Carol Marinelli - The Sheikh's Baby Scandal

‘Well, we can’t go any further, then,’ she said, and reached for her bag.

He didn’t halt her.

‘Thank you for wasting my time,’ she added, and gave him another flash of that stunning smile.

Kedah noted that it didn’t quite reach her eyes. They were a dazzling emerald-green—a shade that was one of a forest reflected on a lake...emerald, yet glacial.

He watched, quietly amused, as she began to flounce off.

‘Sit down, Felicia.’

There was such command to his tone that it stopped her.

His voice wasn’t remotely raised. If anything his words were delivered with an almost bored calm. But he might as well have reached for a lasso, for it was as if something had just wrapped around her. Oh, Felicia heard his words—yet she felt them at the base of her spine, and it tingled as he continued speaking.

‘I haven’t finished with you yet.’

CHAPTER TWO

IF EVER A voice belonged in the bedroom, it was Kedah’s.

Not just a bedroom.

A boardroom would do nicely too.

For the second time in an hour Felicia was transported to that headmaster’s office—but it was a far nicer version this time!

He was utterly potent. She almost wanted to keep walking towards the door, just for the giddy pleasure of finding out that she had a scruff to her neck as he hauled her back.

What she could not know was that the very controlled Sheikh Kedah was actually thinking along the same lines.

Felicia was absolutely his type.

He stared at the back of her head and then took in her rigid shoulders, let his dark eyes run the length of her spine. Her face was heart-shaped, and so too were her buttocks, and his eyes rested there for a moment too long.

Then he forced them away.

Kedah did not need the complication of a fake PA who turned him on.

He liked softness on his pillow and sweet, batting eyes, and he didn’t care if his women lied as they simpered.

It was, after all, just a game.

And then he thought of the games he might play with Felicia.

He wanted to haul her to his knee and give her the job description as he ravished that mouth.

Know my hotels inside out, meet my staff, handle the press, and keep my world floating as I fight for my title. Now, let’s go to bed.

Of course he did not say that.

This was business, and Kedah was determined it would remain so.

‘Take a seat,’ he said.

Felicia breathed out through her nostrils as he mentally undressed her. She felt as if he had even seen what colour knickers she had on. Flesh-coloured, actually. Not because she was boring, she wanted to hasten to add, but because of the white dress.

Oh, help!

And though common sense told her to leave now, to get out while she still could and most definitely should, neither had Felicia finished with him.

She wanted to know why he’d brought her here. She was positive that he didn’t really want her working as his PA. So she turned around.

‘Why are you so against signing a confidentiality agreement?’ he asked, in such a measured tone that Felicia wondered if she’d misread the crackling tension.

‘They’re pointless.’ She fought for professionalism and cleared her throat as the interview resumed. ‘If, as you’ve stated, you trust no one, then a confidentiality agreement, no matter how watertight, cannot protect you.’

‘It offers some level of security.’

‘Well, it doesn’t for me,’ Felicia responded. ‘What if something is leaked and you assume that I was the source?’

He didn’t answer.

‘I’m pretty unshockable, but what if you do something abhorrent?’ she challenged. ‘Am I supposed to turn a blind eye just because I’ve signed up for silence?’

‘I’m bad,’ Kedah said. ‘Not evil.’

That made her smile, and this time it reached those stunning cold eyes.

‘Sit down,’ he said again. ‘We can discuss it at the end of your trial.’

‘There’s nothing further to discuss on that subject—and also I don’t do trials.’ Felicia did sit down again, though. ‘A one-year contract is the minimum I’ll sign.’

‘I might not need you for a year.’

That was the first real hint that there was more going on here. Maybe he felt awkward about telling her about his past—but that made no sense. There was nothing chaste about that blistering gaze. Perhaps there was something big about to come out? A huge scandal about to hit?

Felicia was tired of playing games. She wanted to know what she was getting into before she signed.

‘Kedah, I’m not a defence lawyer.’

He simply stared back at her as she spoke, and she thought that never before had she had a client so able to meet her gaze.

‘You can tell me whatever it is that’s going on.’

Still he said nothing.

‘I’m quite sure I already know.’

‘Do tell,’ he offered.

‘I think you need me to restore your reputation,’ she told him. ‘And I can. Let me get to work, and in a matter of weeks I’ll have you looking like an altar boy,’

‘I hope not.’

‘So do I...’

She faltered. Her voice had dropped to a smoky level that had no place at work—actually no place in her life till this point. Felicia dated, but she preferred the safe comfort of feeling lukewarm to this feeling of being speared on the end of a fondue stick and dipped at his whim.

She cleared her throat. ‘Well, an altar boy might be pushing things, but if there’s anything you’re worried about...’

‘Worrying is a pointless pursuit—and, as I thought I’d made clear, I’m fine with my reputation,’ Kedah answered smoothly, and although his expression did not display even a trace of amusement Felicia felt as if he was laughing at her. ‘In fact I’ve loved every minute that I’ve spent earning it.’

Kedah was entranced, for Felicia hadn’t so much as blinked, nor had she blushed, and he decided then that she was hired.

‘Okay, no confidentiality agreement. But mess with me, Felicia, and I will deal with you outside of the law.’

Now she blushed—but at a point far lower on her body than her face. She was about to make some glib comment about being tipped over his knee but rather rapidly changed her mind.

‘Six months,’ Kedah said.

‘A year,’ she refuted. ‘And when I’m no longer needed you pay out the rest of my contract and I’ll be on my way.’

‘Is that what generally happens?’ For a moment he let his guard drop—just a little. He was curious about her job. Fascinated, in fact. ‘You do a few weeks’ work for a year’s pay?’

She nodded and Kedah—albeit briefly—forgot his own dark troubles. He wanted to know more, but Felicia shook her head when he asked.

‘I don’t discuss my previous clients, and of course I’ll provide you with that same courtesy.’ Her voice sounded a little frantic now. ‘Now you need to tell me what’s going on if I’m to do my job.’

‘Felicia,’ he offered, in a rather bored drawl, ‘I didn’t hire you to tidy up my reputation. This leopard shan’t be changing his spots. I want a PA and I hear that you’re amongst the best. Do you want the role or not?’

Her smile slipped and those once glacial eyes clouded in confusion.

He pushed forward the contract.

‘We need to discuss terms and conditions,’ Kedah explained, and then went through them.

Basically, for the next year she was his.

Well, not his!

Just at his beck and call. Even if he was in Zazinia without her she would be working here.

There would be no reprieve.

Felicia wondered if now was the time to state, as she usually did, that she never slept with clients.

She looked at his long slender fingers as they turned the page and moved on to remuneration.