The Oil Tycoon and Her Sexy Sheikh (9 page)

“I can see that,” she said with a pointed look at the heaped bread he was carefully conveying to his mouth.

He shrugged, then grinned as she took an equally large portion for herself.

“Is that all you miss?” Olivia asked later when the biryani was finished and Khaled was pouring them both tiny cups of coffee from an insulated flask.

“Hmm?” He handed her the coffee and turned questioning dark eyes on her.

“When you’re away from Saqat. You must miss more than the food.”

He shrugged. “My father, my family.”

Olivia waited.

“It’s in my blood,” Khaled said slowly. “I
am
Saqat al-Mayim.”

“Yes.” He was at home here, she realized. Out on the desert track to the research center, surrounded by white-gold sand with the sparkling blue of the Gulf on the horizon, he fit in perfectly. At the souk, bantering with the street traders, he’d seemed happy. It was only in the palace that he faded under the pressures of his role.

“My betrothal is to be announced tomorrow.”

“At the reception?” She’d been warned to bring a suitable gown for a formal reception. Senior Saqati politicians would be there, as well as foreign ambassadors and business people.

“Yes. I wanted to warn you. And explain.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

“I think I do. You have seen something of my country now. Enough to understand the expectations that my people will have for my wife.”

“She must be a Saqati woman. You told me that before.”

“It is not required, but it will be preferable, yes. She must be part of Saqati culture. It is important that the people accept her as part of their royal family.”

“I know that, Khaled.”

“They will expect her to be a Muslim woman. Virtuous, modest, dutiful.”

She reached to put her hand on his knee. “You don’t have to spell it out. I know that I couldn’t ever be the right woman for you. You made that very plain from the beginning.

“I am sorry, Olivia. If I were free to make my own choice—” He paused. “I am Saqat al-Mayim,” he repeated. “I must be.”

They sat in silence for several minutes. Eventually, Khaled took their empty coffee cups and packed them away.

“Come on. We should get there before the heat fully sets in for the day.”

The tension in Khaled’s shoulders eased as he drove. He began telling her more about the work at the research center. In addition to his doctoral students and colleagues from the museum, they took a number of Saqati researchers, training them on the job. Khaled explained his plans to establish a university in Saqat City.

“With marine biology as its specialty?”

“It will be taught, of course, but my country needs more than that. Accountants, business people, lawyers, teachers. Engineers,” he said with a brief glance at Olivia. “Historians, artists, writers.”

“You must have some trained people already.”

He grimaced. “Some. But those who can afford to study overseas often choose to stay there, and it is hard to persuade others to make their home here without…” His voice trailed off, but Olivia knew exactly what he wasn’t saying.

“Without the money that oil brings with it.”

Khaled didn’t reply. He didn’t need to.

“It’s not a bad thing to want the best for your people, Khaled.”

“Is it a bad thing to want to protect my country?”

She could sense the frustration he felt filling the Jeep and was grateful that no other vehicles were within striking distance.

“It would be a good thing to try to do both.”

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a sardonic look. “In the ideal world, no doubt. But this is the real world and choices have to be made.”

“You are a good man, Khaled. You’ve made the right choice.”

His lips tightened. “How can I be sure of that when…”

She had never seen him so unsure of himself. Unfinished sentences were not Khaled’s style. Olivia longed to put her arms around him and reassure him.

“When what?” she asked gently.

He glared at her. “When you make me forget everything I ever knew about right and wrong.”

She froze. Then she closed her mouth, and opened it again to speak but no words came.

A minute later, Khaled brought the Jeep to a halt. He swung open his door and jumped out. Olivia stared around her and suddenly realized that they had arrived. She got out of the car and landed on slightly unsteady feet.

“Here.” Khaled grasped her elbow. “You need to get out of this heat.”

He took her into the research center, fetched cool water, and then a cup of tea. All the while, various members of the staff wandered in and out, chatting easily to Khaled and welcoming Olivia in a friendly way. One or two of the female researchers looked at her curiously, but no one asked any awkward questions about her visit, for which she was profoundly grateful.

“Will you be all right for a few minutes?”

Olivia looked at Khaled’s concerned face. “Yes, of course. Do whatever you need to.”

He nodded and turned back to follow one of the younger researchers into the lab, leaving Olivia to sip her tea and contemplate the bombshell he had thrown at her.

