My Desert Rose (10 page)

Amira pulled
out the chair opposite Katie and next to Miriam, much to Miriam’s
dislike. "I wanted to sit next to Hassan," she pouted.

"Well, tough,
you’ve got me sister dear instead," replied Amira curtly.

At the sight of
Amira, Katie drew in a sharp breath of surprise. Surely evil
couldn't be that beautiful? Amira was impeccably dressed in a white
silk halter-neck gown, which complemented her coffee-coloured skin.
A large black-haired ringlet hung over one shoulder and the rest
was curled and piled high on her head with a tiny diamond tiara at
the front. Further diamonds hung from her ears and a choker sat
around her delicate neck. Full lips and almond green eyes finished
off the look. She reminded Katie of an exotic Egyptian
princess.

Tariq made the
introductions and Katie smiled at them both. Hassan nodded his head
in acknowledgement of her, but he kept his eyes averted. He wasn’t
at all what she'd expected. There were similarities between him and
Tariq, such as their colouring, but whereas Tariq was tall,
muscular and fit, Hassan was the opposite. Round, robust and stout
is how Katie would’ve described him.

Feeling Amira's
eyes on her, Katie turned from Hassan to look at her to find two
green slits staring back. In Arabic, she heard her mumble, "Gold
digger," under her breath, not realising that Katie was fluent in
Arabic and understood her meaning.

Tariq’s hand
grasped her knee tighter, warning her not to respond.

Katie decided
not to let it bother her and to pretend that she didn’t know Arabic
in case it came in useful later. What did make her uncomfortable
was the tension in the air. Unspoken words, bad feelings and
negative thoughts were her pet hates. It always felt as though
whole conversations of truth were going on unseen in the air as
pretend words were being spoken.

Selina, who had
paled considerably at Amira's rudeness, broke the tension. "Tariq
tells me that you were born in Turkey, Katie."

Katie breathed
a sigh of relief. "Yes, my father is originally from Syria, but he
moved to Turkey, where he met my mother, who was English. I get my
pale colouring from my mother’s side."

Selina smiled.
"My great grandmother was fair-skinned and blonde. She was an
aristocrat from the North of England. Apparently, my great
grandfather took quite a shine to her and since marriage between an
English Lady and an Italian was frowned upon in those times, he
abducted her from the carriage, ravished her and then they eloped.
They later took over his father’s business in Italy and there they
happily settled."

Katie laughed.
"The word ‘ravished’ is not used so much now."

Selina nodded.
"My great grandmother always told it with a faraway look in her
eyes and a slight smile, so perhaps the ravishing was a mutual
affair."

"How did you
meet Tariq?" cut in Amira.

Here goes, she
thought. Katie wished she’d asked Tariq more questions last night.
"At a wedding between mutual friends," she replied wistfully,
remembering Tariq as he’d caught her eye. At least that was the
truth. Relaxing a little, she thought that maybe this wouldn't be
too bad.

"And how long
ago was that?"

Okay, this was
bad.

Tariq answered.
"Three days ago."

Katie blushed
so red she nearly matched the curtains.

Amira was
shocked. "What? You met and married within three days?"

Miriam sighed.
"Oh, now that’s true love. It was the same for Mama and Papa,
wasn’t it, Mama?"

Selina let out
a little sigh. "It was perhaps within two days. Malik proposed ten
times in less than one hour of meeting me. My papa was happy about
the proposal, but he wouldn’t let me leave the family home without
being married and so we were married at midnight on the second day
of meeting each other, amongst trees heavy with fruit. There was a
full moon and Papa had lit up the whole area with lanterns. We had
another wedding a few weeks later with Malik’s family."

Katie was
relieved by Selina's input and her ease about their rush into the
marriage. "Oh, that sounds so romantic."

Malik spoke
from the head of the table, "It is said in my family that when the
el-Tayeb men fall, they fall hard and they don’t wait for what they
love. Rather, they take it and claim it as theirs. We're not known
for our patience."

"Well, we can
beat you there," replied Tariq. "We married within twelve
hours."

A hush fell
across the table and then Amira scoffed. "What did you do? Have an
imam waiting? I mean, how do we know that you had a proper wedding
at all?"

