Shadow of Love (18 page)

‘
I went to Mallorca two years ago,’ she shot back at him, visibly furious to be found out. ‘I was away for a week, if you have to know.’

‘
It was a business trip, Emily.’ She couldn’t surprise him, he thought as he started eating again. Her thunderous expression told him what she thought of his lack of concern. ‘You went there on a seminar to gain some insight into the Spanish cuisine, if I’m not mistaken. Sophie joined you, a bit later. Should I mention that she became a fixture with the local nightclubs while you slaved away in the kitchen?’

She couldn’t deny it. He knew she would if there were even the slightest possibility to contradict him, but as it was, she just pressed her lovely mouth into one tight line.

‘
But if you’re concerned to have some time off to actually enjoy it, you can always say you’re going for another culinary training. It wouldn’t have to be a lie, either. My family owns a large chain of restaurants not only in Egypt but all over the world, so spending a few days learning something about the way they run the business wouldn’t hurt.’ It made perfect sense, he congratulated himself, after he pushed aside the troubling thought that he was extremely nimble at finding the right answers for making her presence plausible.

‘
You don’t need me with you.’ As if sensing his own trepidation, she shook her head, her brown hair catching some golden tones from the sunlight pouring through the window. ‘Can’t we just agree to this photo shoot you just had and a few dates around town instead? We’re trying to convince Sophie you cheated on her with me, not that we’re married, for God’s sake.’

She was right, of course. His initial plan was to wine and dine her, showing her off in his circles just enough to plant a seed of doubt in everyone’s mind about his commitment to Sophie. Nothing heavy and vulgar, though. The photos with the description of them as lovers would not appear until next Friday, their public relationship until then more of a tease than confirmed liaison.

The untimely desire to take her with him to the land of his ancestors was making no sense, he could see that. But he wanted to do it, against his better judgment. A memory of their kiss came to his mind, cementing his resolve into unyielding certainty that he would see it through, following his heart for the first time in a long time.

‘
I can’t take the chance to leave you here alone while I’m gone,’ he said, improvising. ‘It’s a very short window we have to convince the world of our romance, Emily. Plus, who’s to say that dear, disappointed Peter won’t come along, seeking solace in your arms? I would hate to come across as a fool after those lovely shots of the two of us appearing in the paper.’

‘
Are you serious?’ If she was upset before, she was livid now. ‘Do you seriously think I would fall for Peter after he stood me up like that? What kind of a wimp do you take me for?’

It annoyed him, how strongly she responded to his comment about Peter. She could deny as much as she pleased, but no woman reacted that passionately unless there was some fire left in the relationship she claimed to abhor. Love and hate were dangerously similar, he thought, the fact that Peter betrayed her no guarantee for her to hold a grudge forever. Wasn’t she forgiving of her stepmom and stepsister to the point of masochism already? Who was to tell if her soft heart didn’t extend all the way to the idiot who dumped her for her self-absorbed stepsister?

‘
Consider this trip nothing more than a perk to sweeten up your miserable two weeks in my company.’ He smiled, aware of how furious she was with him at the moment. ‘Think about it, Emily. Four days in Egypt, with the possibility to tour our restaurant in Alexandria plus maybe some sightseeing, if you wish. I’m not offering you a four-day long love-making session in my arms.’

Actually, he felt very tempted to offer just that, he realized instantly, his whole body tensing in sexual awareness. Images of the two of them in bed, limbs entwined in an intimate embrace, rose before his eyes. She had lovely skin, pale with just a light dusting of freckles on her perfect little nose. He imagined her flushed with desire, warm and pliant, the luxurious chocolate-colored hair spread out on a white pillow.

He chased it away, aware of the tightening in his loins in the most primal, masculine response to the idea of making love to her.

‘
Isn’t it a dangerous place to go to right now?’ she asked reluctantly, just in time to pull him away from his dangerous fantasies. ‘With all the unrest and military rule. I don’t think it’s recommended for westerners to plan any leisure trips there for the time being.’

