The Sheikh's Second Chance Bride (Qazhar Sheikhs series Book 5) (12 page)

Malik leaned casually against one of the trees and gazed up through the branches. For a brief moment, Lana thought that Malik looked utterly at home. Here, amongst the wilderness of the desert, standing by the side of an oasis with a sheikh's private tent behind them, Lana felt as if she'd been transported to another world. A better world? She wasn't sure what the answer was to that question.

Malik stripped off a loose piece of bark from the tree and threw it into the water. The ripples spread out in lazy concentric circles. Lana watched them, momentarily hypnotized by their slow, steady progress. There was an extraordinary scent, here amongst the palm trees. She'd always wondered how such a thing as this could exist out amongst the harsh wilderness of the desert.

Malik glanced at her. His eyes narrowed, and a slow smile creased his full lips. His shirt was open at the top, and Lana saw the dark hairs of his chest curl there, enticingly. Lana wrenched her gaze away from Malik.
 

This whole thing was turning out to be an adventure. It was almost as if Malik was determined to play the proper host. Because, that was what Lana felt like. A guest in Malik's domain. He seemed to be going to extreme lengths to reassure Lana that she was safe here. Lana couldn't imagine anything dangerous out here in the desert. They were far away from a civilization which seemed to belong to another world.

He'd become unusually quiet since they'd finished their meal. As before at his apartment, he'd been a considerate and generous host. He'd made sure she had generous helpings of food, even teasing her about her reluctance to try some of the local, very spicy delicacies.
 

In spite of her claims that she didn't eat anything hot or spicy, she'd allowed him to persuade her to try some fearsome looking spiced meats. He'd laughed when she'd had to drown the burning heat at the back of her throat with huge quantities of cool water.
 

The sun was starting to sink toward the horizon. The light was softening, but the silence of the desert was something Lana thought she could never get used to. It was a peculiar emptiness which made her thoughts clearer, her mind free of distraction.

Lana turned to Malik. "Why did you really bring me out here?" she asked.

Malik frowned. "I already told you. Tradition."

Lana shrugged. "I know that's what you told me. And Mia. But, there has to be more to it than that."

Malik's gaze drifted away from Lana. She could see he was considering how to respond to her demand for a fuller explanation.

He turned to her and leaned his back against the wide trunk of the tree. "I thought we'd get a chance to know each other."

Lana squinted at Malik. "Why?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do. The next thing," he explained.

Lana stared at him. "Next? That suggests you think there's more to come."

Malik drew in a deep breath. His chest seemed to broaden to the width of the tree trunk. He let out his breath with an easy sigh. "Isn't there?"

Lana turned away and gazed around the wide circle of the oasis. "You know there can't be anything else between us, Malik."

She didn't look at him, not wanting to see his reaction to that statement, He made his way closer to her. "I don't know any such thing," he said. His voice was deep, and the sound of it seemed to resonate around the confines of the oasis.

Lana looked at him. His eyes were filled with a sudden emotion, a fierce darkness. She'd seen that look before, and it made her take a small step backwards. She felt the sand slip beneath the soles of her flat shoes. He was such an imposing presence, it only made the fact that they were still virtual strangers seem even more pronounced. What hope was there of anything between them, she asked herself. Didn't he know that?

"I told you, Malik. We hardly know each other," she said sharply. She wrapped her arms around herself. "You don't know anything about me."

Malik took a step closer. This time, she didn't move away from him. "Tell me about yourself. I feel a great need to know more about you, Lana." He leaned his head closer to her and she could see the urgency in his gaze. "I must know more about you. Tell me of your past. And, if you wish I will reveal my past to you." He shrugged. "Such as it is worth telling," he said with a dismissive shrug.

Lana saw that darkness flicker across his features, and it made her wonder what he was holding back, what he hadn't revealed to her.

