Sheikh's Surprise Son Read online

  “Any enjoyment that I was proposing was going to be mutual,” he growled. “I wasn't proposing to pay you for your services, damn it. I wanted—”

  “I know very well what you wanted,” she flared, and then to his surprise, she went still.

  Bailey was not a woman who was still very often, Adnan thought somewhere in the back of his mind. She always had to be doing and moving and finding out. Right now, she was as still as a pillar or a post, and it was strange on her.

  “Bailey—”

  “You do, don't you?” she asked, and her voice was soft and full of regret.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You can see right through me. I want it as much as you do.”

  Something seized hold of Adnan's heart in a way that he didn't want to think about. He wanted her, he might have wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman, but the fact that she wanted him just as much was something else. It struck a chord deep inside him that made him want to go down on one knee to her, to give her whatever she wanted, but she was shaking her head and backing away.

  “God, I'm sorry,” she said helplessly. “I must be sending you all kinds of – Adnan. Yes. I want you. I want what you're offering me so very much. It sounds so good, and … and ...”

  Adnan stared at her, wanting nothing more than to go to her and knowing at the same time that he couldn't.

  “Why not just let it be good?” Adnan asked softly, and Bailey shook her head.

  “Because as much as I want you, there are things I want more,” she said, and he felt as if someone had punched him square in the chest.

  “To be your father's perfect employee.”

  Something flickered across her magnificent blue eyes. He wondered if he had landed a hit, but she brushed it off.

  “To prove myself to myself,” she said firmly. “And Adnan, I won't do that while I'm just enjoying you.”

  She walked past him, not looking up at him, no matter how much he urged her to do so. Then she was past him.

  Then she was gone.

  Chapter 10

  It was supposed to be a fling. It was never meant to get this complicated, Bailey thought, staring up at the ceiling of her small apartment.

  Her father had told her that it would be better to stay at one of the five star hotels in Koli-an, that it would put her closer to the investors and be more convenient besides. She had stood fast on her decision to rent a tiny apartment in one of the more old-fashioned districts in the city, however.

  “It's more like a home,” she had said lightly before changing the subject, and it was true.

  She was getting too used to the white walls and the plain gauze curtains. She was getting too used to the small corner store down the road where she could get the flatbread, olives and soft white cheese that was almost all she wanted to eat at the moment.

  She was keeping up with the investors, both the ones that were tentatively interested and the ones that required more convincing, but otherwise, all she wanted was to be in her apartment, ideally in bed. She was getting so tired so easily at the moment, and disgusted with her own weariness. She rose and forced herself to make some tea.

  I'm not too worried about going out partying right this moment, Bailey thought bitterly. Look at what a mess I made out of it the last time I tried to keep it casual.

  She couldn't keep Adnan out of her thoughts. Somehow, she was keeping it together for work, but at the end of the day, her thoughts kept circling him. She wanted him, she ached for him, and she couldn't get him out of her mind.

  God, it's just as well I have a week before the next set of prospective investors arrive. I need to get my head on straight.

  As she sipped her tea at her tiny kitchen table, however, she realized she had no idea how in the world she was going to do that. All she wanted to do was sleep and think and maybe cry a little more, but then her phone rang.

  “Dad? What time is it in—”

  “What the hell are you doing out there?” her father barked, and she sat up straight as if someone had shoved a galvanized steel pole down her spine.

  “What are you talking about? I just saw the Sinclair group out last week and—”

  “Why do I have a request from the highest authorities in Amil that they need an Andress Ventures representative to speak to immediately? That they need a liaison if there are going to be any deals at all over Ikkar?”

  Bailey blinked.

  “That's news to me. No one's said anything like that.”

  “Apparently, you pissed off someone at the top, and now they want accountability,” her father said, his voice terse. “Fix it. We've already blown through a lot of man hours for this deal, and I'll be pissed if we end up wasting them.”

  My hours, Bailey thought, but didn't say.

  “All right. I'll take care of it.”

  She thought that her father would hang up on her then – it was the kind of thing he would do – but instead he hesitated, taking a breath and then another.

  “Is this too much for you?” he asked in a completely different tone. “I'm not asking as your boss right now. I'm asking as your dad.”

  “Sounds like something my boss would want to know,” Bailey said wryly, and then she shook her head against the tears that were stinging her eyes.

  “No, Dad, it's not too much for me. It's a challenge, right? We knew it was going to be one, though. This is new territory for Andress Ventures. There's going to be a learning curve.”

  “I'm not talking about the company, kiddo. I'm talking about you. You sound like you're getting run into the ground over there. Look, I have Harlan just coming off the campaign in Montreal. I could have him come out, work his magic…”

  “Absolutely not,” Bailey said with a scowl. “Believe me, Dad, I'm going to get this handled. Trust me. Do not send Harlan. I can do this.”

  Her father sighed, and she imagined him pacing his office, one hand shoved deep in his pocket, quick eyes flickering from thing to thing in the ornate room.

