Her Desert Knight (10 page)

“Never have.”

“Come then, you’ll love it. I promise.”

This is where Quasar should have protested that he couldn’t because he was about to move to Boston with Dani. But he didn’t.

“Maybe I will. There’s an interesting biotech firm in Sydney I’ve been keeping tabs on. I might come down and eyeball the place.”

“Wonderful.” Her hand rose up to cup his cheek. Dani tried not to squirm and spill her whiskey sour. “When shooting wraps, we can take a Jeep across the outback. I’ve always wanted to do that!”

How could Quasar let this strange woman fondle him right in front of her after all they’d shared over the last few days? He was acting as if Laura was his girlfriend and she, Dani, was his old and platonic friend. Which is of course what he’d said he would do to protect her reputation. Was he just trying to deflect attention from her by pretending Laura was still his lover?

“Laura surprised me today,” he said to Dani. “She showed up unannounced with about forty pieces of luggage.”

“Oh.” Dani nodded. That was not at all reassuring. He obviously wouldn’t have invited her to come here tonight if he’d known Laura was arriving.

This situation was uncomfortable. Not only was he trying to convince everyone else they were “just friends,” he apparently wanted Laura to think that too. Dani decided to take the hint and make her exit at the first available opportunity.

“Forty pieces of luggage! There aren’t even eight. And I had no idea what the climate would be like here. Deserts can be quite freezing at night. I wonder if the outback gets cold at night. I could bring a light fox fur.” She giggled again.

Dani’s drink was sweating in her hand and she was tempted to drink it just for something to do, but she worried that she might cough and splutter at the disgusting taste of whiskey. She had no idea what to say and was beginning to wish that the shining marble tiles of the floor would slide apart and allow her to sink gracefully into oblivion.

Mercifully, Salim announced over the mike that it was time to sing “Happy Birthday,” and the crowd moved in toward where a giant, multilayer cake, iced with rainbow-colored unicorns, stood in the middle of the courtyard.

Dani made a dive for the exit and didn’t look back to see if Quasar had noticed. This was possibly the most embarrassing experience of her life. Luckily only she knew that. Laura—even Quasar himself—had no idea she’d come here to tell Quasar of her plans to go back to the States with him. To live with him and accept his generous offer to support her, which basically would have made her a kept woman.

Kept by a man for whom she was just one of many women whose company he enjoyed.

Thank goodness she’d seen Quasar’s true colors and come to her senses. She put her drink down on a table as she passed out of the large courtyard, unnoticed amongst the joyous crowd singing “Happy Birthday” in several languages at the same time. She felt like a killjoy that she couldn’t at least celebrate his niece’s birthday, but tears were dangerously close to the surface and she needed to get out of here before they erupted.

It was over. Her exhilarating romance with Quasar. Her bold plans for starting over again in Boston. All of it. Now she was right back where she’d started except that now her father thought she was a loose woman as well as a foolish one.

She managed to keep a straight face as she hurried past the army of valets and bellhops and maintenance staff, striding along the wide driveway that led out the hotel gates. Out on the main road she kept going, walking as fast as she could. The chiffon fabric of her clothing kept catching on itself, and she cursed the fact that traditional Omani women’s wear consisted of both a dress and pants. Maybe it was planned that way to make it harder for a woman to escape from her lover in a moment of crisis.

She should be glad, really. Her brain raced and her breathing got faster as she strode down the dusty sidewalk. She’d been saved from the humiliation of embarking on yet another disastrous live-in relationship with a totally unsuitable man. She’d just have to accept the truth that she had awful taste in men. She needed to find some kind of job where she could support herself, move out and get a cat for companionship.

She’d hoped the walk home would clear her head and settle her emotions; instead the first tears fell as she rounded the corner into her neighborhood. She wiped them hurriedly away with her scarf. Would her father even let her back in the house or would she be ordered to leave the way Quasar had been when he showed up?

She bit her lip and fought back the tears. The walk had flown by so quickly on her way to the party when she was filled with excitement and hope for the future. Now she prayed she wouldn’t run into her neighbors out for an evening stroll. She couldn’t bear to see anyone right now.

