by Romancing the Crown Series (13-in-1 bundle) (v1. 0) (lit)
Kitty's almost jovial expression gradually changed. "Well crap," she drawled. "You really liked him, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Elena breathed. "How lame is that?"
"It's all my fault," Kitty said, pushing her plate back. "I never should have insisted that you accept his first dinner invitation, or suggested that you wear the red dress, and I certainly shouldn't have told you that the hunky sheik had potential. I should have minded my own business."
Elena managed a half smile. "That would be a switch."
"I just.. .hate to see you alone."
"You're alone," Elena said. "Why is it so different for me?"
"I had my shot," Kitty said softly. "Rich and I had twelve years together before he died. If the right man ever comes along again, I'll know it the minute I see him and I'll take my chances. You..." she wagged a fork at Elena, imitating Elena's earlier gesture. "In business you fight like a pit bull, but when it comes to your personal life you give up too soon. You don't even give yourself a chance."
"Well, I took a chance this time and see where it got me?"
Kitty smiled. "Yeah, but it was a great week, wasn't it?"
Elena managed another half smile. It had been a great week. Confusing, mind-bending, topsy-turvy.. .and great. When the phone rang, she jumped up and snatched the receiver from the kitchen wall phone. "Hello."
"Elena..."
She quickly hung up and turned her eyes to Kitty. "Hassan," she explained.
"Oh," Kitty said, picking at her garlic bread as the phone rang again.
Elena let the phone ring five times before she answered. Why had she switched off the answering machine? Oh yeah, she didn't want to hear what Hassan had to say. She didn't want those sweet, cajoling words recorded for posterity.
"Listen..." she said sharply.
"Elena, please."
It was the please that kept her from immediately hanging up again. Hassan was not a man to beg, to say please and thank you. And she did love the sound of his voice, traitorous as it was.
"Stop calling here," she said, hanging up quickly. Before she could so much as take a deep breath, the phone rang again.
Elena snatched the receiver off the wall. "Mr. Kamal," she said sharply.
"Hayati," he whispered.
My love. Her heart leapt into her throat. "I can't believe you..."
"I can't explain," he said softly. "Not now, but one day, one day everything will be clear. Trust me."
"I can't," she said, turning her back on Kitty and resting her forehead against the wall, closing her eyes and trying to make her heartbeat slow. "I can't trust you." But she wanted to. She wanted, so much, to trust Hassan with her heart and her life.
The connection was severed, and Elena opened her eyes to see that Kitty stood there with her finger on the hook.
"Why am I here?" Kitty asked.
"To keep me from doing anything stupid."
"Exactly." Kitty took the phone from Elena, and when it rang again she answered. "Rahman residence." Her smile widened. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kamal. Miss Rahman can't come to the phone right now." She shook her
head as she listened to Hassan. Elena returned to the kitchen table and sat. It was just as well that Kitty dealt with Hassan tonight. Tomorrow she would be stronger, more in control. Tomorrow she'd have the backbone to handle him herself. Tonight she didn't.
"Mr. Kamal," Kitty said calmly. "If you do come over here, be warned that I have the scissors I used to cut up your flowers this afternoon, and they can and will be used to cut up other offensive offerings, if necessary." She listened a moment. "A threat? Of course not."
"Excuse me? I don't speak Arabic." She took the phone from her ear and stared at it a moment before returning it to the hook. "Huh. He hung up. Before that I think he said something vulgar, but I can't be sure."
Wearing a forced smile, Kitty sat down and picked up her fork. "I don't think he'll be calling back. Not tonight."
"Good," Elena said halfheartedly.
"He'll probably be on a plane for Tamir tomorrow morning."
Elena nodded and sniffled.
"That's a good thing, right?"
Elena nodded again, but couldn't speak. Her heart was caught in her throat.
"So why do you look like I just broke your favorite toy?"
Elena lifted her eyes. "Tonight you're my friend, not my assistant."
