The Sheik's Mysterious Mistress (Friends Forever) (4 page)

She looked at the time and realized it was the early evening. Maybe she could use the palace kitchen tonight to make her dinner. She wouldn’t need a great deal of space, just a corner would work. The meal was pretty simple and cooking always calmed her down. She remembered several times when she and her mother would bake up a storm, the whole house smelled like cookies or garlic or whatever it was they decided to make that night. It might have been a bad test grade or a traffic ticket. It didn’t mater the issue, cooking and baking always soothed the soul.

She stepped out of her car and locked it, actually shaking her head that she was concerned with someone stealing her car when her life was in danger. She was in one hundred degree heat, she’d probably short changed a fruit vendor after pinging a bad guy with his apples and she had two murderous thugs on her trail. But don’t let anyone steal her precious car!

Walking through the employee entrance, she greeted all the guards by name, asking about their wives or children and laughing when they told her cute stories. As she walked by each check point, and heard about each new baby tooth or school grade, it gave her a sense that she was not only surrounded by security, but also by friends and that meant a great deal to her.

As she walked into the kitchen, she greeted one of the chefs nervously. “Excuse me, but would you mind terribly if I used a small bit of space?”

The assistant looked her up and down and smiled, “You’re the assistant to His Highness, correct?” she asked deferentially, appearing nervous to even ask the question as she bowed slightly, as if Hassan’s position seemed to transfer to his staff in some way.

Dana’s heart lifted. Perhaps there were some advantages to her new position after all. Besides being close to Hassan, that is. “Yes. I just started a while ago. I don’t know who has been doing it, but someone has been keeping me stocked with delicious foods recently. It’s been wonderful to look up in the early afternoon and find a delicious meal all ready for me.”

“We are all happy to help out whenever His Highness needs assistance,” the kind woman said. “We would be happy to make you anything you’d like,” she said and glanced at the bag of vegetables in Dana’s arms.

Dana shook her head, hugging her precious parcels closer as if they were the crown jewels. “Thank you so much for offering, but if it’s okay, I’d like to just find a corner and lose myself in the process. I don’t want to disturb anyone though. If you’re busy trying to get things ready for a big event,” she said, trying to think of who might be coming to the palace for dinner tonight, “I’ll stay out of your way.”

“There’s plenty of room,” the other woman said and led her to one of the tables in the corner, out of the way of the other palace food preparations. “There are utensils and knives over there,” she said, pointing to a large wall filled with various knives, “and the pots and pans are behind you. Any ingredients you might need can be found in the store rooms over to the left.”

Dana sighed with happiness as she pulled all of her vegetables out of her bag and sorted them in the order for chopping. She selected a frying pan, a knife and cutting board and went to work, humming the latest hit to herself as she worked. She felt good, she thought. Powerful even. The men had found her and she’d escaped with both men down. She almost laughed at the expression on the one man’s face right after she’d ducked and the two clowns had just about run into each other.

Okay, so they weren’t clowns. And the guns she’d seen under their jackets had been real and very deadly. If she’d been in a more isolated place, she had no doubt that she’d be dead by now. The men who had attacked her didn’t appear to be the kind who would hesitate to kill a person if given the opportunity. She had the impression that they would do whatever they needed to in order to get what they needed, which was why she was in this position in the first place.

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Hassan looked up as two of his security forces walked into his office. He’d been expecting them as soon as he’d gotten the phone call a half hour ago telling him that Dana had been attacked in the market. “Explain,” Hassan said to Fudar, his jaw clenched and his anger simmering ever since that call. His Dana was in danger and he was furious that he hadn’t been there to protect her. Nor had these men been in a position to help her either, a further irritant that he meant to resolve as soon as he had enough information to form a plan.

The two men bowed but then straightened and looked their king in the eyes. “She was magnificent, Your Highness. Two men were coming at her from opposite sides and she knew exactly what to do. She’s trained, although not very experienced.” Fudar stood up straighter. As the more senior of the two guards, it was his duty to relay the situation and he went into details about the attack and how they’d apprehended the men who had dared to attack the woman under their care. They finished the recitation by explaining, “She had them on the ground in less than two minutes, Sire.”

“She was hesitant to hurt them, sir,” the second man said. “She’s a very gentle warrior.”

“Fudar,” Hassan said, standing up and rubbing the bridge of his nose, “Explain to me how she was even allowed to be in danger.”

“You asked that we follow her but not let her know we were there, sir. We were following her throughout the market and were busy detaining the other two men who had been following her initially. We didn’t know that there were four of them until the other two attacked her by the fruit vendors. The two we currently have in custody aren’t talking yet. But they will.”

“Fine.” He looked around, trying to calm down and hating the worry that was on him right now. He wanted to announce to the world that this woman was his, but he had no claim on her other than as an employee. Regardless of how much his body wanted to possess her, she was off limits.

And then it hit him. She’d overcome two armed men? His sweet, gentle Dana, the woman who had been crying about seeing a spider under her desk had won a fight with two men? He had to smile at the idea, not really able to imagine it happening.

“Tell me about her moves,” he commanded and glared at the two men while he listened. As they went through their descriptions, the simmering anger he had been feeling transformed slightly into pride. The anger was still there, but it was tempered by the fact that she had come out of it unharmed.

“And you say there’s not a bruise on her?”

“No, Your Highness. She was very good and kept them from even touching her in any way,” Fudar confirmed.

“You escorted her home? And there’s a guard outside her apartment?”

Fudar was already shaking his head. “She came right back to the palace, Your Highness. She didn’t veer towards her apartment in any way. It was as if she knew that the palace was safer than her apartment. She did well, thinking through the options, Your Highness.”

