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ything in warm earth tones, with russets and reds adding splashes of vividness. The whole place felt like an escape into a mystical retreat of solitude.
Numair had somehow read her every preference, even those she’d never fully formulated. He’d known what would most delight her. And in those short days while he’d been always with her, he’d searched for it, found it and acquired it. She didn’t think this property was a lease. He moved around here with the assurance of someone who owned the place, even though it was his first time here. The one who’d flown here to close the deal, who now showed them around, was his right-hand man, Ameen. But then, Numair entered any place and owned it, and the people in it.
She couldn’t wait to be alone here with him. But for now she had to resolve this issue with Najeeb. Most important, she had to give it her best shot to fix that inexplicably catastrophic first impression between him and Numair.
Now Ameen left their trio in the great space that had many sitting areas, a dining room and four stone fireplaces. Numair handed her down on one of the divans strewn in pillows covered in hand-woven wool in colorful, geometric Zafranian designs. She tried to catch his eyes, exchange the intimacy they’d been reveling in since their first night together. But his focus was trained on Najeeb.
It was beyond clear he abhorred having Najeeb around. And he wasn’t thrilled with her, either, right now. He’d bowed to her wishes when she’d invoked what he called her binding spell, suppressing his aversion and inviting Najeeb here. But he wasn’t about to pretend he was okay with it.
It baffled her that his vexation with Najeeb hadn’t only persisted but seemed to be intensifying.
The two men had gotten off on the wrong foot, both of them having been in a volatile state. Najeeb had already been outraged and easily triggered by a strange man’s contention. And Numair, in the acute stage of excessive passion, had his territorial instincts at high alert. With both of their alpha-male levels at the maximum, a locking of horns had been inevitable, and the situation had shot to the danger zone with a few aggressive words.
But while Najeeb had reverted to his usual self-possession and equanimity, Numair’s hostility was still building.
Not that he displayed any aggression. On the surface he was even more neutral than Najeeb, coldly assessing. But she now had a direct line to his inner feelings. She felt a volcano seething inside him.
As soon as they were all seated, with her facing both men, Najeeb left the visual wrestling match with Numair and turned to her. “I’m all ears.”
Filling her lungs with air, she let it all out in a long exhalation. “What do you want to hear?”
“The truth.”
“I told you that right off the bat. But if you want it in chronological order, here’s a rundown of how things happened. You refused to be bundled with me in a marriage of state to serve your father’s expansion plans, and disappeared. He decided he’d do what you wouldn’t and marry me himself. He cornered my father, and my father in turn threw the ball in my court. I had to pick up the ball, since I knew if I didn’t, one of my sisters would be forced to. Then came that fateful evening five days ago, and I met Numair. The rest I already told you.”
“Ya Ullah, I leave for a couple of weeks, and this happens.” Najeeb seemed to struggle to process the events his father had set in motion, his fury again rising. Then suddenly his face turned into a mask of righteous rage. “Back in the airport, he said he’d put a stop to this. Is this what he promised you in return for becoming his lover? Is this how he forced you into his bed so soon?”
Before she could say anything, Numair said in a seething tone, “He doesn’t coerce women into sex. And suggesting that I have is an insult to Jenan. She would never be coerced into anything like that for any reason.”
Najeeb turned his wrath on Numair. “Jenan is a hero, and would pay any price to save her loved ones. She was being coerced to marry my father for their sakes.”
“She is sitting right here.” Jen exhaled. “How about we talk to each other?” She looked at Najeeb. “I am with Numair because I want to be, because I want him. I hope this answers your questions and closes this subject.”
Najeeb stared at her, evidently still stunned that she was talking so openly about her affair with Numair, that dangerous stranger he seemed to know even more about than she did. They’d never talked about anything that even neared such candor and sensitivity.
But he was one of the most flexible, progressive people she’d ever met, and she’d always known that if she needed, she’d be able to talk to him about anything.
He finally nodded. “You’re one of the most enterprising and advanced people I know, Jenan.” A huff of surprise escaped her. Good to know they held each other in equal regard. Without inquiring about her amusement, he went on, “For a woman from our region to achieve what you have, you had to be far more powerful than a man who achieves the same things. I always admired your strength and will, how you escaped the shackles of your status and stood in the face of our culture’s condemnation and our society’s persecution. I’m proud of everything you’ve achieved, and I am proud that your decisions and actions have always proved to be the best thing for you. I also always thought you a most astute judge of character. But I won’t lie and say I’m not skeptical this time.”
“You think I don’t know what I’m doing, huh?” She shrugged. “It’s your prerogative to feel any way you want about this, and it’s mine to do as I want—and being with Numair is certainly what I want. I only ask that you keep what I divulged to you to yourself, until further notice.”
“If you don’t want others to know, maybe it’s an indication that you feel it might be wrong.”
“C’mon, Najeeb, you know better than that. In our region it’s best to hide anything you truly care about. People have no concept of boundaries, and they swarm over anything that’s made public knowledge, thinking it their right to poke and prod, to interpret it according to their own set of narrow-minded values, to cheapen and sabotage it. You know that when it comes to me alone, I care nothing about what people think, that I always announced all of my tradition-busting decisions before, but this time—”
Najeeb raised his hand. “You don’t need to convince me of anything, or to even ask me to keep what you told me a secret. There was never a possibility I’d share anything you told me or anything I find out about you on my own.”
Her lips spread. “Why do you think I told you in the first place when I didn’t even tell my sisters?”
Alarm spread over his painstakingly sculpted face. “Don’t even think of telling them. They and their friends must be speculating enough as it is just seeing you with him. Don’t add fuel to the fire by any confirmations.”
She chuckled. “Just what I thought, and that’s why only you know.”
He exhaled heavily. “Aih. Only I know. Ya Ullah, ya Jenan... I only hope you won’t live to regret this, and it won’t come at as big a price as I fear.”
She felt another wave of aggression blast from Numair, but when he spoke his voice was chillingly calm. “So you’ve changed your strategy. Now that you failed to shame her or make her doubt her decision, you’re trying to plant fear of me in her heart.”
Najeeb regarded him with the same arctic composure. “If she doesn’t fear you, then she doesn’t know what you really are. You, Mr. Al Aswad, are a man to be dreaded. A man to avoid at all costs.”
