by Holly Rayner
Chapter 10
Masoud
Masoud normally worked for about half the time in the air when he flew. The flight was long enough for him to catch up on a few things and still arrive in Al Hayla rested and ready to go.
He went straight from the airport to the restaurant where he had made a reservation. The local five-star favorite was more than willing to offer their best table to members of the royal family, and when Masoud arrived, the owner of the restaurant met him at the door and showed him to their table.
His mother arrived a few minutes later and was escorted over by the owner’s wife. The woman offered her best wishes as she left the table, and Masoud stood to greet his mother, the Sheikha.
Reya Al-Saffar was beautiful, with long black hair that didn’t have even a hint of grey and warm brown eyes that sparkled. Masoud stood up as she approached. She held out her arms to her son and Masoud gladly embraced her.
“Happy birthday, Mother.” Masoud handed her a large bouquet of flowers, a pretty mix of purple and white orchids and roses, which were his mother’s favorite flowers.
Reya took the bouquet with a wide smile. “Thank you, my dear. They’re lovely.”
“Just like you,” Masoud said as he held the chair for her.
Anyone who had met Reya would be able to tell where Masoud got his grin. “I look pretty good for my age, don’t I?”
“You look good for any age, Mother. I’m hoping I take after you as I get older.”
She laughed. “I won’t tell your father you said that.”
“Tell him I got his business sense.”
Reya patted his hand. “That’s true. You’ve done the family proud running the company.”
Masoud hesitated. “Speaking of work…”
She didn’t let him finish and leaned over to pat his hand. “Why don’t you save the report for later? I want to hear all about the new town you’re living in. It sounds like quite the place.”
“It is. Small-town America is far more charming than I thought it would be. The people are nice, and although the town isn’t large, there seems to be plenty to do there.”
The restaurant’s sommelier stopped next to the table, bowing slightly.
“My apologies for interrupting, sir. May I bring you something to drink?”
“Yes, please. Mother, a bottle of wine?”
“That sounds lovely.”
Masoud and the sommelier conferred, then selected a light white wine. The Sheikh thanked the man and then turned back to his mother, who was watching him patiently. He knew what she was going to ask before she said it.
“Have you met anyone in town?”
“I have, actually. It’s hard not to run into people, and I’ve gotten to know several of the townspeople.”
She let his evasion go for the moment, but Masoud knew she would circle back again later during dinner.
After they ordered, Masoud asked after his father.
“He sends his love and said he’ll call you before you fly back tomorrow.”
“How is Uncle Tamir?” His father’s younger brother, who lived in Paris, was recovering from surgery. Asif Al-Saffar had traveled to stay with him.
“He’s doing well, almost back on his feet. Your father expects to be back home in a few days.”
“And he’s taking you someplace fantastic to make up for missing your birthday?” Masoud teased her.
Reya gave him an admonishing look. “I told him he should go. And yes. We’re going to Zurich for the weekend and then a lovely chalet in the Alps for the rest of the week.”
“Good. We can compare mountain ranges.”
“I thought the town wasn’t actually in the mountains?”
“It’s not, really. More just on the edge of the Sierra Nevada range. The view is rather stunning, anywhere you go in town.”
“Tell me more about the people in town. Do you have neighbors?”
“I do, actually. The town’s veterinarian, who also runs a sheep farm, lives next door.”
“A sheep farm? Fascinating.”
“Leila watches the flock from the backyard. She’s enthralled with them. If I’m not careful, she’s going to run off to become a sheepdog.”
His mother laughed. “I’m glad you’re both settling in nicely. Did you bring her with you?”
It always amused Masoud that his mother asked after Leila almost like she was asking after…maybe not a child, but at least a close personal friend. He knew that she wanted him to develop closer relationships with people, but Reya was happy he at least had some kind of companionship in his life.
“I left her with my vet neighbor, actually. Trust me, she loves it there.”
Reya looked interested. “Tell me about the vet.”