He seemed so sincere, she thought. Something had shifted within Malik. There was a seriousness of purpose in his demeanor that had been absent from their previous encounters. Maybe it would help if they shared. He seemed willing to be open with her, so she saw no reason not to be the same about herself. Up to a point.

Malik surprised her when he suddenly sank down and sat by the side of the oasis pool. Lana hesitated, gazing down at him. Malik patted the sand by his side. "Please. Join me," he said with a warm grin.

Lana nodded and sat down by his side maintaining a comfortable distance from Malik.

After a few moments, Malik began to speak. "I have always been the troublemaker amongst my brothers," he declared bluntly.

Lana looked at Malik in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Malik smiled. "I guess it comes from being the middle brother. On the one side I have an older brother who is the perfect model of authority and on the other I have a younger brother who can't wait to fulfil his destiny as a sheikh."

Lana detected a note of bitterness in Malik's voice. "What's wrong with authority and destiny?" she asked. "Seems to me that those go hand in hand with being a sheikh."

Malik shook his head. "I never saw it that way, when I was growing up. I was always the rebel. I always wanted to do things my way. I never wanted to be tied down. Not to anyone, nor to anything."

"Why not?" Lana asked.

Malik shrugged. "I don't know. So, not wishing to be tied down, I suppose I made sure that my life had as few commitments as possible."

"Didn't your father disapprove?" Lana asked.

Malik nodded and smiled sardonically. "Of course. He tried everything to rein me in. Everything apart from cutting me off from the fortune that allowed me to indulge in that life."

"Indulge?"
 

Malik nodded, and there was a sudden sadness in his eyes. "Indulge is the right word. You've heard of my reputation?"

Lana nodded. "It was mentioned to me. But, no-one went into details."

Malik sighed. "That's just as well."

Lana felt a tug of unease settle in her middle. She'd wondered about the details of Malik's playboy lifestyle, speculated on just how wild that life had been. She could only imagine what he'd gotten up to. But, every time she'd tried to think about it, she'd pushed the thoughts well and truly away, reluctant to dwell on details. She knew she probably could have looked him up on the internet, but online stalking wasn't Lana's style.

Malik turned a worried gaze upon Lana. "No need to imagine the worst. It wasn't anything like that. My parents brought me up well. They gave me some good values." He shrugged. "At least, I think they did."

"So, what are we talking about? Wild parties, wild women?" Lana asked.

Malik looked surprised by the directness of the question. He paused before replying, his brows furrowing thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. It was all pretty wild. For too long."
 

Malik's eyes narrowed. "I have many friends, of both sexes. Although, in the last six months I haven't felt the need to indulge quite as much as I once did."

Lana felt a curious sense of relief sweep through her. She didn't fully understand why that sensation had flooded her system quite so obviously, but there was no denying her reaction to Malik's admission. The last six months. She and Malik had first kissed six months before. Was that just a coincidence?

For a while, Malik described a globe-trotting lifestyle that Lana had only read about in magazines, had only glimpsed on TV shows. Malik had mingled with the elite of the celebrity world, the powerful in finance.
 

Simply because of that, Lana should have wanted nothing to do with him, should have done everything in her power to maintain as much distance between them as possible. He should have represented everything she rejected, especially given her own personal experience with Colton and his family. The pain of her rejection pressed inside her in that old, familiar way.

So, it made it all the more inexplicable why she was here, by the edge of an oasis in the middle of the desert, seated next to a man who embodied everything she should be running away from.

Why was she here? Should she even be here, she asked herself sharply.

Lana listened to Malik as he opened up his life to her. His deep, even voice offered a confession, a declaration that what he was describing to her was something that he had left firmly in the past. She could sense that now.
 

Malik was telling her something important. His decision to open up to her was much more than a polite way of letting her get to know him better. For the first time since she'd arrived in Qazhar, Lana got the distinct impression that Malik had another, deeper purpose in telling her about his past.
 

And, as she sat there, by his side, Lana knew she had one important decision of her own to make.