Why hadn’t Quasar kissed her? If he had she’d probably have been shocked, and worried about her reputation, and scolded him. But now the fact that he hadn’t made her feel like a castoff. His conspiratorial winks had suggested that they were still a team in some sense. Just not in any public sense where he’d claim her as his actual girlfriend.

Had she really thought Quasar was going to take her to America as his sweetheart? The idea seemed ridiculous. She’d been swept away on a tide of lust and anticipation and started thinking that anything was possible.

Just the way she had in her marriage. If she’d thought it all through, as her friends suggested, she’d have realized from the start that Gordon was already insecure and controlling. Warning signs were flashing almost from their first date. His obsessive questions about where she’d been and who she’d seen. His preference for her to wear modest clothing and avoid makeup. His enthusiasm for spending every spare minute with her. She’d taken them as signs that he was crazy about her, had traditional values and was going to be a wonderful and doting husband.

She’d been right about one part—he was crazy.

She turned onto her block and cringed at the sight of three of her male neighbors talking in the street. They’d probably mutter under their breath about this wayward woman out and about without a male escort. She lifted her head and smiled, though, and they greeted her. She’d better be polite to everyone, as currently staying here was her best-case scenario, and if she had any sense she’d be grateful to have a roof over her head.

She’d have to apologize to her father. Tell him he was right.

Tears still pricked at her eyeballs and she wanted nothing more than to let them flow down her cheeks again. Her heart clenched at the thought that her lovely romance with Quasar was nothing but a brief fling. Even though she’d been telling herself that all along, trying to protect her heart from this kind of pain.

“Back so soon?” Her father opened the door before she even had a chance to try her key. He must have seen her coming down the street. “Your lover didn’t even have the decency to drive you home?”

“He’s not my lover.” Her voice wore a heavy tone of resignation.

“No? I thought that you intended to live in sin with him in America.”

“Not anymore.” The confession seemed to sap her last ounce of energy.

“He’s turned you away already?” The gleam of triumph in her father’s eye made her heart sink further.

The question was so cold and mean that she decided not to answer it. She couldn’t even bring herself to apologize. She simply walked toward him, where he stood blocking the hallway to her room, and prayed he’d let her go there in peace. “May I go to my room?” she asked softly.

“Don’t disgrace the family.” She’d expected a cold retort, but the sad look in her father’s eyes cut her even deeper. Then he moved aside to let her pass.

He was trying to do the right thing, from his perspective. She had to remember that. He was afraid that she’d ruin her reputation and be a burden to him for the rest of his life. Maybe he was right to worry. All her exciting prospects for the future had dried up within the last hour.

Quasar hadn’t officially dumped her. Not yet, anyway. He probably had his hands full with Laura Larson and wouldn’t get to that for the next few days. And maybe not even then. He’d be busy planning his trip to Australia and the sex-filled romp across the outback with Laura wearing her fox fur over nothing but lacy lingerie.

Jealous!
She cursed herself for her hateful feelings. Laura Larson hadn’t done anything to her except be gorgeous and charming and bubbly and wildly successful. She had no idea she was stealing someone else’s man, since she obviously saw Quasar as hers. The proprietary way she’d touched and fondled him left no doubt.

And he’d hardly slapped her hand away like it was an irritant.

In her room, Dani locked the door and carried her laptop to her bed where she sat and opened it with shaking fingers. She needed information. She wanted to see if she could find out how long Quasar and Laura had been together and if there was any further information about their relationship.

She entered their names, quietly hoping for news of a dramatic and tear-filled breakup. Instead she was confronted with picture after picture of them, dressed in stylish clothing at red carpet affairs, dancing together at hot L.A. nightclubs, on Rollerblades at Venice Beach, even shopping together at Whole Foods like a married couple.