Masoud had no idea how she did it, but somehow, Reya knew about Kelsie. Not specifically, but she had figured out that the vet wasn’t just a random next-door neighbor. Masoud wasn’t going to get out of the conversation, so he tried to keep it as neutral as possible.
“Her name is Kelsie Mack. She’s from Rancho Cordero, and her father started the sheep farm. She took over for him when he passed away a few years ago. Her clinic is there at the house.”
“Mmm-hmm. How old is she?” His mother’s question sounded innocent, but Masoud knew better.
“Mother, you do know why I’m in Rancho Cordero, right? I need to focus on business. I won’t be there long, anyway.”
Reya shrugged. “You can’t work all the time, my dear. You need to focus on your personal life, too.”
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea, Mother. If plans for the mine go through, I need to be able to negotiate with the whole town equally. I can’t do that if I have an established personal relationship with one of the town’s residents.”
His mother looked thoughtful. “I can understand that. But Masoud, you have to choose to want something more than work.”
“And I will, I promise. But right now, I need to focus on the business. I want to make you and Father proud of the work I’m doing.”
Reya leaned across the table and patted his hand. “And we are proud of you. But I also want you to be happy, to have a family of your own.”
Masoud nodded at his mother. “When the time is right, it will happen. Until then, I’m going to concentrate on doing what I do best. And tonight, that means making sure you have a good birthday.”
Reya looked at him for a moment and then relented. “I’m having a wonderful birthday. I’m so glad you’re home.”
Masoud called the server over and they ordered dinner. Over the meal, he told his mother about Rancho Cordero and the people who lived there. The Sheikha was intrigued and asked him more about the town’s workings. He should have known that she would want to know more about the infrastructure that made Rancho Cordero work—his mother was one of his uncle’s closest policy advisors.
She was especially interested in the fact that the town’s closest school wasn’t in Rancho Cordero. Her questions made Masoud think more about looking into the local education system; if his company could offer a higher standard of living for the mine workers, it might be easier to hire and retain them.
After dinner and dessert, which the restaurant owner brought out personally, Masoud kissed his mother’s cheek and wished her a happy birthday again. He took his keys from the valet and got into the car. As he pulled out into the city traffic, he had a flash thought of Kelsie reaching over to turn on the radio in her truck.
He flipped the radio on, but it wasn’t the same without her there. Masoud wondered what she’d make of his home. Would she like it there, in the city? Would she like the beaches or the little villages that dotted the coast?
He missed her. It was implausible that he could develop feelings for someone so quickly, but Kelsie had awakened something in him that he hadn’t expected. She was lovely, inside and out, and he already cared for her. He cared what she thought of him.
Which was why a relationship with her was likely impossible. She loved Rancho Cordero, and
he wanted to turn the town into a mine. If his plan worked, he would ruin the stunning scenery and peacefulness of the whole area.
Could he do that to her? As he’d told his mother, he didn’t want a personal relationship with one of the town’s residents to influence his thinking. At first, he thought that meant giving her a better deal, but now, he wondered: if he started dating Kelsie, would he be able to go through with his plans at all?
But he did want a relationship. He wanted all the things his mother kept pushing him to find. He just wasn’t sure he could have those things with Kelsie.
When he got to his penthouse, the apartment felt cold and impersonal. It might have been because he’d been away for a few weeks, but Masoud thought it was more likely that it was because he’d become accustomed to his old, slightly worn house with a view of mountains and sheep. He didn’t even have Leila there to make it feel like home.
He tried to shake himself out of the mood he’d developed. Here he was, a grown man, missing his dog and his house and the girl next door. It was absurd. All he needed to do was finish the project and get out of Rancho Cordero. Once his work on the mine project was complete, he could come back to Al Hayla, maybe stay there for a while. Or, maybe he’d get a place in San Francisco, something that felt more like home, so he could remind himself why he liked the city.
