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They were in the back of his car and heading to her place so that she couldfling a few things in a suitcase and make it quick because he was going crazywhen it occurred to Celia that he still hadn’t told her where, exactly, they would be going.
‘Dubai.’
‘I’ve always wanted to go,’ she confessed.
‘It’s busy. Had I known that we would...’ he eyed the closed partition and lowered his voice to a seductive purr ‘...be spending a week removing one another’s clothing and getting reacquainted with what’s underneath, I would have definitely opted for something a little less frantic.’
‘Thank you,’ Celia said simply, then she looked away because there was way too much her eyes could tell him that her head warned her not to say.
The casual purchase of a wardrobe of designer clothes, a shopping trip where price tags weren’t consulted because money didn’t matter, should have prepared her for the lavish experience of travelling with a billionaire a mere three days later, but Celia was still shocked at the mind-blowing opulence of luxury travel.
They flew first. People fawned and practically pleaded to bring food and drink, whatever they wanted. There were massages on tap should they want...manicures and pedicures at the snap of a finger...
The sofas strewn here and there in artful symmetry were deep and comfortable and there were USB ports everywhere because nearly everyone in the spacious, airy lounge was a businessperson.
There was an air-conditioned limo with privacy windows waiting for them when they landed and they were ushered out with the sort of respect reserved for visiting dignitaries.
‘I guess you come here often? Why do people know who you are?’
‘No need to whisper, Celia. We’re not in a library. And this is just the level of service that happens when you get to a certain financial position. Admittedly, I’ve met the Sheikh a few times in the course of business. You’ll be pleased to hear that I’ve turned down his dinner invitation at his palace. We’re here for a week and I intend to spend every second of the week in your company and your company alone.’
Leandro meant every word of that. He had barely been able to focus on work because having her back in his bed had taken up all his waking thoughts.
Sex had never ruled his life. He had never had a problem prioritising what was important, which was the thing that gave him financial security, the thing that saved him from the fate of his father. He had discovered, to his bemusement, that that paled into insignificance with Celia back on the scene.
He felt that it was all tied up with the fact that she was having his baby. No woman had ever occupied that spot in his life before and, while he had never thought about it, he now felt a depth of protectiveness that overruled everything else.
He couldn’t stop looking at her. Right now, she was pink from the surge of heat outside the airport and her hair was in its usual disarray, rebelling against the clips she had pushed in to control it, begging to be released.
There was not an ounce of artificiality about her. She looked left to right and left to right as the limo left the airport towards the five-star hotel his PA had booked for him.
He reached to clasp her hand and she shot him an open, delighted smile.
‘This is amazing,’ she confessed. ‘There weren’t a huge amount of holidays growing up and when I left home to open my business, there just wasn’t the cash to indulge in going abroad.’
‘I never went on holiday either, as a child,’ Leandro confided. ‘It’s why I never take any of this for granted, however much I’m used to it. I was propelled into private education thanks to Charles and I learned quickly how to survive in that small pond where the rich and famous swim.’
‘How?’
‘You need to have a killer instinct and when you come from nothing, you need to be better, faster and smarter than the kids who come from moneyed backgrounds. You have to make sure you don’t give anyone an advantage over you.’
‘A lonely life,’ Celia murmured and Leandro flushed and looked away for a few seconds.
‘I’ve never considered myself lonely,’ he said crisply, holding her gaze for a moment and then briefly looking down. ‘If anything, when I went to boarding school, I would say there were way too many people around.’
Celia half smiled and reached to squeeze his hand. ‘I’ll bet.’
Her eyes were warm and, suddenly disoriented, Leandro heard himself say gruffly, ‘I admit I was lonely...sometimes.’ Then he shrugged, astonished at that confidence. ‘Kids adapt.’ He dealt her a gentle smile. ‘I’m just glad ours won’t have to.’
‘I might need to do a lot of adapting.’ Celia laughed. ‘I never saw myself living anywhere but a modest little house with a bit of a garden and enough space for a decent workroom.’
So the conversation moved on. They arrived not long after at the resort, which turned out to be a breathtakingly elegant compound located on the crisp white shores of Jumeirah Beach. It was big enough to get lost in and yet they were greeted, once out of the car, with impeccable efficiency. Celia lagged behind, awestruck by the opulence. Acres of marble floor and a dazzling abundance of chandeliers and gold-leaf ceilings nudged alongside warm earthy tones, a visual reminder that this palatial five-star resort owed its existence to the splendour of the sand and desert in which it resided. The searing heat was left behind as it was beautifully cool inside and busy with people coming and going. Many were tourists but many were also locals, wearing the impressive, traditional dress, white tunics and headscarves.
She half listened to the spiel the hotel receptionist was imparting as she went through the formalities of checking them in, then she smiled and said, deferentially, that perhaps Mr Diaz already knew what there was to know as he had been there already.
‘And our esteemed Royal Highness, the Sheikh, sends you his best,’ she murmured, eyes lowered.
This was like no hotel Celia had ever been in, not that she had been in very many, and she followed Leandro in a daze as he confidently led the way to the bank of lifts purring up and down, disgorging people into the plush foyer and transporting ones on their way back to their rooms.
