by Leslie North
Confused, she stared at him. “Do you want to dance?”
“You want to dance.”
Frustrated, she shook her head. “This is a bad idea. You should probably take me home.”
“Tamrin,” he said softly. “I would not be here if I didn’t want to be. I’m not in the habit of taking out beautiful women simply because they ask. And I would not be asking you to dance unless I wanted to dance with you. I’m a man of power. I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do.”
The flutter in her chest came back, and she took his hand. “In that case, I’d be more than happy to dance with you, Sheikh Jaymin.”
They took a small path down the hill, and more than once, she stumbled on her heels. He wrapped a hand around her waist and steadied her. “Careful,” he whispered in her ear.
His breath was hot, and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of being near him. For a moment, he wasn’t one of the most powerful men in the country. He was her date, and he smelled delicious.
On the dance floor, she flowed into his arms like they danced all the time. “Did you take lessons? You’re better than the last time we danced.”
“I was perfect the last time we danced,” he said with a grin. “And I’ve been far too busy to take lessons. You, on the other hand, are much more susceptible to my touch.”
She hitched her breath as he pulled her closer. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating,” she said as she moved her hand suggestively up his back. His hand rested low on her waist, and she wanted him to move just a little lower. His breath was hot on her neck, but he didn’t kiss her again.
“You’re the one who wore the red dress,” he murmured softly.
“What’s wrong with my red dress?”
“Believe me, there isn’t a single thing wrong with your red dress.”
Tamrin laughed and closed her eyes. The music embraced them, and she let him lead her around the dance floor. Everything melted away except the way that she felt in his arms. Safe. Secure.
Desired.
When the music finally ended, she pulled away and stared at him. “Take me back, Jaymin,” she said seductively.
“My pleasure,” he murmured.
Keeping his arm around her waist, he led her back to the limousine. This time, he sat next to her rather than across and put a hand on her knee. Without any hesitation, she swung her legs over him and he leaned down for a kiss.
Unlike last time, she didn’t pull away. As she gripped his jacket with one fist, she slid her arm under and tried to get closer. Opening to him, she invited him in, and he didn’t hesitate. As his tongue swept in, she lost herself in the heat.
When he pulled away, she whimpered and moved so that she straddled him. There was no doubt in her mind that he wanted her. He was hard as a rock as he gripped her hips and stared deeply into her eyes.
“Careful, Tamrin, or you’re going to give my driver a show.”
“There’s a partition for a reason,” she said as she reached up and hit the button to raise it. Alone, she leaned over and pressed another kiss on his lips.
Suddenly, he changed his grip on her and slowly moved her off his lap. Frowning, she pulled the hem of her dress back down and stared at him. “Okay,” she said uncertainly as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “I guess I read that situation wrong.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you, Tamrin,” he said quietly. “It’s just that we have a lot going on.”
“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. Embarrassment stained her cheeks. She knew when she was being rejected, although it didn’t happen very often. Turning away from him, she stared out the open window. If she could move to another seat without looking too obvious, she would.
“Tamrin,” he whispered as he touched her shoulder.
“Jaymin, it’s fine,” she said sharply. “I’m an adult. I can handle the word no. You don’t have to try to candy coat it. It’s fine. You should be focusing on who stole my damn amulet.”
They rode in silence until they reached the palace. She couldn’t get out of the limousine fast enough. “By too much going on, I meant the limousine, Tamrin. I was going to invite you back to my place.”
Closing her eyes, she stopped short in front of the door. Wow. She’d really read that one wrong. “My apologies,” she said, without turning around. “But that doesn’t change anything. You have other things to focus on, and I shouldn’t be getting in the way of that.”
Leaving him standing on the sidewalk, she made her way into the foyer and breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her.
“Great,” she muttered to herself. “Now, I have to figure out how to come back from that giant mistake.”
One thing was for sure. She would not be telling her father about this.
7
Although Jaymin had extended an invitation to Tamrin and her father to join him for breakfast, he dined alone the next morning. It was just as well. He had several folders of information spread out in front of him. Pushing his plate away, he pulled out his phone. “Kaz, can you join me and explain to me what the hell I’m looking at?”
A few minutes later, the head of security joined him at the breakfast table. Jaymin spread out the photos from the camera on the day of the shooting. “You have a car with plates. Why haven’t you found the shooter?”
“It’s a stolen car,” Kaz said easily. “It was reported stolen three days before the actual shooting, and it was dumped right after. We called the investigators, and they’ve combed over it, but it’s been wiped clean. As of right now, it’s a dead end.”
“Damn it,” Jaymin muttered as he gathered the photos up. “Fine. You were out following a lead yesterday. Did you turn up anything about the girl?”
Kaz pursed his lips and stared at him.
“What?” Jaymin asked. “What is it? Just tell me.”
“I was going over the guest list, looking to see if someone showed up without an invitation, and I did find someone. Two someones.”
Jaymin waited for him to continue, but Kaz fell silent. “I would say what, but I’d feel like I’m repeating myself,” he growled.
