Woman in a Sheikh's World(6)

The glance he sent her told her that he remembered that bitter exchange  as well as she did. Her business had been just one more point of  contention between them.

'You are a resourceful and independent woman and you knew her. She  talked to you-' he ignored her reference to their past '-I wondered if  you had any idea where she might have gone. Think back to your  conversations. Did she ever say anything that might be of use? Anything  at all.'

She'd been trying to forget those conversations. She'd been trying to  forget Kalila altogether because whenever she imagined her, she imagined  her entwined with Mal and the image was so painful to view she wanted  to close her eyes and scream.                       
       
           



       

Feeling her hands start to shake again, Avery clasped them behind her back. 'I honestly don't-'

'Come on, Avery, think! What did you talk about?' His voice was harsh.  'Several times you talked to her at parties. You helped her choose a  dress when she hosted that charity dinner. You put her in touch with her  wedding dress designer. She idolized you. You were her role model. She  longed to be like you.'

'Really?' A small laugh escaped. Afraid that she sounded hysterical, she  clamped her mouth shut. 'Well, that's ironic. I'm sure you talked her  out of that fast enough.'

His only response to that oblique reference to their shared past was a  slight tightening of his beautiful mouth. 'Did she say anything?'

'No.' Leave, why don't you? Just leave, she thought. But of course he  didn't because the Prince didn't leave until he had what he wanted. 'I  honestly don't know where she would have gone.' And worry slowly  uncurled itself inside her because Kalila was vulnerable and Avery  didn't like to think of any woman being vulnerable. As soon as Mal left,  she'd call her. Not that there were any guarantees that she'd pick up  the phone but at least she would have tried.

'Did she mention a particular place to you?' Those ebony eyes locked on  hers, his intention no doubt to increase the impact of his words.  Instead he succeeded only in increasing the intimacy and the chemistry  between them. His response to that was to frown. Hers was to back away,  hit by such a powerful need to touch him that retreat seemed like the  only option. And of course he noticed that step backwards, because he  was a man who noticed everything.

The tension snapped tight between them. Heat poured through her body and  into her pelvis and still he looked at her and she looked right back at  him because to look away was something her pride wouldn't allow. Or  maybe it was just because she couldn't. The look connected them in a way  far deeper than any verbal exchange and Avery felt her stomach plunge.

'You're the one with a high-tech security team just a phone call away.'  Somehow her voice sounded normal. 'Can't they track her down?'

'Not so far. We think she might have adopted a disguise, but I can't  question people without raising suspicions and I want to solve this as  discreetly as possible.'

'Have you talked to her friends?'

'She wasn't allowed friends. She was raised in a very protected environment.'

Avery remembered her saying as much when they'd spoken. Remembered  thinking how odd it must be to live like that, a prisoner of luxury,  locked away from reality.

'You're the one marrying her. You should be the one who knows where she is.'

'We've spent very little time together.' The admission was dragged from  him with obvious reluctance and he paced over to the window, leaving her  only with a view of his back. 'I admit that was a failing on my part. I  made assumptions.'

'You always do. You always know what's best for everyone.'

The tension in his shoulders increased but he chose not to respond to  that. 'That is not important right now. What is important is finding  her. If this marriage does not go ahead there will be serious diplomatic  consequences.'

'Diplomatic consequences?' Avery rolled her eyes in exasperation at his  priorities. 'No wonder Kalila left-it's not very romantic, is it?'

'I'm surprised you're even able to recognise a romantic.' He stood like a  conqueror, powerful legs spread apart as he stared down at the view.

'Why? Because I'm not romantic myself? We're not talking about me.'  Reflecting on the fact that men could be truly clueless when it came to  women, she tried to control her emotions. 'She really gave you no clue  that she felt this way? The two of you have known each other for years.'

'We've barely spoken five words to each other.'

Avery hid her surprise. 'Oh.' So if he didn't love Kalila, why had he  been in such a hurry to marry her? Only one explanation presented  itself. They'd broken up. He was angry. He'd done it to hurt her.

'On the few occasions she spoke to me, she usually just agreed with whatever I was saying.'

Numb, Avery thought about all the lively debates they'd shared on every  topic from economics to human rights and wondered how a man like Mal  could be happy with a wife whose sole purpose in life was to agree with  him.

He'd be bored rigid.

And it would serve him right if he were consigned to a life of misery  for taking this enormous step just to score points against her.                       
       
           



       

'If she's that obedient maybe you should have just ordered her to "sit" and "stay".'

'This is not the time for sarcasm. I came to see if you could shed any light on her whereabouts.'

'I can't. And truly I cannot imagine why you would ask me.' And now she  was just desperate for him to leave, not just because of the way he made  her feel but because she wanted to call Kalila and make a few enquiries  of her own.

It wasn't right that Kalila should be used as a pawn in their fight.

'You and I were friends once-' He turned his head to look at her and  just for a moment she saw the past in his eyes. 'Good friends.'

What he'd introduced into the room was more frightening than any dragon. 'Mal-'

'I'm asking you as a friend. There are few enough people I can trust in  my life but, despite everything, I do trust you. Whatever happened  between us, I still trust you and I realise that this situation is  potentially awkward-' His dark gaze fastened on her like some sort of  high-tech imaging device designed to penetrate flesh and bone in the  search for truth. 'If you still had feelings for me I would never have  involved you. You ended our relationship so I assumed that wasn't the  case. If I was wrong about that then tell me now.'

Tell him what? That she dreamed about him every night? That she found it  hard to focus and that it took her twice as long to accomplish simple  tasks because she was preoccupied? That in the months following their  break-up she'd barely recognised the woman she'd become?

Even now, she sometimes looked in the mirror and saw a stranger staring back at her.

Avery's mouth was dry. Her heart was bumping against her chest so hard  she was surprised he couldn't see it. 'If you still had feelings for  me-' No mention of his feelings. Which shouldn't have surprised her and  certainly shouldn't have hurt. If he'd had feelings for her he wouldn't  have been able to move with such ease from one woman to another.

'I don't have feelings.' She adopted the chilly tone she used when men  tried to get too close to her at functions. 'My inability to help you  has nothing to do with our history, but the fact that I have no useful  information.'

'What did you talk about when you were together?'

'I can't remember-' she didn't want to remember because talking to his  bride had been like sticking knives into herself '-shoes, dresses and  education for women. She never talked about running away.' Or had she?  The ghost of a memory flitted into her head. Avery gave a tiny frown and  Mal spotted the change in her instantly, pouncing like a lion on a  gazelle.

'What?'

'Nothing.' She shook her head. 'I-'

'"Nothing" is all I have to go on right now.'

'Is there a chance she might have gone into the desert?'

Mal's expression changed. His eyes were shuttered. 'Definitely not. Kalila hates the desert.'

'I know.' And she'd always thought it really odd that a girl raised in  that landscape could loathe it. Even more strange that she'd agreed to  marry a man whose love for the desert was widely known. 'She told me how  much it scared her-' She broke off, an uncomfortable memory pricking  her conscience.

His eyes narrowed as he registered the guilt in her face. 'And what advice did you offer on that topic?'

Avery felt her cheeks heat. 'We might have had a conversation about facing our fears,' she muttered. 'Just a short one.'

His mouth tightened ominously. 'And?'

'And nothing. I just said that the best way to get over being afraid of  something is to just do it, which actually is very sound advice, but  obviously that comment wasn't directed specifically at her.' But what if  she'd taken it that way? Avery shifted uncomfortably, her guilt  trebling as she watched the colour drain from his handsome face.