The pen he’d been toying with snapped in half, the plastic cutting his thumb and he found himself staring down at the cut. At the blood welling from it.
At least I didn’t run away into the desert like a coward . . .
He was not a coward. He was not. Isma’il gave a savage curse, sweeping everything off his desk and onto the floor in one powerful movement. The crash made one of his staff come in, looking concerned. “Your Highness? Is there anything wrong?”
Isma’il shoved his chair back, got to his feet. He had to do something. Destroy Khalid somehow. Get rid of the blood. Scour away the taint of his father’s legacy. Burn it out of himself once and for all. And there was only one place in the world with enough heat for that.
No matter what she said, it was not running away.
“Get me the four wheel drive,” he said curtly. “I am not coming back to the palace.”
“Your Highness?” The man looked puzzled. “Where are you going?”
Isma’il turned away. “Into the desert.”
* * *
Lily looked out through the tinted windows of the limo, staring at the sleek silver Lear jet that stood on the tarmac waiting for her. The Harkness jet ready to take her away from Dahar.
Away from Isma’il.
Her hand gripped the handle of her briefcase tightly. No. She wouldn’t think of him. He’d made his choice when he’d left her tent. When he’d driven out into the desert alone, much to the consternation of his security team and his advisors.
Running away again. The coward.
She set her jaw against the ache in her throat. The burning behind her eyes. No tears. Not for him. She didn’t need him. She was strong, a CEO with a contract for oil that would blow her competitors out of the water. That would consolidate Harkness’s position in the industry and herself at the helm. What could she possibly want with the Sheikh of Dahar? He was just a man, like all men. A man who refused to listen to her, who took what he wanted from her then left her. A man just like Dan.
He’s not anything like Dan and you know it.
Lily swallowed, pulling open the door to the limo and stepping out into the suffocating heat of the airstrip.
No, perhaps he wasn’t exactly like Dan. But he was just as blind. Just as deaf.
A couple of the palace staff were fussing around with her luggage. Soon, it would all be loaded onto the jet and she would be away from here. God, she couldn’t wait.
Ignoring the heat, she strode across the tarmac to the steps that lead up to the jet’s doorway.
Put her hand on the rail.
You’re running away. Just like he is.
Lily stopped, staring at her hand on the smooth metal of the rail. No, she wasn’t running away. She was leaving. He was the one who had run. Not her. She’d laid everything down on the line for him, given him her body and her heart and he’d ground her gifts into the dust. Refused to deal with her just as he refused to deal with his past. So what was the point in staying? There was no point.
And yet, her feet wouldn’t seem to move.
Yes, there was a point. She had given him her body. She had given him her heart. And by walking away now, she was letting those gifts mean nothing. She was just standing there against the wall letting Dan touch her all over again.
A bucket of ice water tipped straight down her spine.
Her hand dropped from the railing.
No. She was a gold medal winner. A CEO. She was Lily. Free and powerful and strong enough to fight. Fight for the thing she wanted more than anything else in the entire world.
Isma’il.
“Ms. Harkness?” Umar, Isma’il’s chief advisor stood beside her. “Is there anything amiss?”
Lily turned round. “No, nothing. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to get you to unpack my luggage. Oh, and tell the pilot the jet will have to return to Sydney without me.”
Umar’s eyes widened in surprise. “Forgive me, but are you not going to back to Australia?”
“Not today. I’ve decided to stay in Dahar a little longer.”
The man looked a little flustered. “I . . . see. His Highness informed me that you were to—”
“His Highness can go get stuffed,” Lily said frankly, broadening her accent for effect. “But don’t worry, you don’t have to tell him that. I’ll tell him myself.”
Umar looked even more flustered. “But . . . but . . . he is not here.”
“I know. I’ll just have to wait until he gets back.”
“With all due respect, that could be a while.”
Lily smiled. “That’s okay. I have all the time in the world.”
It had taken her twelve years to fight back against Dan. She’d wait forever if that’s what it took to fight for Isma’il.