‘You can’t think of any reason to stay?’ Kadir’s jaw hardened when she shook her head. ‘I thought you had enjoyed the days we spent together, and I know I gave you pleasure every night, just as you captivated me with your sensuality. We’re good together, Lexi.’
Pride forced her chin up to meet his gaze. ‘I don’t deny we had some fun. But it didn’t mean anything, did it? Now we know there is no baby it’s time to move on.’
She was leaving him. Kadir’s heart gave a painful jolt. In his mind he was seven years old, running down the palace steps after his mother, tears running down his face. ‘Why do you have to go back to England, Mama? Why don’t you want to stay here with me and Baba?’
‘I’ll still see you, darling, when you come to stay at Montgomery Manor. But I don’t belong in Zenhab. I can’t live with the restrictions of being the wife of the Sultan.’ Judith had bent down and kissed his cheek. Kadir still remembered the scent of the perfume she had worn that day. ‘The truth is that I want to be free to live my own life.’
Was that why Lexi had decided to leave him? Did she care more about her freedom and her career than him? ‘I suppose you want to continue flying helicopters,’ he said tersely.
‘Yes, I love being a pilot.’ Lexi made a show of checking her watch. ‘Look, I really need to go if I’m going to catch my flight. You still have my passport,’ she reminded him.
He was silent for a few moments before he gave a shrug. ‘I’ll tell Yusuf to bring it to you. The helicopter will take you to the airport but you’ll have to wait while it’s being refuelled.’
He moved suddenly and Lexi gave a startled cry when he pulled her cap off, freeing her hair so that it tumbled around her shoulders. Kadir slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up, subjecting her to an unsparing appraisal that took in the dark circles under her eyes and the tears sparkling on her lashes. A fierce emotion stirred inside him but he ruthlessly suppressed it.
‘Goodbye, angel-face,’ he murmured before he strode out of the room, leaving Lexi with the exotic scent of his cologne and a heart that felt as though it had splintered into a thousand shards.
* * *
Her plane was due to leave Zenhab’s main airport in less than an hour, Lexi fretted. She had been delayed at the palace because apparently there had been a problem with the fuel pump for the helicopter, and once that had been sorted out she’d still had to wait for Yusuf, who had eventually appeared with her passport and a rambling explanation about how it had not been where he had thought it was and he had spent ages looking for it.
In half an hour it would be dark. She was used to the way the sun set quickly over the desert. Right now, the sun was a huge ball of fire that was turning the sea orange.
The sea!
Frowning, she turned to the helicopter pilot and spoke into her headset. ‘Mitch, you’re going the wrong way. The airport is in the opposite direction.’
‘This is the direction I was told to fly. I’m just following the Sultan’s orders.’
Below them, Lexi saw the black silhouettes of palm trees rising up from a desert island, and her heart gave a jolt as the chopper swooped lower over an empty beach. Jinan. ‘Why have you brought me here?’ she asked Mitch fiercely.
The pilot landed the chopper on the sand. ‘This is where the Sultan told me to bring you.’ Reaching under his seat, he handed her a jar of honey. ‘He said to give you this.’
Thankfully, the fading light hid her scarlet face from the pilot. Memories of Kadir’s unconventional use of honey when they had been trapped on the island flooded Lexi’s mind. Was he playing some sort of cruel mind game with her? She made a muffled sound in her throat and curled her hand around the jar. ‘It’ll make a useful missile to throw at him,’ she muttered.
‘The Sultan said you’d probably say that.’ Mitch grinned. ‘It seems like Sultan Kadir knows you pretty well.’
What the devil was Kadir playing at? Lexi’s heart was pounding as she marched up the beach. She scrambled over the sand dunes and saw the oasis and next to it the tent, illuminated by glowing lamps that cast shadows onto the canvas.
Pushing through the flaps, she stopped dead and stared at Kadir, sprawled on a pile of silk cushions. He was wearing a black robe tied loosely at the waist and revealing his bare chest. In the lamplight his body gleamed like polished bronze, and as he propped himself up on one elbow Lexi’s eyes were drawn to his hard abdominal muscles and the line of dark hairs that arrowed lower. She remembered that the very first time she’d met him she had imagined the Sultan lying on silk cushions, beckoning to her to join him.
