With good reason. “I told you I grew up in Morocco and both my parents are deceased.”
“What were your parents like?”
“They were decent people.” He could say that with honesty about the man who raised him, yet he had his doubts about his mother after learning of her indiscretions.
“Do you have any siblings?” she asked.
That possibility was still open to verification, and something he was not prepared to divulge. “Would you like to take a swim?”
She sighed. “Would you like for once to tell me a little bit about yourself that doesn’t involve your portfolio?”
To do so could create suspicion if he made one slip of the tongue. “I would prefer to spend the rest of the evening partaking of the pool.”
“I don’t want to get my hair wet since I just washed it.”
“Perhaps a walk on the beach?”
“In the dark?”
“The full moon will guide us.”
She pushed her chair back and stood. “Definitely a walk on the beach. And while we’re at it, you can tell me exactly what you’re hiding.”
Four
After discarding their shoes, they walked along the gray-sand shoreline side by side, without touching or speaking. Kira waited for a time for Tarek to break the silence and when he didn’t, she took the initiative. “It’s so peaceful here.”
“Yes, it is,” he replied without looking at her.
She opted to continue with lighter conversation in hopes of drawing him out. “When I was in college, we traveled to Barbados during summer break.”
“We?”
He sounded oddly suspicious. “Yes. Myself and my former fiancé. His family owned a condo there. He had the entire place to himself the majority of the summer months because his parents preferred Europe.”
“The man who wounded you,” he said in a simple statement of fact. “He must have been wealthy.”
She would provide some insight into that doomed love affair, but only a little. “Actually, he was a sultan’s son from Saudi attending university in Canada. We were both in the hotel management program. Since I could speak Arabic, we made a connection, dated for a couple of years and became engaged before we broke up.”
“Why did you part ways?”
She should have known he would ask and she would really rather not go into too much detail. That would completely ruin the mood. “Incompatibility.”
“I thought you were a champion of honesty.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Only a partial truth. Was he unfaithful?”
She’d never found any proof of that, but there had been plenty of rumors before and after their breakup. “Look, I’d really rather not talk about it.”
He paused and faced her. “I suspect he did have other women.”
All the bitter memories came rushing back like the nearby waves hitting the shore. “Not that I was aware of at the time. If you must know, he found out that aside from the King of Bajul paying for my education, I had no blood ties to the royal family, so he cut me off completely. In other words, I wasn’t good enough for him.”
He sent her an oddly stern look. “The king financed your education?”
“Yes, out of appreciation for my parents’ years of service in the palace. He was a very generous man and like a second father to me.”
When Tarek muttered something unflattering in Arabic, Kira’s inquisitiveness kicked into overdrive. “Did you have some sort of falling out with King Aadil?”
“I never met the man nor did I ever attempt to meet him. However, I did not always agree with his archaic policies. I have already heard rumors regarding infidelity.”
Her inherent loyalty to the Mehdis spurred her anger and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he knew something about Adan’s birth mother, Elena. Regardless, she didn’t dare bring that up in case he didn’t. “Talk is cheap, Tarek. Rumors are just that, rumors.”
“I have often found they hold a modicum of truth, especially when repeated by many.”
“Yet none of that stopped you from doing business with his sons.”
“They are from a more progressive generation, and the water conservation project is a good investment.”
His continuing focus on money disturbed Kira and reminded her of why they might not make a good match in the long run. As if he’d ever acted like he wanted anything more than an occasional conversation and some slap-and-tickle sessions. “I still find it a bit extreme to build a mini-palace in Bajul so you can oversee that project.”
“I own houses in many places, including a villa in Barbados.”