“Do you have questions?” he asked.
Naturally she did. But first... “I need to think,” she replied.
“Okay,” he said, not sounding at all as if it were all right. He stood and helped her to her feet, saying, “I’ll walk you back to your suite. Unless you’d like to stay longer?”
“No,” she said, and was pained to see the snapping flash of relief on his face.
Seeing that he didn’t want her with him would have to be taken into consideration when she gave him her final answer. Even though she told herself that it had to be shock. They needed to process their reactions, the truth of his marriage proposal and her rejection of his love on their own.
Still, she didn’t want to leave him.
Yet she had no choice now that he was guiding her out of his suite and they were walking to hers.
At her door, Amal fumbled to find her keycard. When she did, it slipped from her nerveless fingers and dropped to the carpeted floor. Mansur got to it first, holding it out to her.
“There is one more thing...” he said.
She looked at him more closely, hopeful that it wouldn’t end like this tonight.
“Yes?”
He pulled the ring box from his pocket. “I don’t want to hold on to it anymore.” And when she didn’t budge, he rasped, “Please take the ring.”
His plea broke her. She took the small box and held it close, hoping he would see that she only needed time to think over all he’d shared with her.
He nudged his chin at the door. “Good night, Amal.”
“Good night, Mansur.”
She wished to linger, but she remembered how relieved he’d appeared to be when she’d said she was leaving his suite. It was enough to snap her mouth closed and let him leave.
Fighting tears, she opened her door and stepped over the threshold. Curiosity gained the better of her and she peeked to catch one more look at him. Too late. She was watching his back and his hasty retreat to his own sanctuary next door.
Tomorrow, she prayed.
Tomorrow they’d fix this and somehow be happy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HE’D HAD ONLY a rough go at sleep.
Unsurprising, when all he’d been able to do was replay what had taken place in his hotel room.
By the time sunrise glowed through his suite, Manny had packed his luggage and was getting off the phone after arranging to have his jet fueled for the long flight home.
Before he left, though, he had one last stop to make—and it wasn’t to Amal’s room.
He stepped off the elevator and into Hakeem’s penthouse at the hotel. His friend was there to greet him.
“You’re leaving, then?” Hakeem asked as he led him to the living area. “And what about your woman?”
“She’s not my anything,” Manny gritted, the painful reminder of last night all too fresh in his mind.
She’d refused to give him her hand again. And even though she had said she would use their time apart to think alone, he wasn’t holding any hope that her heart had changed about him.
Amal didn’t love him. All that remained was for her to let him down gently. He had to accept that and leave before he acted more foolishly than he already had.
“Sorry,” Manny muttered when he saw Hakeem’s frown. He hadn’t meant to snap at his friend. It wasn’t Hakeem’s fault that, once more, he’d fallen short of Amal’s expectations.
The fact that she didn’t want him was all on Manny. No one else. She found him lacking. To her, he must be defective on some grounds.
Or she’d be wearing my ring now.
Manny focused on the lurking concern in Hakeem’s eyes. “She’ll be staying in Addis longer than me. I’d appreciate it if you could look out for her.”
It was the best he could muster in this state. Ready to fall apart at the seams, he certainly didn’t want to do it in front of Amal, and yet he’d promised his mother he’d watch over her.
He trusted Hakeem to do it in his place. The billionaire hotelier had his faults, true. He was a playboy and a committed bachelor who had the wealth to fly all over the world and do as he pleased, but he was also a good and loyal friend. Trustworthy.
Hakeem nodded. “I’ll do my best. Does she know about this arrangement you have planned or are you bargaining on me telling her?”
“She knows you, and I trust you. That’s enough.”
“I won’t force my company on her.”
Jealousy shafted through him at the thought of Hakeem and Amal spending time together and growing closer. With a growl, he said, “You’ll ensure her comfort and security and that her means of transportation to the hospital will be covered—that’s all.”
By no means did he want Hakeem muscling in on his territory.
But she’s not mine, and she doesn’t want me.
Still, it didn’t mean he had to deal with Hakeem and Amal becoming a couple. Hakeem was his friend, and Amal was the woman who’d always have his heart. Wasn’t it enough that he’d suffered losing her a second time? Lost out on his second chance with her?
That justification wasn’t sitting well with him, so he cooled his jealous rage and remembered the other reason he’d come up to see Hakeem.
“I’ll be heading to the airport now. I know we were to have had talks of a new hotel in Abu Dhabi...”
Ahead of him in his thinking, Hakeem nodded. “No worries. I’ll message you when you land. Anything else?”
Manny had been getting to that. “You know I’ve been dealing with an inheritance...?”
“I do,” his friend said.
“And you know that I’ve been considering selling it from the start? Well, I’ve had a change of heart. At least for now, the land will remain in my care.”
Hakeem frowned, crossing his arms. “And there’s no way to talk you into selling it to me?”
