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'You have a right to express your anger, Xavier—but, as I have already told you, we cannot rewrite the past, and we prepare for our future only by how we behave now, in the present'
For a moment there was silence, and then eventually Xavier spoke, but even to his own ears his voice sounded strange and disconnected He had a brother 'And what of this half-brother of mine?'
The Sheikh stared at him 'Would you like to meet him? We could send Miss Cottmgham to Naples, to persuade him to come to Kharastan '
Xavier's fingers curled into two tight fists and his face darkened as he looked at Malik and Laura 'Leave us' he commanded them all.
'Please leave me alone with the Sheikh, my father'
It was, Laura noted, the first time Xavier had acknowledged the relationship aloud. She also noted Malik's questioning glance at the Sheikh, but the old man nodded, so he rose to his feet and so did Laura, before she followed him out.
As she went back to her room, she did feel like an outsider, and strangely overcome—by all that she had seen and learnt, by the sense that an opportunity lay ahead for her to go on another great adventure to bring back son number two
But the feeling which most overwhelmed her was one of immense sadness.
Because you have to say goodbye to the man who has ensnared your heart? Is that why you'll even consider going to Italy, to deal with the half-brother, knowing that it will somehow keep you in Xavier's life1? Is that what you want?
She had finished packing and was standing by the window, watching one of the guards on horseback as he clip-clopped his way around the grounds, when she heard footsteps behind her She turned round to see Xavier standing there
His fa
ce was like stone—cold and unyielding. Yet his eyes glittered suspiciously bright, and Laura was more surprised by that than by anything. Had Xavier actually shed tears?
'What did you say to him?' she questioned huskily.
He looked at her and his eyes cleared—as if he were just emerging from a forest into a bright open space, but as if the shadows of that dark place he had visited would never quite leave him.
'We said things which shall forever remain between father and son,' he said gravely.
She saw the pain in his eyes and heard the dignity in his voice, and in that single moment her heart turned over and she knew that she loved him. She knew too that it was a non-starter—but as long as she could hold onto that fact then she'd be okay. Because what had Xavier once said to her? Regret wasn't part of his agenda? Well, it wouldn't be part of hers, either.
Let him go, she told herself. Don't be like the blonde who flounced out of his office the first time you met him. There are streams of women like her in his past, and no doubt streams of them waiting in his future So replicate his dignity as you say goodbye.
'You'll stay here?' she asked.
'For a while Laura—'
Her head jerked up, her eyes wide 'What?' she questioned breathlessly.
'You won't take the job of going to find Giovanni, will you?'
The hope in her heart sank like a stone in a muddy pond, gone without trace 'Is that a request or an order, Xavier?'
There was a heartbeat of a pause 'It can be either,' he said steadily 'You're forbidding it—even though the Sheikh himself asked me?'
'I can override that request if it does not please me,' he said stubbornly
'If it does not please me?' she choked 'What's the matter, Xavier? Do you think I'll end up in bed with your half-brother?'
'Stop it' he snapped, as unwanted erotic images swam darkly into his mind. That kind of turmoil was the last thing he needed at the moment. 'Very well. Take the damned job if you wish to'
'Thank you—I will'
'You will?'
'I will give it some thought'
He scowled 'Have you finished packing? Because I'm going to take you to the airport'
