Conveniently His Princess, page 7
She waved him off, not up to hearing more. “Don’t bother.”
“Oh, I bother. Am bothered. Very much so.”
“Well, that’s your problem. I’ve heard enough.”
“But I haven’t said enough.” He frowned as a shudder shook her. “For a hurricane, it seems you’re not impervious to fellow weather conditions. Let’s get inside, and I’ll field all the curiosity and jealousy you dragged us out here to avoid.”
She shuddered again—and not with cold. She was on the verge of combusting with mortification. “It’s not the cold that’s bothering me.”
He gave her one of those patient looks that said he’d withstand any amount of resistance and debate…until he got his way. Then he suddenly advanced on her.
Trapped with the terrace railings at her back, she couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. She was unable to do anything but stand there helplessly watching him as he neared her in that tranquil prowl, shrugging off his jacket. Then, without touching her, he draped her in it. In what it held of his heat, his scent, his…essence.
For paralyzed moments, feeling as if she was completely enveloped in him, she gazed way up into those preternatural eyes, that slight, spellbinding smile, a quake that originated from a fault line at her very core threatening to break out and engulf her whole.
Before it did, he stepped away, resumed the position she’d told him to maintain as her windshield.
“Now that you’re warm, I don’t have to feel guilty about rambling on. To explain what happened, I have to outline what happened after that showdown at the ball. I basically found myself a pariah in Zohayd, and I very soon was forced to take the decision to leave. I was preparing to when the Aal Shalaan Brotherhood came to me—all but Amjad, of course. They attempted to dissuade me from leaving, assured me they knew me too well to believe Maysoon’s accusations, that they’d resolve everything with their family and Zohaydan society at large if I stayed. They did offer to help me set up my business, to be my partners or to finance me until it took off. But I declined their offer.”
She again tried to interject with her insistence that she didn’t need him to explain. She believed that had been another of Maysoon’s lies. “Aram, I—”
He held up a hand. “Don’t take my word for it. Go ask them. I wanted no handouts, but even more, I wanted nothing to maintain any ties to Zohayd after I decided to sever them all forever. I’d remained in Zohayd in the first place for my father, but I felt I hadn’t done him any good staying, and after Maysoon’s stunt, I knew my presence would cause him nothing but grief.” He paused before letting out his breath on a deep sigh. “I had also given up on Shaheen coming back. It was clear that the reconciliation I’d thought being in Zohayd would facilitate wouldn’t come to pass.”
She heard her voice croaking a question that had long burned in the back of her mind. “Are you going to tell me that Shaheen was to blame for this breakup and alienation, too?”
She hadn’t been able to believe the honorable Shaheen could have been responsible for such a rift. Learning of that estrangement after Maysoon’s public humiliation had entrenched her prejudice against Aram, solidifying her view of him as a callous monster who cast the people who cared for him aside.
Though said view had undergone a marked recalibration, she hoped he’d blame Shaheen as he’d blamed Maysoon. This would put him back in the comfortable dark gray zone.
His next words doused that hope.
“No, that was all my doing. But don’t expect me to tell you what I did that was so bad that he fled his own kingdom to get away from me.”
“Why not?” she muttered. “Aren’t you having a disclosure spree this fine night?”
“You expect me to spill all my secrets all at once?” His feigned horror would have been funny if she was capable of humor now. “Then have nothing more to reveal in future encounters?”
“Did I ask you to tell me any secrets? You’re the one who’s imposing them on me.”
His grin was unrepentant. “Let me impose some more on you, then. Just a summation, so grit your teeth and bear it. So…rather than following Maysoon’s advice and latching onto Shaheen’s brothers for financing, connections and clout, I turned down their generous offers. I had the solid plan, the theoretical knowledge and some practical experience, and I was ready to take the world by storm.”
Her sense of fairness reared its head again. “And you certainly did. I am well aware of the global scope of your business management and consultation firm. Many of the major conglomerates I worked with, even whole countries, rely on you to set up, manage and monitor their financial and executive departments. And if you did it all on your own, then you’re not as good as they say—you’re way better.”
Again her testimony seemed to take him by surprise.
His eyes had taken that thoughtful cast again as he said, “Though I’m even more intrigued than ever that you know all that, and I would have liked to take all the credit for the success I’ve achieved, it didn’t happen quite that way. The beginning of my career suffered from some…catastrophic setbacks, to say the least.”
“How so?”
Those brilliant eyes darkened with something…vast and too painful. But when he went on, he gave no specifics. “Well, what I thought I knew—my academic degrees, the experience I had in Zohayd—hadn’t prepared me for jumping off the deep end with the sharks. But I managed to climb out of the abyss with only a few parts chomped off and launched into my plans with all I had. But I wouldn’t have attained my level of success if I hadn’t had the phenomenal luck of finding the exact right people to employ. It was together that we ‘soared so high.’”
Not taking all the credit for his achievements cast him in an even better light. But there was still one major crime nothing he’d said could exonerate.
“So Maysoon might have been wrong—was wrong—about how you made your fortune. But can you blame her for thinking the worst of you? My opening statement in this retrial stands. You didn’t have to be so unbelievably cruel in your public humiliation of her.”
