Sheikh's Stand In (9 page)

Mikal sighed theatrically as he let her go. "Well, as long as you don't mind having an ardent admirer trailing along mournfully in your wake, I'd love to come."

Viviana smiled, but inside, she was feeling a little strange. She hadn't realized to what extent she thought of her time and her work in Khutal as being from another world and another life. Back in Khutal, she was Mikal's fiancée, an advocate for the rights of women. Here, she was a party girl spokeswoman with a brand to maintain and a job that was essentially shilling for luxury goods that she wasn't sure that anyone really needed.

She shook off the gloom, because that was a kind of suicide first thing in the evening, and she busied herself with getting ready. Behind her, she was aware of Mikal making his own preparations, but at some point, he simply stopped to watch her.

It was definitely a transformation, Viviana thought. She always liked to think that she was stylish and attractive, but when she had to get ready for work, she ended up on a whole other level. She was definitely a bit of a maverick in that she did her hair and makeup herself, without resorting to going to salons, but that only meant that her prep work took longer.

When she finally stood in front of Mikal in a daring cut strapless green dress, she was gratified to see his eyes widen.

"Well, this is me working," she said, adjusting her dangling gold earrings. "I don't think it would fly well in Khutal, but here it works."

Mikal tilted his head a little, watching her carefully.

"Do you find yourself restricted in Khutal?" he asked. It sounded as if he were choosing his words very carefully. "The long skirts and the wrap … are they confining for you?"

"No," Viviana said promptly. "I think that Khutal fashions are beautiful. I mean, I don't think they should be mandatory, at all, but I like the elegance, I like the tradition, and I love the way you can do so much with them. As a matter of fact, I kind of miss it."

"Do you?"

She laughed a little. "This is definitely making me feel a little bare."

She picked up a sheer chiffon shawl to throw around her shoulders, and after that, they were finally ready to go.

The event was being held in a mansion that dated back to the French Revolution, and there was a kind of grace and élan to the event that made Viviana sigh with pleasure. This was her environment, and even if she had been away from it for a while, there was something about it that was simply like coming home.

The moment she appeared, she was turning heads, and after that, she got to work. Viviana was meant to be promoting a fragrance that had a kind of antique appeal, and that was something she knew how to work. She fluttered through the crowd, making sure that people knew exactly what she thought of it and precisely why they should invest in it.

This was her life, and she dove in with a kind of glee that felt like a remnant from some past life. The only difference was that now, Mikal was either squiring her around the floor or simply nearby. If someone had told her that this would happen, she might have worried about feeling caught or stalked. Instead, it only made her feel happy and safe. These events were ostensibly very civilized, but there were always one or two gentlemen who thought that she was on sale just as the fragrance was.

At one point, the orchestra struck up a musical sting, making her look up in delight. Just when she was wondering if Mikal knew how to dance, he took her by the hand, leading her to the center of the ballroom with a smile.

"I was wondering if I could get you on the dance floor," she murmured.

"Don't you remember? It was a required class in high school."

"Not at all," she admitted. "Were you this happy about it back then?"

Mikal thought for a moment. "If I had had you for a partner, I would have been."

The first strains of the waltz started, and he smiled, sweeping her through the steps with a kind of grace born from pure athleticism. In that moment, Viviana felt as if she could have been from another time, a young woman captivated by a mysterious foreign lord.

When the dance ended and the applause began, it felt as if it were all for them.

***

The next day, Marnie texted several pictures to Viviana's phone. Confused, Viviana opened them and gasped in delight.

"Mikal, take a look …"

There had obviously been a photographer in the crowd, because he or she had managed to get several excellent photos of Mikal and Viviana during their waltz. The pictures were perfectly composed, contrasting Mikal's lean good looks with her own pale beauty. The green of her dress fluttered around her, giving her an ethereal grace that could never be planned.

She read the note attached and laughed.

"They want to use it to promote the fragrance," she said. "Are you all right with that? It's perfectly okay to say no if you don't like the idea."

Mikal gazed at the photos, and there was something strange about his expression. It seemed at once wistful and eager, sad and compelled. In a moment, it was gone, and he grinned at her, kissing the top of her head as he rumpled her hair.

"Go ahead. I like the fragrance quite well, and I can't deny that you are a lovely model."

She texted their response to Marnie, and then she sat for a moment. She wanted to go talk to Mikal, to find out what that look on his face was about and why he had looked so sad, but then she realized that there was simply no time. There was a day engagement that she had to get to, and then another one in the evening. There was no time for her to catch her breath, let alone simply talk with the man who was meant to be her fiancé.

Then, much to her frustration, that was the way the rest of the week went. She and Mikal managed to make time for some kisses and a stolen embrace here and there, but at the end of it, she was simply too busy to do anything that she wanted to do.

Surely it hadn't always been like this? Surely she had had more time?

With a sinking feeling, Viviana realized that no, it had always been this busy. Only before, she hadn't had anything that was more interesting than her work. Now, since going to Khutal, this had all changed. She didn't know how to feel about that.

Viviana was still her bright and bouncy self when she was at the events, but increasingly, she was growing quieter and more morose at home.

It all came to a head on Friday evening. She and Mikal were back from a rather tedious affair at a place that had had too many people and too little air circulation, and all she wanted to do was to crawl into bed and sleep. As she was stripping off her clothes, however, Mikal spoke up.

"This has been very interesting for me. I liked seeing what your work is like, and I have definitely enjoyed myself, but I need to be getting back to Khutal. Are you going to be staying in Paris for long?"

She wasn't sure why, but his casual words made her heart feel tight. "Wait, you're heading back to Khutal?"