"Right."
"So anything I say to you stays right here in this kitchen."
"You got it."
Elena's lower lip trembled. "I think I love him."
* * *
Hassan quickly typed in the message, his eyes on the laptop screen. Nothing was completely safe, and he didn't trust e-mail at all, so he kept the message short and safe.
Rashid,
I have made some progress with Rahman, but this is a more tedious prospect than I expected. I need a few more days. Complications have arisen, but I have them well in hand. Will call on Wednesday, as planned.
He had to let Rashid believe there were no problems. Otherwise, big brother was likely to show up and ruin everything. He sent the e-mail, and then brought up a new message box. After staring at the blank form for a moment he typed in Elena's e-mail address. It was easy to remember. EJRahman at the company website. Did she check it herself? Or was that Kitty's job? If it was the secretary's job, Elena might never see this message. Still, he had to try. She wouldn't talk to him on the phone, she wouldn't speak to him in person.. .at least not yet.
Elena,
Give me a chance to explain. Wednesday night, 8:00, Leon's. P.S. Wear the red dress.
He wanted to see Elena now, but the extra day would serve two purposes. She would have a chance to calm down, and he could catch up on his sleep. Besides, he had an appointment with Yusuf Rahman tomorrow night. It was just as well that Elena not know of the meeting, since she would rightly assume that the subject would be her marital future.
Asking for Elena's hand in marriage had felt oddly right, even though it was a ploy, a way to get into El-Malak's good graces. It was as if he could see it, this lifetime with Elena.
There was nothing wrong with marriage. The institution seemed to agree with Rashid, and Hassan would celebrate when his sisters married. It was right and proper for them each to find a good man and wed. But he had never been able to see himself married, with a wife and children. There was so much else to be done, so many things to do and places to see.
But at the moment none of that mattered. He would trade it all for a lifetime with Elena. A shocking thought. Especially when he considered that when she realized he had been sent here to spy on her, she would be furious—and rightly so. Trust was as much a part of a romantic partnership as love. He had done nothing to earn Elena's trust.
And as much as he wanted to, he still couldn't tell her the truth. His country had to come before a woman, any woman. His promise to Rashid and their father could not be broken, not even for Elena.
The truth would have to wait.
* * *
By the time Elena arrived at work Tuesday morning, all signs of last night's moment of weakness were gone. She was dry-eyed and stiff-spined and strictly business. Inside, she didn't feel so great, but no one would ever know it. Not even Kitty, who saw so much.
She sat down at her computer and checked her e-mail. There were several, and all of them pertained to business. All but one.
She left the others for later and opened Hassan's message. Shaking her head in disbelief, she read the note again. He didn't even ask her to dinner; instead he demanded. Leon's. 8:00. You couldn't even call the curt e-mail an invitation. It was more like a command performance. In spite of his playboy reputation, the man had a lot to learn about dealing with women. Well, she wasn't going to be the one to teach him!
The man was hopeless.
Before she got through the rest of her e-mail, Hassan's edict always in the back of her mind, her father stormed into her office. As always, a lit cigarette dangled from his hand. Elena suspe
cted that was the real reason her father left the operation of the refinery to her. He couldn't smoke on site.
It was rare that he would make an appearance two days in a row. Even more unusual that both of those visits had been made alone, with only his driver, Salem, who waited with the car, accompanying him. Her father usually showed up with at least one of two of his pals in tow.
"Elena," he said, taking the chair on the opposite side of the desk and demanding her full attention. He waited until she had shut down her e-mail box before he continued. "I would like to speak to you about Sheik Hassan."
"I have nothing to say about Mr. Kamal," she said, her voice calm and just a little curt.
"You've thought all along that the merger was a good idea, have you not?"
"I didn't realize the partnership included being handed over on a silver platter. I didn't know becoming a good little wife would be part of the bargain." Her temper flared, and her voice was no longer calm. "This isn't Maloun, and we're not living in the nineteenth century. You can't make me a part of the deal."
