The Sheik's Reluctant Lover (9 page)

This list didn’t seem out of proportion, but it did seem convenient.  She’d have something to say about this as soon as she called him. 
And her first comment would be that he would have to find someone else to organize his damn parties because she wasn’t going to do it! 

Derrick eagerly discussed the first party, giving her suggestions on where to get the caterer, the wines and even the florist, all very irritating comments since Rachel had been working up her own list of vendors that she trusted.  Derrick simply waved her assurances aside and told her to use his vendors for these events because he could be assured of both their discretion and superior quality. 
When she was
finally
back at her office, she picked up her cell phone and called Lucy.  “Hi there, it’s me.  I’m trying to reach
Rais
.  Any way you might be able to get him on the line?”

Lucy was the housekeeper and
more like an aunt to Rachel since
s
he’d grown up without a mother and Lucy didn’t have any children.  For as long as Rachel could remember, Lucy had been the woman she’d gone to when she needed a
woman’s
advice. 

“I just saw His Highness pass by, honey.  I’ll go get him,” she said. 

Lucy didn’t have the same kind
of relationship with
Rais
as Rachel
and her father had, so there was much more formality between her
and her
employer.  But Lucy still enjoyed working for
Rais
and made all of his favorite dishes whenever he came to town
, spoiling the man in a ridiculous fashion, in Rachel’s personal opinion
. 
When she’d been a kid, Lucy’s efforts had been amusing.  Now, with
Rachel’s adult perspective, she considered it just another way that
Rais
charmed women to get what he wanted. 

A moment later, Lucy transferred Rachel’s call to
Rais
who apparently was in his office.  She could just see him, kicked back in that huge leather chair, his booted feet up on the massive oak desk in his office that was almost always covered with documents and contracts covering the wide range of businesses
Rais
had in the United States. 

“Rachel, what can I do for you,” he said cheerfully
, that deep voice sending shivers through her body even from a distance
.  “The helicopter is on
its
way
to pick you up
for our meeting this afternoon.  I hope you have some good wines for me to choose from.”

Her hand gripped the phone almost painfully as her anger with him welled up at his cheerful tone. 
“I can’t believe you’re messing with my job like this.  I really don’t like this one little bit,
Rais
.”  She was furious with him for putting her job in jeopardy.

He laughed softly, enjoying her spitfire attitude. 
“I would have thought working for me was quite a coup in your line of work, my dear.  So what wines are you bringing me to taste?” he asked.

Rachel was gritting her teeth, furious that he was purposely missing the point.  “Don’t do this,
Rais
.
  I’m begging you to leave me out of whatever you have planned.
”

“I have to
include you, my dear
.  It’s the only way I can see you. 
If things were left up to you,
I’m guessing that it will be another six years before we accidentally r
a
n into each other
again
.”

“You’re right!”
she hissed, unafraid of angering him.  Others might cater to his whims and moods but she wasn’t going to take it from this arrogant man. 

“So I’m not leaving things up to you,” he countered, his voice deep and husky, but firm with his intention.  “I’ll see you at one o’clock, my dear.  We’ll have lunch with the wines.”  With that, he disconnected the call a
nd Rachel was left staring at her phone
with rising anger.  He was manipulating her and she didn’t like it at all!

A shadow appeared in her doorway and Rachel wiped the fury from her expression just in time
to see
a
livid
Marissa to stand there, framed by her door and shaking with fury. 
“Just so you know,” Marissa said with an angry voice as she stood inside Rachel’s office, “This isn’t over!  You’re not leaving my team five days before the big event.”

Rachel stared wide eyed at the empty door where Marissa had just stood, wondering what the older woman had been told about the change. 

A moment later, Derrick was on the phone.  “Rachel, could you come to Marissa’s office please?”
Things were flying through the gossip mills in spectacular fashion today, Rachel thought as she put her phone back in the cradle once again. 

Normally, Mondays were a more relaxi
ng day around here as the coordinators
recovered from whatever party they’d organized over the weekend.  But apparently Marissa’s wedding was putting everyone on edge with the stress of such an important even
t
looming. 

Rachel understood
Marissa’s doorway comment now
.  And in a way, it was flattering that Marissa was so angry that Rachel was being pulled off of the big event.  It meant that Marissa valued Rachel’s contributions and wanted her to remain on the team. 

Or it could mean that someone had gotten wind of the newest events and Marissa was jealous.  That wouldn’t be good, she thought as she made her way back down the hall with shaking knees. 

As Rachel walked down the hallway to Marissa’s office, she could hear the yelling even from several offices away.  Others in the offices looked up, curious to know what was happening and what the blowout fight was all about.

“He asked for her personally, Marissa,” Derrick was saying, leaning against the woman’s desk.

Rachel walked into the office, standing awkwardly in the doorway.  “I’m terribly sorry about this Marissa,” she said softly, hoping to alleviate some of the woman’s anger.  “I honestly didn’t expect anything like this.  I can probably do both the wedding and this party.  I can work overtime to get everything done so you aren’t left hanging.”

Rachel was taken aback by the woman’s glare, her fury shining through her eyes like nothing Rachel had ever seen before. 

“I shou
ld be doing these parties.”  Marissa
spun around to face Derrick again.  “Let her take the senator’s wedding!  I’ll do the sheik’s parties.  I know international protocols much better than Rachel.  She’ll mess things up royally and we could have an international incident on our hands.”

