The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress (Friends Forever) (12 page)

One problem she kept running into was an escape route. If she were found, she didn’t like the idea of being out in the middle of the desert or jungle with no way of hiding and no easy way to get back to civilization. Wherever she went, it would need to be a place where she could blend in with a population large enough for a person to live, but still give her anonymity. And a job. She had to support herself somehow even though the idea of living in the jungle in a tree house and living off of nuts and berries sounded pretty good right about now. Unfortunately, the jungles of Africa or South America might be a perfect hiding spot, but it didn’t have a great number of possible occupations. Especially the tree house idea.

The afternoon was just as crazy as the morning but with the added pressure of Hassan barking orders at her. He constantly demanded that she come into his office and take notes during his meetings, something he hadn’t done before. He’d always preferred that the meetings be recorded and she would transcribe them after the fact. Since she didn’t know shorthand, actually being in the meeting was a great deal of pressure to try and write down all that was being said. It was still being recorded, but she felt the need to get the important points down carefully. And since no one wasted Hassan’s time, all the issues brought up were important, conversations limited to only those issues that needed his attention while idle chit chat was kept to a minimum.

By the end of the day, she was tired and hungry, and very irritated with the man who had kept her at his side during most of the day for no apparent reason.

She was shutting down her computer when he walked into her office and sat in one of her empty chairs, a plate filled with her jambalaya. “This is delicious,” he said with a mouthful of shrimp. “I know you made this last night and I’m impressed.”

She really didn’t like the way her stomach quivered with excitement over his compliment. “Don’t you have some big dinner party tonight with the ambassadors?”

“Yes. Will you come with me?” he asked and took another bite of the spicy rice dish.

She watched him with exasperation. “Why are you eating if you have a twenty course meal to sit through?” She glared at him angrily. “And why don’t you ever gain weight?”

“Because I don’t want to eat their food. I want to eat this.” He took another bite and looked across the desk. “You didn’t answer my question. Will you be my guest tonight?”

She tossed out the first answer she thought of. “I have nothing to wear,” she said without emphasis and stuffed more files into her desk.

“I’m fine with nothing,” he replied, completely dead pan so it took several minutes for his words to sink in. At which time, her traitorous body responded by blushing profusely and her heart speeding up.

“Get real,” she scoffed and shoved the last file into her desk. “Have fun tonight.”

He placed the now empty plate on her desk and wiped his mouth with a linen napkin. “I’ll have a dress delivered to your room in a half hour. Be ready for me in an hour.” With that, he bent over and kissed her lightly and was gone down the hallway before she could argue with him or even agree to be his guest. She glared at the empty plate with a mutinous expression but not because he’d left her something to clean up. There was a cleaning service that came through the office areas and cleaned up all the plates, coffee cups and emptied the trash so she didn’t care about that. It was that he’d just swooped in and swished out, not even caring that she might still be angry with him.

She didn’t really believe he could have a dress to her within the time he’d mentioned but she should have realized that Hassan never did things in half measures. She was sitting in the small sitting room of her suite, finishing up some of the files from the day, when a knock sounded on the door. She had no idea who might come to see her but knew the guards Hassan had assigned to her wouldn’t let anyone past that wasn’t allowed so she answered the door without hesitation.

And then her mouth fell open. A man stood outside with a whole rack of gorgeous evening gowns in all the colors of the rainbow, each one more beautiful than the last. He pushed them inside with a smile and a bow, and then disappeared, closing the door behind him saying only “Compliments of His Highness” before he was gone.

Dana was left staring at about thirty gorgeous gowns, each one probably worth more than her monthly salary. She picked up one and held it against the front of her, looking in the mirror to see what it looked like. Needless to say, it was perfect. As was the next and the next, all the colors that worked well with her skin tone and coloring, and all in her size.

