by Holly Rayner
“You ready to pick this lady up?” Nicole asked.
Kadeen’s stare bore into the painting, as though he were trying to move it telepathically. After a moment, he nodded. “Yes, I’ll carry it.”
He lifted the painting as delicately as one would a newborn child, taking great care as he brought it up the stairs and into the light of day.
“Bet you’re second-guessing the choice of a convertible now, huh?” Nicole asked, wondering just how they were going to transfer the sizeable painting all the way back to the city.
“We’ll figure it out. All that matters now is that we have her. She’s safe.”
Nicole repressed a smile, then. Kadeen was anthropomorphizing the painting, another thing he never, ever did, and it was a joy to watch.
Glancing back at the damaged portrait, Nicole could understand why it was having such an effect on Kadeen. It was one of the most beautiful pieces she had ever laid eyes on.
They managed to strap the painting into the backseat with a sheet covering it for protection. With such fine weather, there was no risk of precipitation ruining the painting further, at least. Kadeen and Nicole bid adieu to their new friend, who bowed deeply before waving them off, his smile still very much in place.
Kadeen’s driving was noticeably slower as he turned back onto the main road and got them to the highway that ran parallel to the shore. The sun was making its way toward the horizon, a reminder of just how late Nicole had slept in after their arrival.
“Do you think you might have the energy to take a preliminary look at this, Nicole?” he asked. “I have a studio space back in the city.”
The thought of getting a closer look at the painting had Nicole’s fingers itching with anticipation.
“I’d be happy to,” she replied, and Kadeen’s grin threatened to overwhelm his face.
They drove in comfortable silence for a while before Nicole finally asked the question she’d been dying to know the answer to since the moment they stepped foot in the basement.
“Who is she, the woman in the painting?”
Kadeen glanced over at her, his dark eyes full of excitement and joy. It was contagious, and Nicole, too, felt buoyant with their discovery. What a heady sensation it was! Perhaps she would have to dabble in curating a bit more—get out of the studio every once in a while.
“She’s actually an ancestor of mine. Her name was Sheikha Ulyaa. I think she’s something like my great-great-great-great-grandmother. This portrait was completed only days before her wedding.”
“Aha! I thought she looked familiar.”
Kadeen actually blushed, then, his perfect skin coloring ever so slightly. Nicole realized he was pleased with the comparison.
“Well. I’ve seen copies before, of course, but looking at the original, I admit I can see a bit of a resemblance. It’s strange, seeing a version of yourself in something so old, so precious.”
“I can imagine it is. So what’s her story? What makes this painting so valuable?”
“The artwork itself, if we’re being unbiased, isn’t actually as valuable as I’m making it out to be. It’s the story that goes with it that makes it so alluring—much like Mona Lisa’s smile.”
Kadeen glanced back at the painting to make sure it was still secure in the backseat. When he was satisfied, he focused back on the road and continued. “The painting was commissioned in honor of the Sheikha’s upcoming wedding. There were rumors that she was in love with the artist that painted the portrait—that you can see her feelings reflected in her expression—but that nothing ever came of it, as she was due to marry the Sheikh of Al Qazar. She married the Sheikh only days after the portrait’s completion, which I admit I am grateful for, since otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.”
Nicole was surprised to find tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she thought about the tragic story behind the portrait.
Her imagination got the best of her, and she spent the rest of the drive imagining what it would be like to be the Sheikha, destined to spend the rest of her life with a man she did not love. She tried to imagine what it would be like to be painted by someone and not to be able to tell them about your feelings, to share such an intense experience with someone and not be able to tell them you loved them.
Actually, that wasn’t so hard to imagine at all.
Chapter 9
Nicole
“Do you know if Sheikha Ulyaa loved her husband?” Nicole asked as they reentered the city, pulling into a parking garage beneath a towering skyscraper.
Kadeen shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not much is documented about their relationship, but they were immensely popular rulers, and they remained together until his death.”
Nicole nodded, though she was hardly satisfied with that answer. She wanted to hear that the Sheikha found love anyway, even though she had to go against her heart in favor of her country.
Kadeen parked the car close to the elevator and turned off the engine. Together, they gingerly lifted the painting from its spot in the back and carried it to the elevator. Kadeen pressed the button for the tenth floor before they rose up, holding the painting like a lifeline until the doors opened on their floor.
There, Nicole could see a glass-walled room containing all the equipment she would need to evaluate the painting.
“You pay rent on this all the time, even though you almost never use it?”
Kadeen shrugged. “We’re using it now, aren’t we? Come on. Let’s see the damage.”
When they entered the studio, Nicole took over. She had Kadeen place the portrait on a table before bringing over an X-ray machine to take detailed images. Kadeen watched quietly as she worked, Nicole silently wishing she had brought her glasses with her.
Time slipped away as Nicole focused on taking her X-ray images, then infrared ones, before loading the data onto a computer. As she evaluated the information on the screen, she realized that it was, in fact, the original.
“You’ve found her,” she breathed.