‘Good, you brought the honey,’ he drawled.
She gripped the heavy glass jar. ‘Have you any idea what I’d like to do with this?’
‘Show me,’ he invited softly.
‘Don’t tempt me.’
‘Why not?’ He sat up and stared at her intently. ‘You tempt me constantly. I think about you all the time.’
‘Don’t say things that aren’t true.’ She stared at the patterned rug on the floor, willing herself not to cry.
‘I never took you for a coward, Lexi.’
‘I’m not a coward, damn you.’
‘Then look at me.’
Something in his voice, a tremor of emotion that felt like an arrow through her heart, made her slowly raise her head. His eyes were darker than she had ever seen them—dark with pain, she realised with a jolt. His teasing smile had disappeared and he looked serious and tense, almost—nervous. But that was ridiculous. What did the powerful Sultan of Zenhab, the desert king, have to fear?
‘You really would have gone back to England, wouldn’t you?’ he said harshly. ‘After everything we shared, the most beautiful time of my life, I thought, hoped you were starting to trust me.’
He couldn’t sound hurt, Lexi told herself. She must be imagining the raw expression in his eyes. ‘You said it was for the best that I’m not pregnant.’ Her voice shook. ‘You said goodbye at the palace and let me go.’ Only now did she acknowledge she had been testing him, hoping at the eleventh hour for a miracle.
‘I was hurting,’ he shocked her by saying, ‘and I was angry with myself for failing to do enough to convince you that we have something special. I went into the gardens and sat on my father’s favourite bench. Remembering how much he loved me, the confidence I gained from my happy childhood, made me understand why trust is such a difficult concept for you. I understand why you are scared of emotions because you were rejected by your birth mother and your adoptive parents failed to make you feel loved.’
He stood up and walked towards her, stealing Lexi’s breath with his masculine beauty, his powerful body all satiny skin and strong muscles.
‘I do think it is better that you didn’t fall pregnant the last time we were on Jinan.’ He tipped her face towards him when she tried to look away to hide her pain and confusion. ‘I can’t imagine you would be happy to have an accidental pregnancy after what you told me about your biological mother,’ he said with an intuition that touched a chord inside Lexi. ‘When you conceive my baby I hope it will be an event we have planned, and our child will be longed for and loved from the moment of conception.’
Her heart was thumping so hard she could barely breathe. ‘I don’t understand,’ she whispered. ‘Why did you bring me here?’
He brushed her hair back from her face with gentle fingers. ‘Jinan is where it began, although that’s not quite true because it started when you hauled me out of a stormy sea and promptly wiped the floor with me.’ He smiled. ‘No one had ever spoken to me like that before. I was furious but at the same time all I could think of was how badly I wanted to kiss you. But I knew I couldn’t. I had to honour my arranged marriage, and my desire for you was forbidden.
‘I thought I would have no trouble resisting you,’ he said roughly. ‘Ever since I was a young man, I had resigned myself to the prospect that I must marry for duty, not love. And in some strange way it was a relief to know I would no
t suffer the heartbreak my father felt when my mother left him. My emotions would never be at risk, or so I believed. But when the kidnapper threatened you with a gun the truth hit me like a bullet through my heart.’
Kadir closed his eyes for a few seconds, haunted by the memory of the fear that had churned in his stomach when he’d thought she might be killed.
‘I realised that if I lost you, my life would not be worth living. I also knew that I could not keep the promise I had made my father and marry Haleema. I could not marry without love, even though my decision meant I might lose my kingdom and my role as Sultan of Zenhab.’
Lexi was stunned by his revelation. ‘I know how much it would have hurt you to break your promise to your father. You loved him so much.’ She did not know what to think, and she was afraid to trust the expression in Kadir’s eyes. He had told her he’d realised he could not marry without love, but that didn’t mean that he loved her.
