The Sheikh’s Secret Heir(32)
“Perhaps, yet your talents are more far reaching than Athena’s.” He slid his palm across her belly, causing her to shiver slightly. “That does not include only your business acumen.”
She should push that wicked hand away, but she didn’t want to. “You’re not playing fair.”
He stroked the inside of her thigh with his knuckles. “You were not complaining about fairness this morning when I woke you.”
No. She had mostly been moaning. “You’re insatiable.”
“You are responsible for that,” he said as he made his way to his favorite target.
If he kept touching her, she couldn’t be responsible for anything she might do next. “If we’re going to get some significant work done today, we’re going to have to get out of the bed at some point in time.”
“Eventually.” He nuzzled his face against her shoulder. “It is still early.”
Kira glanced toward the nightstand to search for a clock but instead found a picture of a little girl who looked to be around five years old. She reached for the frame and turned it toward him. “Who is this?”
He immediately removed his hand and shifted to his back, one arm lodged behind his head. “Her name is Yasmin.”
“Is she a relative’s child?”
“She is no one’s child.”
This was both sad and confusing to Kira. “I don’t understand.”
“She is an orphan in Morocco. I learned about her from a business associate and agreed to be her guardian. She resides at my home in Marrakech.”
Only one more surprising aspect of Tarek Azzmar’s life. “I assume she doesn’t live there alone.”
“Of course not. I have a well-qualified French au pair and a very accommodating staff.”
And a well-kept secret. “Why have you never mentioned her before?”
“As I have said, I prefer to maintain a certain standard of privacy.”
The understatement of the century. “What is your role in her care, Tarek? Do you have an attachment to her, or are you only her benefactor?”
“I am very fond of Yasmin. I place a call to her every evening.”
One mystery solved. “But you don’t care enough to be a real father to her.”
He flashed a look of anger before he left the bed to put on the robe draped on the chrome footboard. He then crossed to the window to stare out at the view, keeping his back to her. “This is why I did not mention Yasmin to you, or to anyone, for that matter. I assumed people would not understand, and clearly I have been correct in those assumptions.”
Oh, but she did understand. Much more than he realized. The time had come to go quid pro quo and share a part of her past. First, she sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, taking care to remain completely covered. “I understand what it’s like to be abandoned, Tarek.”
The painful admission sent him around to face her. “Are you referring to your ex-fiancé?”
“I’m referring to my biological parents. I’m adopted. My mother couldn’t have children.”
He returned to the bed and perched on the mattress. “Obviously I have not been the only one withholding information.”
If he only knew what she still withheld from him. But this newfound knowledge could be a good lead-in to telling him about the baby. “I personally haven’t mentioned it to very many people because I consider my adoptive parents my real parents. They’ve been the greatest positive influence on me.”
He sent her a fast glance before returning his attention to some unknown focal point across the yacht’s cabin. “Do you know your biological parents’ identities?”
“Yes. They were both Canadian and fifteen years old when I was born. Like Yasmin, I came to them through a personal connection. My parents were friends with a relative of my biological grandmother, who happens to be an attorney. She assisted in the arrangements for a private adoption.”
He finally shifted so she could see his face. “Have you had contact with your birth mother?”
She shook her head. “No. It was a closed adoption, although I did locate my birth mother a few years back. She declined speaking with me by phone or in person because apparently she hadn’t told her current husband and children that I even existed. She did send an email though.”
The fury returned to his features. “Does this not anger you, knowing you have siblings you have never met and a mother who cared so little about knowing you?”
Disappointed would be much more accurate. “Actually, it did bother me a bit at first, but I respect her decision to maintain her privacy. I also called off the search for my birth father.”