Khaled Saqat was the most deeply principled man she had ever known. He had devoted his whole life to working for the things he felt were important. Now, when his father and his country needed him, he had come back to do his duty. He was not the kind of man who threw all that over for the sake of a woman. He was not the kind of man who couldn’t tell right from wrong.

The businesslike thing to do would be to exploit his weakness. Her father would tell her that she had a lever to use against Saqat, and she should not hesitate to push as far as it could take her. They’d shaken hands, but he hadn’t yet signed the contract. She still had time to press for more.

Olivia instantly ruled out that possibility. She had shown him her weakness back in Scotland, and Khaled had been careful not to take advantage of her. She owed him at least the same courtesy in return.

Besides which, she didn’t want to make him compromise any more than absolutely necessary. The man Olivia had fallen for was so passionate about the wildlife of the Persian Gulf that he had devoted his life to protecting it. The man she loved was prepared to give up the life he’d built for himself to serve his people. He was a good man. He would be a good ruler. There was no way Olivia was letting him become less than that man simply to make herself happy.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she realized what she had just thought.

The man she loved
.

Well, it was true. It wasn’t the easy, wonderful, joyous revelation she had always supposed. Love turned out to be complicated and painful. Love was going to be the hardest thing she had ever had to do. Because she loved Khaled, she was going to have to give him up. And she was going to have to give up her dreams along with him. It was the right thing to do.

It was the only thing to do.

Chapter Eight

Walking into the research center, Khaled could feel the tension seeping out of him. The calm familiarity of the academic environment made him realize just how much stress he had been under. At the palace, he was always the Sheikh Mirza. Servants were deferential, councillors were insistent and demanding, and his father was patient but remorseless as he instructed Khaled in matters of state. Through it all, he was conscious of how little he knew about the politics of his nation and how ill equipped he was to rule his people. But here his colleagues were eager to show him their latest work and discuss their ideas with him, because he knew what he was talking about. The respect they showed him was no accident of birth. As a scientist, he’d earned his position and that felt good.

Olivia followed him round the labs, showing interest in everything and asking intelligent questions of the researchers. Over lunch, she joined easily in the mocking banter they traditionally subjected him to.

“He’s only a part-time scientist,” Tim, the lead scientist on the field project, said to her. “A layabout compared to the rest of us.”

“Really?” Her eyes sparkled. “I suppose he gets you to do all the work while he takes the credit?”

“Exactly.” Tim grinned.

“Ignore him,” Khaled said. “He’s only jealous because no one’s interested in his precious little sea urchins.”

“Actually,
Nature
is publishing my article in the July issue.”

“Hey, that’s great. Well done.” It all helped, not only by raising awareness of their work here, but also with the continued funding of the center.

“What’s the article about?” Olivia asked, but Tim had no chance to answer because one of the research assistants burst into the common room.

“It’s Carrie! And it’s twins, but they’re healthy.”

“Who’s Carrie?” Olivia asked Khaled amidst the general outcry of celebration.

“It’s your lucky day.” He grinned down at her. “She’s one of our dugongs. She’s just given birth.”

“Baby dugongs?”

“They still don’t have the cute factor,” he said teasingly.

“I don’t care. Can I see them?”

“Of course.”

After lunch they walked the short distance to the reserved swamp, careful to keep in the shade. He showed Olivia into the hide, a glass-fronted hut built into the swamp as an observation station. Carrie’s keeper gave them a brief nod of acknowledgment, then turned her gaze back on to the ugly creatures in her care.

“All well?” he asked.

“Amazing,” Annie, the keeper, said.

“Come here.” Khaled indicated a small stool for Olivia to sit on. “It’ll take a minute for your eyes to grow accustomed.”

He knelt beside her and pointed out Carrie’s murky outline in the shallow water.

“Where are the babies?” she whispered.

“There. See?” He indicated the two small humps attached to Carrie’s teats. “They’re feeding.”

“Feeding well,” the keeper said with some pride. “She’s a natural.”

“Where’s the father?”

Annie smothered a chuckle. Khaled shook his head ruefully. “Nowhere to be seen. And to be honest, it’s impossible to know who the father is. When the females are in heat, all the males have a go, I’m afraid.”

“Poor babies. They deserve a better father than that.”

He laid a hand discreetly on her knee. She was thinking of her own childhood, he was sure.

“They’re fine. Dugong females are the best mothers. She’ll look after the calves for years until they learn to fend for themselves.”

“They’ll have to learn quickly.”