Her heart descended further into her chest cavity. She wasn’t in the least bit cheered to learn that Laura was twelve years older than Quasar and almost twenty years older than her. Who cared? She looked fabulous and was clearly living life to the fullest. Laura Larson was a woman in control of her own destiny, not one sitting around as an unwelcome guest in her father’s house, wondering if she’d ever earn a single penny again, let alone fulfill all her dreams of romance and riches.

Laura Larson Dumps Young Lover, blared one headline. It didn’t mention Quasar by name but it was recent and the description—“sexy entrepreneurial sheikh”—fit him to a T. In the article, Laura explained, and Dani could almost hear her giggling as she read it, that she needed to focus on her new role in an upcoming space opera blockbuster. In another article a week later there was speculation that she was dating George Clooney. Then rumors of an affair with Leonardo DiCaprio swirled. Dani began to wonder if Laura’s publicist was just sending out press releases to boost her profile, while she was still quietly enjoying the many pleasures of Quasar’s company.

He probably didn’t care what the tabloids said. He was too busy buying and selling billion-dollar companies and drinking thousand-dollar bottles of champagne.

And making passionate love to Laura Larson.

A tear dripped down onto her keyboard and she cursed her self-pity. She should be congratulating herself on a narrow escape. She could have uprooted herself and gone to Boston with him, only to find herself abandoned while he headed off to enjoy Laura, or any of the other beauties he’d dated before. Or someone new.

He’d flirted with Dani so readily and seduced her so quickly that it was almost ridiculous. Especially as she had good reason to be wary of men! He must possess almost hypnotic powers over women, and they’d certainly worked on her. It was hard to believe that she of all people had allowed him not only to kiss her, but also to seduce her into bed.

Had she lost her mind?

Her phone chimed and made her jump. Was it him? She couldn’t resist checking.

Where are you?

She frowned. Had he just noticed that she’d gone missing from the party? It must be nearly an hour since she’d left. He’d probably been so busy with Laura running her hands all over him that he hadn’t realized Dani wasn’t there for the cake cutting.

She put the phone facedown on the comforter and went back to her laptop screen. Looking at more pictures of him and Laura would save her from weakening. He was all wrong for her. He’d break her heart.

She bit her lip when she realized it was probably already too late to avoid getting her heart broken. She’d become attached to him so quickly, that it was already hard to imagine her life without him

Her phone chimed again. She tried to summon the strength to leave it facedown on her bed. She failed and picked it up, heart racing.

Dani, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.

I left the party.
She’d typed a reply before she could stop herself. And why shouldn’t she tell him? It was the truth. She’d have to tell him that she wasn’t moving to Boston with him, and why, as well, so there was no point in totally avoiding him.

Though it was essential to keep enough distance that he couldn’t work his hypnotic charms on her as usual.

I can see that.

She bit her lip. She wanted to type
I miss you, too,
but that was some foolish part of her that got swept up in a romantic fantasy that had little to do with what was really going on between them. She put the phone down again and stood staring at it, with her arms crossed, as if daring it to try something.

How did you slip away?

She watched the words appear on the screen, from her safe vantage point a few feet away. Her brain supplied an answer:
It wasn’t hard. You didn’t even notice me leave.

She didn’t type that, either.

I need to see you.

Had he decided he preferred her to Laura? Did he now want to apologize for acting as if Laura and he were an item at the party? Or did he just want to keep Dani warm on the back burner in case he wanted some steamy sex later that week.

It was sad how quickly her optimistic, romantic glow had turned cynical.

Will you meet me?

She drew in a deep breath and approached the phone as if it were a snake that might bite her if handled wrong.
No.

Did he really think she’d want to see him after he let Laura paw him at the party? He must live in a world of illusion. Then again, of course he did. He’d grown up as one of the storied Al Mansurs, with their millions in oil wealth and everything handed to them on a platter. He was used to women bowing at his feet and doing whatever he wanted.

She’d certainly done it easily enough, and she hadn’t even known who he was at first.

Dani half waited for him to text again, explaining that Laura meant nothing to him, and she—Dani—was the only woman he cared about. That was probably beneath his dignity, though. He’d certainly never mentioned his other woman friends to her. Likely he thought them none of her business.