He’d realized he should hope she wouldn’t declare her love. Not yet. Not before he settled his mission, and could tell her the whole truth...
“Seriously?” Richard’s scoff yanked him out of his oppressive musings. “You’re going to be one of those men who zones out when they even picture their beloved?”
He forced his focus back on Richard. “I said Jenan is off-limits. To discussion. To speculation. To thoughts.”
“Thoughts, eh? You have a way of enforcing that ban?”
“If you value your family jewels, you’ll shut up, give me that briefcase and get the hell out of here.”
“Leave?” Richard feigned a shocked face. “Without taking a tour of this Arabian Nights reproduction?”
“I can take the briefcase from your dead body, Cobra.”
Richard laughed, true amusement in the lethal rumble. “I’ll die another day, thank you, Phantom.” He swung the briefcase up, hugged it to his chest, provocation set on maximum. “I flew fifteen hours straight to come here. Doesn’t this warrant that you offer me a drink, at least?”
“No, it doesn’t. Now give me the damned documents.”
“Just like that? I get nothing in return.”
“You do. I owe you one. Collect it anytime.”
“I’ll collect it right now. I want that drink.”
Numair seethed with frustration. He could always beat Richard to a pulp. Problem was, Richard would inflict as much damage on him. They were each other’s match. And he couldn’t have Jenan arriving to find him torn and bloody. His scars continued to hurt her, and he couldn’t bear disturbing her anymore if he could help it. Which meant he couldn’t vent his aggression. Ever again.
As he was about to take that insufferable creature to force-feed him that drink, Richard added, “And I want to meet that mythical being who brought you to your knees.”
Numair rounded on him, snarling, “You can ask for anything of equal value to what you’re giving me. Anything involving Jenan is invaluable, and will never be an option, for you or anyone else. But now you’ve dared to ask that, I wouldn’t offer you a sip of water if you were dying of thirst, so you might as well give up and go the hell away.”
Richard transferred the briefcase behind his back. “You know I never give up. And I’m going nowhere. So what will you do? Kill me like you’ve wanted to for the past twenty-five years?”
“If that’s what it takes to get rid of you.”
Richard’s devil eyes flared with challenge, and Numair’s body bunched in preparation for that climactic fight he’d been burning for since he’d been fifteen. But a deep sound doused his aggression.
The helicopter bringing Jenan to him.
As he relinquished his confrontation with Richard and rushed down the stairs to the helipad, Richard huffed a laugh.
“Saved by the copter.” Numair turned his fed-up gaze to him, and Richard wiggled an eyebrow. “You were.”
He stopped where he always waited for her, watching the helicopter landing, and Richard appeared beside him.
“I expect this is your beloved. What opportune timing. I’ll get to meet her after all.”
Suspicion exploded inside Numair’s mind. “You timed your arrival so you’d intercept her.”
Richard’s eyebrows shot up in what looked like genuine incredulity. “Bloody hell, Phantom, you’re in a far worse condition than I thought. How would I have known when she comes to visit? Or if she comes at fixed times at all?”
“You know anything you want to know.”
“True. But that’s only if I wanted to know. And a few minutes ago I didn’t even realize that woman’s significance to you. Why would I have tried to intercept her?”
That made sense to Numair. It was possible he was just being paranoid.
But he’d learned it always paid to be that and more. And with someone like Richard, nothing was ever at face value. Richard might have long realized his true feelings toward Jenan and was here to do some kind of mischief. He couldn’t afford that. He had enough worries where she was concerned. He couldn’t add a whiff of trouble to them. And Richard was trouble in its most concentrated form.
He grabbed Richard by his lapels, hauled him closer until their noses almost touched. “Listen, Cobra, if you think I was ever your enemy, it’s nothing to what I’ll be if you step a millimeter out of line. I’m indebted to you for acquiring the original signed documents releasing the last of Zafrana’s stocks and bonds, but you’re here only because you insisted they were too crucial to be entrusted to a messenger. I should have known you didn’t come because you cared about the documents or my plans.”