The Sheik's Virgin Lover (The Sisterhood) (12 page)

“Let me go!” she said, then gasped as his mouth reached the base of her neck and she marched into his embrace. “ Not fair,” she groaned.

“Nothing in life is fair,” he replied back and his hand moved from her back around to cup her breast. “Are you going to answer my question?”

The touch of his hand against her breast almost made her knees give out on her but his question, obviously in response to his “Marry me,” statement, snapped her out of the passionate haze he’d so easily woven over her mind. Stepped back, breathing hard and putting her hands on her forehead, she looked back at him angrily. “You didn’t ask me anything.”

With that, she turned on her heel, grabbed her bag filled with her notes, and almost ran out of the suite, ignoring his calls for her to stop.

She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going, but was grateful that the elevator doors closed quickly for her, allowing her only a brief glimpse of the furious expression on his face before she descended to the lobby of the hotel.

The lobby was crowded with so many people rushing about, Emma was confused for a long moment. She looked around, pulled her notes out of her bag and looked up the appropriate conference room. She knew she couldn’t just stand here looking silly. She had to get out of the way and not give Dharran any cause to be able to simply pull her back to the suite.

She hated him, she thought as she walked furiously towards the conference room assigned for the morning meetings. The committee members were meeting for opening discussions in the morning but would tour other facilities in the afternoon, which was fine with Emma. The longer she was gone, the more she could avoid Dharran. She didn’t want to ever see him again, she thought as she stepped into the conference room and poured herself a cup of tea.

As soon as the other members realized who she was, Emma was bombarded with questions and comments, kudos about one program or another that she had initiated. Her anger over Dharran’s horrible proposal was completely circumvented as she thanked everyone for their comments.

The meetings were extremely helpful with several ideas being tossed about. The fifteen members discussed cultural differences that might impact different programs, gender problems, legal issues and a wide variety of challenges.

The group worked through lunch, and Emma was famished after skipping both dinner last night and breakfast earlier in the day. When a buffet was brought it, she eagerly grabbed a sandwich as the conversation continued on around her. The afternoon was just as informative as the group boarded a tour bus that took them to different inner city centers to get additional ideas, talk with the directors and the youth. Seeing the programs and hearing the comments stirred Emma’s imagination and she frantically wrote down thoughts and ideas.

It was dinner time when the bus took them all back to the hotel but no one wanted to leave. It was agreed that they would order dinner back in the conference room and continue to work. Emma was thrilled to toss about the various ideas she’d heard, and thwart Dharran as well by not coming back to the suite for dinner.

It was almost midnight by the time she walked back into the suite. She would have even gotten her own room if there had been one available. She’d checked at the front desk but apparently the hotel was booked solid. So if she wanted a bed, she would have to sleep here.

Dharran was in the suite, but on a business call himself. He glared at her, hands on his hips as she walked into the living room. Emma was too tired right now to deal with that glare and the coming confrontation he obviously wanted. She put her bag down on one of the chairs and pulled her suit jacket off as she walked to the smaller bedroom, her shoes falling off her feet as she walked.

She didn’t even pause to wave goodnight to him before closing the door. Emma was so tired, she literally curled up on top of the bed and fell asleep. She’d meant only to relax for a moment before undressing and brushing her teeth, but the flight and the meetings, not to mention Dharran’s ability to cause her emotions to swerve all over the place, had taken all her energy and she simply had nothing left.

Emma stretched as the morning sunshine warmed her face. She wasn’t cold for some reason even though the air conditioning in the suite was going full blast.

She sat up and looked around, surprised to see that she was no longer wearing her suit. Looking around the room, she spotted the black wool skirt and silk blouse folded neatly over the back of one of the overstuffed chairs near the window.

A huge, fluffy blanket was covering her as well but she lifted it to see what she was wearing. Only her underwear and bra peeked out from the soft sheets and Emma couldn’t remember taking off her clothes.

Then a vague memory came back to her. She’d thought initially it was a dream, but seeing that she wasn’t dressed any longer, she knew that Dharran had come in here and undressed her. He’d touched her too, Emma remembered, heat suffusing her cheeks as she remembered smiling and taking his hand, pressing it against her stomach and sighing happily.

“Ugh,” she groaned as she leaned against the pillows. “Please tell me I didn’t,” she said to the empty room.

The scent of the roses made her turn her head to see where the beautiful scent was coming from.

They were absolutely beautiful, and each one was perfect, filling the room with a sweet perfume. The note in the middle was obviously from Dharran and she was tempted to just leave it there amidst the flowers. After yesterday morning, she didn’t want anything to mar the beauty of the roses.

She showered and wrapped a towel around both her hair and her body, then padded over to the closet where her clothes had been unpacked by some mysterious hotel person. She grimaced as she thought about her plain, cotton underwear, wondering what the servant had thought about how plain it was. If she’d known that someone would be unpacking for her, she’d probably have hidden her underwear somewhere.

The brown suit was hanging in the closet along with the clothes she’d arrived in, neatly laundered and pressed. She almost laughed at the pants and shirt, both were nice, but chosen as much for their comfort as for their appearance. Emma hated flying in the first place, always uncomfortable and cramped. So when she flew, she made sure that she wore something that was stretchy and comfortable, along with flat shoes for walking through the long corridors of the airports.