Tariq was not
fazed by the cynicism in his sister-in-law's voice, so he stared
hard at her. "I took one look at Katie and knew she was going to be
mine, so I kidnapped her from our friend's wedding and took her to
the jet, where the imam and two witnesses were waiting." He turned
away from her snake stare and looked into eyes so soft and blue.
"She agreed to be my wife and I haven’t looked back since." The
term of being his 'wife' was going to be fully explored later.

Katie swallowed
hard. The private message pouring from his eyes were promising her
that tonight this marriage would be consummated. Gulping, she sent
one straight back, 'I hope you can deliver what you're promising
hot Bollywood boy'. The brown of his irises turned black. She
guessed he'd received that message loud and clear.

The mood
between them was broken by the entrance of the first course. A
spicy Arabic tomato soup with warm bread rolls.

Katie was too
nervous to eat, so she smeared the bread with butter and nibbled on
it. Tariq's hand was still on her knee, infusing it with his
warmth. It moved upwards and she nearly dropped the bread roll. It
was now high on her thigh and his little finger was making circular
movements on its inner part. A buzz made its way to the nub of her
sensitive spot and she could feel her cheeks reddening. The thought
of being alone with him later was conjuring up images of her
pulling him to the bed by that tie of his and slowly stripping him
of his clothes.

The moment was
interrupted by Amira's sickly sweet voice. "So, do you think you’re
pregnant yet?"

Katie choked on
the bread and Tariq moved his hand from her thigh to tap her on the
back. "Erm, no, not yet," she croaked. This pregnancy thing was the
crux of her problem, but she shoved it aside, reminding herself
that she'd agreed to have some sexual fun with Tariq and exhaust
their lust, not have any children.

Tariq answered
more fully. "We’re going to spend some time getting to know each
other for a while before we start a family."

Katie was
relieved. They had to keep up some form of charade for his plan to
work.

Amira pouted.
"Well, that’s not what you told me when we were engaged. I think
you suggested that all I would be was a brood mare."

Engaged!

Katie looked
open-mouthed at Tariq.

Tariq was now
seriously getting pissed off at Amira's attitude. "We weren’t quite
engaged, Amira. My parents asked me whether I wanted you as a bride
and I told you what would be expected of our union."

Hassan spoke
for the first time, "Enough Amira, just eat your dinner."

Amira gave
Katie a cold look that said she wasn’t finished with this
conversation.

Miriam chirped
up. "Can we talk about the plans for the wedding celebration at the
end of the month?"

Selina too
sighed in relief. "Perhaps we can meet tomorrow morning, Katie and
go over all the plans? Of course, you have the freedom to create
what you want."

Katie smiled at
this warm woman. "I think at midnight in the moonlight would be
just beautiful."

Selina grinned.
"I do believe that there is to be a full moon on that Saturday. I
shall send out the invitations to close family only, just so we can
keep it intimate. Is there anyone you would like to invite?"

"Just my aunt
and uncle," she answered a little sadly. "My best friend is on her
month's honeymoon in Europe, so she won’t be able to make it."

"Oh, I’m so
sorry about that. We could postpone it until the next full
moon?"

Katie
considered it, but then decided against it. She didn’t know where
she and Tariq would stand next month. If all went well, she might
be back in her little house in England. "No, it’s fine. I’m sure
Annabelle will get as much joy out of the photographs."

"Tariq tells me
that you’re a professional photographer?" Malik enquired.

"Yes, I am,"
she nodded in surprise. When had Tariq told his parents this piece
of information? Then she remembered the cameras and the lab he’d
had set up.

"Can you take
some pictures of us all together?" Miriam asked her excitedly.

"Yes, I can,"
she replied smiling at her.

The starter was
then cleared away and steaming hot plates of buttered vegetables,
mint potatoes and lamb in honey and apple sauce filled the
table.

Tariq took the
liberty of filling a plate for Katie. As he passed her the plate,
their fingertips met and a pulsating current flew down his arms,
through his chest and into his crotch. One touch and the woman had
him as hard as a pole. He couldn’t wait to get this dinner over
with and get back to their room. Leaning over, he whispered in her
ear, "I hope you haven’t forgotten what's for dessert?"