Then, he could focus on a relationship. Someone who would understand his business and his lifestyle. She probably wouldn’t tell him ghost stories or fix him scrambled eggs, but Masoud convinced himself he was fine with that. He could still be happy.
As he tried to go to sleep, though, he couldn’t help but think of who was waiting for him at home. And how home, in his mind, was a tiny town by the name of Rancho Cordero.
Chapter 11
Kelsie
After their visit to the ghost town, Masoud had picked up Leila and said that he’d drop her off before he left the next morning. He’d added a reserved goodbye to Kelsie, almost as an afterthought, and walked back over to his house.
Kelsie had run her errands and checked off a list of things she’d wanted to take care of on her day off. Several times, she had started over to his house to talk to him about what had happened between them, only to shake her head, take a few steps, then stop abruptly.
Confused about his human’s actions, Cowboy had butted his head against her leg more than once to try to comfort her. Kelsie finally sat down and Cowboy jumped up in her lap, which always made her laugh because he was definitely not lap-dog sized. She got a lick on her chin when she giggled at his antics, so she gave him a big hug, hiding her face in the dog’s fur and taking comfort in the uncomplicated love from the animal.
Normally, her Sunday evening routine involved watching a bit of television and catching up on a few chores around the house. It was a moment of downtime in her busy week that she enjoyed. But that night, she couldn’t settle. The shows on TV didn’t keep her attention and none of the chores she needed to do were so important that she could focus on them for more than a minute or two.
From her window upstairs, she could see the lights on at Masoud’s place. She tried not to overtly watch his house, because it felt intrusive, but it was the first thing she saw when she looked out the window in her kitchen. She couldn’t help but notice that Masoud spent a lot of time in the room Kelsie thought was his office, and once again, she was curious about what he actually did for work.
A few people who lived in Rancho Cordero worked remotely, so Kelsie didn’t think anything of Masoud working from his home. As an investor, it probably didn’t matter where he did most of his work. And as a prince, it was entirely possible that he didn’t have to work, at least not at a typical job.
She didn’t get the sense that he was embarrassed about his job, just that he didn’t want to talk about it. But all she could think was that it was something Masoud wasn’t telling her that had kept him from kissing her.
Kelsie went to bed feeling confused, and when she woke up the next morning, she still felt like she was missing something. She busied herself getting the clinic ready for the day, asking Francesca to handle the outside chores that morning.
Because she was outside when he arrived, Francesca was the one who saw Masoud before he left. She took Leila, turning her loose in the yard with Cowboy. Masoud didn’t stay long, and when Francesca came back into the clinic, it didn’t take her long to ask Kelsie what was up.
“You’ve been distracted all morning, Peep. What happened between the two of you yesterday?”
Kelsie sighed, frustrated. “Nothing.”
Francesca laughed. “There’s no way nothing happened. He looked like he was expecting to be bit if he set foot in the house this morning, and you look like you don’t know what to do.”
“Because I don’t know what to do!” Kelsie threw her hands up in despair.
Francesca sat the tray she was setting up down on the counter and went into the other room. When she came back, she was carrying two mugs of coffee. She sat one of the mugs down in front of Kelsie and nodded at the chair closest to her.
“Okay. You don’t have any patients for another hour and the sheep are all taken care of. Talk.”
Kelsie did as she was told and sat down. She picked up the mug and cradled it.
“Nothing happened yesterday,” Kelsie started.
“And that’s the problem,” Francesca replied.
Kelsie nodded. “I mean, I know we’re going to run into each other. Next-door neighbors in a small town. Of course, we’re going to continually be crossing paths. But he genuinely seemed to be finding reasons to see me—asking me to give him a tour, cooking me dinner…”
“Wait.” Francesca held up a commanding hand. “He cooked you dinner?”
Kelsie shrugged. “This is what happens when you leave for a few minutes. He asked me to show him around town and then offered to cook me dinner in return.”
Francesca’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “Okay, that is definitely sounding like he’s finding reasons to spend time with you.”