As she reached in to pull out the practical brown suit, her arm bumped on another hanger. This suit was also brown, but so much more stylish. It wasn’t very practical either, she thought as her fingers ran down the length of the beautiful summer wool. It was light weight, but more form fitting.

Emma looked at the suit and fell in love. The creamy brown was perfect for her skin tone while her own suit was a darker material and tended to wash her out under certain lights.

Biting her lip, she was undecided about wearing the obviously expensive suit. It would be so much more comfortable than the one she’d brought and would make her look much more professional. But on the other hand, wearing a suit this expensive while discussing poverty stricken kids and touring inner city areas didn’t really send the right message.

In the end, she hung up the suit and put on her own, obviously more worn out suit. It still looked good, she thought. It wasn’t very form fitting but it was neat and clean and presented an appropriately professional image.

With one more longing glance at the new brown suit, she packed her bags and proceeded down to the lobby. The meetings would be over today and she was flying back to Washington on the eight pm flight. She would only have time to grab a sandwich and rush to the airport after her meetings were finished.

Today’s meetings were just as interesting, but she smiled throughout the day thinking of Dharran and how sweet he’d been to purchase a new suit for her. She knew that he hadn’t actually bought it himself. But he’d arranged for someone to do it, which was still very thoughtful. Every once in a while, she would blush about the fact that he’d undressed her the previous night and pulled the blankets over her.

Because Dharran had a driver standing by, her trip to the airport was much easier than she was anticipating. The man even had a warm sandwich and chilled white wine already purchased and waiting for her in the back of the limousine.

The next shock came when she was checking in. She thought it was odd that her seat was in the single digits but didn’t think anything of it until she actually boarded the plane. That’s when she realized that Dharran had upgraded her ticket from economy to first class. She looked at the seat number and her ticket twice before accepting what he’d done. Self-consciously, she ducked under the overhead bins and took her seat, feeling extremely pampered in the seat that was about twice the size of what she was used to.

The other passengers were boarding the flight, slowly making their way through the aisles and tucking away their items. While she had time, she pulled her cell phone out and texted Dharran, thanking him for all the little surprises.

She didn’t hear back from him before the flight took off but she certainly enjoyed the luxury of first class.

There was another driver at the Washington terminal who swiftly helped her through the airport, getting her home in record time. When she stepped into her apartment, she was overwhelmed with the scent of roses. With her key still in the door, her eyes barely able to see anything since it was the wee hours of the morning and no lights were still on, she spotted dozens of gorgeous flowers all over the tiny kitchen and den area, on every available surface, even on the floor. Her landlord must have opened the door for the deliveries, probably wondering why on earth someone would bombard her with so many flowers.

Walking into her bedroom, she dumped her bags by the closet and read the note tucked into the roses by her bed. “Think of the roses like my hand and caress your skin with the petals. I’ll personally handle the task as soon as you release us, and allow me to make love to you.”

Emma gasped at the imagery he built in those two sentences, her body already primed from thinking about him all day long and now, with the scent of the flowers filling her mind, she was definitely going to have trouble now.

She was exhausted, but sleep came slowly. She wasn’t worried about waking up early since she’d already told everyone she’d be in to the center late today, but it was still hard to get up the following morning and start moving.

Chapter 7

The following weekend, she was tired and grouchy. She hadn’t slept well and it was depressingly hot and muggy again. The heat wouldn’t break until August possibly and then, only in the evenings. As she walked out of the center on Friday night, all she wanted to do was walk into her apartment, pour herself a huge glass of ice cold lemonade and not think about anything. It had been a horrible week with some of the kids getting into trouble and she wanted to just pretend like things were okay for a little while.

When she arrived back at her apartment, she found a box outside of her doorway. Knowing she hadn’t ordered anything, she looked at the large box warily. It took up a good portion of her apartment’s stoop but with no markings on the outside, she couldn’t identify what might be inside.

There was a note on the outside in an envelope and she pulled the note out carefully, her mind instantly going to the possibility of a bomb. The words on the typed letter dispersed that thought though. The box was from Dharran and she laughed at his warped sense of humor.

She was indeed having problems sleeping and it was all because of him, that horrible man! But she laughed as she picked up the heavy box and brought it into her apartment. The machine she uncovered was possibly the most beautiful espresso and cappuccino machine she’d ever seen. Thankfully the instructions were easy to read and she had her first cup of steaming, frothy cappuccino the following morning. After a horrible night when she’d wake up crying out for Dharran, the sheets tangled around her legs as she reached out for him, only to find herself alone in her bed, her body aching for him to touch her and finish making love to her, to ease the loneliness she was feeling.

Chapter 8

Emma’s fingers shook as she packed; the delicate lace and silks falling from her fingers as she tried to neatly place them in the suitcase but ended up falling a few times before she could place them carefully in the designated place.

This trip was going to be different, she knew. Dharran had no idea that she’d changed her mind and was going to seduce him. She almost laughed at that thought. She estimated that seducing Dharran meant not stopping his latest attempt to seduce her. But she wasn’t absolutely certain. She sensed hesitation in him when they’d met in Paris last time and it had been a scary thought to wonder if he might be tiring of her. Not that she was going through with this because she might lose him. No, that was a teenage answer to an immature coercion tactic. If Dharran had given her any kind of ultimatum, she would have left the relationship, with a heart ache of course, but she wasn’t going to be bullied into having sex.