The Sheik's Baby Surprise (4 page)

Jina looked over at the bedraggled pair of shoes sticking out of her garbage can that were no longer wearable.  Not after the soaking they took today. 

She walked to her bedroom, careful to stay on the carpet so she didn’t mess up the soles.  When she saw the way the heels made her legs look, she couldn’t believe it!  They were stunning!  And her legs looked…long! 

Jina shook her head.  She couldn’t keep these shoes.  Regretfully, she pulled the shoes off and stored them carefully back in the tissue paper, then the box.  She peered into the box, looking for a card but there was nothing.  She wasn’t even sure where the shoes were bought.

And a more disturbing thought, how had the man known her address?  What kinds of resources could the man call upon to get her address so quickly?

That should feel wrong.  Strange.  But in a weird, crazy way, it actually warmed her. 

Jina stood up in horror when that thought hit her mind.  Good grief, what was she thinking?  The man stalked her, probably spoke to her agency who gave him the information on her address, and sent her some shoes.  He was doing exactly what she’d just told him she hated!  The man had the power to get her agency to reveal personal information!  Or he’d done it some other way.  Normal people simply didn’t have the resources to find other people’s addresses.  Not unless they were weirdo hackers or stalkers! 

So she absolutely was not feeling warmed by the idea that the man had broken laws in order to get her address.  She was irritated and disturbed!  Yes, the fluttering in her stomach was all about how she didn’t like the man and the obnoxious power he had.

Stuffing the bag into her large tote, she would figure out how to return the shoes somehow.  She’d just take them to the Louboutin store over on Fifth Avenue.  She wasn’t exactly sure where the store might be on Fifth Avenue, but all of the upscale vendors had a storefront on that street.  If he hadn’t bought them there, she’d just hand them over to…well, a homeless person always needed a new pair of shoes, she thought with relish.  Yes, she’d love to see that man’s reaction when he saw a homeless person wearing the outlandishly expensive pair of shoes. 

How dare he!  She stomped over to her shower and stepped into the tepid water, letting out a yelp of pain as the cooler than expected water hit her already cold skin.  But she was too angry to step out of the shower.  She blamed that on the stranger as well, irritated beyond belief at a man who could invade her privacy in such a way.

She squeezed shampoo into her hands and lathered her hair, thinking about the shoes.  And the man.  And how handsome he was.   Well, and how beautiful the shoes were. 

When she realized her thoughts were straying again, she grabbed her conditioner and lathered her hair, using more energy than she normally would.  She finished her shower in record time, despite the fact that she hadn’t even intended to shower.  She’d taken a shower this morning and now she’d just have to dry her hair and redo her makeup. 

The man was making her crazy! 

When she pulled her black cocktail dress on, zipping up the back and smoothing her hair once more, she glanced at her shoe choices in her closet.  The only other pair she had that would work would be the red shoes.  But she couldn’t wear red shoes tonight!  How outrageous!  Her eyes glanced through her bedroom doorway where the beautiful shoes were laying innocently in the box. 

No!  She pulled her gaze away and slipped on a pair of strappy, black sandals.  They weren’t comfortable, but they would work for the night.  She stashed a pair of sneakers into her black tote bag, knowing from past experience, not to mention her current day’s shoe debacle, that she’d need them by the end of the night. 

Actually, she slipped her strappy shoes off of her feet and pulled on her sneakers.  No reason to traipse through the city in the rain one more time and ruin another pair of shoes.  Her sneakers would be wet when she came home that night, but at least they would be a lot more comfortable than the heels would be. 

She walked by the Louboutin bag, refusing to even look at it this time.  She yanked her apartment door open and walked out, her still-damp raincoat over her arm and her tote bag filled with anything she might need for the evening’s assignment.  She was translating French tonight for a diplomat at a cocktail party, a relatively easy assignment. 

Hurrying out of the apartment, she clenched her teeth as she dove right back out into the rain.  Her umbrella was only able to keep the rain off of her head.  The downpour was still too heavy to do much more and her umbrella had pretty much given up on trying to be strong.  It had taken too much abuse already today and was protesting more effort.  Thankfully, her raincoat protected her dress and, since she was smart enough to wear sneakers instead of shoes this time around, her feet would be wet, but her shoes wouldn’t be ruined. 

When she arrived at the event site, she ducked through the employee entrance and showed her credentials.  Getting through security seemed a bit more problematic than usual but she endured the trouble, knowing that the guards were only doing their jobs.  There were a lot of important, political leaders at many of the events at which she worked and there was no use getting annoyed at their security measures.  She accepted it as just part of the job. 

When she was finally through the security area and able to find a locker in which to store her purse, she smoothed her hair back into place and took a deep breath.  Attaching her badge to her dress, she worked her way through the catering staff and smiled at the other translators, several of whom she’d worked with in the past.  When she reached the area in which the “party” was to take place, she scanned the room, glancing down at her cell phone to verify the name of her client.  When she found her, Jina introduced herself and asked if there were any specific issues the woman wanted Jina to watch out for.

Jina understood that her client, a finance director for one of the major banks, was here to negotiate business terms for a French conglomerate and they talked briefly about the other guests.  Jina was more than willing to step back when another guest arrived, eager to greet her client. 

It was during one of these conversations that Jina just knew that the man, the very man she’d been trying to push out of her mind all afternoon and evening, had arrived.  Why he was at this particular gathering, she didn’t know, nor did she care.  All she knew was that her heart rate picked up into a crazy rhythm and she looked around, trying to hide herself so that he couldn’t know that she was here.  For some reason, knowing that he was close by terrified her.  All the muscles in her body tightened in anticipation and she wanted to duck behind the marble column of the banquet room so that he couldn’t see her. 

