Read The Sheikh's Fiery Lover (The Tazeem Twins Series Book 2) Online
Authors: Leslie North
After breakfast, Joshua sat on the sofa watching Rene and Tanya packing up. Seeing the two of them together fascinated him. He was glad that he had gotten the opportunity to see Rene in her own element. She was in her home country, in her house with her best friend.
Tanya intimidated him though. He had never been intimidated by a woman. She had such an intense stare and looked like she'd punch him if he mistreated Rene, which was something he would never consider.
“Joshua, can you help?” Rene said to him. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. He had been sitting on the sofa comfortably whilst they were running around like headless chickens trying to pack their belongings.
“Help with what?” Joshua asked lazily.
“The packing,” Rene placed her hands on her hips.
“I do not do anything in my home, why do you think I would right now?”
“You better get off your butt and start packing,” she demanded as she attempted to look stern but she could never succeed in intimidating him. He found it adorable. Tanya walked into the living room.
“Rene, when was the last time you spoke to your mother?” Tanya asked her. Rene's face flushed red as Tanya dropped her jaw open. “So you have not told her that you will be moving halfway across the world? Come to think of it, you were there for a while and you didn't call her?” she demanded.
“No,” Rene shook her head.
“Where does she think you are?” Joshua asked.
“She knew I was going on holiday to clear my thoughts and get over Craig. The last time I spoke to her, I said that I extended my holiday,” Rene replied.
“You need to tell her.”
“I will. I just couldn't because I was not sure how long I was going to stay in Saudi Arabia.”
“True but do not avoid the topic!” Tanya said to her.
“I won't. What are we doing with our house?”
“I still have things to wrap up at work and hopefully take a long leave of absence. If they will not let me, I will quit. I can always find another job, but I do want to see if I can get a renter in here. Since I will not be joining you immediately, there are a couple people from the university that I can ask,” Tanya replied, as she counted off the list of things she would need to do before she could leave. She was definitely the more responsible one. Looking up concerned, “What if I do not like it over there?”
“You will,” Joshua said. Tanya turned around and looked at him with her eyebrow raised.
“You are a prince from that country. Your opinion is biased,” Tanya said to him as he laughed.
“I promise you, I am not being biased.”
“We'll see about that,” Tanya replied. “Now come and help me with the heavy lifting,” she added. Joshua nodded and stood up. Rene looked at him and with her mouth open.
“You refused me but you listened to her!” Rene protested. Joshua shrugged his shoulders and followed Tanya out of the room. He went upstairs with her and walked into her room. Her bedroom was the same size as Rene's but decorated in black and red. Tanya crouched down and zipped her suitcase.
“Can you carry this downstairs for me please?” she asked him. “It will make it much easier if I send much of this with you now, so I don’t have to bring so much with me later,” she added.
“Are you always this bossy?” he asked her as she laughed.
“It must be strange for you being a prince and all. I am sure no one tells you to do anything.”
“Exactly.”
“To me, you are Joshua, my best friend’s boyfriend. So I am treating you the way I always treat her boyfriends.”
“Fair enough.”
Tanya smiled and drew her curtains open. Her room was tidy and much more organised than Rene’s. “How old are you?” Joshua asked.
“Same age as Rene,” she replied as Joshua shook his head.
“You seem more mature,” he added as he watched her survey the room before shutting her closet doors.
Shrugging her shoulders, “We all have our skillsets. Let's go,” she said as she picked up the other suitcase. The two of them headed downstairs to find Rene fighting with her suitcase. She was sitting on the suitcase bouncing as Joshua stood in the doorway watching her.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
“Closing my suitcase,” Rene replied.
“Like that?”
Tanya laughed and walked past Joshua into the living room. “She's always bad at packing,” she replied as she motioned for Rene to stand up. Flipping the lid open, she rearranged some things in her suitcase before snapping it shut. Joshua looked at Rene and shook his head.
“Now you know why I need Tanya with me in the palace,” Rene said as she laughed.
“I can see that,” Joshua replied.
The three of them carted boxes and suitcases outside as the driver loaded everything into the car. Tanya and Rene hugged each other.
“Can't wait for you to come over,” Rene said with a big grin on her face. Tanya laughed.
“Try not to get into trouble before I get there.” Tanya turned her attention to Joshua. “Look after her,” she said to him.
“Yes, ma'am,” Joshua replied. Tanya and Rene hugged once more before Rene and Joshua got into the car and headed off to the airport.
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Excerpt from ‘CEO’s Pregnant Lover’ (Download Instantly – Click here)
“HR, Janet speaking. How may I he-”
“Janet? Trent. I need you to send up a replacement for Pam. Her daughter was injured in an accident, and she just left to go take care of the children and such. I’ve no idea how long she will be gone, so send me someone that you weren’t planning on firing at the end of the week.” Trent said matter-of-factly. He didn’t really care if she fired twenty people each week; if they couldn’t do the job they could find somewhere else to work.
