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Jamal sipped his champagne. “You know, I don’t expect you to indulge me by eating what I eat. You’re safe to be your true self with me.”
Her pulse thudded in her ears. He really was too perceptive. She managed an idle shrug and held his stare. “I used to hate avocado once, I love it now. My palate is ever changing. Clearly not with raw meat, though.”
He leaned back in his seat. “It is an acquired taste.”
Yasmine nodded. “So I’ve found.” She took another sip of her champagne before pushing her chair back and standing. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I have need of the ladies room.”
Jamal pushed to his feet, then nodded at one of his security staff to follow her.
“That’s really not necessary,” she protested.
“My men are discreet, I promise.” He held her gaze. “He’ll wait outside just as a precaution. We can’t be too careful outside the palace.”
She sighed. “I don’t know why I assumed I’d have more freedom once I was married.”
Jamal’s smile looked more apologetic than amused. “It will be quite the reverse, I’m afraid. We’re a rich nation and there are many who covet what we have, which makes you the perfect target to acquire as a bargaining chip.”
She shivered at his words, before she mumbled something about not taking too long and hurrying out of the restaurant. It was a relief to get to the ladies room, where she sat on the lid of one of the many empty toilets while taking out her credit card and taking photos with her cell phone of the credit card numbers and security code before sending the images off to her dad.
She had no idea if there was a maximum amount she could transfer at a time but she had no doubt her dad and his accountant would find a way to withdraw the necessary sum. She’d just have to find a way to deal with the fallout.
She pressed a hand to her brow and sighed heavily. She couldn’t lie to Jamal any longer. She’d have to broach the subject with him once they were back at the honeymoon hut. But not now, she refused to ruin their night out.
Chapter Fifteen
Yasmine glanced out the jeep window to the many city lights shining outside. She glanced up high, but the glaring artificial lights made it near impossible to make out the starry heavens above.
She used to love sitting on Amack’s palace rooftop to look up at the stars, they appeared so close it was as if she could touch them. Now it was as if her marriage was as tantalizingly close yet just out of reach.
A shiver went down her spine. Jamal wouldn’t deal well with her betrayal.
He drove his car through the resort gates, the lighting that hit the tops of the palms and the gateway itself much more subdued and intimate. At least there was no need for garish lighting here. Even the apartment buildings emitted a soft glow that was serene and calming, the beauty of the resort speaking for itself.
A pity she was anything but relaxed. Her heart beat erratically in her chest, the adrenaline that pumped through her body ratcheting up her tension.
Jamal parked the car in front of their honeymoon hut, where solar lights gleamed faintly at the front and along the railing of the boardwalk, throwing out just enough light for guidance to the front door. Jamal opened her door and she took his proffered hand as she got out and took in a deep, steadying breath of the crisp, briny air as the sea gently lapped at the shore and the boardwalk posts.
But it was like she was having an outer body experience, watching as if a spectator looking from the outside in at a series of preordained events about to unfold.
She sensed Jamal’s scrutiny as they walked across the boardwalk. How much longer would he want to touch her? She only wished the cool night air gave her flushed skin and guilty countenance some relief.
She glanced at the security team who’d stayed well back from them. They stood outside their silenced cars, no doubt checking the shadows for any movement until she and Jamal had safely entered their hut.
A motion sensor light flicked on as they stepped into the hut, Jamal sliding the lock into place on the front door before he looked at her. “Are you okay? You haven’t been yourself since your dad’s phone call.”
Now was the perfect time to tell him the truth. Except she had no idea how far Jamal could be pushed before he’d react. She looked away. He’d believe she was not only untrustworthy and weak, but a gold digger, too. Traits he’d despise in a wife.
He clasped her chin, drawing her gaze back to his. “Yasmine, what is it you’re hiding?”
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t lie to him, not anymore. He deserved the truth no matter the consequences. She opened her mouth just as a heavy tread on the boardwalk was followed by a knock on the front door.
He frowned, annoyed by the interruption. But then his frown turned to concern, realizing right along with Yasmine and her sinking stomach that whoever knocked it could only be for something important. “Who is it?” he barked.
“It’s Yusef. Sorry to interrupt you Sheikh Jamal, but you have an urgent phone call.”
Yasmine’s nerves twanged hard, and she reached helplessly for her husband as he turned and unlocked the door. Her arm dropped back to her side and she stood paralyzed as he put the cell to his ear and conversed with the caller on the other end. Even in her numb state it didn’t take her long to decipher the call was from his financial advisor.
Her dad had obviously found a way to transfer the huge sum of money in record time. He hadn’t wanted to take the chance she’d change her mind and tell her husband the truth.