“Neither Tamrin nor Sean Lewis were on the guest list, and none of the staff knows how they got in.”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation for it,” Jaymin said quietly. “People crash parties all the time.”
Kaz reached into his briefcase and pulled out a file. “That’s true. I wanted to clear them, Jaymin. I really did, but the more I looked into them, the less I found. This is all I have on Tamrin Lewis and her father.”
Jaymin stared at the folder but didn’t move to open it. “I’m looking for the person who stole Tamrin’s necklace and shot at them. I am not here to investigate the Lewis family.”
“Jaymin, if you don’t look at the file, I’m going to have to take it to the crowned sheikh. I don’t want to go over your head, but you invited the Lewis family into this house without investigating them. It’s my job to vet everyone who comes near you and your family, and I’m telling you that something isn’t right,” Kaz said tightly.
Sighing, Jaymin reached over and grabbed the folder. Kaz wasn’t wrong. If he’d found something strange about the Lewis family, it was his responsibility to look into it.
The contents were skimpy. A residential address that went back two years and an employment listing for a temp agency for Tamrin. No birth certificates. No medical records. No driver’s licenses, and no education history.
“Just because there isn’t a lot of information about them doesn’t make them criminals,” Jaymin said as he closed the folder. “The open policy of this country allows refugees from everywhere to settle here, and there are quite a few families who don’t have records of their birth because they couldn’t make it to the hospitals. Sean Lewis is a freelancer, and he obviously moves around a lot. They use the public transportation and don’t require a license to drive. And we can make an assumption that Tamrin was homeschooled. This is not an implicat
ion of anything.”
“You’re not wrong,” Kaz said with a nod, “but something about it doesn’t add up. I have a bad feeling about it.”
Jaymin glowered at him. “Until you have evidence to back up your bad feeling, I don’t want to hear any more about it. And since I’m keeping my father at the embassy in Abu Dhabi until we have more information, you answer to me, Kaz. I’m telling you to put this away and focus on the crimes that were committed on my property. Do you understand?”
“Crystal clear,” Kaz ground out as he reached across the table and grabbed the file. “But while I answer to you, your father hired me to protect this family. Until I feel more at ease with the situation, you aren’t to be alone with her. Ever.”
Jaymin opened his mouth to object, but Kaz was already waving his hand. A guard came into the dining room and assumed a stand just inside the doorway. “Kaz,” Jaymin said warningly.
“Allow me to assign you a man, and I’ll keep this from your father, for now.”
Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn’t alone with Tamrin. It appeared that he only tended to mess things up anyway. “Fine. Is there anything else that you need to report?”
“I had the investigators go through the trash from the party, and they found a black wig, but there are no clothes accompanying it.”
“Great. So now we can narrow it down to everyone who doesn’t have black hair,” Jaymin muttered. Actually, that wasn’t bad. Although there was an eclectic group of people at the party, the majority of the guests were Middle Eastern. So that actually did rule out quite a few people. “Check into all the women at the party who don’t have black hair, but be discreet, Kaz. I don’t want you outright accusing anyone of stealing from us. There were too many prominent guests, and no one will ever come to one of our events again.”
Kaz nodded and collected the information. Left alone with his new guard, Jaymin stared at his uneaten food. Tamrin seemed to be so open and honest. She’d given Jaymin no reason to distrust her.
Pushing it from his mind, he got up and headed toward his office.
His new shadow wasn’t that far behind.
“Sheikh Khalidizack?”
Jaymin hesitated in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. A member of his staff held a phone up in the air. “Your father is on line one for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll take it in the office,” he said as he closed the door behind him. There were no windows in his office, and his new guard stayed just outside the door. Once he saw the light blinking on his phone, he took a deep breath and picked it up. “Father?” he asked.
“Jaymin, I don’t really enjoy spending time at the embassy. When the hell can I come home?” Quadir asked in a grumpy voice.
“You can come home whenever you like, but I think the safest place for you is at the embassy. And since everything on your schedule for the next week can be accomplished from there, I see no reason for you to be here,” Jaymin said patiently. “I’m working as quickly as I can to remedy the situation.”
“A stolen necklace doesn’t usually lead to a shooting. Get it together, Jaymin.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you don’t, I’ll order your brothers back to assist you,” his father threatened.
Jaymin stiffened. His father never questioned how he ran his portion of the responsibilities, and he wasn’t about to have him start now. “I’m handling it,” he said, harsher than he expected. Taking a deep breath, he tried to regain control. “My apologies, sir. I will keep you apprised of the situation, and if I think I need a fresh set of eyes on the issue, I’ll be sure to contact Masoud and Adil.”
“These people who you are protecting. Do you trust them?”
Jaymin thought back to the folder that Kaz had just shown him. He didn’t want to distrust the Lewis family, but he didn’t want his father to doubt his frame of mind. “I’m protecting them because they were victimized in our home, but I’m still taking all necessary precautions,” he said finally.
“I trust you, Jaymin. Don’t let me down,” Quadir said. “Keep them away from your mother.”