For some reason she thought of her sister. Athena had always been patient and loving, never asking Lexi for anything in return. She felt ashamed that it had taken her so long to tell her sister she loved her.
She remembered the magical days she had spent with Kadir and knew she hadn’t imagined their friendship that had grown stronger every day. He had been kind and caring, patient and loving, but she had listened to her insecurities and been afraid to listen to her heart. She had been a coward, Lexi acknowledged.
But a lifetime of feeling rejected was not easy to overcome, and her voice caught in her throat when she spoke. ‘The days and nights we spent together while we waited to find out if I was pregnant were the most beautiful of my life too. I didn’t want them to end but I knew they couldn’t last and I was sure you couldn’t feel anything for me.’
‘Why couldn’t I?’ he demanded.
‘You are the Sultan of Zenhab,’ she said as if it explained everything, ‘and my mother was a whore.’
‘I don’t give a damn if your mother is a Martian.’ Kadir seized hold of her shoulders and stared down at her startled face. ‘Will you marry me, Lexi Howard?’
She so desperately wanted to trust the fierce emotion blazing in his eyes. Her bravery had never been put to such a defining test, not even when she had risked her life flying rescue missions in war-torn Afghanistan.
‘There’s no reason for you to marry me,’ she reminded him.
He moved his hands up to frame her face and captured the tears clinging to her eyelashes on his fingers. ‘I love you, Lexi. That’s the only reason why I want you to be my wife and the mother of my children that, fate willing, we will be blessed with in the future. I want you as my lover and my best friend, and I hope you will be my Queen and help me rule my kingdom.’
He could not catch all her tears as they slipped down her cheeks, and he tasted them on her lips when he covered her mouth with his and kissed her with such beguiling tenderness that Lexi’s heart felt as though it would burst.^^
‘I love you,’ she whispered, and suddenly the words weren’t hard to say because they came from her heart. She said them over and over in a husky litany that moved Kadir unbearably because he knew the demons she had faced and beaten to give him her trust.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the pile of silk cushions, where he removed her skirt and blouse with hands that visibly shook. ‘I will tell you every day for the rest of our lives how much I love you,’ he promised. ‘You are my heart’s desire, the love of my life, habibi.’
From somewhere he produced a small box, which he opened to reveal an exquisite oval blue diamond ring.
‘I knew the colour would be a perfect match for your eyes. Blue diamonds are rare and precious, just as you are to me, my angel.’ He looked intently into Lexi’s eyes. ‘You haven’t given me an answer. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me? Will you love me for eternity, as I will love you?’
Lexi wiped away her tears and met his gaze, her blue eyes sparkling as bright as the diamond he slid on her finger. ‘Yes, my Sultan, my love. I never knew I could feel this happy,’ she whispered, shivering with anticipation as he removed her underwear and knelt over her.
‘Tomorrow we’ll start planning our wedding,’ he promised. ‘Luca De Rossi guessed how I felt about you when we stayed at his villa in Italy, and he will be my best man. Who will you choose for your chief bridesmaid?’
‘My sister,’ Lexi said instantly. ‘Athena suggested I should tell you I love you.’
‘Why don’t you show me?’ Kadir murmured.
‘With pleasure, my Sultan.’ She took him by surprise, pushing him back against the cushions and straddling him at the same time as she unscrewed the lid of the jar of honey.
‘Habibi...where are you going to pour that honey?’
Kadir groaned when she showed him.
* * * * *
Read on for an extract from TEMPTED BY HER BILLIONAIRE BOSS by Jennifer Hayward.
CHAPTER ONE
ROCKY BALBOA PATROLLED the length of his rectangular glass-encased world with an increasingly agitated fervor, the blinding beam of the overhead fluorescent lights a far from suitable atmosphere for Frankie Masseria’s high-strung orange parrot cichlid fish. Used to the cozy confines of Coburn Grant’s muted, stylish office with its custom lighting and plentiful dimmers, Rocky apparently wasn’t making the transition to Harrison Grant III’s cold black-and-chrome domain any more easily than Frankie herself was.