Rachel couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  All this time, Rachel had been trying to figure out how to help Marissa while the other woman was just trying to get the better event!  “Excuse me?” Rachel snapped, stepping forward.  Her whole body language changed with the bitter woman’s words.  “I will
not
cause an international incident.  Nor will I even cause an office incident such as the one happening right now.  And as for experience, I think I can do just as good a job, possibly even better, at anticipating Sheik
Rais
’ concerns than someone who thinks it is appropriate to back stab one’s coworkers.” 

Derrick looked over at Rachel with newfound respect.  He obviously hadn’t expected his junior organizer to stand up for herself quite so eloquently.  “Well said, my dear.”  He turned back to Marissa.  “As for you, if you don’t stop making a scene, I’ll take you up on your request to be pulled from the senator’s wedding this weekend but you definitely won’t be given anything as important as the sheik’s social calendar when you don’t have the professionalism to finish your current assignment.” 

He stood up and started to walk out of the office but he must have eyes on the back of his head because Marissa was just about to say something else but he stopped her cold by spinning around and snapping at her, “Forget it!” before leaving the two women to stand there glaring at each other. 

Marissa looked Rachel up and down, shaking her head. “Well, we know you didn’t sleep with the guy to get this assignment.  So I wonder what you did do for him.”

Rachel gasped, unable to believe what she’d just heard. “Excuse me?”

Marissa knew she’d scored a point with that statement and took on a smug expression.  “You heard me. 
The Ice Princess sleeping her way to the top?
  I’m pretty sure that the sheik is going to be disappointed when he realizes that you don’t…”

Rachel didn’t even wait for the end of the sentence before she spun around on her heel and walked out of the woman’s office.  She couldn’t believe the
vitriol
the woman was spewing but her other concern was that
Marrisa
actually knew, wasn’t just guessing, but was positive that Rachel wouldn’t put out.  It was true about her clients, but the way Marissa had said that made her think that she also knew that she didn’t sleep with any of her boyfriends.

Rachel went back to her office and closed the door before she let her emotions show.  She was so horrified, insulted by the possibility that her friends and co-workers were gossiping about her sex life.  Or lack of it, she clarified.  How could they all know?  Or were they guessing?  Was it written on her face somehow? 

What a mess, she thought.  She could
n
’t even counter their impressions because, unfortunately, it was true. 

She had to get out of here.  Her office was tiny and she felt as if the walls were closing in on her.  She hated this feeling so she grabbed her notebook and her purse before rushing out of her office.  She ran into several co-workers in the hallway but they all looked away, avoiding her eyes. 

That hurt, she thought.  It meant that they all knew and all were gossiping.  Either about her
fight
with Marissa or the woman’s horrible accusations.  How could her sex life even become a topic of conversation?  What would cause them to speculate on things like that? 

She dated and she had friends who she would talk about her weekends with them.  They all discussed their dates over lunch in the kitchen or when they went out for lunches or dinners, sometimes even happy hours.  And yes, several of the other women would give details that Rachel thought might be a bit too intimate, but just because she didn’t share similar details about her dates, that shouldn’t imply that she didn’t have intimate de
tails to share.  Okay, so it might
mean that, but her co-workers couldn’t know that.  For all they knew, she was just being respectful, a woman who didn’t kiss and tell.

She slumped down in her car, grateful for the dim lights of the parking garage which allowed her to pull herself together.  So what if she didn’t sleep around?  That was none of their business.  She didn’t sleep with clients, she didn’t sleep with guys that she couldn’t feel something for…that was a decision for her to decide and wasn’t any one else’s information. 

She took a deep breath, putting things into perspective and came to realize that it wasn’t that they knew she didn’t sleep around.  It was more the fact that it was common knowledge.  She hated being the topic of someone else’s conversations.  It was just demoralizing. 

She started her car and pulled
out,
driving to the address Derrick had given her so she could pick up the bottles of wine he’d selected for this afternoon.  She had no idea why
Rais
wanted to test out the wines.  He entertained all the time and she didn’t think he even cared what wines were served as long as they were of excellent quality. 

Perhaps there was something about these specific vintages that he wanted to try before serving.  Maybe they were new or tricky.  She didn’t really have a big taste for wine but knew from her training which wines to select for various meals. 

At this point, she didn’t care.  She would bill the man for every hour that she worked for him and maybe he would regret doing something
so
outrageous as asking her to organize his parties. 

Unfortunately, as the hour approached when she would see
Rais
again, her nerves started getting the better of her.  She’d picked up several samples of wines, cheeses and various other interesting ideas for his firs
t party and had them stored in
large box
es
, ready to take out to him.  She didn’t mind flying but she’d never been in a helicopter before so this was going to be interesting. 

At the heliport, she allowed the attendant to carry the heavy boxes to the waiting helicopter and she approached at a slower pace, not eager to get into the contraption.  This one looked significantly larger than what she was expecting, even having the
Dunari
royal seal on the sides.  There were two big, burly men who were watching her approach and she suspected they were body guards for
Rais
, but why they would be here, she had no idea.  Shouldn’t they be out at the farm protecting him?  She knew they were always there, but they guarded the inside of the main house and the perimeter
of the property
, rarely venturing down to the stables.