“How does he know all this stuff?” she said out loud as she pulled on a pretty lavender gown with a chiffon skirt and beaded halter style top. It made her breasts look bigger somehow and her hips smaller. As she twirled around, she knew that she was in love with this dress.

The second knock came while she was pulling on an emerald green sheath dress that skimmed all her curves, covering her from neck to ankle, but leaving little to the imagination.

She answered the door, her hands covering the upper half of her dress because of how her breasts, or more specifically, her nipples, were providing good evidence of their existence.

Dana wasn’t prepared for Hassan to be standing outside the door, nor was she ready for him to be so devastatingly handsome in his beautifully tailored tuxedo. But as soon as she opened the door, his eyes dropped to her dress and instantly fired with desire. “Absolutely not!” he said and pushed his way into the room, slamming the door behind him. “There is no way you’re leaving this room in that dress,” he growled. He looked back at her in the dress and she could see that he liked it, just not with anyone but himself looking at her.

With a glance, he moved over to the rack of clothes and surveyed the alternatives, picking out the lavender dress she’d initially tried on first. “This one,” he commanded and walked over to hand it to her.

“Why that one?” she asked, not taking the dress for fear of needing to drop her hands. Which would in turn reveal what he probably knew was underneath her arms, but she didn’t want to be obvious about it. Especially with a bed so close by.

His eyes dropped down to her bare shoulders, skimming along her figure where her arms weren’t covering. “Because purple will look good on you. And there’s no way I’m letting you out of this room in that dress so just take it off now.” He smiled slightly before saying, “Maybe you could put it on for me later, just so I can take it off personally.”

Dana almost laughed, feeling giddy that he was somewhat jealous of other men seeing her like this. “I wasn’t going to wear it anyway. I just liked the color.”

He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest arrogantly. “Good. Hurry up. We’re going to be late and if we’re going to be late, it’s going to be for a good reason.”

“What would be a good reason in your mind?” she asked, taking the dress and walking into the bathroom to change. It occurred to her that she hadn’t actually agreed to go to this dinner thing with him. He’d simply ordered her to get ready and here she was, getting ready. If the dress wasn’t so gorgeous and he hadn’t looked so marvelous in his tuxedo, she might have argued with him a bit.

He leaned down so his face was less than an inch from hers, his eyes showing her how much he wanted her. “Anything that has to do with you being naked and in a bed. Or out of a bed,” he growled. “In that dress, I don’t care where you are. A wall will even work at this point so hurry up and change or we’re going to miss the whole event and I will make sure you don’t care that you’re still mad at me.”

She scurried into the bathroom and kept her eyes off of his magnificent form, praying she could get away without dissolving into a puddle of desire. “I’m not,” she sighed from behind the door, glad that he couldn’t hear her. She needed him to think she was still mad at him so she could keep her distance but she just couldn’t maintain that anger. She was hurt and sad that he preferred Farida over her, but she couldn’t blame him. The woman was stunning.

“Hurry up,” he called out.

She unzipped the green dress and pulled on the lavender one, trying to figure out what to do with her hair that was fast and simple. “What’s this thing about tonight?” she called through the closed door.

“The French Ambassador and his wife are here for dinner.”

“Wow!” she whispered. In a louder voice she called back, “And you want me to attend with you?” She felt a warm glow start to heat inside her, proud that he thought enough of her skills to ask her to attend such an important meeting with him.

“Yes. If you’d hurry up,” he called back.

“Why didn’t you ask Farida to be your guest?” she said then bit her tongue, wishing she hadn’t said that out loud.

“Because I didn’t want to be with her tonight.”

That was the right answer, she thought. But she had to maintain her position and not get lost in his sweet words. She swept her hair back and pinned it neatly at the nape of her neck, added a bit more powder, some purple eye shadow and soft pink lipstick.

“Do I Iook okay?” she asked, coming out of the bathroom and finding him sitting on the sofa reading a magazine. He looked surprised to see her finished so quickly and glanced at his watch. “That took you less than five minutes,” he mumbled, standing up and coming towards her. “How did you do that so quickly?”