All of her efforts to appear non-descript were for naught though.  She was peering around the marble column and her eyes searched for him in the room.  And he was staring right at her. 

Was he laughing at her efforts to hide from him? 

Of course he was! 

Her anger over his amusement was deep.  But she was cowering.  She was being absolutely ridiculous because this man had no power over her.  He was just a man.  He was no different from the person standing next to her discussing some sort of gardening technique! 

Okay, that was completely wrong.  The man next to her was about a hundred pounds overweight, most of it centered on his belly.  He also sported a beard which, Jina guessed, was used to hide the man’s jowls and extra chins caused by his additional weight.  And he was drunk.  Horribly, horrendously drunk.

As Jina stared across the room, she looked at the dangerous stranger and knew that there wasn’t a superfluous ounce of weight on the man’s tall, muscular body.  And there was no need for the dark haired stranger to sport a beard either.  In fact, hiding that granite-hard jaw would be a crime. 

Tearing her eyes away, she once again focused on the person to which her client was speaking, trying to listen carefully.  At the right moment, she stepped forward to translate and give a response.  Back and forth she translated for the banker. 

Jina watched with growing horror as her stranger moved closer, his eyes daring her to run from him.  She thought about it.  She really did!  But in the end, she couldn’t abandon her client.  And he knew it, darn him! 

Charm oozed out of the man as he lifted his client’s hand to his lips.  “Good evening, Marianne.  How is the banking business lately?” he asked, pretending to focus only on the woman who was sixty if she was a day, and blushing at the attention this stranger was giving to her. 

Jina felt better knowing that she wasn’t the only woman that this man affected.  Even the older woman couldn’t resist his personality.  She patted herself on the back as she moved into the background once again.  Yes, she noticed the way his body shifted ever so slightly, indicating that he would deal with her next, but she didn’t care.  This was her job, her professional capacity was to blend into the background when a client was speaking.  He couldn’t fault her for that.  Nor would she allow him to interfere with her work.  The man could just…go away, she thought with relish. 

“Ah Your Highness, ever the charmer, aren’t you?” Marianne laughed, still holding onto the man’s hand.

“I would never even attempt to charm someone as sophisticated as you are, Marianne.  You are lovelier than ever.  What brings you to this tedious affair?”

Right away, Marianne’s eyes sharpened and Jina’s mind shifted gears.  Having been in this business for a while now, Jina immediately understood what had just happened.  Marianne had only been speaking to the French until she could reach this man.  Now her real business of the night began.  As they quickly discussed numbers, Jina stepped further into the shadows.  The amounts they were discussing were far out of her mind’s ability to understand, the financial terms and acronyms beyond her financial knowledge. 

After thirty minutes of flirting and haggling, the man once again bowed low over Marianne’s hand.  “Contact my office in the morning and we’ll get started.”

Jina blinked.  That was it?  He was giving in to Marianne’s ideas?  What had just happened here?  She had no idea how that had just worked but she suspected that important business had just transpired. 

Marianne smiled up at the man, then glanced over her shoulder at Jina.  “Now that we’re finished, I’m going to walk away and let you get on with your real reason for coming over to talk to me.” 

Jina opened her mouth to protest, but the woman only laughed softly and walked away. 

Glancing up at the man, then at her client, she clamped her mouth shut, irritated that he was interfering in her job.  “I’m following my client,” she told him through gritted teeth.

The man had the audacity to reach out to stop her.  “Your client is leaving for the night.  She finished her business and she is tired.”  He took her hand and pulled it onto his arm, leading her over to the buffet table.  “Now that we are finally alone, tell me about yourself.”

Jina watched the doorway.  Sure enough, her client was pulling on her coat and walking out the door.  Marianne lifted her hand, indicating that Jina was finished and then walked out of the room. 

Jina looked up at the man, furious with him for cornering her in this manner.  “Since my client is done for the night, I am free to leave.”

The man chuckled but wouldn’t release her hand.  “You don’t want to leave.”

She glared up at him, ignoring the shiver of awareness.  Eventually, they would stop happening, wouldn’t they?  “Oh, yes I do!”

He shook his head and handed her a plate.  “If you leave, then you won’t be able to berate me for sending you the gift.  Wouldn’t you prefer to have your target in front of you when you admonish me for doing something that you didn’t like?”

She watched in fascination as he filled the plate with all of the delicious looking appetizers that she’d seen floating around the event all night.  She was starving, having been too angry earlier to eat lunch and hadn’t thought to grab a snack before coming here. 

“I can’t eat this,” she told him, trying to pull the plate away before he could put a square of cheesecake with what looked like some sort of caramel sauce on it. 

He only pulled her plate back towards the table and placed the bite on the corner, then added several other delicacies.  “Of course you can.  You need your strength.  Otherwise your fury won’t have power behind it.”

Jina wanted to laugh.  The man was actually telling her to fill up on food so that she could properly yell at him?  Who was this man?

“Who are you?” she asked, more curious than angry now.

“I’m the man who has better taste in shoes than you do,” he told her and plunked another sweet on the plate.

“Stop doing that!” she snapped at him, astounded by the amount of food on the plate.

Of course, he ignored her and placed another piece of chocolate on the only empty space.  “I’m a growing boy.  I need my energy.”

She rolled her eyes.  “I thought this was for me so that I’d have the energy to yell at you.”

“It is,” he said and put more on the plate.  “But I’ll need sustenance to endure the trials of your anger.” 

When he started to put more on the plate, she shook her head and pulled the plate away.  “There’s enough on this plate for three people.  No more.”

He chuckled but conceded.  “Fine.  We’ll come back for second helpings.”  With that, he took her hand, tugging her towards the end of the buffet table where the utensils were wrapped up in starched linen napkins.  He grabbed two and pulled her over to one of the tables in one corner, out of the way from others.