“They will. That’s how things work in the natural world. Survival of the fittest.”

“Not just in the natural world. In business, too.”

“True. People can be as ruthless as any force of nature.”

“Yes, but we have more choices. Less excuses.”

He squeezed her knee gently. “Let’s not talk about that now.”

They watched in silence for a few minutes. The calves finished their feed and fell asleep instantly.

“They’re beautiful,” she whispered.

“You may be the only person on the planet who thinks so.” Annie raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay, maybe there are two of you.”

But it was Livvy’s gaze that held his attention. She would be an incredible mother. Fierce and proud, he could imagine her defending her young with her life. He wanted a mother like that for his own children. The rush to marry was all about heirs, of course. He hadn’t needed to have his responsibilities in that area spelled out to him. Now, seeing Olivia’s face soften as she watched the dugongs with their mother, he realized he didn’t just want heirs—he wanted children. He wanted a family. With Olivia.

His lips twisted. There was another thing he couldn’t have. He didn’t even know if she wanted children. She might not. She’d only ever talked about her ambitions for her career. Being a CEO of a major company didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be easily compatible with raising a family, especially not a royal family with a father who would have many other demands on his time that couldn’t be ignored. His children would need at least one parent who would be there with them every day. He couldn’t guarantee that he would be able to read them a bedtime story or cuddle them when they were tired and grizzly, but he hoped that their mother would fill that gap.

Aliya would do it. She was a sweet girl, and she had told him that she was used to caring for her younger brothers and sisters.

“Oh, look.” Olivia leaned forward to watch more closely as the mother dugong gently pushed her babies up to the surface to breathe. Even at such a young age, they were already learning to swim. They all laughed at the first, feeble efforts to coordinate their fins and tail, and cheered when the larger one managed a little way unaided.

“They’re bigger than I expected.”

“These are quite small. Usually, they only have one calf at a time. Would you like to name them?” Annie asked Olivia.

“May I really? Are they male or female?”

“One of each.”

She frowned a little as she studied the young animals carefully. “I’d like to name them after my mother. Alison for the girl and Fraser for the boy.”

“Perfect.” Annie wrote the names in her chart.

“Will they stay at the center or do you release them into the wild?”

“These little ones will stay here in the reservation area. We’ll be studying their development and growth as they mature. Hardly any research has been done. It’s so exciting to have this chance.”

“Will you let me know how they’re getting on? I feel a little bit protective of them now.”

“Of course.”

Olivia handed over her business card. “There’s my personal email address.”

“I’ll send pictures.”

“If you could, I’d love that.”

Khaled and Olivia wandered slowly back to the center. Occasionally, their hands brushed and they exchanged shy, rueful smiles as they stepped deliberately apart before unconsciously moving toward each other again as they walked.

“Will you have a family of your own one day?” he asked abruptly.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”

“You should,” he said firmly. “You should have children.”

She said nothing for a while. “It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t have children on my own, Khaled.”

He gave a half-laugh. “No, of course not. But you’ll find someone to settle down with. Start a family.” There wouldn’t be any shortage of men willing to oblige.

“It wouldn’t work.”

“What wouldn’t?”

“Settling down. Starting a family just for the sake of it. It’s not like Carrie, looking after those two on her own. Children need parents who love each other. I know, Khaled. I was never enough for my father after Mum died. Having children doesn’t make up for not being with the person you love.”

“Livvy…”

She shook off the hand he put on her arm. “Please don’t, Khaled.”

“You should have both.”

“Right.” She stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. “I should have everything. I should have children. I should have the man I love. I should have the job I deserve. But that’s not how life works.”

“No. There are compromises, but there are some things that ought never to be compromised.” He took hold of her elbow again and this time she didn’t move away. “Don’t settle, Olivia. You’re worth too much to settle for second best.”

She blinked and he had a horrid feeling there were tears behind it.

“No. You’re right. I shouldn’t have to settle for second best.” She looked him square in the eye. “Neither should you.”

“It’s different.” Couldn’t she see that? He wasn’t settling for anything. He was doing his duty as best he could.

She sighed. “Maybe it is. I don’t mean to make things harder for you.”

“I know.”

“We have the rest of this afternoon, don’t we? We should make the most of it and enjoy what time we have together.”

“Agreed.”