Manny knew his friend had an interest in the property. Hakeem had contacts in the agribusiness industry, and he rubbed elbows with politicians whenever he had to. But Manny couldn’t be certain that Hakeem wouldn’t go and sell to the wrong people. Amal’s praise when he’d suggested helping local farmers still echoed in his mind. It had egged him on into announcing this final decision on his father’s inheritance.
“I’ve made up my mind,” he said, with sturdy conviction.
Unruffled, Hakeem lowered his arms, sighed and smiled. “You’ve changed. Who do I have to curse or thank for that?”
Manny clenched his teeth and glared.
His friend merely laughed at him. “Relax, bro. I think I’ve got my answer anyways.” Then, more solemnly, Hakeem asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to tell her yourself?”
“No, it’s for the best.”
Besides, he had the strange sense that, despite her negative reaction last evening, Amal would somehow try to stop him leaving. Of course it wouldn’t be the first time he held such a grandiose notion that she cared for him...
Instead of deluding himself, he looked Hakeem in the eye and told him, “She won’t mind. It’s not like we’ve been in each other’s lives for very long anyways.”
Hakeem shrugged. “As long as you’re happy, I’m cool.”
“So you’ll do as I asked?” He didn’t want to have to beg, but he’d do it if it meant Amal would remain safe and sound in Addis Ababa.
Hakeem readily offered his hand.
Manny gripped it tightly before they pulled together into a brief hug.
“Yeah,” Hakeem drawled, grinning when they pulled back, “I’ll watch out for your girl.”
Manny didn’t even correct him a second time.
* * *
“What do you mean, he’s left?”
Amal couldn’t have heard Hakeem correctly. Surely Mansur’s billionaire friend was playing a joke on her.
But Hake
em said, “You just missed him. He’s paid for a month in advance for your room, and your meals will be catered from the hotel’s two-star Michelin restaurant—”
“He’s left?” Her interjection was fraught with her nerves. Normally, she wouldn’t be rude, but interrupting Hakeem was the least of her problems.
Hakeem smiled benevolently across the table from her. They’d met out in the massive gardens at the back of the hotel. Now they sat on the patio overlooking the manicured green lawn, gleaming flagstone paths, fountains and perfectly trimmed hedges. A priceless, once-in-a-lifetime view that meant nothing to her in that instant.
Pressing both her hands on the glass table, she cried, “He can’t have left me!”
Not when they had so much to discuss.
It had started an hour ago, when Amal had called at Mansur’s door and gotten no answer. Immediately she’d worried, and had asked after him at Reception. When they wouldn’t circumvent their privacy policy for her, she’d demanded to speak to the hotel’s owner, Mansur’s friend Hakeem Ahmet.
Now she placed her hopes on him.
“Please, if there’s a way I could speak to him...”
Hakeem had had his shades fixed in place up to that point, but now he pulled them up to his head. “I did get a call from him. Apparently, there’s been a need to check over his plane’s engine. I could put another call through to see if he’s still stalled at the airport...”
Amal heard a “but” coming.
Sure enough, Hakeem said, “But he made it very clear he didn’t want you to know of his departure in advance. He’s my friend, and I have his trust. I don’t mean to lose it.”
Sagging back into her chair, she knew exactly why Mansur hadn’t wanted to tell her. She touched the ring on her finger, watching as Hakeem’s narrowing gaze fell there, his face smoothed of any telling emotion.
She had to convince him to betray Mansur’s trust—just this once.
“I love him, Hakeem. I need him to know that before he goes.”
What chance would she get once he was in the air and bound for America? She pressed her trembling lips together, her eyes heated from the tears she wasn’t ready to cry.
“Okay, you sold me,” said Hakeem, after too long a pause. Chuckling when she gasped her joy, he told her, “He’ll hate me for it for a bit, but I’m no monster. I won’t stop you from making Manny see that he’s in love with you, the stubborn fool.”
Hearing that Mansur loved her was all the incentive she needed. She had to be with him. Had to let him know that she loved him, too, and that it wasn’t too late for that future together he’d spoken of so tenderly.
“Do you think you could stop his plane from leaving?” She didn’t know where she’d got the idea that Hakeem could do that, but she had to try. And he was a billionaire.
“I could try,” he said with an impish grin.
* * *
“I thought we were wheels up shortly?”
That was Manny’s response when the pilot interrupted his plans to shower to inform him of yet another unscheduled delay. First the engine, now this...
Apologizing profusely, the pilot promised they’d be in the air as soon as possible. It wasn’t what Manny wanted to hear. Given why he was leaving so suddenly, he didn’t wish for any reason to linger and tempt himself to go hunting for the source of his anguish.
Banishing thoughts of Amal from his mind for what had to be the tenth time in that hour alone, Manny dressed in haste. He headed to the front of the plane to see for himself what the delay was.
He found it quickly.
Or she found him.
“Amal...” he breathed, his disbelief vanishing after a few heartbeats. He forced a frown instead of revealing the immense pleasure sparking through him at the sight of her. “What are you doing here?” He didn’t have to ask, but gruffly he wondered, “Are you the reason the pilot has delayed take-off?”