Kadeen smiled broadly, his fingertips caressing the rough frame of the portrait, and Nicole did her best not to be jealous of ancient wood. She took another close look at the painting and hesitated, pulling back a little as though unsure if her eyes were deceiving her.
“What is it?” Kadeen asked, his brow furrowing in concern.
Nicole walked over to the X-ray image on the screen, shifting the light balance until, all of a sudden, a message was flashing at them in Arabic.
“My God,” she breathed. “He left a message beneath the paint. That’s amazing!”
Kadeen was reading the text on the screen, his expression flabbergasted. He was leaning in close enough for Nicole to get a whiff of his cologne, and she almost stepped away, the better to hold onto her sanity. Instead, she leaned a little closer.
“What’s it say?” she asked, breathless.
The Sheikh continued to stare at the writing for a moment before he answered her.
“It’s…it’s a declaration of love from the artist to the Sheikha. He’s talking about how they will never get their chance at happiness, but that it doesn’t matter, because he will love her until the end of time, and his love will be preserved in the oils of this painting.”
Nicole’s skin tingled as he said the words. She tried to imagine a love so deep, so real, that the artist was willing to risk getting caught just so he could find some way to express his emotions.
Kadeen glanced down at Nicole then, their faces mere inches apart. All she had to do was lean up a tiny bit, and she could capture his perfect lips with hers. It was something she’d wanted to do for so long, but never dared.
Kadeen’s eyes darted to her lips, and Nicole was wondering if he would be the one to make the first move when the Sheikh’s phone rang, making both of them jump.
He took a step back, the spell broken as he answered his phone.
“Yes, Imogen?”
He sounded as annoyed as Nicole felt, and she wondered again if there c
ould really be anything between her and her wayward boss. She pinched herself subtly, trying to come back to reality—the reality where he was her womanizing boss.
The room was quiet enough, and Imogen’s voice piercing enough, that Nicole could actually hear both sides of the conversation.
“You both need to get back here immediately. I’ve just landed a piece that needs urgent restoration, or the client will drop us and take their business elsewhere. You need to send her back now.”
Kadeen looked at Nicole, his expression returning to its usual poker face as he considered what the best option was. Nicole imagined she’d be on a plane later that evening, headed back to New York, her little adventure over. She wondered if Imogen was making the whole thing up just to get her away from Kadeen. It wasn’t too farfetched an idea, unfortunately.
Imogen was still talking when Kadeen interrupted her.
“Imogen, no one needs art that quickly. Tell them if they want a decent restoration, they’ll have to wait. Besides, we’re already working on another project, and there is such a thing as waiting in line.”
While Imogen was in the middle of protesting, Kadeen pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the call, smiling at Nicole as he put it back in his pocket.
“Hey, would you like to take a walk with me? I think we’ve accomplished enough for one day, and the painting will be perfectly safe here, locked up in a temperature-controlled room. You’ve done more than enough.”
“I’d like that,” Nicole said, the corner of her lip tugging slightly as she accepted the invitation.
She had started feeling a little hungry as they arrived at the studio, and was pleased when Kadeen guided her towards a food stand and ordered a couple of meat pies for them to munch on as they walked.
Nicole sank her teeth into the hot flaky pastry and grinned. “This is amazing!” she said, and Kadeen smiled down at her as he swallowed his first bite.
“I know, right? These are an Al Qazar delicacy. I grew up eating these things.”
Kadeen led the way towards the ocean, and they strolled slowly along the boardwalk as waves lapped gently along the shore. To Nicole’s surprise, the sun had set while they were in the studio, and they found themselves bathed in muted city lights and moonlight.
“Do you think it’s sad that your ancestor never got to be with the man she loved?” Nicole asked.
Kadeen chewed the last of his pie, ruminating for a moment before he answered. “I suppose so, though, that’s just life, isn’t it?”
“Is it? Maybe a couple hundred years ago, but people can be with the one they love now.”
“I suppose that depends on your definition of love. Some people find it easier to be matched than others.”
Kadeen held out a hand for Nicole’s empty pastry wrapper and she placed it lightly in his palm, not sure if she wanted her fingers to touch his or not. With the moonlight above and her belly full, her guard was beginning to crumble as she strolled alongside this handsome man. He looked even more striking in the moonlight, and Nicole was finding the urge to kiss him growing with each step they took. The way things were going, she wouldn’t be able to resist much longer.
“You don’t believe love can grow? That it must be there from the beginning?” he asked.
Nicole thought about that a moment. “I suppose it can, given the right circumstances. The people involved have to be open to the idea that it might flourish over time. Still, when I think of my wedding day, I can’t imagine not being in love with the man at the end of the aisle.”
“How very American of you,” Kadeen observed.
“I suppose it is. Do you think that’s foolish?”
“I do not. That is what you were brought up to believe, and I truly feel that love is something that everyone deserves to experience. It just might come in a myriad of ways, that’s all.”
It took a moment for Nicole to realize that they had walked all the way back to their hotel. She’d been so engrossed in their conversation she hadn’t even noticed how far they’d come.