His stare fixed her for interminable moments, something intense roiling in its depths, something like reluctance, even aversion, as if he hated the response he had to make.
Seeming to reach a difficult decision, he beckoned her nearer.
He thought she’d come closer than that to him? Of her own volition? And why did he even want her to?
When she remained frozen to the spot, he sighed, inched nearer himself. She felt his approach like that of an oncoming train, her every nerve jangling at his increasing proximity.
He stopped a foot away, tilted his head back, exposing his neck to her. She stared at its thick, corded power, her mind stalling. It was as if he was asking her to…to…
“See this?” His purr jolted her out of the waywardness of her thoughts. She blinked at what he was pointing at. Three parallel scars, running from below his right ear halfway down his neck. They’d been hidden beneath his thick, luxurious hair. A current rattled through her at the sight of them. They were clearly very old, and although they weren’t hideous, she could tell the injury had been. It was because his skin was that perfect, resilient type that healed with minimum scarring that they’d faded to that extent.
He exhaled heavily. “I ended my deposition at the moment I walked away, thought it enough, that any more was overkill. But seems nothing less than full disclosure will do here.” He exhaled again, his eyes leveled on hers, totally serious for the first time. “Maysoon gave me this souvenir. She wouldn’t let me go just like that. I barely dodged before she slashed across my face and took one eye out.”
Kanza shuddered as the scene played in her mind. She did know how hysterical Maysoon could become. She could see her doing that. And she was left-handed…
“I pushed her off me, rushed to the men’s room to stem the bleeding and had to lock the door so she wouldn’t barge in and continue her frenzy. I got things under control and cleaned myself up, but she pounced on me as soon as I left the sanctuary of the men’s room. I couldn’t get the hell out of the palace without crossing the ballroom, and I kept pushing her off me all the way there, but once we got back inside, she started screeching.
“As people gathered, she was crying rivers and saying I cheated on her. I just wanted out—at any cost. So I said, ‘Yes, I’m the bad guy, and isn’t she lucky she’s found out before it was too late?’ When I tried to extricate myself, she flung herself on the ground, sobbing hysterically that I’d hit her. I couldn’t stand around for the rest of her show, so I turned away and left.”
He stopped, drew in a huge breath, let it out on a sigh. “But my deposition wouldn’t be complete without saying that I’ve long realized that I owe her a debt of gratitude for everything she did.”
Now, that stunned her. “You do?”
He nodded. “If her campaign against me hadn’t forced me to leave Zohayd, I would have never pursued my own destiny. My experience with her was the perfect example of assa an takraho sha’an wa howa khairon lakkom.”
You may hate something and it is for your best.
He’d said that in perfect Arabic. Hearing his majestic voice rumbling the ancient verse was a shock. Maysoon had spoken only English to him, making her think he hadn’t learned the language. But it was clear he had—and perfectly. There wasn’t the least trace of accent in his pronunciation. He’d said it like a connoisseur of old poetry would.
He cocked that awesome head at her. “So now that you’ve heard my full testimony, any adjustment in your opinion of me?”
Floundering, wanting for the floor to split and snatch her below, she choked out, “It—it is your word against hers.”
“Then I am at a disadvantage, since she is your half sister. Though that should be to her disadvantage, since you’re probably intimate with all her faults and are used to taking her testimony about anything with a pound of salt. But if for some reason you’re still inclined to believe her, then there is only one way for me to have a fair retrial. I demand that you get to know me as thoroughly as you know her.”
“What do you mean, get to know you?” She heard the panic that leaped into her voice.
He was patient indulgence itself. “How do people get to know each other?”
“I don’t know. How?”
The same forbearance met her retort. “How did you get to know anyone in your orbit?”
“I was thrown with them by accidents of birth or geography or necessity.”
That had his heart-stopping smile dawning again. “I’m tempted to think you’ve been a confirmed misanthrope since you exited the womb.”
“According to my mother, they barely extracted me surgically before I clawed my way out of her. She informed me I spoiled the having-babies gig for her forever.”
His eyes told her what he thought of her mother. Yeah, him and everyone in the civilized world.
Then his eyes smiled again. “It’s a calamity we don’t have video documentation of your entry into the world. That would have been footage for the ages. So—” he rubbed his hands together “—when will our next reconnaissance session be?”
Her heart lodged in her throat again. “There will be no next anything.”
“Why? Have you passed your judgment again, and it’s still execution?”
“No, I’ve given you a not-guilty verdict, so you can go gallop in the fields free. Now, ann eznak…”
“Or better still, men ghair ezni, right?”
“See? You can predict me now. I was only diverting when you couldn’t guess what I’d say next, but now that you’ve progressed to completing my sentences, my entertainment value is clearly depleted. Better to quit while we’re ahead.”
“I beg to differ. Not that I am or was after ‘entertainment.’ Will you suggest a time and venue, or will you leave it up to me?”
She could swear flames erupted inside her skull.
“You’ve had your retrial, and I want to salvage what I can of this party,” she growled. “Now get out of my way.”