‘
I’m not saying we should go visit the Tahrir Square, if that’s what you worry about.’ He sensed victory, her eyes unable to hide the resigned acceptance. ‘My family has a large home in a safe part of town, with security to protect them, if needed. Same goes for the hotels and restaurants. So far, there was not one instance of even the slightest danger. You’re right about the warning for tourists, of course. But don’t forget, I am Egyptian as well, which changes a lot of things. My family is in a very good relationship with some of the new people in the government, especially after being vocal in their criticism of the regime long before it was popular.’

‘
That’s why they prospered and got rich under the dictatorship, right?’ She smiled sarcastically, visibly unimpressed. ‘Do you really think I’m such an idiot, James?’

‘
There are many ways of promoting democracy.’ He hated to defend the family that wasn’t there for him for most of his life, but felt he owed it to them, nevertheless. ‘They helped many of those put to jail by paying the bribes and helping them to get smuggled out of the country, before there was the Internet to rally people together in numbers that made it impossible to disperse them anymore. They received numerous warnings and threats for it, too. One of those was the accident my father and his wife suffered. It turned out it was more than just unfortunate coincidence. The inquiry was hushed by orders of someone high up.’

‘
Marlene and Sophie will be suspicious.’ There it was, the tremor in her voice that signaled a battle won. ‘The Mallorca thing was something we booked together. Am I supposed to tell them I got this sudden offer from Egypt to come and visit a restaurant out of the blue, James? Just like that? They know I have no connections there.’

‘
You do now.’ He smiled again, the prospect of the two of them together in his grandparents’ home filling him with gladness. He would think about it later, why it was so, he decided. For the moment, he had to reel her in. She became his catch that had given up the struggle and barely resisted his lead.

‘
You shall receive an invitation to a few-day tour of our Alexandrian location as part of the exchange program; we do indeed have it in place with France and Italy so far. Who says it can’t include Britain as well? And since you are so concerned with safety, there is little chance either Marlene and Sophie will be willing to come along.’

He felt pleased with himself as he saw her nod, hesitantly and reluctantly. He had been to Egypt many times. Most of his visits were a rather somber and unpleasant affair. His family might have welcomed him as an heir and blood relative, showering him with gifts and declarations of unity. It didn’t matter to him one bit. Walking the grounds where his father took his first steps and where his great-great-grandfather decided to settle down and start building up his dynasty was meaningless, to say the least. As he watched the luxury of their day-to-day lives, all he could think of was the tiny apartment he and his mother had shared in the bullet-ridden high-rise building back in England. He saw the servants moving noiselessly in his aunts’ homes, invisible and yet eager to please, and recalled his mother falling asleep at the table, tired after her second shift at work. He remembered being hungry and lying about it, knowing that she had provided for him the best she could, putting him ahead of her plans and dreams.

Now, the thought of having Emily come with him filled him with hope that this trip might be different. He didn’t welcome the sensation at all. Rather, he tried to squash it; the preposterous notion of having a better time with the woman who belonged to a family he disliked even more than his Arabic relatives was very confusing. She would offer some diversion, he tried to rationalize to himself, eager to find a plausible explanation. And she would be the constant reminder that he was putting right at least one thing in his life that bothered him ever since receiving the fateful phone call twelve years ago. She would be his bail, he thought in a sudden wave of black humor, a promise of finishing off what started in those early hours, after seeing Steve’s lifeless body.

He was lost in his thoughts, and she had to repeat whatever she was saying before he snapped out of his unhappy thoughts, his eyes going to her worried face.

‘
Won’t Sophie be annoyed if you disappear?’ she asked, visibly uncomfortable to talk about her stepsister with him. ‘As a matter of fact, what kind of an excuse did you have for us being here?’ She gestured around, her hand moving through the air with a grace of a butterfly. ‘Didn’t she want to have lunch with you?’