“We’re back,” she observed, trying not to sound disappointed.
Kadeen looked down at her, then. They had been walking close enough to occasionally bump arms, and he was still close enough to her that she could take a chance and kiss him if she dared. She thought about how different he was when he was off his guard—how easygoing, how affable, and kind. She thought about how awful it would be if she never told him how she truly felt.
Swept up in the romance of the Sheikha’s story, Nicole threw caution to the wind. Not breaking eye contact, she stepped closer, tilting her chin to look up at him. Slowly, achingly slowly, she lifted onto her toes and placed her lips against his.
Kadeen’s reaction was instant. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close, kissing her passionately as though he were a man stranded in the desert and she his only drink of water. He drank her in, until she was dizzy with her own passion.
Finally, the Sheikh broke off their kiss, and they both stood breathing hard as he placed his forehead against hers to try to quell their passions. It didn’t work.
“Will you come up with me?” he asked between breaths.
Unable to speak, Nicole nodded, and he took her hand before guiding her inside. When the elevator doors closed, leaving them alone, Kadeen took her in his arms again, his hands roaming her body as their lips met yet again.
The doors dinged open on the twelfth floor and they rushed to his room, Kadeen fumbling slightly with the key before he granted them entrance.
There, under the light of a full moon, in one of the most luxurious hotels Nicole had ever set foot in, she finally made love to the most desirable man she had ever met.
Chapter 10
Nicole
Nicole was wearing a stunning, pale pink dress, chasing after Kadeen as he looked back at her, laughing. They were in a wide, open field, filled with the scent of poppy flowers, when the sound of Kadeen’s cellphone interrupted them, and her dream was over.
Blinking open an eye, Nicole took in the sight of Kadeen’s naked back as he reached over and grabbed his phone, rubbing his eyes before he looked at the screen to see who was calling. He scowled.
Nicole was about to ask who it was when he answered, surprisingly, in English.
“Hello, Mama.”
Mama?
Nicole could hear a woman’s voice on the other end of the line, though she couldn’t make out what she was saying. She tried not to listen in, but a part of her really wanted to see how Kadeen was with his parents. All he had said was that the pressure they put on him had led to him leaving for New York, and based on the tone of the woman’s voice, that sentiment was still strong.
Nicole stretched, trying to bask in the wonders of the night before. To say it had been wonderful was an understatement. Kadeen was amazing in every possible way, and she’d woken up hoping they could continue on in the romantic vein they’d found in his home country.
Then she heard one phrase, very distinctly, from his mother.
“Your fiancée is anxious for you to help her with the wedding, Kadeen! You can’t keep shirking your responsibilities like this!”
A bucket of cold ice fell over Nicole’s plans.
So Kadeen’s parents were pushing him, were they? He just didn’t feel like mentioning that they were pushing him to be present for his future wife?
Nicole felt sick to her stomach. All this time, while Kadeen had been gallivanting around New York, getting a reputation for himself, there was some poor woman here, in Al Qazar, wishing and hoping he would be there for her.
And Nicole was in his bed!
Kadeen ended the phone call only moments later, though it didn’t sound as though his mother was satisfied with the end of the conversation. Nicole could hardly care.
She threw off the comforter and shrugged into her clothes, all while the Sheikh sat in silence. Unable to bear it another second, she turned on him, her eyes flashing with anger.
“Y
ou didn’t think it might be prudent to tell me you had a fiancée before luring me into your bed?” she spat.
Kadeen stared at her with that cold, businesslike expression he’d always worn at work. Even though he was sitting in bed with no shirt on (damn his sculpted chest!), he might as well have been wearing a three-piece suit, sitting behind his enormous desk.
“It’s complicated,” he said. “There’s no need to worry yourself over my trifling affairs, though, Nicole. I think it’s time we heed Imogen’s request. I’ll stay here and finish things up with the painting. You can get back to New York and finish up the piece that Imogen called about, so we can deliver it on time.”
Nicole stared at him in disbelief. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me after…this?” She waved helplessly around the room, not wanting to give words to what had happened the night before.
Clearly it hadn’t meant anything, anyway.
“Don’t be dramatic, Nicole. These things happen. If you could please get ready, I’ll ensure the jet is ready for you by the time you get to the airport.”
Torn between wanting to throw a lamp at his head and wanting to keep her job, Nicole stared at Kadeen for one more moment, in some vain hope that he might crack into a smile and tell her that this was all some kind of prank—that he wasn’t really that terrible.
When his expression remained unchanged, she grabbed her purse from the floor and headed out the door, not bothering to look back.
When she reached her room, a newspaper was on the floor, and she nearly slipped on it. Scooping it up, she shoved her key into the slot, opening the door. An image on the paper caught her eye, and she looked at it closely.
It was a picture of Kadeen leaving a coffee shop. The wording was all in Arabic, but Nicole got the feeling that that was the reason his parents had found out he was in the country. Glaring at the image, she threw the paper on the floor.