As if she hadn’t said anything, his eyes laughed at her as he all but crooned, “So you want me to surprise you?”
“Argh!”
Foisting his jacket at him, she pushed past him, barely resisting the urge to break out into a sprint to escape his nerve-fraying chuckles.
She felt those following her even after she’d rejoined the party, when there was no way she could still hear him.
And he thought she’d expose herself to him again?
Hah.
One cataclysmic brush with Aram Nazaryan might have been survivable. But enduring another exposure?
No way.
After all, she didn’t have a death wish.
Five
“I see you’ve found Kanza.”
Aram stopped midstride across the penthouse, groaning out loud.
Shaheen. Not the person he wanted to see right now.
But then, he wanted to see no one but that keg of unpredictability who’d skittered away from him again. Though he was betting she wouldn’t let him find her again tonight.
While Shaheen wasn’t going anywhere before he rubbed his nose in some choice I-told-you-sos.
Deciding on the best defense, he engaged offensive maneuvers. “Found her? Don’t you mean you and your coconspirator wife threw us together?”
“I did nothing but put my foot in it. It’s your kid sister who pushed things along. But she only ‘threw’ you two together. You could have extracted yourself in five minutes if she’d miscalculated. But obviously she didn’t. From our estimations, you’ve spent over five hours in Kanza’s company. To say you found her…compatible is putting it mildly.”
“Hold it right there, buddy.” He shook his finger at Shaheen. “You’re not even going down that road, you hear? I just talked to the…to the… God, I can’t even find a name for her. I can’t call her girl or woman or anything that…run-of-the-mill. I don’t know what the hell she is.”
“As long as it’s not monster or goblin anymore, that’s a huge development.”
“No, she’s certainly neither of those things.” And Kanza the Monster hadn’t even been his name for her. It had been Maysoon’s and her friends’. That alone should have made him disregard it. He’d adopted it only because he couldn’t find an alternative. And Kanza had unsettled the hell out of him back then. She still did—if in a totally different way. One he still couldn’t figure out. “All night I’ve been thinking sprite, brownie, pixie…but none of that really describes her either.”
“The word you’re looking for is…treasure.”
Aram stared at his friend. “Treasure?”
Then he blinked. Kanz meant treasure. Kanza was the feminine form. How had he never focused on her name’s meaning?
Though… “Treasure isn’t how I’d describe her, either.”
“No?” Shaheen quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe not…yet. She can’t be categorized, anyway.”
“You got that right. But that’s as right as you get. I’m not about to ask for her hand in marriage, so put a lid on it.”
“Your…caution is understandable. You met her—the grown-up her, anyway—only hours ago. You wouldn’t be thinking of anything beyond the moment yet.”
“Not yet, not ever. Can’t a man enjoy the company of an unidentifiable being without any further agenda?”
Knowing amusement rose in Shaheen’s eyes. “You tell me. Can he?”
“Yes, he can. And he fully intends to. And he wants you and your much better half to butt out and stay out of this. Let him have fun for a change, and don’t try to make this into anything more than it is. Got it?”
Shaheen nodded. “Got it.”
He threw his hands in the air. “Why didn’t you argue? Now I know I’m in for some nasty surprise down the road.”
Abandoning his pretense of seriousness, Shaheen grinned teasingly. “From where I’m standing, you consider the surprise you got a rather delightful one.”
“Too many surprises and one is bound to wipe out all good ones before it. It’s basic Surprise Law.” Folding his arms across his chest, he shot his friend a warning look. “Keep your royal noses out of this, Shaheen. I’m your senior, and even if you don’t think so, I do know what’s best for me, so permit me the luxury of running my own personal life.”
Shaheen’s grin only widened. “I already said I…we will. Now chill.”
“Chill?” Aram grimaced. “You just managed to give me an anxiety attack. God, but you two are hazards.”
Shaheen took him around the shoulder. “We’ve done our parts as catalysts. Now we’ll let the experiment progress without further intervention.”
He narrowed his eyes at him. “Even if you think I’m messing it up? You won’t be tempted to intervene then?”
Shaheen wiggled one eyebrow. “That worry would motivate you not to mess it up, wouldn’t it?”
He tore himself away. “Shaheen!”
Shaheen laughed. “I’m just messing with you. You’re on your own. Just don’t come crying one day that you are.”
“I won’t.” He tsked. “And quit making this what it isn’t. I only want to put my finger on what makes her so…unquantifiable.”
Sighing dramatically, Shaheen played along. “I guess it’s because she’s nothing anyone expects a princess, let alone a professional woman, to be. Before she became Johara’s partner, I only heard her being described as mousy, awkward, even gauche.”
“What? Who the hell were those people talking about?”
“You had that Kanza the Monster conviction going, too.”
“At least ‘monster’ recognized the sheer force of her character.”
Shaheen shrugged. “I think she’s simply nice.”
An impressive snort escaped him. “Who’re you calling nice? That’s the last adjective in the English language to describe her. She’s no such vague, lukewarm, benign thing.”
Shaheen’s lips twitched. “After an evening in her company, you seem to have become the authority on her. So how would you describe her?”
