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"And still your daughter refuses to file a report against him," Khalid murmured.
Zach nodded heavily. "Marty's not a snitch. I can get his resignation without her, but it would have helped. "
"And have you asked her for her help?" Khalid sipped at the whiskey as he glanced at the two men.
Zach shook his head emphatically. "If she finds out we know about her problems with her boss, then she'll begin to question our sources. I don't want that. Keeping an eye on that girl isn't always easy. I don't want her to know just how well I keep tabs on her. "
Khalid refrained from objecting. He wasn't a believer in hiding information in this situation. Marty was an intelligent woman who lived a potentially dangerous life, despite her godfather's attempts to ensure that she was protected. She would only be hurt and angry if it appeared that her father had no faith in her abilities.
"He still disapproves. " Joe nodded in Khalid's direction.
"It is not my place to approve or to disapprove. " He shrugged. At least, not yet it wasn't. The battle he was fighting to steer clear of her was becoming harder by the day, though. It was a battle he might yet lose.
"It could be. " Joe's gaze was somber now. "If you were serious in your intentions. "
Khalid had to chuckle at that. "Gentlemen, this is the twenty-first century, not the eighteenth," he informed them. "We're not Southern gentlemen seeking to protect the honor of our daughters. My intentions are as they have always been. I must plead guilty to seeking pleasure alone. "
Joe grimaced as Zach shook his head at Khalid's answer.
"Marty isn't a toy," Zach stated, his voice firm, his tone warning. It was a familiar argument, though one Khalid rarely started or participated in.
"Tell me. " Leaning forward, Khalid slid the recliner back into its folded position. "Is there any chance that Deerfield could learn what happened in Saudi before I left?"
What had happened ten years ago had nearly destroyed him. And there were still men who would love to see Khalid el Hamid-Mustafa broken, least of whom were his two half brothers.
"We're taking care of it," Zach promised him. "Deerfield's resignation will strip him of his clearance and ensure that he never learns your secrets. "
His secrets. More like his nightmares. The bloody, shameful past that haunted his days like a dark specter. Khalid nodded as he rose to his feet. This conversation was at an end as far as he was concerned. If he stayed to socialize with the two men it inevitably would return to Marty. To the one woman he ached to possess with a hunger unlike any he had ever known before. She was the one woman he was forced to deny himself.
For too many years he had contented himself with being merely a third to other club members' lovers or wives. He had no desire to form a commitment to any woman, or to any relationship. He had no right to do so. He had lost that right long ago in a desert filled with blood and betrayal.
"That doesn't mean that the threats your half brothers represent is at an end. " Zach sighed as Khalid fought to hold back the anger building inside him. "Have you taken care of hiding the girls yet?"
The girls. His daughters. Six young women whom his father had sent to him as little more than slaves when they had been no more than children, ten years ago. He had adopted them, raised them, and they were now beautiful young women making lives for themselves.
Khalid nodded. "They are with Mother and Pavlos. "
Pavlos Galbraith, the Greek multibillionaire, had done everything required to ensure their safety, as well as that of his wife--Khalid's mother--and their daughter.
"Good. " Zach nodded. "Until we know the repercussions of the operation that unearthed that cell in D. C. last month, it's best we stay on the safe side. "
Which meant, it was best if he stayed away from Zach's daughter, Marty.
Which was no more than the truth. And still, it was a truth he hated facing.
"If you'll excuse me. " He nodded to the two men as he moved away and headed for the bar's exit.
He had no desire to discuss Marty at this point, just as he had no desire to face another night filled with arousal and nightmares, and the memories of a past he could never change.
"What do you think?" Joe sighed, as he watched Khalid before turning back to the man who had been his best friend most of his life.
"I think I'd prefer it if our daughter were interested in another man," Zach said, as he ran his hand over his jaw and tried to hold back the concern building inside him. "He's a hard man, Joe. "
"He won't stay away from her. " Joe shook his head at the thought.
"If he managed to, eventually, she would find him. " This was a truth Zach was certain of. "She's as obsessed as he is. "
"She's protective of him," Joe countered. "And she's curious. "
