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‘The prospect of finishing our game is deplorable to you now, too?’ he grated.
She wanted to scream and demand why he was bothering. Lauren knew she was a glutton for punishment where this man was concerned because even now, when self-preservation urged her to end this, to flee far and hide, she remained seated. She reached for the silk shroud to her left and tugged it free.
‘Ninety minutes between us. That should be enough time,’ Tahir said, then turned to walk away.
‘Enough time for what?’ she asked, the sensation of being in an alternate universe hitting hard.
He stopped, turned. In the shadows thrown by the lamplight, all she saw was his stony expression and eyes that continued to burn far too ferociously. ‘You want to be free of me, don’t you? You yearn to return home? You’ll get your wish soon enough.’
That was how Lauren found herself in the helicopter one hour before midnight, with Tahir beside her and the hourglass counting down between them. They’d barely spoken, each wrapped up in their thoughts.
Uppermost in hers was the fact that the thing she’d dreaded had come true far too quickly. Tahir was getting rid of her. And she didn’t think she could bear it.
She pursed her lips tighter, terrified she would blurt out her feelings and damn herself for ever.
When Tahir answered a call a short time into their flight, she was relieved. Then her heart was breaking all over again at the thought that soon she wouldn’t hear his voice. Wouldn’t experience the dexterity of his brilliant mind or feast her eyes on his towering magnificence.
She would be returning to a half-life not of her parents’ making but of a love unrequited. When blurry lights winked beyond the window, she thought it was rain. Then she realised her tears blocked her vision.
She blinked them away as the aircraft set down on the same helipad they’d taken off from yesterday.
The same aide approached, and if he was surprised that his King had returned just a day after leaving, he didn’t show it.
Bodyguards didn’t bar her way this time. In fact, she was—to her amazement—treated to the same reverent greetings as Tahir. It was probably why she didn’t fully take note of her surroundings until she was led into another lavish living room.
And she came face to face with her parents.
‘Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?’
‘Your mother told me about your conversation,’ her father replied, his voice just short of a sneer. ‘It was clear you were getting nowhere, and Matt needed us to be here. But we didn’t quite think we would be meeting you here.’ He sent a puzzled glance at Tahir.
Lauren ignored the puzzling last response and addressed the main one. ‘So you came to light a fire under my feet because I wasn’t moving fast enough for your liking?’
He stiffened in surprise, then annoyance.
Yes, this was the first time she’d used a less than cordial tone with him. She could excuse herself with the overwhelming emotions coursing through her. But regardless of the circumstance, this conversation was long overdue.
‘You look pale. Are you quite all right?’ her father said, after a quick, pandering glance at Tahir.
Lauren wanted to laugh but she was mildly terrified she would drown in hysterics. She swiped her hand across her eyes, praying for strength. ‘No, I’m not all right. I haven’t slept for more than an hour in the last day, and you turning up here because you think I’m...’ She stopped to swallow the surge of emotion in her throat. ‘You know what? I don’t care any more.’
Her mother gasped, her eyes widening before turning cool with disapproval. ‘That’s hardly the way to talk to your father, Lauren.’
‘Oh, no? How about the way you talk to me? The way you treat me?’
Charles cast another glance at Tahir as if gauging his reaction to her outburst. ‘I’m not sure what’s up with you, but this is hardly the place. Perhaps His Majesty might give us a private—’
‘No. He stays. This concerns him, after all, doesn’t it? Don’t you want to know how I got on with trying to convince him to help Matt?’
‘Well, we were told our presence would hasten things. Although we were under the impression that His Majesty was arranging for Matt’s lawyer to meet us at our hotel, not be brought here.’
She frowned. Tahir had arranged this?
Her gaze swung to him. He stood with his hands tucked behind his back, his profile formidable as he watched her father. ‘You’ll be taken to where you need to be in due course,’ he said. ‘First, you need to finish this conversation with your daughter.’
‘You should know I wasn’t successful,’ Lauren said bluntly. ‘Tahir isn’t going to step in. My presence here changed nothing. Matt’s on his own.’ She sensed Tahir stiffen but kept her gaze trained on her parents. ‘And so am I.’ Something cracked open within her then, but, amazingly, what was left behind wasn’t as awful and devastating as she’d feared.
Her father frowned. ‘So are you? What does that mean?’