"Yes. I have some more speeches to give and some campaigning that might actually be effective before the big vote. I really can't afford to be away for any longer. I don't want to force you to do anything that would hurt your career, though. I am aware that this arrangement is temporary after all."

"So you don't care if I stay or go with you?" Viviana kept her voice level from a lifetime of practice, but inside, something was boiling over.

Mikal, who was stripping out of his formal clothes, didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong. "Well, of course I would rather you were in Khutal. Your help has been immeasurable, and at this point, I can't come up with anyone who can do the things that you can do. I would love to have you with me, but I know that your job is the most important thing to you."

Viviana told herself that she was being worse than foolish, but she couldn't stop a lump from appearing in her throat. She swallowed it down with a grimace. "I'm glad that I’ve been so useful to you," she said hollowly.

Mikal only chuckled. "I think you know you've been more than that, beloved."

Something about the endearment broke her. All of the emotions, none of which she could really sort out, flooded through her, and it all came out in a great gasping sob.

Mikal turned immediately, alarm on his face. When he saw her struggling with her tears, he immediately came to her, wrapping her up in his arms.

Viviana was a proud woman. She wanted nothing more than to brush off her outburst as if it were a storm, a mild upset in the middle of her day. Instead of doing that, however, she only cried harder, burying her face in Mikal's broad chest.

"Oh, poor darling, come here, come here …"

He half carried her to the bed, where he laid her down on the mattress. He switched off the large lamp, leaving the bedroom lit only with the small lamp by the table. Then Mikal came to lie down beside her, stroking her hair until her sobs finally ceased.

"Are you all right?" he asked after she had been quite for a little while.

"I am," she said with a soggy chuckle. "I just … I'm sorry, I don’t know where that came from."

In the dimness of the room, Mikal looked concerned, but he only shook his head.

"If you can figure out where it did come from, you should tell me."

They sat in silence for a moment, but then Mikal spoke again. "You should come home with me."

The words made her heart sing, but she quashed it brutally. He didn't mean their home. He meant his home.

"You think so?"

"I do. This pace is grueling, Viviana. I don't know why I thought it would be a break from what you are already doing for me. Seriously. Come back. We'll have a whole two days to relax before we need to get back in on the campaigning, and after that, if you need to take it easy, you can. I know that Khutal isn't quite as romantic as Paris—"

"I think it's plenty romantic," she muttered, and he smiled and continued.

"But it's quieter, and we can take things at a pace that we set, not one that's set by Marnie."

"Marnie's a gem," she said defensively, and Mikal nodded.

"I know she is good for your career, but I want to be good for
you
. Come back to Khutal."

All that came to her mind first were reasons she couldn't. There were tentative commitments, she had to get herself back in circulation, it would be such trouble to fly back to Paris if there were other things that she had forgotten. Then she realized that all of her objections were paper thin, and that a very large part of her was already crying to go back to Khutal.

"All right," she said. "Yes. I'll go back with you."

"Good," he said, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "Poor darling. This has been so stressful on you. Once the legislation gets taken care of, you'll be back down to one job, I promise."

Something about the way he said that made her want to burst into tears all over again, but she was so tired that she simply fell asleep instead.

***

They got on the jet by mid-morning, and that was about when Viviana realized that Mikal was watching her closely. Ever since the night before, he had been overly solicitous, inquiring as to how she was, making sure that she didn't have to lift a finger to get what she needed. It was sweet, but now she was eying him with amused frustration.

After the plane had reached cruising altitude, she finally spoke up.

"Mikal, I know I was something of an emotional sponge last night, but really, you don't have to watch me as if I'm going to break. I'm not made of glass. I'm just fine."

"I'm just a little concerned, that's all," he said with a slightly sheepish grin. "When I look at you, I see such a strong and powerful woman …"

"And now that you've seen me break down a little, you figure that I'm just a messed up girl?" she asked tartly. To her surprise, he shook his head.

"Not at all. After last night, it tells me that whatever's going on has got to be pretty serious for you to be that upset. That's all."

Viviana stared at Mikal for a moment, her eyes wide. Then she laughed a little. "You'll never stop surprising me, will you?" she asked. "Come here."

She took his hand and led him back to the sleeping compartment. They had made love in the jet before, but there was something different about this time.

With the door locked securely behind them, she started undressing him with a slight smile on her face. When he reached for her dress, she pushed his hands away.

"No, let me make you feel good this time," she said.

"You always do," he said, but she ignored him for the moment.

Instead, while she was still wearing her light green cotton dress, she laid him on his back on the bed, running her hands all over his bronzed body. In another situation, she might have been doing it to tease him, but in this moment, she only wanted to send those sensitive shudders through his body. She smiled as he closed his eyes, giving himself up to her touch.

There was a power in giving him something so sweet and so gentle, she thought. She loved watching his absurdly long eyelashes flutter as she swept her hands down his sides and along his legs. When she started to run her mouth along his bare skin, he made a sound of pleasure that rocked through her body. There was something so wonderfully needy there that she could have laughed. Instead, she purred, laving the curve of his hip with her tongue.

His cock was fully erect now, and Viviana considered it for a moment. She leaned to run her lips along the shaft, and then she was drawing it into her mouth. She closed her eyes with the sensual feel of it, and she felt a hot bolt of pleasure go through her as he rocked up against her lips. She could feel the tension thrumming through his body now, feel the way he had gone beyond pleasure to need.

Still she couldn't stop. She loved the way he felt in her mouth, she loved the heat of his skin against her, and the desperate sounds he was making. His strong hands threaded through her hair, gripping tight but never forcing her. She could have done this for hours, but apparently he couldn't.

She could feel the moment his control broke. He seized her by the shoulders, shoving her away almost roughly. She was on the verge of crying out with disappointment, but he pinned her to the bed, rising above her with a wild need in his eyes.