Page 29 of The Sheikh's Temporary Girlfriend

“Not that it matters,” Maram said with a shark-like smile. “I have enough newsworthy facts here to sink the Titanic all over again…dragging you down with it.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

She clucked her tongue. “Now, now. There’s no reason to get nasty.”

Was this woman serious? She was the queen of nastiness!

Maram reached for a biscuit, then crunched down on it with her sharp teeth. “I guess you want to know how to stop the information I’ve acquired about your family? I mean, you wouldn’t want any of it getting out to the public, would you?”

“And I’m guessing you already have a suitable bribe to stop that happening?”

“Oh my, how did you get to be so cynical?” she asked, another laugh peeling apart her red, shining lips. She took another delicate sip of her tea, her eyes appraising Amber. “I did warn you that everyone has a past, didn’t I?”

“Yet mine is flawless.”

Maram sighed dramatically. “Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about your family. Not only did your dear mother and father get charged with neglect numerous times, they drove while intoxicated and heavily under the influence of drugs. The car accident that killed them also killed an innocent motorist. A young lady with her whole life ahead of her.”

After all the years of guilt that had weighed heavily on her through no fault of her own, Amber struggled to breathe evenly while keeping her heart from bouncing out of her chest. It was bad enough never fully grieving for her parents who were never really parents in any sense of the word other than biological.

Knowing someone innocent had been killed because of them, a woman who’d left behind her own family to grieve for her and be enraged by the injustice of it all was enough to make Amber want to rip out her own hair and howl her grievances. Instead she suppressed her emotions, locked them back away in their box where they couldn’t hurt her.

“I see I’ve hit a sore spot.” Maram spoke with absolute indifference while Amber’s world threatened to collapse around her. “No doubt your brother’s gambling debts have also plagued you badly. But I’m willing to offer you a chance to make this all go away—by havingyougo away—and as a gesture of goodwill, I’ll even throw in the hundred-thousand needed to make your life less…stressful.”

“Basam will never believe I left of my own free will.” Yet her words were as empty as her spirit. She’d fought for so long she no longer had any fight left to give.

Maram cocked her head to the side. “Not even if you write him a letter and leave it on your bed?”

“And tell him what? That I had a change of heart?”

He’d never believe it, would he?

“Yes, that’s it exactly. Tell him you miss your beaches, your surf and sun. Tell him you miss your meat pies and sausages on the barbecue. Tell him whatever you know he’ll believe and he’ll never have to face the scandal and shame of your family’s infamy.”

Amber wilted against her armchair. Basam’s people would never understand her side of the story. She’d be nothing short of a piranha thanks to her parents’ irresponsible lifestyle and utter neglect. She’d be painted the villain and Basam would be crucified for even having her under the same roof as him.

Even if Amberdidmatter to him as much as she hoped, Maram would be here to ease his loneliness and ensure he’d soon forget about the clumsy, common Australian waitress he’d brought to his country for a short time.

A surge of guilt threatened to break through the box inside and crush her. If she left now Basam might never fully trust a woman again, her deal with him broken, her promise to him voided. But if she stayed she’d hurt him a whole lot more. His reputation would be in tatters.

“Well?” the other woman prompted. “What’s your answer?”

She looked at the other woman without really seeing her. “How soon can you get me home?”

Chapter Fourteen

Amber dropped her pen and folded her letter, her vision blurry and her emotions stark. She didn’t want to leave Basam, not like this. But what choice did she have? He’d hate her if she left. He’d hate her even more if she stayed and he had to deal with a scandal that would rock his status as sheikh.

She sniffled, placing her letter onto her pillow where he’d see it before she placed the jewelry beside it. If her words didn’t turn him away, seeing her abandon her gifts just like she was abandoning him should do the trick.

As much as a part of her longed for him to chase after her and beg for her to return, she knew it was an impossible dream. Being with him again meant having her family’s dark past exposed and creating a mess that not even Basam could clean up. It was a no-win situation all round.

She sighed heavily, looking around the bedroom one last time to imprint it on her brain. Then grabbing her suitcase, she wheeled it behind her and stepped through the lounge room and dining room, then finally through the sitting room where she pushed open the double doors and stepped through.

The two men standing guard looked at one another before one of them asked, “Basam knows you’re leaving?”

She lifted her chin. “He will soon enough.” She managed a smile that trembled at the corners of her lips. “Take care of him for me, won’t you?”

The guard nodded uneasily, the other one shuffling his feet. They clearly didn’t want her to go, but they’d also clearly been told not to interfere. She was, after all, here of her own free will.

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