“—would hate to level a charge of favoritism, but—yes. Yes. I’ve heard that a rival pitch was given a pilot with no consultation with the foundation’s leadership and before the foundation is even officially up and running.” A space for breath. “Because the person in charge, Annalise Danbury, is attractive, and the sheikh is biased in favor of beautiful women.”
One by one, the others had stopped talking as Bradley passed on this information to whoever he was speaking to on the phone. Raed’s blood roiled, his heart pounding. Bradley was correct on one account—Lise was the most gorgeous woman ever to exist. But that didn’t mean he was biased. Or showing her favoritism. Not like that. What he’d done, he’d done to protect his child. The threat of scandal hung over his head, seeming to thicken the air in the room. It would ruin things for his foundation if they got mired in tabloid stories and accusations.
Bradley ended his call and seemed to register the silence of the other board members. They were all watching Raed. All waiting for him to react.
Quickly.
“Mr. Taylor, I don’t think your microphone was muted,” he began. “But since I’ve heard what you said, I’ll take a moment to address it. There is no romantic entanglement here. We are acquaintances from a brief period in London, and her project is quite small.” Below the view of the camera, his hands clenched into fists. He could not allow these rumors to hit the gossip magazines. He wouldn’t. Raed laughed. “There’s nothing between myself and Ms. Danbury to concern you.”
“I should think not,” one of the other board members put in, his tone awkward. “Not with Katharine on the horizon.”
Bradley apologized, looking chagrined but not as embarrassed as Raed would have expected. “So sorry, Sheikh Al-Qasha.” He dipped his head, once, then again. “My deepest apologies. Of course—”
“Let’s move on,” snapped Raed. “What else do you have in your plans? We’re over on time, but I can find a few more minutes—”
“Go,” said a small voice by the door. Horror cascaded down Raed’s back, pulling the hairs on his neck up straight. He didn’t want to look and see who stood at the door, but he already knew.
Raed turned his head.
Lise stood red-faced at the threshold, Jake’s chubby hand in hers. Raed’s son beamed at him, showing his teeth, and he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.
She’d heard.
He could see it written on her face, in the thin press of her lips and the high color in her cheeks. Why hadn’t he remembered their plan to meet? Why hadn’t he kept better track of the time? Raed put on a smile for Jake and gave him a wave, then turned back to the screen.
“We’ll have to wrap this up after all, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. The sooner the better. He had half a mind to end the connection on the video call right now.
There was a hurried thirty seconds of planning for the next meeting, and then the images on the screen began to wink out one by one. Raed shut off his own camera and got out of his seat. The doorway was empty. Lise hadn’t bothered to wait.
In the hall, he caught a glimpse of the end of her ponytail flashing as she turned a corner, Jake looking back over her shoulder. Raed rushed past the guard stationed at the door to his office and jogged after her. If she shut the door to her guest house in his face, he couldn’t blame her. She’d just caught him announcing to the world that there was nothing between them. He had laughed at the prospect. He’d meant it to be dismissive, but it might not have come off that way to her.
Or maybe it had.
“Lise.” She was headed briskly for a set of doors that led out into the gardens, but she stopped at the sound of his voice. “Wait.”
Careful, warned the voice in his head. It wouldn’t do for everyone in the palace to see him sprinting after her, so Raed maintained a measured pace. No matter how much he trusted the people who worked around the royal family, rumors got started. Rumors like the one that Bradley Taylor had tried to spread. Some people brushed them off as petty gossip, but Raed knew better than to dismiss them out of hand. He knew better than to be careless around the palace, just in case.
It was hard, though, because Jake so badly wanted him to catch up. He rocked in his mother’s arms, reaching for Raed. It took all Raed’s self-control not to reach back for him. Instead, he offered Jake his hand. His son wrapped his fingers around Raed’s thumb and pulled his hand in close to his face.
