by Holly Rayner
“You didn’t tell them I was here, did you?”
Meela stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable, before she shook her head. “I did not. I wouldn’t betray your wishes like that. I know it’s been a few years since we last spoke, Kadeen, but that hasn’t changed.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, sipping their coffee. Kadeen knew he should have expected such a welcome. He was the prodigal son that refused to come home, and his family was anything but happy about it.
Meela sighed. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to ask why you’re choosing to not see your parents while you’re here, Kadeen. They miss you so much. It’s been so long since they last saw you.”
“That’s not true. We Skype all the time.”
“And in what universe do you equate video chat to a physical, in-person conversation? You mother misses holding you in her arms, and your father misses fishing with you in the lakes. There is much that you used to enjoy that you have left behind for the nightlife of New York City.”
“Again with my reputation! Meela, has it not occurred to you to question what people write about me? Also, did you forget why I went to New York in the first place? I’ve saved amazing works of art and found them proper homes. I’ve touched paintings no one in the world will ever get to touch.”
Meela smirked at her cousin. “Are you really trying to impress me with your connections? You know that I’m a princess, right? That I have access to anything in the world that I could possibly desire?”
“Yeah, yeah. But that’s not my point, Sheikha Meela,” Kadeen said. They always called each other by their titles when one of them was being pompous. It had helped them stay grounded in a life of royalty and wealth, which was not something easily done.
Meela rolled her eyes. “Then what is your point? That you’re not going out to clubs every night? That the pictures of you surrounded by scantily clad women are all Photoshopped? That none of that is real, and you’ve just been quietly dealing art from your little studio?”
Kadeen mumbled an incoherent reply while he stared down at the table again. After a moment, he looked back up. “You know, if I wanted a lecture, I would have just called my mother.”
“But you won’t call your mother, so I have to do it for her. And now that it’s done, let’s talk of more pleasant things.”
“That would be preferable,” he agreed.
They spent the next hour or so in companionable conversation, catching up on all things little and big, and enjoying each other’s company for the first time in a very long while.
After they had finished two cups of coffee each, Meela made to stand.
“I’d better get going,” she said. “I only had to give up a nail appointment for this secret rendezvous, but I do have to meet with some important people soon, and I don’t want to have to lie to them about why I was late.”
Kadeen stood as well, taking his cousin’s hands in his. “It was so good to see you, Meela. And thank you for coming over on such short notice. I know how busy you are.”
Meela’s smile was warm as she stared up at her older cousin. Although he had matured since they last met, he still had the face of the young boy who would always be one of her closest friends.
“It was no trouble at all. I’m grateful you reached out so that I could see your face again. Although, I imagine I’ll be seeing much more of you fairly soon.”
Kadeen smiled, but gave her no answer. He had decided long ago not to make promises he didn’t know how to keep, and he didn’t want to think about the future just yet. He enjoyed living in the present too much.
“Take good care of yourself,” he said.
“And you,” Meela replied, giving him one last affectionate kiss on the cheek before adjusting her headscarf and heading out the door.
Kadeen threw some bills on the table before he made his own exit. As he stepped out of the café, he noticed a man snapping a few pictures of the entrance. When the man saw him, he pocketed his camera and walked away.
Silently hoping that the man was simply a tourist and not a paparazzo, the Sheikh sauntered back towards the hotel, the wave of exhaustion that was jet-lag beginning to wash over him.
Unwilling to fall asleep again just yet, Kadeen decided to wait for the coffee to do its work as he walked down a path that led to the ocean. He stood on the beach, watching as children built sandcastles and families basked in the sunlight, enjoying the cool breeze from the ocean.
Kadeen had many fond memories of his time growing up in Al Qazar, and there were times, such as this one, when he had a hard time remembering just why he had decided to leave. Of course, the answer had been obvious at the time, and it still was, really. He had been given an impossible choice, and he had run from it for as long as he could.
As much as Kadeen tried to think about the painting they had come for, his stubborn mind kept reverting back to Nicole. The moment she had stepped out of the limo at the airport, her hair in disarray, he had realized that she had just pulled herself from bed to get to the plane on time.
She had never looked more beautiful.
Her face had been rosy, her eyes still a little drowsy with sleep. He had instantly imagined her in bed, and had been unable to conjure up another image since. Even now, as he strolled down the beach, a nagging presence in his mind reminded him that Nicole was sleeping in a bed down the hall from his room at that very moment.
There had been times when she had looked at him in such a way, that he had caught her staring, that he thought about just taking her in his arms and kissing her until she succumbed to their baser desires. Kadeen was no stranger to seduction, and he knew how to make a woman want him. He had the power to do so easily, but with Nicole, he didn’t want it to be that way.
And, he reminded himself, there was no point in entertaining such thoughts, anyway.
Rolling up his pant legs, Kadeen kicked off his shoes and waded into the warm, salty water. A beach ball flew towards him, carried on the wind, and he laughed as he caught it and threw it back to the children who were playing with it.
