The Sheikh's Baby Scandal(14)

‘That will ruin my game.’

‘Tough,’ he said. ‘Right, let’s go through my schedule. I want you to arrange some time for me to go to the States in a couple of weeks.’

And as she stared at him a thought suddenly occurred to her. Maybe he was already married—maybe that was the scandal that was about to hit.

‘Do you go to America a lot?’ she asked.

He nodded.

‘Where?’

‘All over. Though mainly New York. My friend Matteo lives there.’

‘The one with the motor racing team?’

Kedah nodded.

Wild Matteo, who was known for his penchant for gambling and high-octane living.

‘Have you ever been to Vegas?’ she asked him.

‘Felicia...’ Kedah sighed again. ‘Where is this leading?’

‘I just wondered if you’d been to Vegas with Matteo...’ She gave him a smile. ‘And perhaps done something there that you might regret?’

‘I don’t waste time with regrets,’ he said. ‘And I don’t like wasting time—which we are. Let’s go through tomorrow’s agenda.’

They were saved from that, though, as the waiter somewhat nervously approached with mint tea. As Kedah looked up she felt the shifting of his attention. He was polite and engaged with the waiter, and as they spoke in Arabic she watched as he put the young man at ease.

He was arrogant, and yet he was kind.

Arrogant in that he expected the best and most often got it.

But then he could also be very kind.

‘What would you like to eat?’ Kedah asked Felicia.

‘Fruit,’ Felicia said. ‘Something light.’

‘Sounds good.’

He ordered, and when they were alone again he asked her how she was finding the hotel. Given he had not just designed the hotel but owned it, Felicia knew this was no idle enquiry.

‘It’s amazing,’ she told him. ‘Though I’d love to have some time to actually enjoy the facilities.’

Instead rather a lot of her time had been spent driving around to meet with the staff at his other acquisitions, or standing in the blistering sun scouring potential sites for Kedah to build on.

‘I think I’ve found the site for its brother,’ Kedah told her.

‘Do buildings have a gender?’

‘Mine do.’

‘From conception?’ Felicia asked. ‘Do you decide before you start the design that this one is going to be a boy?’

He smiled, and for Felicia the rays were as golden as the sun outside as he pondered her question.

‘I guess I do,’ he said. ‘I want to go and have another look at the site after lunch, and then meet with a surveyor. You’ll need sensible shoes.’

Joy!

Their lunch was served—citrus fruit and dragon fruits and sweet plump figs, as well as a light lemongrass mousse that just melted on her tongue. As they ate he asked her more questions about the hotel and she answered honestly.

Most of the time he liked it that she did—he was terribly used to his staff pandering to him. Her opinion was always refreshing, as well as at times rather blunt.

Kedah was, of course, up in the royal suite at the hotel, where every detail was taken care of and his every whim predicted. He wanted to know what it was like for a Western businesswoman traveller, so she was slumming it on the luxurious twenty-fourth floor with her own lap pool and butler.

‘It’s gorgeous.’

‘Tell me what I don’t know.’

Felicia thought hard. It really was difficult to be critical about somewhere so divine, but she pondered his question for a moment and was finally able to find a tiny fault. ‘I think the service is a bit inconsistent.’

He watched as she bit on a piece of dragon fruit and waited for her to elaborate.

She soon obliged.

‘Like, last night there weren’t any chocolates on my pillow.’

‘Poor Felicia.’

‘I’m just saying,’ she told him. ‘You come to expect these things. Now, if I’d never had chocolate on my pillow I wouldn’t have missed it, but I really sulked last night when they forgot...’

Or had she sulked because Kedah had gone off, out to the theatre? She wasn’t sure, but certainly chocolate would have helped if that had been the case.

‘First world problem.’ She smiled.

‘Noted,’ Kedah said. ‘If you came back to Dubai would you choose to stay there again?’

He was rather taken aback when she immediately shook her head.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Why?’

‘I like trying new things.’

‘If you’re satisfied there should be no need or inclination to try anything else. I want to know why you wouldn’t return.’