The Sheik's Reluctant Lover (8 page)

He watched with rising fury as she ran out of the stables, her fingers barely holding her shirt together as she sprinted as far away from him as she could get. 

Rachel sighed with relief as she pulled into the parking lot of her downtown office building.  She smoothed the tan skirt down over her hips,
then
pulled the suit’s jacket off the backseat of her vehicle, wanting to look nice for work today.  She had a
big wedding she was assisting with
this coming weekend which would really help her in the firm. 
The company she worked for
,
Elegant
Events,
was one of the preeminent events firms in the city, catering to some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Washington, D.C.  The wedding this weekend was for a senator’s daughter who was getting married at the Mayflower Hotel, one of the ritziest and well known establ
ishments in the city.  Everyone in town was working hard to get an invitation to this even
t
. All the who’s who will
be there this weekend.  Although she wasn’t in charge of the wedding, being too inexperienced at this point in her career, she was one of four assistants who were helping the main coordinator, a tyrant named Marissa Banks who was one of the best in the industry. 

Rachel had been working long hours to ensure that her tasks for the wedding were all taken care of well in advance of the deadline Marissa had set out.  So as she walked into the building, she was reviewing her notes, looking at all the items that would be reviewed in the Monday morning meeting so that she could be able to tell Marissa that all of her
to-do
items were completed.

“Rachel, you’re wanted in Derrick’s office,” the receptionist called out as soon as Rachel passed through the frosted glass doors.

Rachel looked over at Lenora, the sweet and friendly receptionist who guarded the lobby area with sugar coated words, helping the clients with coffee
and tea, ensuring that everyone felt like they were the company’s number one client from the moment they walked in the door.

Rachel was halfway through the lobby area when she did a double take at Lenora’s words.  Derrick was the head of the firm and ran the agency with flair and good humor.  She really liked him, knew that he’d grown this agency from almost nothing so she had a great deal of respect for him as well. 

“I’m supposed to be in Marissa’s meeting in ten minutes,” Rachel called back.  “Are you sure Derrick wanted me?”
  It was almost unheard of for the head of the agency to speak with one of the lowly junior members of the staff. 

Lenora
nodded
her head
emphatically
. “Derrick asked for you personally, Rachel.  He seemed very excited about something.”

Rachel closed her file folder and looked around
as if she could find the reason for this unexpected summons in the walls or carpeting
.  The lobby area was done in shades of white and cream colors with fresh flowers brought in every week in various shades depending on the season.  Because fall was in full swing, there were yellows and
golds
this week, creating a stark contrast to the white and cream décor. 
But even the flowers couldn’t provide an explanation. 

“Did he say what this was about?”

Lenora shrugged her shoulders and answered the next call,
efficiently
directing the call to the appropriate person. 

Rachel went to her tiny office and put her notes down.  She pulled the papers out of the
folder she’d worked on yesterday after returning home from her father
’
s
cottage
.  Okay, she acknowledged to herself that it was more of a running away scenario. 
She’d spent the rest of Saturday evening locked away in her tiny
apartment
vacillating between fits of anger over
Rais
for pushing her to the breaking point and crying at how pathetic h
e probably viewed her after the
pitiable
way she’d scrambled away from him in the loft. 

Even now, thinking about the dumbfounded expression on his handsome face when she’d glanced back up to him from the stable doorway, she couldn’t believe how childish she
’d
acted. 

She looked at her small desk covered with vendor information and brochures, her computer screen with sticky notes on three sides and even her lamp had reminder notes. 
This was not the time to work through her fear of intimacy with the
fabulously handsome but terrifyingly large
Sheik of
Dunari
, she reminded herself.  She had tons of work to do and missing anything over the next five days would be extremely bad for her career.

The phone by her elbow rang, startling her out of her
private lecture
and she looked down at the number.  It was an internal call and she nervously picked up the receiver.  “This is Rachel.”

“Rachel, could you come to my office quickly please?” Derrick said with his precise, cultured accent. 

Derrick was wonderful and flamboyant and everything that a gay man epitomized.  And he was completely faithful to his partner, a lawyer in a D.C. firm that was powerful because of his own connections
and abilities
. 

She knew that the summons had been phrased as a question, but it was much more along the lines of a command performance. 
“I’ll be right there.”

She walked out of her office quickly, stopping by Marissa’s office which was larger and much more elegant
and, thankfully, along the way to Derrick’s office as well
.  Because of Marissa’s experience and her client list, the woman had enough space for a much larger desk, several filing cabinets and a round table with luxurious chairs surrounding it so that she could discuss plans with her clients
in comfort
. 

“Marissa
, I’m so sorry to do this but Derrick has called me down to his office.  I wanted to stop by and hand you my task list and let you know the status of each,” she said and handed her notes to the older wom
an.  “I should be finished with him soon although
I don’t know what Derrick wants me for but
here are my tasks that you assigned to me last week and where each issue stands, j
ust in case I won’t be out before you start your status meeting.”