  “All right. I believe you. I trust you.”

  Her father hung up, and angrily, Bailey brushed away the tears that were welling in her eyes. She wasn't upset about this new development. She wasn't. She was tough, she was going to get through this, and she was absolutely going to handle Adnan, because that was who she knew was behind this.

  Four days later, Bailey was dressed in a sharp black suit with her hair brushed to gleaming and pulled back into an intricate knot at the base of her neck. She had considered purchasing a formal caftan, but had decided there was no hiding who and what she was. Better to let Adnan see it immediately than to think she was in any way catering to his tastes.

  Really? asked that irritating little voice at the back of her head. Are we sure we're not catering to his taste even a little?

  The suit was as sharp as a knife, but this time, unlike the first night he had confronted her in Koli-an, she wore a skirt. The skirt was unquestionably businesslike and professional, but it was tailored to fit her like a glove. That, combined with the high heels she usually skipped made her walk the halls of Adnan's office building with an aggressive tilt to her shoulders, her eyes front and ignoring everyone who looked at her curiously as she passed.

  The glass elevator took her to the top floor with a whoosh, and for just a moment, Bailey allowed herself to be impressed. What was it even like to be Adnan, who owned this building and four others like it? What was it like to have so much?

  She had expected to see a cold and imposing reception area when the elevator let her out, but to her surprise the doors opened to a pristine sunken living room. The entire place was decked out in gleaming white, and there was a dizzying moment where she was convinced there was a hole in the side of the room because the enormous glass windows looked out over the whole city.

  Almost against her will, she went to the window, looking out over the city below and then the desert beyond. Her stomach lurched a little to be so high up, but when she looked up into t
he blue sky, she wondered if this was what the world looked like to birds, so high up and so unattached to anything below.

  “Do you like heights?” came a very familiar voice, and she had to count to five before allowing herself to turn around and face him.

  “I don't mind them,” she said.

  While she had come dressed for a boardroom battle, Adnan looked as if he had come from one. The dark blue suit he wore was rumpled, his tie half-undone, the jacket unbuttoned. As Bailey watched, he stripped the jacket off his shoulders and threw it carelessly over the back of the couch, pausing only when Bailey lifted her hand.

  “I'm here for business,” she said, her voice harsh even in her own ears. “If you take it any further than that, I'm leaving.”

  She had thought that Adnan would accede to her wishes, but instead he only gave her a long and level look.

  “Do you really think there is any chance in the world that we can keep things businesslike between us?”

  She lifted her chin proudly.

  “I have to. I am not losing this opportunity, and if you think you are going to take it from me—”

  He held up his hand, and now it was her turn to fall silent.

  “I want to hear what you have to say,” he said bluntly, and she looked at him suspiciously.

  “It feels like there's a catch,” she said.

  Adnan shrugged.

  “It's a request. You are welcome to deny it, to leave if you want.”

  “And then what? You're going to kick me out of the country?”

  She wondered if she saw a brief flash of helpless pain and fury across his eyes, and then it was gone, replaced with a glossy, cool, and professional demeanor.

  “I could. But I want to hear what you have to say. It’s reasonable for a man to want to know what foreign investors might be doing in his country.”

  “And you'll listen?”

  He spread his hands out.

  “That's what I brought you here for.”

  She nodded towards the small table with chairs for two at the window.

  “Over there.”

  She wasn't quite sure she trusted herself to simply sit on a couch with Adnan as if they were friends or more. At the very least, she didn't trust the way her body was already quietly longing for his after the long absence or the way her heart seemed to reach for him.

  Instead, they sat at a table far above Koli-an, and she outlined for him what Andress Ventures wanted to do in Ikkar. She was smooth as she had learned to be, and clear, and somewhat to her surprise, Adnan concentrated on what she was telling him. A few times, she caught his eyes lingering on her, but then it was gone again, so quickly that she might have imagined it. Since she was looking at him as well, she decided that fair was fair and ignored it in favor of explaining to him what her vision was for Ikkar, what she wanted to see there and what she had learned in her time there.

  “This is very good,” Adnan said finally, paging through her detailed analysis. “You spent more time with the people of Ikkar than I thought.”

  “It's their town,” she said, and he gave her a sharp look.

  “Given what I know about Andress Ventures, there was a chance that by the end of this, it would be your town.”

  Bailey thought that she should be insulted, but she knew how so many of her father's competitors acted, and how he had run more than one deal in the past.

  “No one is looking to take over,” she said. “I saw this project as being one of enhancement, where the money coming in would serve the community and allow it to make the improvements that it wishes to make.”

  “And you asked. You did interviews with the people who live there.”

  “I did. I'm not going to tell them what they want.”

  “You wouldn't be the first to try,” he said, and she nodded.

  “Well, now you see what I'm trying to do. It's not completely incompatible with your plans for a heritage site, but these plans do work at cross-purposes in some ways.”

  He looked startled, and for the first time, Bailey felt a touch of temper.