Janet Marshall worked as the head of HR for Coldwell Enterprises. She was not only a friend, she was the toughest woman Trent had working for him. She was also his second cousin and married to his best friend from college. While Janet didn’t have to work another day in her life, she enjoyed managing people and understood Trent in a way others didn’t. He was as alpha as they came, she’d never met a more dominating, arrogant man until Trent had come along.
“Oh dear! Which one of Pam’s daughters was hurt?” Janet asked with obvious concern in her voice. Pam had worked for the company for as long as she could remember, first as Trent’s father’s personal assistant, and now for Trent. She was one of the nicest women Janet had ever worked with and she only hoped that her daughter wasn’t too badly hurt.
“Susan,” Trent replied, thinly hiding his impatience.
The timing couldn’t be worse as Trent was in the process of acquiring a large production company in Europe and the contracts that had been drawn up by his European office were in chaos. He had been in the process of finalizing his corrections when Pam had announced that she must leave immediately. He needed these contracts fixed today!
“Oh, no. And she just delivered twins a few months back. That poor woman,” Janet commiserated over the phone. “Don’t worry about it; I have just the girl in mind. She’s only been working here for about six months, but her reviews are excellent.”
Janet was thinking of the young woman she had hired a little over six months back. Janet had interviewed her and been surprised at how mature she seemed for someone only twenty-four years old. Smiling to herself, she tried to envision how Trent would react to the young woman who wore her hair like a fifty year old, clothing that didn’t fit her body, or compliment her natural coloring, and honestly had no idea of just how attractive she could be. On top of all that, she was the most capable woman Janet had hired in months.
“Whatever - just send her up after lunch. I’m right in the middle of negotiations for that buyout in Germany, and Pam didn’t have time to make the corrections on the contract yet. I need them by 3 o’clock - if not sooner.”
“Not to worry. I’ll go tell her now and then send her to lunch. I assume that I can offer her the same benefits and salary that Pam was drawing?”
“Of course.” Trent started to hang up the phone when he heard Janet call him back. Sighing, he put the phone back to his ear and answered, “What?” Damn it, he had work to do. He didn’t have time to chitchat with Janet; that’s what her husband was for. He’d mention just that fact to Shawn next time he saw him.
Janet took a breath and thought about keeping this information to herself, but then she decided that Trent would want to know. “Shawn and I went to that symphony fundraiser last night.”
Trent waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, he impatiently replied, “And? I assume it was a smashing success and all that.”
“It was, but that wasn’t my point.”
“Well, get to it. I have work to do and so do you.”
“I saw Marco Bresi there.” Janet said in a rush, holding her breath for the explosion she assumed was coming. When nothing happened, she paused, letting Trent digest what she had just told him. Marco Bresi was a very wealthy, and very influential businessman in Europe. He and Trent had a past marked with tragedy and Marco had stayed in Europe for the last three years because of it. Janet had been shocked to see him back in the States, especially in Denver.
Trent was silent as he let Janet’s words sink in. Serena’s father was back in the states. Trent immediately tamped down on the emotion that threatened to sideline his focus. He hadn’t thought of Serena for several months now, and wanted to keep it that way.
Serena Bresi had taken the fashion world by storm at the age of sixteen. Three years after that, she had met Trent at a fundraiser in New York City and they had fallen madly in love. At least, Trent thought she had been in love with him as much as he had been with her.
Their love affair had been the subject of all the social magazines and the paparazzi had hounded them mercilessly. When Trent had taken over Coldwell Enterprises from his father, he had immediately used his many contacts in Europe to expand the company overseas.
Everything had been going smoothly, or so he thought. Serena had signed a contract with a large fashion house in Milan and had temporarily moved to Italy. Trent had missed her, but had so many things on his plate in the states, that the time had just seemed to slip away.
Four months later, he had flown to Milan to surprise Serena for the weekend. He had gone straight to her flat, flowers in hand, surprised to find her home in the middle of the afternoon. The surprise had been on him, however, as she had answered the door with the arms of her current lover wrapped intimately around her.
Trent had been so furious, he had immediately left and returned to the airport. His private jet had been airborne several hours later. Serena had called him repeatedly, but he had ignored her calls. Trent valued honesty and loyalty above all else, and her betrayal had hurt him deeply. He had let it be known to the media, that they had decided to break things off, but were still friends. He’d had no wish to tarnish her reputation in the publics’ eyes.
