The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress (Friends Forever) (10 page)

Not that she wanted Hassan, she reminded herself. She didn’t like him. At least not at the moment.

And then a thought occurred to her that made her feel as if she’d been punched in the gut. Was this woman the reason Hassan hadn’t come to visit her last night? Had he been wrapped in her long arms and sexy legs? Had he done to this woman all the wonderful, magical things he’d done to Dana the previous night?

Dana had to concentrate on breathing, her anger so overwhelming as she pictured her handsome Hassan and this woman doing what she and he had shared together. There was an instant hatred that she had trouble suppressing.

“Just tell him Farida is here. He’ll come running. Just wait,” the woman said and winked.

Dana picked up the phone and transferred the information that Farida was here to see him. “I’ll be right out,” Hassan replied and hung up the phone.

Dana wanted to lash out at him but controlled herself. “He’s on his way,” she replied with a forced smile.

Farida grinned right back. “I told you so! I love it when my fiancé is so prompt and attentive. Don’t you?”

She didn’t wait for a response but turned on her perfectly shod foot and walked out of Dana’s office in Hassan’s direction. Dana saw him meet her halfway but had to look away when Farida lifted her face in anticipation of Hassan’s kiss. Dana couldn’t endure the scene and busied herself with the files that had been piling up on her desk.

Dana glanced at his schedule and was furious that he was throwing it all off for a woman like that. He had to know that his meeting with the Minister of Defense had been on the schedule for weeks!

Of course, if he was going to throw off his day, it might as well be with someone like Farida. She was perfect; sexy, sophisticated, probably wealthy and knew how to go about in his world. Why would he want to be with someone like Dana? She played hot and cold, afraid to let anyone know that she’d actually been with him. Farida wasn’t embarrassed. Good grief, she practically announced it to anyone who would listen. And even those who didn’t want to listen!

At six o’clock, Hassan still hadn’t returned and Dana was too furious to work any longer. She’d done enough for the man, she thought and shut down her computer with more force than was necessary. Ignoring the stack of files that needed to be worked as well as all the transcription and little details that had piled up because Dana had been too distracted this afternoon to be efficient, she closed her laptop and pressed the button on her phone that would send her calls to the palace operator.

She was walking down the hallway, trying desperately hard to get her emotions under control but had no way of doing that. Her two body guards were walking behind her which meant she couldn’t go home since they’d probably stop her.

Or would they?

She turned around and opened her mouth to ask, but the taller one just said, “No,” shaking his head to emphasize his point.

She grimaced and looked back at him. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” she said, her hands fisted by her side.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. “You were going to ask if you could go back to your apartment,” he replied as if his assumption was the most obvious thing in the world.

Since that had been exactly what she was going to ask, there was no response she could offer so she closed her mouth and turned around, heading back to the suite she’d slept in last night.

She couldn’t help but nod her appreciation to the guards, who nodded politely back as they walked into her rooms and looked through all the closets, behind the doors and curtains and in all the nooks and crannies possible, then took their sentry positions outside her door.

She was a bit exasperated with their thoroughness, but didn’t begrudge them taking their responsibilities so deeply. They were dedicated to keeping Hassan alive, and apparently she now fell under that category. She didn’t mind actually. She hadn’t slept so well in over a year. She hadn’t realized how lightly she’d been sleeping but knowing she was inside the palace walls along with two men outside her door, she had rested deeply and thoroughly. In her apartment, she woke to any kind of creak or groan, her mind sifting through the sound until it was categorized and classified as non-threatening. She hadn’t even realized she’d been doing that until she didn’t have to while sleeping here where everything was silent and she had people outside her door protecting her.

That didn’t mean she liked being confined. She paced back and forth in her room, not sure what to do with herself. She could watch television, but she hated that pastime, thinking it sucked up a person’s life so she avoided it as much as possible. She could put in a movie, knowing that there was a whole series of movies available to stream from any television or computer for Hassan and any guest in the palace. But she didn’t think she could sit still to watch a movie. She was feeling restless and irritable, and not sure why.

She needed an outlet for her nervous energy. She couldn’t exercise because she was afraid she’d run into Hassan and he was the very last person she wanted to talk to right now. It would be better if she confronted him once she’d calmed down a bit.

Of course, she wouldn’t really confront him. She had absolutely no claim on the man, except for their one night together. Which probably didn’t count in his mind. He probably had one night stands with a number of women. Dana knew there were some types who threw themselves at available, wealthy, powerful and handsome men like Hassan. She snorted in the silence of the suite as she realized that she’d probably throw herself at Hassan after describing him in that manner.

Which actually hurt even more. She hated the idea of Hassan being in the arms of another woman when she wanted him so much. But she disliked the idea that she was one of many. Knowing he enjoyed the company of other women made their night together seem sordid and tawdry.

Cooking, she thought. Yes, that was her outlet. Her reliable relaxation for anything that was bothering her. It had gotten her through worse times than this, she thought.

She didn’t have any other clothes and as amazing as these shoes were, they were higher than she was used to and the marble hallways of the palace made walking on the balls of her feet ache. She flipped the shoes off and padded to the closet, hoping she might find a pair of sneakers or slippers left behind by someone.

No such luck, she realized. There was another suit in the closet, this one in a lovely shade of brown. And another matching pair of shoes, but no slippers.

“I don’t care,” she whispered and carefully hung the suit jacket up on a hanger, then pulled her slacks up and marched out of her suite. The two men were surprised to see her but she didn’t even pause as she walked out of the double door of her suite. “I’m going to the kitchen if that’s okay with you boys?”