Dare she reveal her own past to Malik? And, if she did, what would be the consequences of opening herself up to this wounded sheikh who seemed so determined to turn his back on his own, dark past.

****

Malik paused after speaking continuously for a particularly long time. He wondered if he'd gone on too long about his past. He worried that Lana would find it all too tedious. He certainly found it to be so. He'd lived it, and yet, as he'd described the wild lifestyle, the endless parade of anonymous faces, the tiresome procession of self-obsessed privilege, it had all started to sound so empty and so lonely. He wondered how he'd tolerated it for so long; wondered why he hadn't seen through it quicker.

All through his long monologue, Lana had sat quietly, patiently listening, occasionally nodding her head. But, from time to time he saw her brows furrow as he'd described an especially superficial aspect of his former life.

Because, that was indeed what he was describing. His former life. And, he wondered if Lana could sense that he'd already turned his back on it, already resigned it to the place it where it belonged. In the past.

There was a long pause. Malik drank in the silence that surrounded them. It felt good to be here with Lana. That realization shouldn't have been surprising, but it was. It was true that they hadn't known each other very long. But, as far as Malik was concerned everything had changed after that kiss in New York.
 

Sitting here, by the edge of the oasis, with the comforts promised by the tent behind them, Malik sensed that everything had been leading to this place, from the moment he'd impulsively claimed Lana's sweet lips on that cold New York night.

"And, what about you?" Malik asked softly. "I've told you all about myself."

"All?" Lana asked, her eyes widening.

Malik shrugged. "Almost all," he admitted. "Enough for the moment, I suppose," he said.

Malik saw Lana's ironic smile. He wondered if he'd done enough to persuade her to open up to him. Because, he needed to know about her. It was an urgent flame inside him, a curiosity sharper than any he had ever known.

Lana lowered her gaze. She reached down and lifted a small pebble and tossed it into the water. Malik heard the soft splash and watched the ripples ease across the surface.

"I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth," Lana began. She glanced at him quickly as if to ward off any suggestion that she was criticizing him. "I didn't mean to suggest..."

Malik shook his head and smiled. "No offense taken."

Lana's shoulders relaxed. "I suppose you could say I have humble origins. My parents divorced when I was barely a teenager. My mother really brought me up. She was amazing. She passed away just as I was about to finish school, just as I was about to win a scholarship."

Malik saw Lana's eyes shimmer with moistness. Emotion cracked her voice.

"She would have been so proud, but she didn't survive the illness."

Malik knew better than to press for more details. He knew that his silence was what Lana needed most at the moment.

"I went to an East coast college. Met a boy there."
 

Lana glanced at Malik. Was she searching for his reaction to that? Malik made sure his gaze held steady, ensured that there was no judgment on his features. Lana turned her face away from him, apparently satisfied for the moment.

Lana continued: "Well, not really a boy. At the time, I thought he was a real man. The only real man I'd ever known." Lana sighed. "He was the love of my life. At least, that's what I told myself."

Lana paused. He could feel the struggle she was going through. This wasn't easy for her, but he was suddenly honored that she felt comfortable enough with him to share like this.

"That college was where I met Mia. She was my best friend, and she helped me through the dark times. And, boy, were there some dark times."

Malik kept his silence. The only thought that came to mind was that he knew now that they both shared one thing, at least. A darkness in their past.

"This boy. This man turned out to be less of a man than I'd thought he was. His family didn't think too much of me, either. Although, I didn't realize it at the time. I guess I was too caught up in Colton."

Lana turned to Malik. "That was his name, by the way."

Malik simply nodded, saying nothing. He realized she was talking about the man, Colton, as if he no longer was a part of her life. That one thought made his heart beat faster, gave him a sudden flash of encouragement. However, he didn't let any of that show on his deliberately blank features.

"Colton's family made it clear that I wasn't from the right side of the tracks. I didn't fit into their plan for their son. So, I was tossed to one side like an unwanted gift. Colton didn't exactly cover himself in glory either."