Wanted: A Baby by the Sheikh(61)

On the wings of the rising applause Daidan and Taina left the stage. She looked at his hand, covered in blood and beginning to swell. “Come with me. Now!” He looked like he couldn’t believe she was ordering him around. “Now, Daidan. We’re going to get this business cleaned up once and for all.”

He raised his bloodied hand. “This, you mean?”

“Everything. There’s never going to be any bad blood between us from now on.”

Without stopping to hear his answer Taina took his bloodied hand and led him to the caterer’s vans which were hidden around the rear of the castle. She walked into one of them to be met by three shocked and bewildered expressions. She ignored them and spotted the sinks. “This will do.” She looked at the staff. “If you wouldn’t mind?” The expressions continued to be bewildered. “Please leave us.”

The bewilderment turned to relief as the washing-up staff shot out of the caravan. Taina turned on the running water and took Daidan’s hand in her own. He winced as the water hit it. She washed it in silence as words tumbled in her mind in confusion. In the end the silence continued as she dried it. “No cuts, just badly bruised.” She eyed him fiercely. “I guess you hurt him.”

He shook his head. “I can’t get the two of you going off together out of my head. You and him. Alone.”

She dried her hands on a tea towel and put her hands on her hips. “Mark and I together. Yeah. And that’s what I wanted. Any idea why?”

“Because you wanted to be alone with him?”

“Exactly. Because I knew he was up to something. He wasn’t here only to taunt me, only to make you crazy. There was something else and I had to get to the bottom of it. And I did. He’d switched sides, Daidan. He was in bed with the Russians.”

Daidan’s eyes widened. “The Russians? What? How did you figure that out?”

“It was something he said. I knew there had to be more than his jealousy. And he couldn’t wait to boast about it. ‘Playing with the big boys’ is how he described it.”

“Is that why you ran off as soon as I’d arrived? I thought you were afraid of me. I thought…”

“What?”

“That I’d interrupted something you didn’t want me to know about.”

“You thought wrong,” she said severely. “How can you have so little faith in me?”

“It’s not faith in you that’s missing. It’s faith in myself to keep you.”

She sighed. “Oh, Daidan! The only reason I left was because the video had just begun and it was wrong. Mark had swapped presentations. Between them they’d put together clips of the failing, slipshod Russian mine, not ours. And, apparently clips of me… and Mark. You see he drugged me. It made me look… willing.”

“And he was going to show that?”

“Yes. But I got to the control room in time. Mark had planted an operator there. He left as soon as I arrived. We managed to fudge the beginning and replace it with our presentation.”

“It could have been the end. Not only of your reputation, but mine, the company’s, our whole future.”

“Forget it.” She clutched his arms tightly. She could see the fury about what might have happened flame in his eyes. “Forget it, Daidan. Forget him. It’s over. But we have to get back. We have to finish this event off.”

Daidan nodded and opened the door for her. “Let’s go.”

Hand in hand they ran down to the side stage. There they stopped. They turned to each other. “Do I look okay?” she asked.

“You look stronger and more beautiful than I’ve ever seen you before.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her, just as the music ended. They pulled apart. “Ready, Madame Mustonen?”

She smiled. “More than ready, my Prince.”

“Just one more thing.” He took the diamonds from his pocket. “Turn around.” She did as he told her and he lifted her hair and fastened the original kielo necklace around her neck while removing her own. Then he took her hand and together they walked onto the stage to great applause. The low sun illuminated them, shining off her silk dress, making her diamond necklace sparkle.





It was late before Taina waved the last of their visitors off on the boat back to Helsinki and to their luxury hotels. She and Daidan would be joining them later for supper. In the meantime, they had a few hours by themselves. She turned away from the calm waters of the gulf and looked to Daidan. He stood watching her, hands on his hips, a smile on his lips.

“That’s the last of them.”