…

He had arranged to take Olivia out on the glass-bottomed boat belonging to the research center. Out here among the international group of scientists, no one batted an eyelid at the two of them spending time together. She packed her swimming things into a small backpack and slathered sunblock all over her fair skin. They anchored out in the water and Khaled left his post at the helm. He lay down and invited Olivia to join him, watching through the viewing window in the boat. If she had been amazed by his knowledge and enthusiasm back in London at the museum, she was overwhelmed listening to him out in the boat. It was like seeing the whole world through new eyes, with Khaled to point out the tiniest details and help her to understand the way that the different species related to and depended on each other.

Eventually, he paused. Olivia looked up at him with a question in her eyes.

For an instant, she thought he was going to kiss her. Her mouth went dry and she parted her lips encouragingly. His deep, dark eyes narrowed and a crease formed in his brow. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her, but this was the last time they would have together and their final chance to be alone. She wasn’t going to waste it all on viewing the marine life, fascinating though that was.

He rolled away and jumped to his feet. “Would you like a drink?”

Olivia sat up more slowly. “Please.”

While Khaled went to the coolbox, she headed into the small cabin where she changed into her bikini. He’d told her to bring it, so it was his fault that she was going to wear it. It was a perfectly respectable swimsuit. She wasn’t the kind of woman to parade around in three miniature triangles of fabric strung together with dental floss. Admittedly, the scarlet polka-dotted top revealed a whole lot more than her T-shirt did, and the bikini bottoms were significantly smaller than her shorts, but there was no one out here to see her except Khaled, and he’d seen it all before, and more. She grabbed her sun lotion and went back out to join him.

“I need your help.”

Khaled glanced over his shoulder and froze when he saw her.

She held out the bottle of sunblock. “I can’t reach my back.”

“Olivia…”

“Khaled,” she said, mimicking him.

He shook his head. “I can’t. I shouldn’t have told you to bring that. I was teasing. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Olivia stepped closer to him. “I’m not.”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea. We can’t…”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of foolishness. Your bodyguards know not to look, don’t they?”

“Livvy, you know how things are. I have to do my duty—”

She laid a finger on his lips. “Let me tell you what I think. I think you still want me as much as you did in Scotland. I think you like the way I look in my bikini. I think you’d like nothing better than to rub this sunblock all over my back, to touch my skin with your bare hands. I think you’d like to do a lot more than that.”

Khaled took a long ragged breath and opened his mouth as if to speak, but Olivia hadn’t finished.

“I think we’re out here alone. None of your students at the research center care about traditional Saqati expectations. No one at the palace will ever know. No one except you and me will ever know. So I think we should enjoy ourselves. A little bit of recklessness won’t hurt anybody. We need a last little bit of fun.”

He turned away from her. “My betrothal is being announced tomorrow.”

“Shh.” She slid her arms around his chest and pressed up against his back. “I don’t want to talk about that. All I know is that you’re here and I’m here, and I’d like you to put sunblock on my back.”

“I can’t. If I touch you I’ll explode.”

She grinned and put the bottle of sunblock on the ledge beside him. “Dare you.” She turned and went to lie down on her stomach, her bare back fully exposed to the powerful, dangerous rays of the Arabian sun, with only the flimsy bikini ties for protection. Under her breath, Olivia counted. Before she reached number four, a cold shiver went down her spine. Then another. And another. And then she let her breath go as the warm, gentle touch she had been longing for began to spread the cold cream across her heated skin. Khaled was measured and thorough, rubbing the protective lotion into every inch of exposed flesh.

“Turn over,” he muttered.

Olivia obliged him, biting back her triumphant smile. Khaled’s expression was grim, but his hands were as tender as any lover’s, working across her body with exquisite competence. She shimmied a little, arching her breasts towards him.

“Stop that.”

Olivia ignored him and continued to demonstrate how much she was enjoying his touch.

Khaled responded with a sound that was something like a growl. He reached suddenly for her wrists and pinned her down. Dark eyes flashed with fire inches above hers. She waited expectantly.

“Damn you,” he said. “I didn’t mean to do this.” And then he kissed her.

At first the kiss was hard, deep, and intense, his lips in complete possession of her mouth. He thrust his tongue inside, heedless of her response. His hands came up to hold her head steady, giving her no room for escape.

Not that she wanted to escape. She had worked hard at seducing him out here on the boat and now she was happy to lie back and let him do whatever he wanted. When he relaxed for an instant, she took her chance and rolled over so that she straddled him. Khaled’s arms were still strong around her back, pressing her body close against his.