Her father remained calm. "And if I insist?"
Elena shook her head. "How can you insist?"
"I have never asked sacrifices of you, Elena," he said, trying to make her feel guilty. "I have pampered you, indulged you, allowed you to become the Westernized woman I see before me. But you are still my daughter, and if I insist that you marry Kamal, you will do so."
Elena leaned back in her chair. "A few days ago, you didn't think taking on a member of the royal family as a limited partner was a good idea. Now you want to welcome him into the family? I don't get it."
Yusuf Rahman rarely smiled, but a crooked grin flitted across his face. "Marriage is different, Elena. Take Kamal as your husband, and you will be a member of the royal family. A princess. And as your father..." he waved his cigarette wielding hand across the desk. Something unexpected flickered in his eyes. Excitement. Anticipation. "Think of the power I would have, as father to a Tamiri princess."
"I'm not going to get married just so you can tell your friends that your daughter is a princess."
His smile died completely. "You obviously have no plans to marry for any reason. What difference would this marriage make to your life? You would remain CEO. I doubt that Kamal is looking for a traditional marriage. He would probably travel as much as he would live here."
Her father was perfectly willing to give her to Hassan, to force her to marry a man in order to get what he wanted. A few days ago, if someone had mentioned a lifetime with Hassan, she might have thought it was a lovely idea. But right now...
"This is your company," she said, calm once again. "If you want to take on Kamal as a business partner that's fine with me. But I am thirty years old, and when it comes to my personal life I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions."
"Are you?"
Elena stared at her father's stony face. "Yes."
"Only once in your adult life have you chosen a man you thought would make an acceptable husband." He sneered. "An American."
Elena's heart clenched. "That has nothing to do with this..."
"He died," her father snapped. "That marriage was not meant to be."
Anger rose up in her. How dare he try to use that tragic moment in her life to control her! "Johnny's death was a terrible accident. He was the victim of a violent crime, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Was he?" her father asked calmly. "It is a shame, but it seems that violent crimes happen all the time. Anyone might be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A secretary. A sheik. A CEO." With that he rose to his feet. "I have a meeting. Think over what I've said, Elena. I'll expect an answer soon."
Elena sat numbly at her desk while her father left the office. She remained there for a few silent moments. Had her father just threatened her life? And Kitty's? And Hassan's? When she was sure he was gone, she rose from her seat and walked into the outer office, where Kitty sat typing numbers into the computer.
"Get Cade on the phone for me," Elena said softly, her eyes on the empty doorway and the hall beyond.
"Sure," Kitty said, swiveling around and snatching the phone from its cradle. She had found the number in the Rolodex and punched in three numbers when Elena stopped her.
"Never mind," she said softly. "Maybe later." With that she returned to her office, closing the door behind her. What was wrong with her? Her imagination must be getting the best of her, thanks to not enough sleep and too much excitement in her usually tame personal life. Her father hadn't meant anything sinister by that final comment. He had just made a casual observation, and his dour mood gave that observation added meaning.
Her father had tried to marry her off before. If she said no often enough he'd eventually back down, as he always did.
Hassan didn't seem to be a man who backed down easily, Elena thought as she did her best to dismiss her personal problems and get to work. If he put everything he had into trying to convince her to become his wife, would she have the willpower to resist?
"Damn straight," she muttered.
Chapter 14
Tonight they met in Rahman's study without Elena present. Hassan had been a little nervous about returning to the Rahman estate, but Nawar remained wisely silent about his visit earlier in the day. She had done nothing more than cast one sideways glance his way. After that, she ignored him and performed her duties silently and quickly, spending no more time in the dining room or the study than was necessary.
Hassan had changed into an expensive suit, leaving his traditional clothing behind for this evening. Tonight's discussion of marriage was, after all, strictly business.