Marissa
glanced down at Rachel’s neatly typed notes and nodded.  “This looks good.  Thank you for being so conscientious.  Let me know when you’re out of your meeting with Derrick so I can give you the next steps for the wedding this weekend.”

Rachel nodded her head and left the office, nervous about whatever
D
errick might need to speak with her about. 
As she walked down the hallway, she went through her tasks for the past few weeks.  Had she missed something?  Or had someone complained about her performance?  She couldn’t think of any other reason why she would be called down to the owner’s luxurious office. 

“Go on in,” Debra said as soon as Rachel stuck her head into the private area where Derrick’s office was located.  The whole floor was done in shades of white and cream and this area was no exception.  The cushioned chairs were in white and gold, the tables
were topped with
glass
and
cream
colored
legs
.  All the
desks
at this end of the hallway
were glass with gold and cream
stands
.  All colors coordinated beautifully, enhancing the feeling of the agency being a strong wedding group, but the shots of color
indicating
that they could do much more
for their clients than just weddings
. 

Rachel knocked on the door and stepped in when Derrick looked up.  “What on earth did you do this weekend, dear?” he asked
immediately
and waved for her to come inside and sit down. 

Rachel didn’t want to talk about her weekend on the farm
with her dad…or anything having to do with
Rais
.  Just the memory of being in
Rais
’ arms Saturday
afternoon
made her ache all over
again, followed by the painful embarrassment of running away because they went too far for her
pathetically
timid little mind to handle
.  “I went to visit my dad,” she explained honestly, omitting the part where
s
he
had to explain that her father
worked on the horse farm of one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. 

“Well, I don’t know what you’ve done recently, but you’re now the official Washington, D.C. planner for the Sheik of
Dunari
.
”  He clapped his hands together for emphasis and waited for her reaction.  When she simply sat there for a long moment, Derrick took her silence to mean she was just as overwhelmed as he was hoping she would be upon the news.  “
And
what’s even better?  H
e has a series of parties that need to be worked over the next few months.
  You’re going to be a very busy lady!  And the envy of everyone in the office, I’m thinking.  This is a major coup for you!
”

Rachel’s mouth fell open and she wanted to protest, but the words simply wouldn’t come out. 
Parties?
 
For
Rais
?
  That’s crazy!
  That would mean being around him, talking with him, being trapped in his presence more often than she could endure! 

Derrick didn’t notice her fear and continued talking about the events to be worked. 
“So here’s the current
list of parties, some of them are
small, intimate gatherings which should be relatively easy for you to handle.  The others are a bit more elaborate so you’ll need to work directly with me on those so I can help you out when you get stuck.  I’ll help you with vendors to make sure that all of them are top notch.  I know that Marissa thinks she has the best in town, but I have many more contacts that can work magic when I need them to.”

She was still
stunned
from the news, terrified of the responsibility that
Rais
was handing to her
as well as what he might be expecting of her personally
. 
She looked up, noticing that Derrick was looking at her expectantly, obviously waiting for her to become a bit more effusive in her excitement. 

Her hand fluttered around her head, wondering what words she could say that could get her out of this predicament.  Derrick wouldn’t understand her need to maintain a very big distance between herself and the fabulously wealthy Sheik of
Dunari
.  Distance simply wasn’t ‘done’ in this line of business. 

“
I’m obviously grateful for this opportunity,” she finally stammered out when she remembered to close her mouth and think.  She shook her head, her hand forming a fist as she slowly said, “
I don’t think I’m experienced enough to handle these kinds of parties.  Surely someone with more
events
under their belt should be put in charge
of such an important client
.”

Derrick was already shaking his head.  “The man asked for you personally.  He said he’d seen your work and liked the way you handle yourself.  Which was why I asked what you’d done this weekend, in case you’d attended some fancy shin dig that I should know about,” he laughed, as if something like that could actually happen.  Derrick knew everything that was happening
in the city
and anything he didn’t know about, wasn’t worth attending anyway. 

“But…”

“No buts, darling.  This is huge for you.  And don’t worry, I explained that you’d never handled anything this large on your own before and he said he would help you through each step.  In fact, you’re expected this afternoon for a wine tasting
with the man himself
for the first party.  He’s arranging all of the travel because, and this is in his words, he doesn’t want you wasting time on traffic issues when you could be spending your time
servicing
his needs.”  Derrick chuckled at what he thought was
an unintended
pun, but Rachel knew that
Rais
had probably meant that exactly as it had come out. 

Had
Rais
worked all weekend to come up with this list of parties?  Or did he genuinely need to entertain like this?  She knew that, in the past, he had entertained a great deal.  She used to watch the catering vans and florists come and go from the main house on many occasions, had even helped out in some of the events, working with Lucy to polish the silver before
Rais
arrived.