She waited for their reply, but they both just stood there looking at her. She assumed they weren’t used to their charges asking permission and shrugged their confusion away. Heading towards the kitchen, she thought about all the things she wanted to cook, considering and discarding several recipes.

In the kitchen, she approached the same young woman who had helped her before. “I’m sorry to bother your processes again, but would anyone mind if I just whipped up a couple of things?”

The woman was confused. “We will be happy to prepare anything you’d like, ma’am,” she said nervously, glancing behind Dana at the two body guards that were hovering.

“No, I just need to work through some nervous energy and cooking helps me. But if I’m going to be in the way…”

The woman immediately shook her head, not wanting to insult a personal guest of the sheik. “Help yourself. Let me know what you need and I’ll bring it to you.” She quickly stepped back and bowed slightly, glancing over Dana’s shoulder to the guards to make sure Dana wasn’t offended in any way.

“No, no,” Dana countered with excitement and waved happily to the woman. “I can do it all by myself. I don’t want to interrupt anything you guys are already working on preparing.”

She went to the pantry and surveyed the various ingredients, then to the giant refrigerator and freezer, doing the same thing. She decided on making a cake first of all, thinking the mixing and beating would get out some of her energy. A multi-layered cake with thick frosting and some gooey filling to make it even sweeter. Maybe even decorations so that she’d have to concentrate and not think about men with sexy eyes and broad shoulders.

An hour later, she had two cake layers cooling on the racks behind her and she was pounding out chicken breasts. Six of them, actually. Four of them were already pounded out and were breaded, in the refrigerator chilling before she put them into the oven. She knew she was cooking too much, but it was therapeutic and she knew it wouldn’t go to waste. Her new body guards would help her eat it, if no one else were interested. She definitely wouldn’t offer any of her food to that irritating man who was probably now cavorting…dammit! She pounded the chicken breast harder, wanting to get rid of the image of Hassan and the bitchingly beautiful Farida.

She was frantically chopping up ingredients for a salad when she noticed a hush fall over the kitchen staff. Dana didn’t even glance up, knowing that Hassan had entered their domain and irritated that everyone acted so deferential to the man. Who cared if he was their ruler? He was a jerk! He was a rude, insensitive, horrible man who thought that women were throw away pieces that he could keep around and take out to play with when he was bored. She didn’t even think about the way she’d snuck out of the palace two nights ago. That was different, she told herself as she grabbed a tomato and slaughtered it with the knife.

She reminded herself that she had no business asking him about Farida. Dana told herself that she was his only employee, that was all, and she chopped the carrots more quickly, tossing them into the bowl beside her.

“What are you up to?” he asked and swiped a carrot from her bowl.

She stopped chopping and glared up at him, not saying a word. Just waiting for him to look around and answer the question himself.

Hassan chuckled and smiled, unrepentant for asking an obvious question. “Okay, why are you doing it?”

She shook her head and resumed chopping, ignoring him as much as a woman could ignore a six foot three inch man with huge muscles and a desire not to be ignored.

“If you don’t want to talk, I can think of much more entertaining things to do than cooking.”

Not a word. Not even a glance in his direction to acknowledge that he’d spoken! She didn’t want to hear his charming voice or humorous quips, and she definitely didn’t want his sexual innuendos that made her shudder with need. She’d gotten a good night’s sleep last night and her body had fully recuperated. More than willing to sample more of the same. But he had the Fabulous Farida now. He could just go do whatever with the other woman. Dana didn’t need the irritation. Although if he came any closer with that Farida-like grin, she might just start chopping off body parts, she thought furiously.

She did not want him, she told herself. She would not accept seconds. Leftovers were just….Uhg!

She had to resist as Hassan came closer. Dana wasn’t any man’s sexual receptacle. If he wanted a willing woman, let him get Farida back. That woman was more than happy to volunteer her body to ease his sexual needs. The horrible woman had broadcast her intentions loud and clear, shouting it with her body language and her cloying perfume.

Dana actually missed the cucumber completely at the idea of that horrible, smelly woman in Hassan’s arms.

Hassan picked up the cucumber and handed it back to her, quickly removing his fingers from her knife range. “Want to talk about it?”

“What’s ‘it’?” she asked, knowing full well what he meant but not wanting to give in to him. She attacked the cucumber with more energy than skill, missing almost as often as she sliced and making the cucumber mess look as unappetizing as possible.

He leaned against the steel counter and watched her carefully. He knew she was upset, but he couldn’t imagine what he’d done lately to make her this angry. “Whatever is bothering you?”

She scraped the mutilated cucumber into the salad, ignoring the curious look Hassan gave the pile of mushed up green gupe. “Nothing is bothering me. Why would you think something is bothering you?”

He paused for a moment to watch her. “Well, unless you’re adding your fingers or parts of the cutting board to the salad intentionally, I’m guessing you’re extremely angry with something. Possibly me, but I’m not really sure what I did in the past twelve hours to make you angry with me.”

“Besides keeping me a prisoner in your house?”

He chuckled as a carrot flew across the room when she tried to stab it and missed. “You’re not really mad at me for that. I think you’re hiding from whatever you’re running from, which you’ll eventually tell me about, but that’s not what this is about.”

She spun the knife around in her hand, gripping the handle upside down and stabbed the wooden cutting board with the tip violently. “Oh, and you know me so well after our short time together that you can say that with authority?”

He crunched on a celery stick, watching her face for a long moment. “Yes, I think I’m pretty on target.”

“You’re not. Way off base, but keep it up and I’ll get angry for other reasons.”

A timer went off behind her and she spun around, glad to have something else to distract her. The man kept snatching her vegetables which put his long, strong fingers into her field of vision, driving her crazy because she wanted those fingers to be moving across her body the way they had the other night. And she knew she no longer had that right.