“It’s not what you think,” he told Lise, urgency radiating from his bones. “I promise you.”
She shook her head. “No? I’m not your dirty little secret?”
“No.” Of course not. And she wouldn’t remain a secret forever—just by virtue of his royalty and by virtue of his son. It was only that they needed a plan first. It was only that he needed to secure the future of the foundation before he started making announcements that would set the city ablaze with speculation.
“Mama,” said Jake. He let go of Raed’s hand and put a palm on her face. His little brow furrowed. Raed had never paid much attention to children, not once he started throwing himself into the work of growing the prestige of the royal family, and it stunned him how easily Jake had picked up on his mother’s tension. He wished there was no tension, but he hadn’t been able to pretend she hadn’t heard. The entire board of the university had heard what Bradley implied: that the foundation’s funding decisions were guided by Raed’s sex drive.
“Ah—that’s right.” Lise’s tone was so icy that it trickled down his spine in a frigid wave. “I’m not your dirty little secret. We are.”
And then she turned and pushed through the doors, never once looking back.
7
The embarrassed pinch at the center of Lise’s chest lasted for days. There was nothing she could do to get rid of it. Every time she did her deep breathing exercises and released the feeling into the universe, it came back twice as hard.
The queen mother sat patiently across a tea table from her in one of the palace’s sitting rooms, a map of the city spread out between them. Lise’s face heated all over again as Nenet went over aspects of the local culture, pointing out different places on the map, adding details so Lise could organize the appropriate classes. They would all have to be different, Lise had realized early on. Different methods of instruction. Different materials. Different supports.
“So this group here...” She indicated a list of names on her own notepad. “This should be all right?”
Nenet leaned in to look at it, then gave a small shake of her head. “No. Take a second look. You should administer your placement tests, of course. I’m not arguing against that. But once you’ve done so, you’ll have to take special care not to mix ranks together.”
On the rug near the tea table, Jake played with a collection of wooden toys that someone had brought out from the palace storage. Trains, mostly. He drew them back and forth across the carpet, crouched down in a pair of little blue pants that Lise loved. “Choo choo,” he said softly.
Lise blinked. “Ranks...”
“The social classes in Qasha aren’t the same as in Europe,” Nenet pointed out gently. “It will be important not to mix different ranks in classes together, even if their abilities match. The superiors”—the queen mother’s emphasis told Lise she didn’t necessarily agree with the way things had been arranged in the city—“won’t admit that they need to learn, if it means losing face in front of people of a lower rank.”
“Ah.” Lise sat back in her seat. She’d been planning some additional classes—handwriting classes, so that members of different ranks weren’t hamstrung by their inability to write at the same level. Transitioning between Arabic script and the Roman alphabet could be challenging. Everyone should have lessons. But it was going to be a more delicate prospect than she’d counted on. Jake toddled over and pushed a train into her hand, and she gave it back with a fragile smile.
And at the moment, she didn’t feel particularly delicate. The way she’d reacted to that note was more than e
mbarrassing—it was maddening. How could she ever have allowed herself to develop a crush on Raed? So naive. And she’d already sworn that living in the palace was not about getting close to him. It was about convenience.
But if that were true, then his comments on that video conference wouldn’t have stung so much. Lise tried and failed to push them out of her mind again. He’d sounded so sure when he dismissed her as a potential “romantic entanglement.” As if it were ridiculous even to think about it. Well, it wasn’t ridiculous, was it? He’d slept with her. They had a child together. And there he was, on that conference call—
Lise yanked herself out of this circular hell and back to what Nenet was saying—or what she wasn’t saying. The queen mother frowned down at the map. Lise’s heart twisted. “We could stop for the day,” she offered quickly. “You’ve been doing so much for me—for us—lately. I don’t want to tire you out.”
Nenet laughed, waving her off, but it was true—she spent her free time caring for Jake on top of her own palace responsibilities, and Lise knew it.
