The Sheikh Who Claimed Her. Barbara McMahon
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that any child of his would be brought up in Sinnebar.
At his signal the hiss of the air-conditioning was instantly subdued to a hum. ‘Don’t let me throw you off your stride, Signorina Ruggiero,’ Saif—the man she must now think of as His Imperial Majesty, Sheikh Ra’id al Maktabi of Sinnebar—insisted evenly. ‘Please continue.’
He made a gracious gesture with his hand, but she wasn’t fooled. This was a man everyone obeyed on the instant or suffered the consequences—which would be swift and terrible, Antonia suspected.
Sipping the water they had given her, she tried desperately to collect her thoughts. It helped to think about the child inside her, the child who depended on her, and then she widened these thoughts to encompass the many children who were helped by the charity she represented, and who depended on her getting this right. ‘Gentlemen,’ she began, determined to pick up the discussion without too great a pause. ‘I do have some spare proposals with me.’ She turned to one of the ever-present servants at her elbow. ‘Would you be good enough to hand this copy to His Majesty?’ she asked politely, passing over a neatly bound folder of printed notes.
‘You make a persuasive case, Signorina Ruggiero,’ Ra’id concluded as he brought the meeting to a close. ‘I will consult with my council, but I am persuaded to allow you to open a branch of your charity in Sinnebar.’
‘There is one other point I’d like to bring up.’
The surprise around the table showed itself in a collective gasp. No one interrupted the ruling Sheikh of Sinnebar, Antonia suspected, but in this instance she had no option as there was one item on which the ruler of Sinnebar’s agreement was essential. ‘The land …’ She got no further. No one, especially not Antonia, could have predicted Ra’id’s reaction. Wily gazes dropped before the power of their sheikh. Ra’id al Maktabi hadn’t even moved, but all the men around the table had detected some subtle change in him, and it was a change that threatened all of them—especially her, Antonia suspected.
But when he spoke Ra’id’s voice was perfectly calm. ‘We have a number of matters to discuss, Signorina Ruggiero,’ he agreed pleasantly.
Was she the only person in the room to hear the edge of menace in that voice? Antonia wondered. But wasn’t this the opportunity she’d been hoping for? She could tell Ra’id about their child. It might come as a bombshell to him, but she had to believe he would be as happy as she was when he got used to the idea.
Ra’id’s smallest emphasis on the word we had been enough to dismiss the council, who rose as one and, having bowed low to their sheikh, acknowledged her briefly before leaving the room.
CHAPTER TEN
SHE was alone with Ra’id. Even the servants had vanished. Now there was just echoing silence and the most powerful man in the Gulf—a man whose unwavering gaze was now fixed on her. This was no susceptible lover who would be thrilled to hear about a baby, but a hard man of the desert—a warrior who would stop at nothing to protect his people, a man without the luxury of a heart. She would have to be honest with him. She would explain first about the charity, and when the business part of the meeting was over she would tell him her most important news. She had to draw on her courage and remember the meeting earlier that day. The men who reported to the sheikh had all been broadly in agreement with her plan—subject, of course, to their sheikh’s approval.
But had she made herself clear enough to Ra’id? Antonia wondered when he continued to stare at her as if she had unwittingly committed some terrible sin. Opening her hands in appeal, she pressed on. ‘It goes without saying that the charity will stand all the expense incurred in building this facility, and we’ll be happy to pay the going rate for the land.’
‘The going rate?’
His reaction terrified her. Springing to his feet, Ra’id cast a long shadow over the table as he leaned his balled up fists upon it. It was almost a relief when he straightened up and turned his back on her to walk some paces away.
But what had she done? She could not remember feeling quite so threatened, and any thought she might have had of talking about their child had vanished. In fact, glancing at the door, she realised her primary concern now was to protect her child from this man she didn’t feel as if she knew at all.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
She shrank back as Ra’id spun on his heels to confront her when she started collecting up her things. ‘I can see it’s not convenient for you to see me right now.’
‘When will there be a better time?’ he said, cutting her off at the door.
‘Ra’id, please …’ Tears were threatening, and she hated herself for the weakness, knowing this was a man who would not care to see her cry.
‘Ra’id, please,’ he mimicked cruelly. ‘What is it this time, Tuesday? Are you here for a pay-off—or would you like a little more action first?’
‘Ra’id, don’t,’ she begged, turning her face from his stinging scorn. ‘I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. Please, let me go.’
‘Not until we’ve discussed this land that seems to mean so much to you.’ His voice was harsh and cruel, and his touch was unrelenting as he steered her back to the table. ‘Sit down,’ he said, indicating the seat next to his. ‘You’ve seen this, of course?’
As she shakily sank onto the chair, he pushed a sheaf of documents in front of her. ‘No. What are they?’
‘I have copies,’ he said, when she didn’t even know what he was talking about.
She glanced at the title on the topmost sheet. ‘I don’t understand—this is a deed of land granted by your father to my mother.’
‘Well done,’ he said derisively. ‘One of your best performances to date. You almost have me fooled.’
Antonia shook her head in bewilderment. ‘I’m trying to make sense of this. I’m sorry if I’m not as quick as you …’
‘Take your time.’ His voice was full of disdain.
‘You knew my mother?’ Antonia glanced up in confusion, and then her gaze returned to her mother’s name as if just reading it could somehow protect her.
‘It would be hard for me not to know my father’s concubine.’
‘What?’ The room began to spin. She had heard Ra’id, and yet her mind refused to accept what he’d said to her. Pushing her chair back, she stumbled awkwardly away from the table. ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying,’ she admitted in a voice turned dry and faint.
‘You don’t?’ Ra’id’s hard face mirrored his disbelief. ‘Let me stop your performance before you get started. And understand this, Antonia—I have no interest in learning how dear your mother was to you, or how much you meant to each other—let alone how passionately she wanted you to have this land in Sinnebar.’
‘Land?’ Antonia demanded with amazement. ‘What land?’
‘Oh, please,’ Ra’id said, shaking his head. ‘Can’t you do better than that? You will never rise from the ranks of the chorus to become a full-blown leading lady if you can’t put on a better act.’
‘This is no act,’ she protested, feeling as if a vice were closing around her chest. ‘I had no idea my mother even knew your father, let alone that she was his mistress.’
‘That’s a polite name for it.’
‘Stop, Ra’id—please, stop it!’ Holding out her hand as if to fend him off, she willed him to stop heaping insults on top of the confusion inside her. Then it occurred to her that as her heart had just been ripped in two he couldn’t do any more harm.
She returned quietly to the table where she sat down and scrutinised the documents. She had inherited land in Sinnebar and a property from her mother. She couldn’t