“You told me we were going to be late.”

He glanced down at his watch once again. “We were. If you’d taken an hour to get ready like I assumed you would.”

“So now we’re early?”

He chuckled at her disgruntled expression and moved closer. “What shall we do with the extra time?”

She stepped back and put her hand up to the middle of his chest to stop him in his tracks. “Not what you’re thinking. Remember? I’m still mad at you.”

He pushed her hand away and pulled her closer. “No you’re not.”

She accepted his touch, thrilling to the way he was so possessive of her, but unwilling to give in on this issue. “Yes I am,” she said and tucked her lipstick into his breast pocket.

“You’re not. I heard you through the bathroom door. And that’s not my color,” he joked, referring to her lipstick.

“Funny man. It’s for me. I don’t have a purse.”

“So I get the honor of carrying your lipstick?”

“Dubious honor, but yes.” She marched out of the suite and smiled to her guards. “And yes, I am still mad at you. I’m just not showing it.”

He chuckled and put a hand to the small of her back to guide her towards the formal dining room where they would meet their guests.

Dana waited until she was introduced to the Ambassador and his wife, but then stepped forward and smiled graciously. “Bon soir,” she said effortlessly. “Comment t’alley vous ce soir?” in perfect French.

Three sets of eyes widened in surprise and Dana maintained her serene expression, glad to have surprised Hassan with her knowledge of foreign languages. It was, after all, one of the reasons she’d been moved into her current position so she didn’t understand why he was surprised.

The evening turned out to be a great success with Hassan and the ambassador agreeing to several issues while Dana and the ambassador’s wife discussed other country’s politics or lapsed into the traditional and easy conversational topics such as fashion or travel.

The meal was delicious, as predicted and it was nice to sit at the table with only the four of them and discuss politics. Dana watched in fascination as Hassan worked the French Ambassador, getting through his points and acknowledging the ambassador’s as well. They were dancing a very fine minuet, she thought. Neither giving in on a subject until the other conceded something as well, so both parties came away from the evening feeling as if they’d gained something important, all the while pretending that the meal was only a social event.

After waving goodbye to the ambassador and his wife, Dana yawned hugely and smiled her thanks to the wait staff who had helped during the meal. She then turned and walked out of the dining room, heading back to her own suite and away from Hassan and his charming self. “Where are you going?” Hassan asked as they left the dining room. Dana automatically turned to the right which would take her to her suite while Hassan was pulling her to the left towards his private quarters.

“I’m going to bed.”

He pulled her flush against his body, pressing her against him so she could understand. “That was exactly my intention.”

Dana could feel his body harden against her stomach and tried to push him away, closing her eyes in an effort to block out pictures of what he might do to her. “No,” she said but it was a weak and breathless protest. She had to remember Farida and not give in, she told herself firmly.

“You’re mouth is saying no, but your body is leaning into mine, your hands are around my neck and you’re shivering with expectation.”

Dana opened her eyes and realized that her arms were in fact around his neck. She pulled them down and tried to step back, but he held her hips, pressing her close while his head bent down. When his lips touched her neck, she couldn’t help but shiver with more than expectation. It was anticipation, bold, heavy and overwhelming. “You can’t do that,” she whispered but felt her head lean to the left so he had better access.

“What can’t I do?” he breathed against her ear. “This?” he asked as his teeth nibbled on her earlobe.

“Yes.”

“And maybe I can’t do this?” and his hand went to her back, sliding around her rib cage and cupping her breast with his strong hands. “And you’d really hate it if I did this, wouldn’t you?” he asked as his expert fingers unsnapped the halter dress and revealed her breast, exposing it to his hands and Dana didn’t even care that they were in the middle of the hallway and anyone could pass by. When his thumb ran over her nipple, she was lost and she gasped as the pleasure surged through her.