Susan Stephens - Pregnant By The Desert King

‘But you’re not the genie in the bottle,’ she observed sensibly.

‘I could be...’

‘Not this time,’ she said, warning him off with a mock-stern look.

As she was speaking, she was digging around in her shopper to find her purse.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, frowning as she brought it out.

‘Paying for my coffee,’ she said. ‘I don’t like to be in debt to anyone—and you’ve had enough trouble, from what you’ve told me. I would have paid at the café, but you got in fast. Here. Take it,’ she insisted, thrusting some cash towards him.

‘I’ll leave it as a tip for the wait staff when I walk past,’ he agreed.

‘Brownie points to you,’ she said approvingly. ‘Well, I can’t be late for work.’

‘Don’t forget tonight—’

‘Tonight?’ she interrupted.

‘When I see you again.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ve got studying to do when I finish work.’

‘Studying what?’ he pressed, frowning.

‘History of art. My dream is to be a curator, or a conservator one day,’ she explained.

‘Working in a museum or an art gallery?’ he proposed.

‘Exactly.’

Tadj stared at her long and hard. ‘Anything else?’ he said at last.

‘I’ll let you know if I think of something,’ she promised cheekily with a glance inside the laundry.

‘Don’t let me keep you,’ Tadj said dryly.

‘I won’t.’

‘Just one thing,’ he said.

‘Which is?’ she pressed.

‘You’ll need a party dress for tonight.’

‘I’ve already told you, I’m not coming out tonight.’

‘But you’ve got a party to go to.’

‘No, I don’t,’ she argued, enjoying the game. How could she not, when Tadj’s wicked black eyes were full of amusement?

‘Yes, you do,’ he insisted, acting stern.

‘With you? Not likely!’ she countered, wanting to prolong the moment of parting.

‘On board the Sapphire tonight,’ he tempted.

‘You’re kidding me! You know I can’t resist an invitation like that.’

‘Good.’ His lips pressed down attractively, making her wonder what it would feel like if he kissed her. So much so, she almost missed his next statement. ‘My friend Sheikh Khalid is having a party tonight, and you’re invited as my guest.’

‘That’s news to me,’ she said, heart pounding as she lifted her chin to confront those dangerous eyes.

‘I can’t think of anyone I’d rather take as my plus one. At least we’ll have a laugh. What do you say?’

‘Can’t you find someone else to have a laugh with? Someone more suitable?’ Lucy suggested, as the enormity of what she could be agreeing to struck home. A glamorous party on board a yacht that could slip its moorings at any point? However attractive she might find Tadj, or maybe because of it, her sensible self advised caution.

‘I’m right out of amusing women at the moment,’ he said with a somewhat cynical look that suggested this might actually be the case. ‘And I don’t relish being bored to tears by people trying to find out if the person they’re talking to is as important as they are.’

‘Good plan. But why me, when there must be dozens of better qualified companions?’

‘Qualified in what way?’ he demanded, pretending to be shocked.

‘There must be dozens of people who’d love to go to that party.’ With you , she left out, deciding that with his good looks Tadj probably didn’t need his ego massaging.

‘No one with your unique qualities,’ he assured her, straight-faced.

She hummed and frowned. ‘I’d love to know what they are.’

‘That will become apparent as the evening goes on,’ he promised.

‘But as I’m not coming to the party...’

‘Those unique qualities will force you to,’ he insisted. ‘You won’t be able to resist.’

He might be right, Lucy concluded. ‘Go on.’

‘You work a real job, and meet real people on a daily basis. You’re interested in everything and everyone, and you have your own quirky take on what you see.’

‘You’ve gathered a lot about me in a very short time.’

He certainly had, Tadj thought. ‘My point is you’re real and I like that. You have no idea how rare that is.’

She thought about this for a moment. ‘You make a very persuasive case,’ she said at last.

And he wasn’t about to give up. ‘You’ll be my honoured guest tonight.’

‘Better that than dishonoured—and you can put that away,’ she flashed when he pulled out his wallet.

‘For the dress you’ll be wearing tonight,’ he explained.

She tightened her lips. Now he’d offended her. ‘I’m not entirely penniless. I’m sure I can rustle something up.’

‘Then, you agree?’

She looked at him and heaved a theatrical sigh. ‘You got me,’ she admitted.

‘Just one thing. Don’t keep me waiting when I pick you up tonight.’

‘Making conditions now? I can always change my mind.’

‘You won’t,’ he said confidently.

‘And you can keep the killer smile for someone who will appreciate it,’ she added with a mock-stern frown.

‘Someone like you?’ he suggested, staring deep into her eyes.

‘I’ve changed my mind. I’d be right out of my depth—and crazy to agree.’

‘Too late. The deal is done.’

‘No, it isn’t,’ Lucy argued, ‘and now you’re making me late for work.’

‘You’re making yourself late for work by taking so long to confirm the details of our date tonight.’

‘Please take your hand off the door and let me go in.’

‘No sense of adventure?’ he said, going nowhere. ‘I thought a lot more of you than that.’

‘I’ve got plenty of sense of adventure,’ Lucy assured him, ‘and plenty of common sense too.’

‘Prove it,’ he said.

‘I will, by refusing an invitation from someone I hardly know.’

‘Every relationship has to start somewhere...’

Tadj looked so sexy, leaning against the door. Say yes to this ridiculous proposal and she could at least satisfy her workmates’ curiosity about the Sapphire , as well as her own about Tadj. Say no, and she might regret it for the rest of her life.

‘I’m not sure about risking my virtue on board that ship tonight,’ she said, voicing her thoughts out loud.

‘Your virtue?’ Tadj commented with amusement. ‘I didn’t know that was on offer.’

‘It isn’t,’ she said with a steely look.

‘Shame,’ he murmured, but with humour tugging at his mouth.

‘Okay,’ she said, decision made. She trusted herself to act sensibly if she accepted his invitation, and it was the opportunity of a lifetime. ‘I have decided to come to the party tonight.’

‘Excellent.’

Tadj’s wolfish smile sent tremors to all her erogenous zones, to the point where she almost missed him adding, ‘No tiaras. It’s just a casual get-together.’

‘Between billionaires?’ she suggested.

‘Between you and me,’ he corrected her.

All she had to do was laugh it off and walk through that door. She need never see him again. Life would return to normal. But normal could be boring, and Tadj was right about adventure beckoning, but only if the adventure was on her terms.

‘Don’t you be late,’ she warned. ‘It’s cold at night, standing in this doorway.’

CHAPTER THREE

WHAT HAD SHE DONE? What had she done? How had she allowed herself to be talked into this? Wicked eyes blazing into hers hadn’t helped, Lucy reflected later as she got ready in her small bedsit above the laundry. Nor had feeling as if Tadj and she had known each other longer than it took to drink a couple of cups of coffee. But now was not the time to reflect on why it was possible to feel like that about someone, and not about others. Her decision to go to the party had been made, and she had no intention of skulking in her room, or asking her friends to send Tadj away when he arrived. It would be fascinating to discover how the other half lived, and she could report back to her friends at the laundry.