When she had called him three weeks later during the middle of the night, he had reached for the phone, unaware that she was on the other end of the line. Having been caught off-guard, he had listened as she tearfully apologized and begged for his help. It seemed that she had just found out she was pregnant and expected Trent to come to her rescue. Trent knew there was no possible way the baby was his since he hadn’t touched Serena for over five months.
Trent had been repulsed and hung up the phone without replying. Two days later, he received news that Serena had driven her car off a bridge. Her suicide note made it seem that Trent had refused to do the right thing and marry her, and that she couldn’t bear to shame her family by having a child out of wedlock.
Marco Bresi, Serena’s heartbroken father, had managed to keep the suicide note out of the media, but had vowed to get revenge for Serena’s death. He blamed Trent for causing her death. Trent had thought of telling Marco the truth, but didn’t think that her grief-stricken father was in any position to listen at the time so had kept silent.
True to his word, Marco had started to go after Trent, keeping their feud to the business world, thus far, but Trent knew that it was only a matter of time before Marco started trying to attack him in his personal life as well. Now that Marco had personally come to Denver, it seemed that time had arrived.
“Did you speak with him?” Trent asked.
“He didn’t give us a choice. He made a point of cornering us during the intermission. Trent, there was such hatred in his eyes when he asked about you. I know you and Serena broke up before her death…”
“Janet, let it go. I told you then, and I’ll tell you the same thing now. What happened between Serena and myself was between us. I will not discuss it and as she’s dead, there really is no point. Marco believes some things that are not true. I’ve tried to correct his thinking, but he doesn’t want to hear it. That is on him.” Trent took a breath and then continued, “Now, we both have work to do. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?”
Janet wondered if she should just let it go like Trent had commanded, but then pushed forward anyway, “Trent, he asked me to deliver a message to you.”
Trent clenched his jaw and then looked to the ceiling before asking Janet to continue. Whatever the message was, he assumed it was more threat than anything and part of him felt bad that Janet and her husband had been put in the middle of his and Marco’s feud.
“Tell me.”
“He warned me that you were going to get what you deserve and that I should tell you to watch your back very carefully. He also mentioned a company called Global Tech. Does that mean anything to you?”
Trent cursed softly and quickly pulled his keyboard towards him and pulled up the information on the company they were currently buying out. When he scrolled down through the list of shareholders, he cursed again. How could he have missed something like that? Marco Bresi’s company owned thirty-two percent of the stock. No wonder he was in the states. He must have gotten wind that Coldwell Enterprises was in the process of negotiating a hostile takeover and was already talking with bidders, for when the company was split apart. The current shareholders stood to lose a lot of money when that happened.
Trent had dealt with Marco trying to derail other business negotiations, and Trent had made it a point to stay away from any company attached to the Bresi family name. He had no wish to harm Marco or his family, and didn’t have time for complications with this current negotiation.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he held his breath and then let it go in a rush, “Janet, don’t worry about it. I’ll handle the problem. Get me that assistant.” Trent hung up the phone and then went back to reading the contract in front of him, making marks with a red pen as he went. He would deal with Marco later. Right now, he needed to finish these contract papers.
Janet shook her head as she said “Goodbye” to a dead line. Trent exasperated her with his ability to be rude without trying. One of these days she hoped he learned to curb his impatience, just a little bit. Shaking her head, she placed the call that would bring Trent’s stand-in assistant to her office and hoped that whatever Marco Bresi was planning would fail before it got off the ground.
*****
Trent Coldwell was the CEO of Coldwell Enterprises. If someone were to ask what the company did, the answers would vary. Coldwell Enterprises had many interests, but mainly purchased failing companies and then either sold them off in pieces, or turned them around and made them leaders in their market. They did their job very well.
At the age of thirty-one, Trent Coldwell was one of Denver’s most eligible bachelors, never lacking for female companionship, but never being seen with the same women for more than a few weeks. The fact that he was richer than Croesus didn’t hurt his eligibility either.
Trent Coldwell had inherited the company from his father upon his retirement, and had immediately implemented changes. He had successfully taken it from a small regional firm, and created an international mega-company with interests worldwide.
Not known for his patience, he briefly thought of calling Janet back and making sure that she was sending him someone who knew how to work and wouldn’t burst into tears at the first sign of criticism. He was a perfectionist and expected the same from his employees. He often spoke his mind and had been told by more than one employee that he should take lessons in how to communicate effectively. Trent scoffed at the idea. He communicated fine. He told people what to do and they did it. End of story. He saw no reason to explain his requests as he was the boss and as they worked for him, it shouldn’t matter why he wanted something done. His employees were paid to take care of the job to the best of their ability. Deciding that he would just send the girl away if she were unsuitable, he went back to reading his contract.
Excerpt from ‘CEO’s Pregnant Lover’ (Download Instantly – Click here)