“I’m not any more tired than usual,” she promised. “But...there is something I need to do, and I’d rather relax for a while.”
“Of course I can help. Say the word.”
The queen mother’s face brightened, and Lise’s heart lifted. “If you’re sure.” Lise nodded, smiling brightly. She’d go to the ends of the Earth to help Nenet. A queen, spending time with Lise and her son—she had no hesitation there. “It’s just something I need to collect. The car and driver are already here, and they have the instructions. If you could pop off and get it for me, I would be so grateful. And don’t worry about Jake. He can stay here with me.”
“Mama,” said Jake.
“I’ll be back, buddy.” Lise went to where her son was surrounded by toy trains on the rug and bent to kiss him. He still had his baby scent, and she already knew she would miss it when it was gone—miss it fiercely. A pang of sorrow for Raed went through her gut. He would never be able to go back in time and know how it had felt to hold Jake as a squishy newborn or a sturdy one-year-old who still wanted to be carried as much as possible. He would never feel his chubby baby legs—not the way they had been before. The way babies grew was so subtle, and so shocking at the same time. One moment they were sleepy, tiny things craving to be swaddled and the next—
The next, they were walking.
Like Jake was now.
He pressed a wet kiss to her cheek, and Lise stood up, shaking off that sadness. There was nothing to feel bad about when it came to Raed. Clearly. She made her goodbyes to Nenet and went out the back door of the palace, where a black SUV waited for her.
Lise sat back in her seat, gazing out the window. Where were they going? Across the city, probably. She’d have lots of time to sit in the air conditioning and nurse her feelings.
Only the driver didn’t turn toward the exit to the main road. He took another turn, much sooner, and Lise sat back up. Where—
The stables?
Did Nenet want her to collect a horse? The SUV stopped in front of the stables, and the driver came around to help Lise out of the car.
“I’m supposed to be here?”
“Yes, Ms. Danbury.” The driver bowed his head over her hand.
“At the stables?”
What?
“Where is the queen mother?” Raed’s voice boomed from the other side of the SUV, the rest of him still hidden. Run, she thought wildly. She did not want to see Raed right now. For the past few days, they’d only seen each other—coldly, cordially—when he took Jake out for a tightly scheduled morning ride on one of the ponies. “Mother?” he called again.
He came around the side of the car, and Lise caught her breath at the sight of him. Dark hair slicked back for a day at work. Tight dress pants that skimmed over the hard muscles of his legs. A shirt that fit him so well it was indecent. His eyes widened to see her there.
“Lise?” His perfect brow was furrowed and the glance he threw at the driver was nothing short of incredulous. “I was supposed to meet my mother here.”
A line of staff members came out of the stable then, bringing with them things they would need for a ride. The first two led saddled horses by the reins. The next two carried stacks of riding clothes. The third, baskets meant to be slung over the horses.
The driver cleared his throat. “The queen mother has arranged a picnic for the two of you.”
Shock rippled down her center. Nenet! How could Nenet have been so tricky? Lise grabbed the pile of clothes that was being offered to her and stalked into the stables, where there were several sets of private changing rooms and bathrooms. This was a rock and a hard place if she’d ever encountered such a situation. God—really? It wasn’t like she could disobey the queen mother. Or let her down. Not after she’d offered to watch Jake and help Lise learn about the city—
She huffed out a breath, her face painfully hot. Good. Great. She’d ride horses with Raed, if that was what Nenet wanted. But that didn’t mean she had to enjoy it.
Lise went back out to the servants in front of the building and found Raed already there in his riding clothes. Her heart thudded, nerves tingling. He was even handsomer in the riding clothes, like something out of a historical novel. A true royal. He stood by her horse and silently helped her on, his hands on her waist, and Lise had to stop herself from pressing herself into that palm—more of that touch, her body called.
No, she argued back. Not now, not ever.
And then he was on his own horse, the baskets slung on the back for easy transportation, and he raised his eyebrows at her. “Ready?”
