'You haven't fallen for him, have you?' Eva said shrewdly.
'No, of course not,' Britt fired back.
There was a silence that suggested Eva wasn't entirely convinced. Too bad. Whatever Britt might have felt for Emir was gone now. Gone completely. Finished. Over. Dead. Gone.
'You should have taken him for a roll in the snow so you could both cool down.'
'I did,' she admitted flatly. 'He loved it.'
'Sounds like my kind of guy-'
'This isn't funny, Eva.'
'No,' Eva agreed, turning serious. 'You've made a fool of yourself and you don't like it. Turns out you're not the hotshot man-eater you thought you were.'
'But I'm still a businesswoman,' Britt murmured thoughtfully, 'and you know what they say.'
'I'm sure you're going to tell me,' Eva observed dryly.
'Don't get mad, get even.'
'That's what I was afraid of,' Eva commented under her breath. 'Just don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Don't screw this deal after putting so much effort into it.'
'Don't worry, I won't.'
'So what are you going to do?' Eva pressed, concern ringing in her voice.
For betraying her-for allowing his people to approach her sisters while Britt and he were otherwise engaged?
'I'm going to follow him to Kareshi. I'm going to track him down. I'm going to ring his office to try and find out where he is. I'll go into the desert if I have to. I'm going to find the bastard and make him pay.'
CHAPTER NINE
KARESHI...
She was actually here. It hardly seemed possible. For all her bitter, mixed-up thoughts when it came to the man she had called Emir and must now learn to call His Majesty Sheikh Sharif al Kareshi, Britt couldn't help but be dazzled by her first sight of the ocean of sand stretching away to a purple haze following the curve of the earth. She craned her neck, having just caught sight of the glittering capital city. It couldn't stand in greater contrast to the desert.
Just as her thoughts of the man the world called the Black Sheikh couldn't have stood in starker contrast to the universal approval the man enjoyed. How could he fool so many people? How could he fool her?
That last question was easily answered. Her body had done that for her, yearning for a man when it should freeze at the very thought of him-if she had any sense.
As the city came into clearer view and she saw all the amazing buildings she got a better picture of the Black Sheikh's power and his immense wealth. It seemed incredible that she was here, and that His Majesty Sheikh Sharif had been her lover-
That she had been so easily fooled.
'The captain has switched the seat-belt sign on.'
'Oh, yes, thank you,' she said glancing up, glad of the distraction. Any distraction to take her mind off that man was welcome.
Having secured her belt, she continued to stare avidly out of the window. Her life to date hadn't allowed for much time outside Skavanga, and from what she could see from the plane Kareshi couldn't have been more different. The thought of exploring the city and meeting new people was exciting in spite of all the other things she had to face. An ivory beach bordered the city, and beyond that lay a tranquil sea of clear bright blue, but it was the wilderness that drew her attention. The Black Sheikh was down there somewhere. His people had told her this in an attempt to put her off. They didn't know her if they thought she would be dismayed to learn His Majesty was deep in the desert with his people. She would find him and she would confront him. She had every reason to do so, if only to learn the result of the trials on the mineral samples he had taken from the mine. She suspected he would agree to see her. His people were sure to have told him that she had been asking for him and, like Britt, the Black Sheikh flinched from nothing.
Another glance out of the window revealed a seemingly limitless carpet of umber and sienna, gold and tangerine, and over this colourful, if alien landscape the black shadow of the aircraft appeared to be creeping with deceptive stealth. The desert was a magical place and she was impatient to be travelling through it. Would she find Sheikh Sharif? The ice fields of Skavanga were apparently featureless, but that was never completely true, and where landmarks failed there was always GPS. Tracking down the ruler of Kareshi would be a challenge, but not one she couldn't handle.
* * *
Shortly after she reached the hotel Britt received a call from Eva to say that one of their main customers for the minerals they mined had gone down, defaulting on a payment to Skavanga Mining, and leaving the company dangerously exposed. It was the last thing she needed, and her mind was already racing on what to do for the best when Eva explained that the consortium had stepped in.
'I think you need to speak to the sheikh to find out the details.'
'That's my intention,' Britt assured her sister, feeling that the consortium's net was slowly closing over her family business.
As soon as she ended the call she tried once again to speak to a member of the sheikh's staff to arrange an appointment as a matter of urgency. Audience with His Majesty was booked up for months in advance, some snooty official informed her. And, no, His Majesty had certainly not left any message for a visitor from a mining company. This was said as if mining were some sleazy, disreputable occupation.
So speaks a man who has probably never got his hands dirty in his life, Britt thought, pulling the phone away from her ear. She had been placing calls non-stop from her bedroom for the past two hours-to Sharif's offices, to his palace, to the country's administrative offices, and even to her country's diplomatic representative in the city.
Okay. Calm down, she told herself, taking a deep breath as she paced the room. Let's think this through. There was a number she could call, and this really was a wild card. Remembering Emir telling her about his love of horses, she stabbed in the number for His Majesty's stables.
The voice that answered was young and female and it took Britt a couple of breaths to compute this, as her calls so far had led Britt to believe that only men worked for the sheikh and they all had tent poles up their backsides.
'Hello,' the pleasant female voice said again. 'Jasmina Kareshi speaking...'
The Black Sheikh's sister! Though Princess Jasmina sounded far too relaxed to be a princess. 'Hello. This is Britt Skavanga speaking. I wonder if you could help me?'
'Call me Jazz,' the friendly voice on the other end of the line insisted as Jazz went on to explain that her brother had in fact been in touch some time ago to warn her that Britt was due to arrive in the country.
'How did he find out?' Britt exclaimed with surprise.
'Are you serious?' Jazz demanded.
Jazz's upbeat nature was engaging, and as the ruler of Kareshi's sister proceeded to tell Britt that her brother knew everything that was going on in Kareshi at least ten minutes before it happened Britt got the feeling that in different circumstances Jazz and she might have been friends.
'As he's not here, I'm supposed to be helping you any way I can,' Jazz explained. 'I can only apologise that it's taken so long for the two of us to get in touch, but I've been tied up with my favourite mare at the stables while she was giving birth.'
'Please don't apologise,' Britt said quickly. She was just glad to have someone sensible to talk to. 'I hope everything went well for your horse.'
'Perfectly,' Jazz confirmed, adding in an amused tone, 'I imagine it went a lot better for me and my mare than it did for you without a formal introduction to my brother's stuffy staff.'
Diplomacy was called for, Britt concluded. 'They did what they could,' she said cagily.
'I bet they did,' Jazz agreed wryly.
This was really dangerous. Not only had she fallen for the Black Sheikh masquerading as Emir, but now she was starting to get on with his sister.
'My brother's in the desert,' Jazz confirmed. 'Let me give you the GPS-'
'Thanks.'
Jazz proceeded to dispense GPS coordinates for a Bedouin camp in the desert as casually as if she were directing Britt to the local mall. Britt was able to draw a couple of possible conclusions from this. Sharif had not wanted his staff to know about the connection between them-possibly because as she was a woman in a recently reformed and previously male-dominated country they wouldn't treat her too well. But at least he had entrusted the news of her arrival to Jazz. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt this one time. Just before signing off, she checked with Jazz that the car hire company she had decided on had the best vehicles for trekking in the desert.
'It should be the best,' Jazz exclaimed. 'Like practically everything else in Kareshi, my brother owns it.'
Of course he did. And he thought Skavanga Mining was in the bag too. Not just an investment, but a takeover. There was no time to lose. Having promised to keep in touch with Jazz, she cut the line.