“I know, right? And dinner was good. I mean, it tasted good—he’s a great cook. But it was also good. Like, I’ve-never-had-so-much-fun good. And I know asking me to keep Leila isn’t about me…”
“I don’t know, Kelsie. You don’t just leave your dog with anyone.”
“Okay, true. But still, I’m the neighbor and a vet, so it’s not just me personally.”
“Fair enough. Though, still think it means something that he asked.”
Kelsie tilted her head from side to side. “I’ll give you that. But, then, yesterday at the ghost town, he was so sweet and so—I don’t know—close. And he almost kissed me. We almost kissed.”
“Why didn’t you?” Francesca studied her best friend, trying to decipher what she wasn’t saying.
“He pulled back. And I don’t know if it means he doesn’t feel that way, or if he just doesn’t want to get involved with anyone while he’s here.”
Francesca put down her coffee mug. “You make it sound like he’s temporary. Didn’t he buy the house?”
Kelsie sighed. “He did, but I don’t know. He talks like he’s not planning on being here long. Oh, and I haven’t told you the other part of the news.”
Francesca raised her eyebrows and waited.
With a flourish, Kelsie said, “He’s royalty.”
“He’s what?” Francesca leaned forward in the chair, her feet landing with a thud on the floor.
“Oh, yeah. He’s the nephew of the ruling sheikh of his country. So, he’s basically a prince. Sheikh. You know, royalty.”
Francesca sat back again and crossed her arms. “Wow. That’s… Wow.”
“Right? So, what’s a member of royalty doing in Rancho Cordero? But other than that one tricky question, he seems perfect.”
Francesca shrugged. “Does it matter?”
Kelsie glanced up and sideways, like she could find the answer somewhere up near the ceiling.
“On one hand,
yes. I mean, it’s a little bothering that he’s being secretive about his reasons for being here. On the other, I just met him and we hardly know each other, so, no, I don’t expect him to tell me everything.”
“Then don’t worry about it yet. He likes you, even if he’s holding back. You wanted him to kiss you, right?” Kelsie nodded and Francesca added, “Then tell him that. Or just kiss him yourself!”
Kelsie thought about it for a minute and nodded, looking half-miserable.
“Okay.”
Francesca grinned at her. “For crying out loud, girl, have some with fun with this! He’s a sheikh and he’s gorgeous and he’s into you. Enjoy yourself. It doesn’t have to be a serious thing.”
Kelsie huffed a laugh and Francesca kicked her leg out to poke at Kelsie’s foot with her boot.
“You deserve to have some fun. You work too hard and you never date. So, enjoy yourself. Worry about the big, serious stuff later.”
“You’re one to talk,” Kelsie admonished her friend. “When was the last time you went on a date?”
“Last week, thank you very much.”
“Why am I just now hearing about this?” Kelsie tried not to sound offended.
“Because, okay, it wasn’t a date, so much as it was accidentally running into Jacob and then getting coffee with him.”
Francesca’s on-again, off-again boyfriend was a lawyer who lived in Silver City. He’d grown up in the area and gone to high school with the girls, but had left for a few years to attend college on the East Coast. He’d moved back to Silver City about the same time as Kelsie had opened her clinic. He and Francesca hadn’t dated in high school, but when they’d met again as adults, sparks had flown.
“So, what does that mean?” Kelsie asked pointedly.
Francesca tried to deflect. “That we were both sufficiently caffeinated?”
Kelsie rolled her eyes. “Are you two getting back together?” She waited a moment then added, “Again?”
“I don’t know.”
Her friend looked miserable and Kelsie could sympathize. Francesca didn’t see herself ever getting married, while Jacob had a picture in his head of a white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. Francesca wanted the sheep farm and cottage and him, but not the big family life. Kelsie thought if they could meet somewhere in the middle, they would be great together, but neither of them seemed to be able to get past their idea of a “perfect” relationship.