His chest swelled with pride. Not only was his little woman a good fighter, she was also cool under pressure and thought through a tactical retreat. “She’s here? Where is she?”

“She is in the kitchen sir. Two guards are stationed outside each doorway and one is in the kitchen itself watching her. We are still under orders to be inconspicuous, Sire.”

“Good. Don’t let her know we saw what happened in the marketplace. I don’t know why, but she doesn’t want me to be aware that she’s in trouble. Any luck on tracking the call she received the other day on her cell phone?”

“It came from New York City but the phone was a throw away, paid with cash at a small store. Untraceable.”

“No other leads?”

“We are looking into her background, trying to find a reason someone would want to hurt her. As yet, we don’t have any clues but we’ll continue to look.”

“Good. Keep at it and let me know what you find out.” He rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. “In the meantime, I’m going to try and find out who this spider is that is trying to get to her. If I find out anything, I’ll convey the information to you as well.”

The two men bowed themselves out of Hassan’s office and he took a moment to consider his approach. He needed to be careful and see what she might know. He had to be gentle and understand how her mind worked so he could get around her defenses, but he would definitely get around them. He didn’t understand why, but this woman with her gregarious nature, her superior intelligence and her soft, innocent eyes that echoed in his heart had become important to him. He might not like that fact, but it was his reality and he had learned to listen to these feelings. She was very important to him and he meant to protect her, even if it meant protecting her from herself.

Ten minutes later, he was striding into the kitchen. He heard several pans drop and startled gasps but he ignored them, intent on finding his prey.

He found her in the corner and, as he approached, he enjoyed the gentle swaying of her hips that instantly made his body react. He would have groaned if it wasn’t such an enjoyable sight.

“What are you making?” he asked as he watched the knife move expertly through some sort of green vegetable.

Dana gasped and dropped her knife, looking around and finding the man who had been on her mind for the past thirty minutes. “What are you doing in the kitchen?” she asked, horrified that he’d caught her after the tough days he’d had recently. He definitely didn’t need her problems, no matter how broad those magnificent shoulders were.

Her hand automatically went up to her hair, wondering if the fight with those men had disturbed her appearance. She probably looked like a mess. She certainly felt like it, she thought with resignation.

He watched her carefully, looking for signs that she’d been hurt but when she appeared to be okay, no bruises or scrapes and her eyes looked more worried about him than anything else, he relaxed slightly. “I heard you had a bit of a scuffle today.”

She blinked in surprise. “How did you hear about that?”

He shrugged and came closer, stealing a piece of cucumber. “It’s my kingdom. You’d be surprised at what I find out.”

She laughed and shook her head, her body still in fight mode but she tried to pretend otherwise. “No I wouldn’t. I type up your security briefings so I know exactly what’s going on. And I don’t know how your mind doesn’t explode with the pressure.” She tried to distract him from his question. It was a lame effort since the man never forgot anything and was only distracted if he wanted to be, and in those cases, he only allowed the person to think he was distracted until he came around to the problem again, from a different angle and with a different tactic.

He chuckled at both her worried expression and the relief he was feeling now that he could see that she genuinely wasn’t hurt. “What are you cooking?”

She nervously looked behind her at the table. “I was making stir fry,” she explained. “I’m sorry to be invading your chef’s space like this. I just thought that your kitchen might be more equipped than my own.” She bit her lower lip, hoping to stop the trembling she knew was coming as he looked down at her. She’d never been a good liar and this was no exception, especially with those dark, sexy eyes looking down at her as if he knew what color underwear she was wearing.

Hassan nodded and watched her pretty white teeth bite down on her lip. A lip he’d like to be biting, he thought. And tasting. And doing a whole lot more with. Regardless, it was a big indicator that she was lying to him. Her eyes were telling him the same message. “Mind if I help?” he asked and walked over to the wall of knives and picked one for himself.

She was astonished that he actually wanted to assist her in food preparation. “Um…okay,” she thought quickly, trying to figure out how to get him away. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to help her, but Hassan being this close, and this strong and sturdy and confident and….well, just magnificent, she was afraid she might break down and tell him everything and ask him for help. Which would be foolish and selfish.

He waved his hand towards one of the other helpers in the kitchen and immediately a young man raced over, wiping his hands on his apron even as he bowed to Hassan. “How can I be of assistance, Your Highness?”

“Tell the chef to bring a bottle of wine that would be appropriate for stir fry and two glasses,” he said and the man nodded quickly and raced away, eager to do the sheik’s bidding.

“Do you even know how to cook?” she asked as she pulled out another cutting board for him.

“I know how to use a knife,” he replied and spun the blade around in his hand, setting it twirling around and around until it stopped impressively with the handle securely in the palm of his hand. “How hard can it be?” he asked and stole another piece of cucumber. “It looks like all you do is chop until you’re bored out of your mind, then ask someone else to do the rest.” She tried smacking his hand away but he was too fast and he only winked at her as she rolled her eyes.

“How did you learn to use a knife?” she asked, handing him some peppers.

“Combat training,” he said as if everyone in the world knew that and also took lessons. “All sheiks learn to throw a knife with deadly accuracy in preschool. While other kids are learning their alphabet, we’re learning to defend our country.”

He was just about to cut the pepper when she snatched it away, glaring back at him. “What do you mean, combat training?”

He shrugged and twirled the knife around again, then stabbed it, point down, into the wooden cutting board. “Sometimes we use knives, other times sticks or whatever weapon is handy. Sometimes all of them.”