His father hung up, and Jaymin sat back in the chair and breathed a sigh of relief. His mother, Nabila, never left the palace. She suffered from early-onset dementia and believed that she was a young girl. Visits from any family member who reminded her otherwise upset her, and it had been a few days since Jaymin had seen her.
She resided in another part of the palace that was well-hidden and well-protected. Jaymin had no concerns that her safety was in jeopardy. Most people didn’t even know that she was there.
Before he could relax too much and dive into his work for the day, there was a knock on the door.
“Enter,” he said, annoyed.
“Sir. There is a Sean Lewis here to see you,” the guard said as he poked his head in the door.
“Let him in. He’s a guest here,” Jaymin muttered frantically. He didn’t want the Lewis family to know why he’d upped his security.
The guard stepped back and let Sean in. To his horror, the guard moved inside the office and closed the door behind him. Sean turned and frowned at the guard. “Do you have one of these follow you around everywhere?”
“Until the shooting is resolved, the security is on high alert. Please try not to pay too much attention to it. How can I help you, Mr. Lewis?”
Sean pursed his lips and slid into the chair across from the desk. “I wanted to look at the study you were talking about yesterday, but the door was locked.”
“Right. Sorry about that. The study isn’t usually open. I’ll have a staff member unlock it for you so you can have access. Is there anything else?”’
“Are you in a hurry?”
Jaymin chuckled and leaned forward as he clasped his hands on the desk. “I don’t mean to sound short with you. I have quite a bit on my plate with all the new changes my father has made in recent policies not to mention my own education agenda. But I am more than happy to listen to any concerns that you have while you reside under my roof.”
Sean seemed pleased with his apology. “I get it. You’re a busy man. And I know that the shooting is high priority on your list, but I don’t think it’s anything more than something random. My daughter and I certainly don’t have the kind of enemies that usually result in shooting. I am, however, quite concerned about getting that necklace returned. I’m afraid I had an altercation with the insurance company last month regarding a change in the policy, and I refused to make the payment on principle. That is proving to be a poor decision on my part, as they are now refusing to pay for the theft.”
Jaymin’s eyes widened. “Oh, that is a problem. Well, my lawyers are at your disposal if you’d like one of them to review the contract for you. I’m sure we can find a reason to take them to court if we have to.”
“Sheikh Khalidizack, I don’t really want to spend that much time and effort to take an insurance company to court. I want that necklace back, and I was assured when it was stolen that you were going to put every effort into finding it, but since I’ve gotten here, you’ve had nothing new to report.”
Jaymin felt a streak of annoyance as he stared at Sean. It was on the tip of his tongue to point out that the safety of his daughter’s life should be more important than the man’s need to have a necklace returned, but people tended to react differently in horrifying situations. Sean was, no doubt, transferring his fear into anger, and it was Jaymin’s responsibility to make the man feel better.
“Mr. Lewis, I promise that we are putting every effort into discovering who stole the necklace and who shot at you. I’m not quite ready to separate the two as mutually exclusive. I spoke with the head of my security this morning and discussed some leads that he’s following. When I have something to report, you’ll be the first to know.”
Sean stared at him for a moment as if he didn’t believe him. Finally, he slapped the palms of his hands on the arms of his chair and stood. “Very well. I’m sure you’re doing everything you can. I’
d like to take you up on that offer to view the study. Would it also be okay if I tour the grounds?”
“Please. Make yourself at home,” Jaymin said as he placed a call to his assistant. “If you’ll wait outside, someone will escort you shortly.”
He stood and gestured to the guard to open the door. Holding out his hand, he shook Sean’s firmly. “How is your daughter this morning?”
Sean cocked his head and twisted his lips. “I don’t know. She hasn’t left her room this morning. Apparently, she’s feeling ill. Perhaps your dinner last night didn’t sit well with her.”
As Jaymin shut the door, he couldn’t help but feel the guilt twist in his gut. He should have taken the time to try to apologize to her again this morning, but this wasn’t a situation that he’d ever been in before. Women didn’t expect him to apologize the night after because they knew what he was able to give them.
Which, in most cases, wasn’t much. Jaymin didn’t date, so he never indulged in more than a one-night stand.
Angrily, he clenched his teeth and sat at his desk. He’d handled last night fine, and he had too much on his plate to worry about coddling her feelings. Still, as he turned on his computer and started scrolling through his emails, he couldn’t shake her from his mind.
8
“Sir? There is a Tamrin Lewis here to see you.”
Jaymin rubbed his eyes and sat back in his chair. He’d reviewed the video footage from the shooting over and over for the last two hours, but he still hadn’t seen anything new. “Send her in.”
Standing, he pulled his jacket back on and buttoned it. He’d spent all morning trying to decide whether he needed to apologize to her or lecture her.
Or rather, he just wanted to bend her over his desk and satisfy every fantasy that had been rolling through his head since he’d laid eyes on her.
“Tamrin. I’m glad to see you. How was your morning?” he asked formally and immediately winced. She’d probably be upset that he was acting so reserved toward her.