Page 35 of At the Sheikh's Pleasure
But the phone continued to ring.Only when they’d both got what they wanted did he roll over and answer it with a curt command.But what he heard made him release her hand, made him swing his legs onto the floor and push his fingers through his hair.
“What is it?”she asked, kneeling on the bed behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist.“What’s happened?”
He unpeeled her hands, knowing how she’d react to the news.He stood up and pulled on his gown before turning to her.
“It seems,” he said grimly, “that your father has arrived.”He hated how her expression changed from warm and soft to scared in one brief beat of the heart.Then the scared expression was replaced by that closed off look which he’d hoped he’d seen the last of.But it was back.And he knew what he’d have to tell her would make it stay.And he didn’t know how the hell he was going to remove it again.
“My father?”she repeated, also reaching for her gown, as if she half-expected her father to walk into the room.“He’s here?”
“Yes.I’ve just been informed.”
“But… What’s he doing here?Does he know I’m here?”
Zaire answered her first question first.It seemed easier.It would buy him time before he had to answer her second question.
“He’s here for the same reason Sheikh Saeed was.”
She looked incredulous.“About Harran’s relations with Sifra?What would prompt him to do that?An alliance with Sifra would threaten his pact with the Faud Federation.It would be madness.What is he thinking?Zaire, answer me.Something must have triggered this visit.”
Zaire grimaced.He couldn’t delay the truth any longer.She had to know.But he was scared how she’d react once she knew.Would what they had be enough to conquer her anger?He didn’t know, but he was about to find out.
“Yes, you’re right.Something did trigger this visit.”
She stood, hands on hips, her eyes blazing as if she understood what he was about to say before he could say it.He guessed she could.He felt so close to her he, too, could anticipate her thoughts and feelings.
“And?What might that be, Zaire?”
“Your father was advised you were coming here and, it might,” he grimaced again, shamed at what he’d done, “just might have been suggested that we were in a relationship.”
“What?”she exploded.
“As I said, word got out to your father that you were coming here.”
“When was this?”
“Before you came, obviously.”
“There’s nothing obvious about any of this.”She swore under her breath and he raised an eyebrow.He’d never heard Rosana be anything other than dignified.She paced away and then turned back to him, her glorious hair falling all around her like the mane of a lion.Her eyes flashed like one, too.One that was angry, on the trail, and about to pounce.“Tell me exactly what happened.Tell me exactly who told my father this… this preposterous story, long before I even came here.Who, Zaire, who?”
He wasn’t going to get away with it.He could see it in her eyes.He could see it in the trembling of her hands, in the way she gripped the back of the chair, as if she were about to fall over.He stepped forward to support her, but she held up one shaking hand.
“Don’t,” she said.“All I want to know is who told him.”
“Me.”He cleared his throat.“I told him.”
He felt sick to his stomach as she shook her head, her mouth slack, her eyes full of pain and hurt.He’d done that.He’d put that pain there, and he wished with every beat of his heart that he hadn’t.She opened the door.
“Get out,” she said, her voice full of trembling emotion.
There was nothing he could do but collect his clothes and walk toward the door.There he stopped.“We need to talk, Rosana.I need to explain everything.”
She looked at him coldly.“I think your actions have explained everything.I thought you were different from my father.”She shook her head in dismay.“You’re not at all.You want to control me exactly as he did.”
“That’s not true.I did all this before I knew you.”
“And using me before you knew me makes it better?”
“Please, Rosana.I love you, and if you have any feelings for me, you need to hear me out.Don’t let what we have slip away, because I acted like a fool.Please.”
