The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress (Friends Forever) (8 page)

She forced her fingers to work the buttons on her clothes and, even though she looked like a mess with no makeup on and her hair all over the place, she turned off the light and slipped out of the bathroom. She quietly made her way out of his private suite and back to her office, praying no one else in the palace saw her.

Dana thought she saw a couple of men in one of the hallways, but assumed they were just the palace guards doing their normal rounds. But after her experience in the marketplace, she didn’t want to risk it and the whole way down the hallway to her office she was jumping at every movement and each shadow, even if it didn’t move.

In her office, she grabbed her keys and purse and quickly made her way out the employee entrance, smiling stiffly to the guards on duty. She didn’t recognize these men, never having been here in this hallway at this time of the night. But they all looked extremely competent and she was glad for their presence as she made her way to her car. There were very few left in the employee lot and she felt extremely conspicuous leaving like this.

The streets were dark and vacant, only a few cars behind her as she drove back to her apartment. As she drove, she tried to be aware of what was happening around her, glancing in her rear view mirror to make sure she wasn’t being followed. She felt a bit silly when she tried to spy cars behind her with their headlights off, just like in the television shows she’d watched, but she didn’t care. Better safe than sorry, she told herself.

She was working through all the details of how she was going to get away while still scanning the area, looking for odd places people might hide. So when the taxi cab came from the left and she was looking to the right down a dark street, she wasn’t as prepared as she should have been. She was still able to avoid a major collision because she’d been hyper aware, but her car was still hit, if only on the front bumper.

The cab driver immediately got out of his car and started apologizing and Dana breathed a sigh of relief that it was truly an accident and not those guys out to get her as she left her work site. She almost chuckled to herself that she’d thought someone would have waited outside the palace at this time of the night just to get her.

In the distance, she heard sirens indicating that the police had already been notified and was surprised that they were on the way. She never got this kind of service back home! The cab driver looked behind him, obviously worried that the police were here so quickly. His eyes frantically scanning the side streets as if waiting for someone to appear out of the darkness.

Dana was searching through her purse, trying to find her identification when the police officer pulled up, his car angled directly to the side of hers while another one pulled up behind the cab driver.

She was just about to pull her wallet out when the police officer approached her. “Everything is okay, ma’am. Please just go on back to your car,” he said politely. The officer approaching the cab driver didn’t appear to be as polite and Dana wanted to argue that it had only been an accident.

“Oh, but don’t you need….” She started to say but the officer was already shaking his head, putting his body in front of her and looking around quickly. It was almost like he was protecting her from the cab driver, but that seemed ridiculous. Of course it was the cab driver’s fault, but that didn’t seem like a good enough reason to arrest the poor guy.

“No need,” the police officer said, his arms spread wide as he moved in front of her, blocking her view of the cab driver. “We’ll take care of this.”

Dana heard another accident a couple of blocks away but the officers near her didn’t appear surprised or even concerned about the accident.

Two car accidents so close together? And at this time of night?

She glanced over at the cab driver and a funny feeling invaded her mind. Something was definitely wrong here.

“You’re free to go. You must return to the palace,” the officer said. He nodded to the other officer who approached the cab driver. A moment later, the officer was handcuffing the man and putting him into the back seat of the police car and oddly, the cab driver was accepting this as normal.

No, something definitely wasn’t right.

The officer bowed with deference and gestured for her to get back into her car. He was painfully polite as he said, “Please, Ms. Miller. You must return to the palace. Sheik Faiser-Al-Takar himself is waiting for you at the entrance. He will explain.”

“Hassan is waiting for me?” she asked, her head spinning with the events unfolding around her. The thought of Hassan knowing already that she was gone was a huge problem. But when he found out that she’d been in an accident, he was going to be completely livid! No, it was better if she just continued on her way as if nothing had happened. She’d figure out how to deal with the legal issues of this accident later on. As it was, she was already delayed from her goal of getting out of town since this whole scene had taken up more time than she had tonight. She had been hoping to be over the border before he woke up this morning.

“Please ma’am. You must move quickly.”

She really didn’t want to go back to the palace but she wasn’t sure she was going to be given a choice. The police officer seemed intent on getting her back to safety and, in his mind, the palace was her only destination.

Dana put a hand to the roof of her car and considered how she was going to explain her absence to Hassan. She knew he wouldn’t be pleased and if the roles had been reversed, she would be pretty hurt if she’d woken up after having sex with someone only to find they had spirited off in the middle of the night.

Well, this wasn’t her fault, she thought with more than a touch of defensiveness. In fact, the whole reason she was here this late, or early depending on one’s perspective, was because he’d been adamant that she not leave the palace grounds. It was his fault that she was out here in the dead of night and had gotten into an accident. He had no right to be unhappy about this turn of events, she told herself in an effort to try and wiggle out of his upcoming tirade.

Okay, so it wasn’t that he wasn’t going to be happy. He was going to be downright furious with her.

With shaking fingers, she put her car in gear and drove slowly back to the palace. It was only a few miles, but the sight of headlights behind her made her nervous. What if someone had followed her the other day? If they knew she worked at the palace and….

She didn’t have time to figure that out. She had to focus all of her attention on getting through this interview with Hassan. The guards wouldn’t let anyone inside the walls without authorization and she had bigger things to worry about at the moment. She had to find a way to convince him that she couldn’t stay here, that it was better if they just acted as if last night were a casual event and she should be on her way.

