AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘No,’ she answered quietly. ‘She is the child of my schoolfriend.’
Now he was staring at the tiny golden eagle which dangled around her slender neck and which she never took off.
‘And my Sheikh gave you this?’ he demanded.
‘I suspect you already know the answer to that one. Yes. He did.’
He tossed his head back like a stallion about to rear up. ‘You must renounce him!’ he declared dramatically. ‘Unequivocally and immediately!’
Sienna stared at him. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You have not heard?’ he demanded.
‘I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about.’
‘He has not told you?’
This hurt. ‘No.’
‘Sheikh Hashim is planning to go on State television and make an announcement!’
‘What kind of announcement?’
Abdul-Aziz’s mouth tightened. ‘He refuses to say…stubborn boy!…but I know in my heart what it will be.’
‘You do? You’re some kind of mind-reader, are you?’
‘He is going to declare his love for you!’ he hissed.
Sienna’s laugh was genuine, but it was tinged with sadness. ‘You’d never make money out of clairvoyancy, Abdul,’ she said. ‘It’s over between me and Hashim—he’s not in love with me.’
‘He isn’t?’ His suspicious look cleared and was replaced by an expression of bright hope. ‘You are certain of this?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then what is he plotting?’ questioned Abdul-Aziz to himself thoughtfully.
‘Don’t you think you should come right out and ask him yourself?’
‘I have. He would tell me nothing.’
‘Then it’s very disloyal of you to come sneaking over here behind his back, trying to find out things he obviously doesn’t wish to tell you.’
He glared at her. ‘While your loyalty to the Sheikh is admirable, I am not used to being spoken to in such a way, Miss Baker. Especially by a woman.’
‘How come I’m not surprised?’ Sienna murmured.
‘Will you try to stop him?’ he persisted.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ said Sienna calmly. ‘And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. He is a man in charge of his own destiny.’ She stared at him. ‘As we all are.’
An odd, calculating light came into Abdul-Aziz’s strange, cold eyes. ‘Yes, indeed we are,’ he said. ‘You are a strong woman, Miss Baker.’
Was she? At that moment she felt a mixture of strength and weakness, but her strength came from her unwavering love for Hashim. And so too, in a way, did her weakness. ‘Thank you, Abdul.’
The cold eyes narrowed. Had they softened fractionally, or had she just imagined it? ‘You have a message for him?’
Tell him I love him. Tell him I can’t stop thinking about him. Tell him that if I really did have magical powers then I would use them all to protect and guard him from evil for the rest of his life.
‘Just tell him Sienna says hello.’
‘Hello?’ he echoed faintly, and then nodded, giving a deep bow before leaving the room.
Sienna felt as if she was operating on some kind of autopilot as she continued with the ritual of decorating cupcakes with Cara. She realised that she was waiting for something, but was not quite sure how she knew—or what, indeed, she was waiting for.
But then her mobile phone rang, and she knew who it would be even before she saw ‘Hashim’ flashing on the screen. Her heart started beating fit to burst.
‘Sienna?’
‘Abdul has been to see me,’ she blurted out.
‘I know he has.’
‘You didn’t think to warn me?’
‘Did you need me to?’ he questioned coolly.
‘He says you’re going to broadcast to the nation.’
‘Indeed I am.’
‘He wanted me to try and stop you.’
‘And are you?’
Sienna laughed. ‘It would be like trying to stop the sun from rising if you had your heart set on something.’
Oh, how true her words. Hashim smiled. ‘Good,’ he murmured. ‘I am glad that we understand one another.’
‘Hashim…’ Sienna hesitated. ‘You aren’t going to do anything foolish, are you?’
Well, that was all down to which way you looked at it. But that was not the answer she needed to hear right now. ‘No, Sienna.’ His voice sounded strangely controlled, but there was a hint of mockery underpinning it. ‘If I send a jet for you then will you fly out to Qudamah?’
Her world spun. A jet? To Qudamah? ‘Why?’ she breathed.
There was a pause. ‘My mother wishes to meet you.’