Her mouth twisted in a grimace. She would make the poor joke of being a fish out of water in this startling new development of her as the replacement PA for the CEO of Grant Industries if her stomach wasn’t dipping and turning along with Rocky’s distressed flips and circles. Harrison Grant, the elder of the two Grant brothers from Long Island, heirs to an automotive fortune, was notorious for his ability to go through a PA a quarter until her predecessor Tessa Francis had taken over two years ago and tamed the legendary beast. Known for her formidable attitude and ability to whip any living thing into line, including even the snooty, tyrannical Harrison Grant, Tessa would have continued to keep the world a safer place for everybody had she not elected to do the very human thing of getting pregnant and requesting a six-month maternity leave. A reasonable request in many parts of the world, but not in the frantic, pulsing-with-forward-momentum world of Manhattan. Frankie had heard of female CEOs texting from the labor room. Yelling orders in between pushes. Not that that would ever be her. When she eventually found the perfect man to settle down with, she’d put raising her children first, unlike her parents who’d had them working in the Masseria family restaurant as soon as they were old enough to bus a table.
But that was then and this was now. She sighed and looked down at the massive amount of work sitting on her desk, unsure of what to tackle next. This wouldn’t be her mess to weed through had Tessa orchestrated the orderly exit she’d been intent on and found a new PA for her impossible boss. But, according to Tessa, Harrison had simply refused to acknowledge she was leaving. His eyes would glaze over at the subject every time she brought it up, until finally, with time running out, Tessa had gone ahead and scheduled the interviews.
That’s when the unthinkable had happened. Tessa had gone into premature labor last night while Harrison was on a business trip to Hong Kong, the interviews had been canceled and Frankie had been installed in her place by her magnanimous boss Coburn, who had decided his brother could not be without a PA. Without so much as a “would you mind, Frankie?”
“It’s the perfect opportunity to shine,” he’d told her in that cajoling voice of his. “Six months with Harrison and you’ll be back with a whole new visibility within the company.”
Or she would be just another piece of Harrison Grant’s road kill, Frankie thought miserably. It had been her dream as long as she’d been old enough to apply eye shadow and visited her friend Olga’s father in his swanky Manhattan office, to be a glamorous PA. To wear beautiful suits to the office every day, to live in the vibrant city she loved
and to work in the upper echelons of power where all the big deals were made.
If that had gone against her parents’ wishes to have her remain in the family restaurant business, so be it. She’d put herself through administrative-assistant school with her tip money, graduated top of her class and gone after her dream.
Landing a job with the insanely handsome, charming younger Grant brother, Coburn, had seemed like her dream come true. Working for the legendary Grant family, who commanded one of America’s oldest automotive dynasties from one of Manhattan’s marquee skyscrapers, was like taking her “what do I want to be in five years” plan and fast-forwarding it five years.
She had seized the opportunity with both hands, molding herself into the epitome of efficiency and professionalism in her six months with Coburn. Her boss’s flashing blue eyes and easy smile wore his vice presidency with a stark sex appeal few women could resist, but resist Frankie had. She knew he’d hired her for both her skills and the fact she hadn’t fallen all over him in the interview like the others had. In return, he’d been a dream to work with. He appreciated every ounce of the tightly coiled efficiency she brought to his office, reining in his tendency to run askew with his passion for his work.
So why throw her to the wolves so easily? She swallowed past the distressed lump in her throat and took a sip of the herbal French lavender tea that was supposed to calm her. Harrison Grant was reputed to be as serious and tunnel-visioned as his younger brother was hot-blooded and impulsive. He had a filthy temper from all accounts. She said “from all accounts” because Tessa had always shielded her from her boss, coming downstairs to Coburn’s office if she needed something rather than expose Frankie to one of his moods. Frankie had accepted the arrangement gladly. She could live without having to deal with the massive ego of the man voted most likely to become president by his peers at Yale, his alma mater. Rumor had it that time wasn’t far off for the thirty-three-year-old Harrison. Her father had told her he had enough clout within the business community to run as an independent in the next election and, in these disaffected times, he just might win.
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