“Yes.” She’d wanted it to be more cutting, but her body was already relaxing on the horse, in the afternoon breeze. They set out from the stables toward the wide hills on the outer parts of the grounds, and as Raed picked up speed, so did Lise. Thank God she’d learned to ride early in life so that she didn’t have to share his horse. And beyond that—it was fun. The rhythm of the horse matched her heart, lifting it and clearing away some of the hurt that had settled there.
A laugh spilled from her lips. It was like when they’d gone riding in the New Forest, racing under the trees and across the pasture.
“You still ride in that English style,” he called over the wind, eyes sparkling. He’d teased her about it back then, too, pointing out her hands on the reins and her rising trot, so different from the endurance-style riding Raed preferred.
“What other style would I use?” she teased, unable to keep a small smile off her face.
“This way,” he called, and turned to the right, toward a stand of trees. Through those trees, she could see the silvery glimmer of a lake. A few minutes later they dismounted at the lake’s edge, and Lise took it in—the clean ripple of the water, a boat rocking at a nearby dock, and a lovely green lawn reaching down almost to the water’s edge. A thin strip of sand formed a boundary between the lawn and the lake. Jake would love to put his toes in and walk around.
Raed came up behind her, and she turned as he set out a sturdy blanket and the baskets, then flopped down next to them and opened them up. It was even more embarrassing how much she liked the sight of him there on the ground, pulling the picnic out with amusement on his face. “If the ride here didn’t remind you of the New Forest, the food certainly will.”
Lise took a spot at the edge of the blanket, her mouth watering. Raed had brought out sausage rolls, cheddar cheese, and scotch eggs. The palace picnic set came with real plates and silver, and when he handed her the little plate brimming with the things she’d loved in the UK, she couldn’t help herself. She dug in.
“I very much enjoy riding with you.” Raed’s voice held both an admission and an apology. “I...didn’t feel good about the way things went after my video conference.”
“I didn’t either.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, then took a bite of sausage roll. The silence brimmed with meaning. Lise couldn’t find the words to answer. Raed shifted on the
blanket. “I wanted to ask you—would you like to ride together in the mornings?”
What? “When you take Jake out?”
“No.” Raed’s dark eyes flicked to hers, and the heat in his gaze matched the glow low in her belly. “No. Us together, riding alone.”
Flame licked up to her chest, colliding with a wanting ache there. She gazed out over the lake, trying to tame it. Lise had to protect herself. She had to protect her son and her reputation. How would that square with morning horse rides? People in the palace would talk.
But—
Out here, away from most of the prying eyes, she felt good. Relaxed, for the first time since they’d come to Qasha. It was nice, being with him, when he could talk to her without constantly calculating how it would look to everyone else. Even Raed’s shoulders had come down an inch. He watched her with open curiosity, as she could see from the corner of her eye. A curiosity he might not show if there were other people watching. Not after things had gone so badly on that conference call.
He grinned at her, and it drew her full attention back to his gorgeous face. “Have I broken you with the idea?”
“No,” she shot back, laughing. “I forgive you for the conference call, I suppose. For now. And I’ll ride with you as many mornings as it’s possible.”
He sat up, satisfaction lighting his face. “You’ll need your own horse. I have just the mare in mind, a lovely chestnut Arabian.”
Lise set her plate down. “Raed, you cannot buy me a horse. That’s too much.”
“Is it?” He stood up and reached for her hands, and in spite of herself, she let him pull her from the ground. “Nothing that makes you smile like that could possibly be too much.”
She became aware of her own wide grin the same moment he put his fingertip to her lips and traced the outline of her smile. The touch was charged on her sensitive skin, and when his fingertip made its way back to her bottom lip she parted for him, letting him just barely into the heat of her mouth.
The Sheikh’s Unexpected Son: The Blooming Desert Series Book Three Page 5