"Elena will come around," Rahman said as he leaned back in his leather chair. "She is stubborn, but she loves the company and will do what's best, no matter what the cost."
Hassan raised his eyebrows slightly, trying for a superior, condescending air. "I never imagined that she might consider marriage to me a great sacrifice. Most women would not."
Rahman waved off his concern. "Elena is a strange girl. She's tried to reject her heritage and be a modern, Western woman. But inside..." he nodded his gray head. "Inside she is more Malounian than American, and when I insist that she marry you she will comply." Rahman laid steely eyes on Hassan's face. "Still, you might want to romance her a little. In this country it is expected."
"I'll do my best," Hassan said lowly. It was clear that Rahman had no idea he and Elena had been spending time together away from the refinery. If he did.. .how would he react? Would he be outraged, or pleased? It was quite clear he was willing to force Elena into a marriage she did not want, for his own financial gain.
Rahman did not hide his distaste well. He smiled on occasion, he tried to act the pleased father. He had agreed to the marriage, and actually seemed to embrace the idea. But he still hated the Tamiri royal family. No doubt he thought he'd find himself in a prime position, once his daughter was a part of that family. He thought having a member of the Brothers inside the palace would be a grand idea. And still, Hassan could see the lingering hatred in the old man's eyes.
Hatred for an imagined injustice, many years ago. Hatred because Tamir was rich and Maloun was not. Anger, envy, hate.. .and still the old man smiled and offered his daughter. Was there anything El-Malak would not do to achieve his goals? Not from what Hassan had seen and learned of the terrorist.
Hassan wondered—if he did not know that Yusuf Rahman and El-Malak were one and the same and he married Elena, for love or for her refinery, how long would his life span be? A month? A year? How long before he suffered a tragic accident at the hands of the Brothers, or El-Malak himself? Once the money he offered was invested in the refinery and Elena was officially a member of the royal family, Hassan would no longer be needed. Would he meet a fate similar to that of Elena's Johnny? A bullet in the back of the head? Maybe a bomb in his truck or on a plane? Perhaps a butcher's knife in the heart?
What had Johnny's assassin whispered before he pulled
the trigger? Perhaps the young man had known, in those terrifying seconds before his death, that it was his beloved's father who took his life. Had Rahman been the one to execute Johnny? Or had he sent one of his men to do the deed? They might never know, but Hassan suspected El-Malak had seen to the chore himself.
Hassan no longer had any doubt that Elena was innocent. If she were involved with the Brothers she'd be more compliant where her father's demands were concerned. She would be here now, making plans for a wedding. But she wasn't here. She fought her father at every turn, and he had seen the distaste in her eyes, heard the hurt in her voice. No, she had no idea what her father did, what he had planned for her future.
If she knew what kind of man her father really was, she would not still be here, trying her best to please him.
No matter what happened in the days to come, he could not leave Elena here. Not as long as El-Malak lived.
* * *
Elena had spent most of the day at the refinery, so she stopped by the office still in her coveralls and steel-toed shoes. Her hair was pulled back, out of her face, and she wore no makeup. A smudge of grease, here and there, marred her coveralls, her hands and her face.
It had been a long day, and it had started badly, since she hadn't slept well last night. Her mind kept spinning, turning this way and that as she tried to find rest.
And tonight...tonight Hassan expected her to show up at Leon's for a romantic dinner. Let him wait. She had no intention of going anywhere tonight, but home to get little or no sleep.
As she stepped off the elevator, she heard Kitty's raised voice. "No, get them out of here!"
"But..." a young male voice began.
"No buts," Kitty interrupted. "If the boss gets here and finds this..." her eyes flitted to the doorway, and she sighed. "Too late. Damn."
Elena's eyes swept over the flowers that covered Kitty's desk. Roses, in several colors. Pink. Yellow. White. More mixed flowers, with orchids and birds-of-paradise dominating. Three vases full, that she could see. There were two more vases of flowers on the cart the young delivery boy had hauled with him.