Kadeen’s thoughts finally turned back to the portrait he was seeking. Could it be possible that he was about to get his hands on one of the greatest artworks his country had ever produced? He was closer to it now than anyone had been in a hundred years!
Kadeen closed his eyes, allowing himself to process his feelings: being home, being so close to the lost portrait, finally getting to see his cousin again. Meela, more than anything, had reminded him that he was home once again. She had also been a staunch reminder of just how much he had missed, being away. His parents had only given him general updates during their calls, sprinkled with plenty of guilt trips that Kadeen had learned to brush off. Had he made a mistake by being away for so long?
The combination of sunlight and cool water was relaxing enough to make Kadeen’s eyelids droop. He stepped back onto the shore and over to a metal shower head, where he rinsed and dried his feet before putting his shoes on once more. Walking back to the hotel, he stopped to speak to the concierge.
“Can you make a phone call for me in about thirty minutes?” he asked.
“Of course, sir. Who would you like us to call?”
“Room 304, please. I am the woman’s employer, and I’d like her to come meet me in the lobby for a late lunch. Could you let her know that, please?”
“Of course,” the concierge agreed, making a note. “I’ll call her at the half hour, sir.”
“Thank you.”
The lobby was a cavernous room with a beautiful fountain at its center. The golden dome at the top cast an ethereal glow on everyone who entered the hotel, and Kadeen found a comfortable seat to wait in, pulling out his cellphone.
There were multiple emails from Imogen, of course, and he scanned through them to make sure there was nothing truly important waiting for his attention. A lot of the “major problems” were in fact non-issues, and Kadeen breezed past them without replying. It was clear that Imoge
n was simply doing her best to cause problems while he was alone with Nicole, and while Kadeen didn’t trouble himself with the whims of jealous women, he found it interesting just how much Imogen resented Nicole.
He wondered if she saw what he wasn’t willing to admit to himself.
Chapter 7
Nicole
Nicole was dreaming. She was lying in her hotel bed, comfy and cozy as ever, only a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her.
Snuggling into the chest of the owner of said arms, she smiled in her sleep, rolling over.
Kadeen grinned down at her, holding her closer. “Welcome to my home,” he murmured, planting a kiss on her temple.
He ran his hand up and down her back, sending chills down her spine as she basked in the warmth of his presence, so close, so comforting. He opened his mouth to speak again, but when he did, all that came out was a terribly loud ringing noise.
Nicole’s brow furrowed as Kadeen floated off into the distance, his mouth open as the ringing continued.
Nicole blinked open an eye. Her hotel room was bright, in spite of her closed curtains, and when she rolled over, she found the other half of her bed was quite empty. The noise was her bedside phone ringing, and, realizing it wasn’t going to stop, she answered it.
“Hello?” she answered, her voice like creaky wood.
“Miss Hawthorn,” a melodious female voice began. “This is the concierge calling on behalf of Kadeen al Zafar bin Khalaf. Your employer has informed us that he would like to have lunch with you, if you can meet him in the lobby in a half hour.”
Nicole glanced at the bedside clock and realized she’d been asleep for several hours already. She cleared her throat. “Yes, of course. Please tell Kadeen I’ll be with him shortly.”
“Very good, miss,” the woman replied before ending the call.
Nicole took a moment to stretch and rub her groggy eyes after replacing the phone receiver. The long flight, while luxurious, had her wishing she could run a few laps around a track just to bring life back into her legs. It was far too long for anyone to sit still in one place, though she had to admit that the destination was worth it.
She hopped out of bed and headed to her suitcase, where she picked out a long, flowing skirt and a pale blue cotton blouse. She had often been told she looked good in blue, and she tried not to think about Kadeen’s color preference as she slipped it on. A quick tooth brushing session later, she stepped out of her room and headed down the hall, towards the elevator.
When the doors opened up to the lobby, Nicole saw Kadeen sitting on a sofa, working on his phone.
“Anything to report?” she asked as she approached.
He looked up at her, and she noticed his eyes dart from her head to her toes before he grinned. “Nothing important. I’m sorry for waking you, but sleeping all day would be terrible for your jet-lag. You’ll adjust better if you try to stay up as long as you can now.”
Nicole yawned. She had had plenty of sleep, but that didn’t make up for the fact that travel was exhausting, and flipping time zones did murder to a body.
Kadeen stood and slipped his phone back in his pocket before making his way towards the hotel entrance. Nicole fell into step with him.
“How often do you come back here, anyway? Has it been long since your last visit?”
Kadeen stepped out into the warm sunlight, waving down a valet. He glanced at Nicole before looking off into the distance, as though searching for something. “Ah, here we are,” he said, dodging her question.
It didn’t get past Nicole that the Sheikh was avoiding speaking about his home country. There was so much about him she wanted to know. How did one become so wealthy and successful by the age of thirty? It seemed incomprehensible that he could live such a life, so different from what she had known during her upbringing in Upstate New York.
She watched him closely as he spoke to the valet in Arabic. He slipped a bank note into the man’s hand before he walked away, returning moments later behind the wheel of a sleek convertible.
“Practical,” Nicole observed, and Kadeen looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re not a fan of convertibles?”