But last night hadn’t been casual for her. It had been the most magical night of her life. She wanted him again even now as she parked her car but knew that she had to be strong. She had to make sure he was protected. Those men wouldn’t care if he were a ruler, wouldn’t care if she might be his mistress. They had a job to do and that was to protect their boss from prosecution. Their businesses, albeit illegal enterprises, were international and any disruption to their supply would cause a ripple effect that could equate to a major tsunami when it was finally over.

No, not even Hassan had the power to protect her in this situation.

As she entered the palace, she looked around and the same guards who had watched her leave, were looking at her curiously now.

Then she saw him. The man standing at the end of the hallway was a mass of barely contained fury. He might look calm and controlled, the epitome of the mighty ruler of all he surveyed but she could tell the difference in the way his feet were braced a bit farther apart than normal and how his shoulders were tense, his whole body still while his eyes watched her walk down the hallway. She approached cautiously, worried about what to say to ease the anger within in him.

“Where the hell did you think you were going?” he demanded, glaring down at her with his arms crossed over his chest.

She wasn’t fooled by the low tone of voice. This man was seething. “I was going home. That’s my usual plan at the end of each day.”

He took a step closer, their toes almost touching. “I don’t think either one of us could classify this as a normal end of the day. And I dare you to tell me otherwise. I dare you to even try and convince yourself of that, Dana.”

“Hassan…”

His hand sliced up into the air, cutting off her explanation. There was nothing she could say that would justify her actions tonight. He wouldn’t admit that he was also furious that she’d left him after such an a amazing interlude, one of the best of his life. Perhaps it hadn’t meant as much to her, which only made him angrier. “Don’t patronize me, Dana. You put yourself in danger and I will not permit that.”

She realized that approach wasn’t going to fly so she tried a different angle. “I’m not completely sure why you’re so furious with me. It wasn’t as if…”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” he ordered and was almost shouting. “As I said, you put yourself in danger. When we started this several hours ago, I told you that I wouldn’t permit you to leave the palace unless you could take me down with your fighting skills. Since you were unable to do that, you went against a direct order.”

Her mouth fell open with that outrageous statement. “That’s not really fair!” He was making it sound like she’d committed treason by walking out on him.

He leaned down so she wouldn’t be mistaken in his declaration. “I don’t deal in fair or unfair. I gave you an order and I expect it to be obeyed.”

She stiffened at his order, wanting to fight back but not sure exactly how to do that. “I’m not your…”

“Don’t even try to put a definition on what you are to me,” he said, cutting off her argument. “I’m too furious with you for what you did tonight to listen to you try and belittle our evening.”

Since she’d been about to do just that, she shut her mouth and glared right back at him. “Wise choice,” he said with a nod. “Now explain to me why you found it imperative to leave in the middle of the night.”

“I had to get back to my apartment.”

He raised an eyebrow when she said that and stopped, as if that meant something more than just running an errand. “And it was okay to not only put yourself in danger, but those of your security detail?”

She blinked, not sure what he meant by that statement. “I don’t have a security detail!”

“You do as of two days ago. And this little incident tonight proves that I was right in getting that in place.”

She gasped and leaned back, her hands fisting at her sides. “You had me followed?”

He bent down lower, his finger poking her in the shoulder to emphasize his point. “I had you protected! There’s a significant difference.”

“Not in my mind.”

“What would you call tonight?”

She threw her hands up in the air, waving them as if he was being obtuse about the events of the past hour. “It was an innocent accident. That cab driver didn’t mean to run into me. He was just tired.”

Hassan glanced behind him, saw the shake of the guards head and stared at her. “It wasn’t an accident, Dana.” He spoke the words carefully, wanting her to understand exactly what was happening.

“Of course it was.”

He lowered his voice and she saw a great deal of the anger leave his body. It was still there, just tempered by her innocence of how this violent world works. He gently shook his head, letting her down easy. “It wasn’t just an accident. It was a carefully orchestrated plan to get you out of the car so you were vulnerable.”

She stopped talking at that point. Was that true? Had someone deliberately set a trap for her? “Why would someone…” she shook her head, denying what he’d said. “No way. The people….I mean, why would anyone….” She stopped again, shutting her mouth for fear that she might reveal something she shouldn’t.

“Why would someone want to kill you?” he finished for her. “Maybe to get you out of the way. It could be because you already have too much influence over me. Or maybe it was the same people who tried to grab you in the marketplace two days ago. Whatever the reason, you will be staying inside the palace until this is figured out. And after this is over, you will still be protected. Do you understand?” he explained firmly, not allowing her any room to argue about his precautions.

“You’re being ridiculous!” she snapped right back, scared that she’d been so naïve and embarrassed that she probably had put other men in danger. She didn’t like thinking she was self-centered, but that was exactly what she’d done tonight and she was having trouble coping.

He smiled at her argument, but there wasn’t any amusement in the look. “That’s my right, my love. I can be as arbitrary as I want and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He said the words and knew he was digging himself in deeper, but he couldn’t help it. The idea of her being in danger made him sick with fury. He couldn’t let anything harm her now. She was his and he protected what was his, even if they fought that protection.

Her mind whirled about his words, frantically trying to make sense of everything that was happening. But there were too many questions and definitely not enough answers. Besides the fact that she was exhausted since she’d basically been up most of the night. “I need to go home and get some sleep,” she said wearily.