Blushing
slightly, she replied sweetly, "I don't know about you, but I'm
hoping for chocolate fondue." She bit her bottom lip.

Tariq laughed
out loud and then dropped a small kiss on her earlobe, forgetting
that they had an audience.

"Oh, how
sweet," murmured Amira in a dry tone. Then she nudged Hassan.

Hassan coughed
and looked up at Tariq. "I was going over the schedule with father
this afternoon on the movement of oil from Yemen into Africa next
week, and I noted that you’d changed some of the dates around. Why
is that?"

Katie tensed
beside Tariq. What struck her about Hassan was the dullness of his
eyes. In fact, he looked downright haggard and much older than his
years. Recalling Tariq’s words of how his men had died, she
wondered how calculated this man really was. This was the real
reason why she was here and it sobered her up and moved her out of
her romantic notions of Tariq.

Tariq seemed to
ponder on his question for a moment, as if he couldn’t remember why
he'd made the changes, but it was a ploy. "Oh yes, I altered them
in case the Somali pirates had worked out our weekly schedule."

Hassan blinked
as if the answer was too simple. "But we have supply deadlines to
meet?"

Tariq’s
features darkened. "Yes, brother and we have ships that are being
hijacked and men dying. Furthermore, I’ve decided to handle the
times and movements of all the ships from now on, only letting out
the information at the last minute." Tariq was aiming to squeeze
his brother into taking some sort of rash action to find out the
information.

Hassan looked
at Amira and then turned back to Tariq. "But how will father and I
know when to move the oil barrels from the wells to the loading
docks?"

Tariq pushed
his plate away. "I shall be going to Yemen the day after tomorrow
to choose a group of men whom I can trust with the information and
I will be back on Friday."

This was news
to Katie.

Hassan turned
beet red. "And you’re not going to keep Father and me in the
loop!"

Malik turned to
Hassan and spoke calmly. "Hassan, I have given Tariq permission for
full control on this. I will not tolerate any more losses. Two
ships were targeted last week."

"But Father -"
Hassan protested.

"Enough,"
replied Malik roughly. "I have spoken."

Hassan threw
his napkin onto the table and pushed his chair back with enough
force to topple it over. "Then I will escort you to Yemen, as I too
am part-owner of this business."

Tariq smiled
inwardly. It was exactly what he’d been hoping for. "Of course,
brother," he answered with ease. "And Katie will be joining me, as
she would like to see the whole production."

I would?

"Then I shall
come too," Amira said, as she too stood up.

"No, Amira, I
need you to stay here," retorted Hassan sharply as he brushed past
her to leave.

Amira's jaw
dropped. "Just who do you think you're speaking to?" she called at
Hassan's retreating back.

The room once
again fell silent.

Amira threw
Katie a final look of reproach before moving to leave. "Excuse me
everyone," she mumbled.

Malik got up
and picked up Hassan's toppled chair. "I apologise for my son's
behaviour, Katie. The family have been under a lot of pressure
lately."

"Please, it's
fine, really." Katie felt Tariq relax and sigh next to her, so she
reached over and put her hand on his thigh.

Payback
time!

Tariq's head
whipped around to look at her and his eyes flashed a warning
saying, 'Don't start what you can't finish'.

In response,
she squeezed his taut flesh and suggestively raised an eyebrow at
him.

A slow,
sensuous smile spread across his face and she realised that she'd
just basically told him she was up for the challenge. Now feeling a
little flustered, she went to remove it, but he put his hand on top
of hers and held it there.

The earlier
banter they'd all shared, before the arrival of Hassan and Amira,
returned to the room as everyone chatted and laughed, giving the
atmosphere a much more pleasant feel. The arrival of the dessert
trolley was met with cheers of delight and Tariq allowed her to
move her hand away in order to pick out a strawberry cheesecake. It
tasted divine.

Finally, Tariq
stood up and held his hand out to Katie. "I think it's time for my
wife and I to retire." How she’d handled his family tonight had not
only made him proud, but she’d proved to him that she had grace and
a hint of the social class that her parents had instilled into
her.