Nicole shrugged. “I don’t mind them. But if we’re heading where I think we are, I don’t imagine damaged art will do too well being carted around in these conditions.”
“Well there’s no guarantee that we will find it… Wait. I asked you to lunch, not to seek out our new…” he glanced furtively around them, “…acquisition.”
Nicole found it interesting that Kadeen didn’t want the people around them to know what they were looking for. Still, in the art world, exclusive finds were best kept a secret until they had been secured. That was one lesson Nicole had learned very fast.
The valet was staring at them. He had exited the car and opened the passenger door for Nicole to step in. Realizing this, she nodded appreciatively to the young man before sliding into the front seat.
She noticed Kadeen slip another note into the valet’s hand, and, after acknowledging a very respectful bow, he was in the driver’s seat, buckling up.
He looked at Nicole and pressed down on the gas, revving the engine. “Shall we?” he asked, a glint in his eye.
Nicole nearly lost her breath in that moment. Why, oh Lord, why did he have to be so sexy?
Not wanting her emotions to show, she reached into her purse for a pair of oversized sunglasses and slid them on, tossing Kadeen a grin. “Let’s do it,” she said.
The Sheikh’s resulting smile was infectious, and irresistible. He pulled the car out of the entryway and steered them onto a coastal highway.
Nicole leaned back, enjoying the warm air paired with a cool breeze as her hair tumbled around her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she had taken a vacation, and while this certainly wasn’t one, it felt close enough. The fancy hotel, the beautiful scenery, and the transportation all made her feel like she was on a luxury trip.
Perhaps that was simply what life with Kadeen was like.
Glancing to either side, Nicole took in the shimmering waters of the sea and the gorgeous ancient buildings of Balahai. Kadeen was curiously quiet, though with the wind it was difficult to hold any kind of meaningful conversation anyway. Nicole enjoyed the comfortable silence they held, feeling content to simply drink in the experience.
After some time, the city fell behind them, and they ended up in a small fishing village to the north. Weaving through twisting streets, Kadeen found a spot to park, and turned off the engine. When he looked at Nicole, he laughed.
“You look a bit windswept, there.”
Nicole’s hand flew to her hair, which did indeed feel tangled beyond reparation. She pulled a hair tie from her purse and made quick work of damage control. The look in Kadeen’s eye implied that he might not be terribly opposed to seeing her hair in disarray, but she tried to quell that observation. She had to be imagining things. There was no way a man like Kadeen—rich, successful, powerful—would want anything to do with an art conservationist. She had to remind herself of her position, because if she didn’t, she was on the way to doing something very stupid indeed.
Kadeen ran his fingers through his tousled black hair, looking sexier than ever. Totally unfair.
Collecting herself, Nicole opened her door and stepped out, breathing in the briny sea air as they fell into step once again, strolling along the dock.
“This is beautiful,” Nicole breathed.
Kadeen nodded, keeping his eyes ahead as they walked. “This is actually one of my favorite places in Al Qazar. It’s small enough that I don’t tend to attract too much attention, and the local cuisine is out of this world.”
“This whole country is out of this world. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen!”
Kadeen looked at her then, and Nicole wondered if that was vulnerability in his eyes.
“Do you really think so?”
“How can I not? Have you seen the place?” she asked
, gesturing around them. The buildings were aged, and quaint. Everything was made of some sort of clay material that gave the village a very earthy feel to it, even as it sat by the sea. Townspeople passed by without noticing them, and though they didn’t look up and smile like an American would do, they all had a friendly aura that Nicole instantly liked.
Kadeen nodded, and his lip tugged upward. She liked making him smile, she realized.
“I suppose you’re right, though it’s hard to tell sometimes. This is all I ever knew until I left for New York.”
“I thought you said you’d travelled a lot?” Nicole said.
“I did, but not until later in my life.”
“You’re twenty-nine. How late in life can you possibly be?”
“Sometimes one can experience enough to feel older than one’s numeric age, don’t you agree?”
“I’ve heard of such a concept, yes,” Nicole agreed, her curiosity going wild. What could Kadeen possibly have gone through to make him feel old? On the outside, his life looked like a total dream. Where was the stress that had led to his wisdom?
Before she could find a way to ask him, he reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm. The skin there felt electrocuted at his touch.
“I think this is the place. Yes, right over here.”
He removed his hand, to her acute disappointment, and led the way towards a small restaurant.
When they walked inside, Nicole was surprised to see a long mat laid out on the floor, above which was a low table set up with colorful plates, bowls and cutlery. The floor was carpeted with rich russet hues, patterned with a series of diamond shapes. On the walls, which appeared to be made of mud brick, there were shelves that housed beautiful pottery. The walls were painted with a tan stucco, with red rugs hung around the small room.
A man in flowing robes approached them and gave a gentle bow. Kadeen greeted him, and they were escorted to a section of the table, where they sat across from one another. Nicole’s eyes couldn’t take it all in fast enough. She wanted to memorize everything. The preservationist in her wanted to run her hands along every sculpture and pot and see what it was made of.