  “You know about that plan?” he asked.

  “Of course I do,” she said icily. “You know that I don't have this job just because of my father, right? I earned it, and I learned it when other girls were planning their proms. I know what I'm doing, and there is no way that I'm leaving any stone unturned, especially not when my opponent is the head of a country.”

  “Is that what we are? Opponents?”

  “What else could we be?”

  “That's the question, isn't it.”

  Bailey looked at Adnan warily.

  “I'm not sleeping with you to make you—”

  He winced.

  “Don't finish that, please. What I must have done to give you such a dark view of me. No. I was only saying that perhaps in this matter, we could be collaborators instead.”

  “Partners?”

  “No. What Andress Ventures does, I have no interest in it. But our plans might be working at cross-purposes, but perhaps together we can come up with something that will suit. Something that brings the people of Ikkar some of the benefits they deserve while not selling them off to the highest bidder.”

  “And what do you get out of this?”

  Adnan stood up from the table, his face dark.

  “I get to serve and protect my people. Ikkar is one of the most beautiful places in my country, and also one of the poorest. I want to help it however I can while still preserving the thing that makes it so unique. If you think I have some ulterior motive—”

  Bailey acted without thinking. She stood as well, reaching forward to place the pads of her fingers over Adnan's lips, shushing him.

  “I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “I have thought the worst of you, and you do not deserve it.”

  For just a moment, Adnan seemed stunned by her touch, and then he shook her off.

  “I am glad you can believe that of me at least. But yes. Work with me. Let's say … three weeks to see if we can come to some kind of compromise. We work together, only with one another. We do not stop until we say it is hopeless or until we find a workable solution.”

  "And if we can't?" Bailey asked challengingly. "What if we put in three valuable weeks of work, three weeks I point out, Adnan, that neither of us can afford to lose, and we find there's no accord we can come to at all? Will you walk away and leave the deal to me?"

  Adnan gave her a wry look, and she shrugged, smiling a little.

  "I had to ask," she said, and he nodded.

  "It's only three weeks," Adnan said. "In the grand scheme of things, even as fast as I'm led to understand real estate moves, that is not so much."

  It was. Bailey knew that empires could be made and broken in a week, let alone three. She knew that this deal could end up being something that her father would never agree to, and given how volatile her relationship with Adnan was, she might find herself in far worst straits than she would on her own.

  She bit her lip, and Adnan reached for her hand, taking it gently in his.

  "You know this is the best way to get what we want," he said quietly. "I suspect – I hope – that we want very similar things. We want the best for the people of Ikkar."

  "Of course we do," she said, "but I work for my father. I’m meant to be furthering the best interests of Andress Ventures."

  "And who is to say you will not be when you are working with me? I am not granting this access to anyone who asks. I am granting it to you. Could that not be seen as something you should value?"

  Bailey had a dozen other arguments for why this might be a terrible idea, but then the truth presented itself and it was the only one that would do.

  "I'm afraid of what this might do to me," she said, her voice small. "I – all cards on the table, Adnan – what I feel for you is like nothing I have ever felt for anyone before. It's big. It's intense. I've already let it influence me far beyond what it should and ... that's scary for me."

  She thought he
might hurry to soothe her. She thought there was a chance he would laugh at her. Instead, he only gave her a smile that was almost sad, and there was something so familiar in the way he did it that she ached.

  "Do you think you're alone in that?" he asked.

  "Adnan?"

  "I told you that I would not make this deal for just anyone," he said, looking down for the first time. "It turns out that there are many things that I would not do for anyone but you."

  Bailey wasn't sure how it happened. One moment she was balancing on the precipice, still half convinced that she would need to take a step back into relative safety and pull away from the dazzling edge. The next moment, she was throwing herself forward, both literally and figuratively as she threw herself into Adnan's arms.

  It was what she had been wanting, what she had absolutely been craving, and after a startled pause, Adnan dragged her even closer for a deep and almost wondering kiss. The emotions that flowed through her were so intense that tears welled up in her eyes, and she had to pull back slightly to wipe them away.

  "Bailey? Bailey, are you all right?"

  "Fine, fine," she said. "I just ... I'm just glad that we're doing this. That we're giving it a chance."

  That we're giving us a chance, she didn't say, and as delicious as Adnan's arms were, she stood firmly apart, straightening herself out.

  "All right. We're working together for three weeks. Where do you propose we start?"

  Adnan grinned, boyish and so full of joy that it was almost hard to look at.

  "Where it all began, of course."

  Chapter 11

  Ikkar, Adnan decided three days later, was good for Bailey.

  She had looked sharp as a razor in Koli-an. She was gorgeous doing what she had been trained for and what she loved, but there was always something wary and wild about her there, something that looked as if it had been shaved down to its very core.

  After just a day in Ikkar, she had put away her suits for the soft and flowing caftans that the women of the region wore. She had begun wearing them as a gesture of respect, but Adnan had immediately brought a tailor to the house in Ikkar, much to her surprise.