‘
We will be going to the theatre tonight,’ he answered, shrugging his broad shoulders with a fatalistic resignation. ‘That, plus dinner. That’s when I plan to tell her about this unfortunate trip I can’t miss. It will give you a few good hours to talk about your own plans first, Emily.’

‘
I don’t understand how you can do it,’ she whispered unhappily, her quiet voice making him wonder if her words were meant for him or if she was thinking aloud. ‘To lie and plan the lives of others just like that.’

He wanted to answer, to make her see how far off she was with her simplified description of his motives, but stopped himself with an almost inhuman effort. He would be damned if he explained himself to her, as tempting as it was. She agreed to what he had in mind, once again. That had to be enough, all the rest meaningless. Because in the end, when it was all over, they would part, never to see each other again. And if he was to survive it without any of the kind of pain he was only starting to imagine it would cause, he had to keep her at arm’s length. It was a matter of sheer survival.

‘
Em, I don’t understand,’ Sophie’s voice sounded muffled as she bit into a ripe peach, a few drops of pale juice trickling down her chin. They were sitting on the patio in the back of the house, warm rays of the afternoon sun warming their faces.

After their lunch, James had dropped her off in the city, most of their ride silent. She had been too deep in thought to mind it. Rather, it allowed her to sort out her feelings before being faced with the rest of the afternoon.

She had cast a cautious glance at his unyielding profile twice, relieved to see him concentrate on the drive. She felt like pointing out how ridiculous it was for him to bring her all the way to the Black House since he was coming to town, but gave up in the end. Most probably he would come up with some perfectly plausible explanation why his presence there was necessary earlier that day. Or remind her of the embarrassing photo shot to which she had been lured.

They had parted at her door, his promise to call her with details of their trip in two days sending shivers down her spine. Everything was moving way too fast for her liking, she thought miserably. Romancing her sister, coercing her into his plans, both seemed to move forward with the speed of light. Or maybe he couldn’t wait to be done with their family, a little voice whispered.

When she noticed the blinking answering machine, she knew it was Sophie’s voice she would hear.

The invitation to afternoon tea left her torn between the wish to go ahead and play her part in the drama James had orchestrated and the despair of betraying her family. She hated lying to them, she thought sadly as she drove to the ancestral home, her hands sweating with stress until the steering wheel felt sticky with perspiration. Was there really no way around it?

The solution came to her when she was almost pulling into the driveway, brilliantly simple and sensible. She turned off the ignition and remained seated for a moment, stunned at the simplicity of it all. She didn’t have to go through with it. If Marlene confessed to the sale of the restaurant, apologizing and admitting her wrong-doing, she would come clean and warn both her and Sophie about James. So what if they had no money? He couldn’t control everything, his promises to make any sales impossible nothing more than shallow threats. When she thought about it, she couldn’t believe he was as nasty and cold-blooded as he tried to appear for her benefit. He wasn’t that kind of man, she decided, successfully subduing the nagging question of exactly what kind of a man did she think him to be?

Half an hour later, all her hopes lay in shambles. Neither Marlene nor Sophie as much as hinted at the sale, her subtle attempts to steer the conversation in the right direction failing miserably. She had to face the fact that they didn’t plan on telling her anything, most probably eager to keep her in the dark until the sale was finalized, and she couldn’t cause any trouble.

Instead, Sophie diverted the conversation into much safer territory, her gushing praises for James and their date tonight drowning any attempts to return to the issue of the restaurant.

She couldn’t believe it, Emily thought, as the bitter taste of disappointment rose in her throat and silenced her. Could it be that James was right after all? She knew that her sister could be shallow, her own wellbeing the center of her private universe, everything else revolving around it like the planets spinning around the sun. The cold-blooded lies and secrecy were more than just the vain whims of a selfish girl. Once again, Sophie trampled over others with the same cruel indifference she had shown to Steve.