She nodded. “I had to do something when I heard you hadn’t left Addis yet.”
It took him another moment before he grumbled, “Hakeem?” But he couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed. Seeing Amal had made that impossible. “What are you doing here?” he asked. And then, in the very next breath, he growled, “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I had to.”
Amal sat primly on a leather sofa in the lounge area, her hands in her lap, her fingers fidgeting. The diamond on her finger was hard to miss.
Manny didn’t know what to make of seeing her wearing his ring. Especially after his tumultuous night thinking of how he had failed yet again in making her love him. And then there was the terrible choice he’d made to leave her in Addis...
His voice noticeably rougher, he asked, “Why? We said everything that needed to be said.”
“You did, Mansur. I haven’t given you my answer yet, remember?”
Of course he hadn’t forgotten. And that was why she was here. She must want to return his engagement ring. End this one-sided love of his once and for all.
Steeling his spine, reminding himself that he’d survived the first heartbreak and would make it through this one as well, Manny dipped his chin for her to continue. To deliver the killing blow.
“I’ve decided I want the ring,” she said.
Okay... He hadn’t been prepared for that. Not one bit.
He blew out an unsteady breath. “Keep it, then. Or fling it in the Indian Ocean if you want. It’s yours. Do whatever you wish.”
“And if I prefer to have it remain on my finger?”
He hardened his jaw, felt his heart wavering on a reply. What could he tell her? That nothing would please him more than for her to do as she said? For his flashy yet traditional token of affection to stay wrapped around her finger?
“If it makes you happy,” he said at last.
Amal lifted her hand, her fingers caressing the white gold band inlaid with tiny diamonds. She did it so lovingly he almost unrooted his feet and moved to be nearer to her. At the last second he stopped himself.
“Do you care about my happiness?” she asked.
He couldn’t think of anything that mattered more.
“Yes,” he snapped, annoyed with himself for even answering. For giving her more ammunition to wound him with. This wasn’t going to end the way he’d dreamed. He was too grounded in reality to try to hope.
“And if I said my happiness isn’t tied to this ring?”
She found his eyes again, her stare bold but not confrontational. The teasing warmth in her gaze stirred him forward.
He slid one foot closer, and then the other. His heart was leaping up higher and higher, and it had to be in his throat as he rasped, “Then what would make you happy?”
“You.”
She said it so simply it brought him to a halt. He widened his eyes at her and then scowled, refusing to believe her.
“You don’t want me. You’ve seen the way I treat my family. I always thought you’d made a mistake, rejecting me, but you didn’t, Amal. I’m not a good man. It’s kind of you to lie, but you don’t have to pretend.”
“It’s true, though! Nothing and no one could make me happier. I’ve realized that this past week. Spending time with you, traveling with you, going to the hospital with you...all of it is a happy blur that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” she said when he shook his head sharply.
Amal touched her hands to her chest and smiled.
“These are the memories I’d hate to lose. I know I hurt you by rejecting your proposal in the past. I see that.” Her bottom lip trembled visibly. “And if I could turn back time I’d change it. I swear. I’d do anything. And it’s because I love you.”
There they were. The words he’d dreamt of hearing for too long.
“And I know you love me,” Amal said, her voice catching as she asked, “Unless I’m wrong? Am I, Mansur? Am I
wrong in thinking that you love me?”
“But my family...” he argued.
“You and your family will find a way to heal and be together one day. I know you will.”
“What if I can’t?” Manny raised his voice. Not quite a shout, but close. He snarled low and thumped his fists against his thighs. “What then? If I can’t love them, if I remain cold and distant, will you care for me then?”
Would she continue to love him as vehemently as she’d declared in that moment?
“My love for you will be unchanged. I swear it.”
He... He believed her.
The fight ebbed out of him. Tired, and wanting her comfort, Manny went to her. He dropped to his knees slowly, crumpling before her in awe at how she’d tamed his doubts. How she’d slayed his heartbreak.
Amal framed his face with her soft hands and repeated the words that had calmed the rage in his heart. “I love you, Mansur. I came because I wanted to see your love for me for myself. I couldn’t let you leave without knowing that I’d done everything—even begged a billionaire—to stop your plane and keep you with me.”
“And if I still plan to leave?” he asked hoarsely.
She beamed, blinding him with her beauty.
“Then I shall have to demand that you take me along. Wherever you go, you must promise I’ll be there, right by your side, and you will be by mine.”
He laughed softly. The mirth caught him by surprise, but Amal easily added her laughter to his.
When their laughter had subsided, he wondered, “Where did you get the idea that you love me?” Then a thought occurred to him. “Did you get your memories back?” That would explain a lot.
“That’s not it. I still don’t recall those memories.” Holding his face and bringing hers closer, she whispered, “But I knew the instant I couldn’t bring myself to take off your ring. And, if you’ll let me, I’d like to make new memories with you. Starting with this one.”
She kissed him. Her lips touched his softly, curiously. She experimented with pressure and with strokes. And he was a happy test subject.
Harlequin Romance September 2021 Box Set Page 64