any evidence, that the explosion at the electric power plant earlier this morning was an attack from Uftar! He shook his head and took another long sip of his beer. “You’re all idiots!” he yelled at the television.

He lifted his beer bottle, still smiling as he whispered conspiratorially, “It wasme!”

Chapter 13

Khal was furious. Tasha stepped into his office, nervously smoothing down her white silk blouse. She’d paired the blouse with a pair of black slacks, but she didn’t bother with a jacket anymore.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” she asked, standing in front of his massive desk while Khal paced back and forth behind it.

“I just don’t understand,” he grumbled. “Why the hell would Uftar do something like this?” He stopped pacing and frowned at her. “You still aren’t able to get a call through to Hasim?” he asked, referring to the current, but aging, ruler of Uftar.

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