Her Desert Protector, page 9
Was he awake because he was worried? Working? Or did nightmares plague him too? Hers were from Iraq. Even though most of the time she’d been in a peaceful town or situation, a couple of times, insurgents had set off bombs. She’d gotten caught close to them twice. The military psychologist had told her their effects would lessen in time, and they would.
The other night, when she’d been up, she’d seen Khalid outside on the balcony. It had been four in the morning. If she worked in the sitting room, she used the small lamp she left on at night, or she worked in her bedroom. She didn’t want to advertise she was up. But that night, she’d waited to see if Khalid would knock on her door. He hadn’t, so she’d figured he wasn’t even aware she was up.
“Prince Khalid, Lady Zoey,” the waiter said, jerking her back to the present. “I am very happy to have you here tonight.” A small man came up to the table, setting down water and glasses.
“Thank you, Wafi,” Khalid said.
“I have a special menu tonight. Will you allow me to choose for you?”
Khalid looked at her. “That’s fine with me. It would be a pleasure.”
The older man beamed. “Good choice. Do you want wine with dinner?”
“Zoey?” Khalid asked.
“I’m fine without it.”
“No wine, but some of your delicious fruit juice would be most welcome.”
“Of course. My job is to make your meal the best it can be.” He turned and left.
Three hours later, Zoey sat back with a groan. “I can’t eat another bite.”
Khalid laughed. “Wafi pulled out all the stops tonight.”
“It was very good.” Zoey glanced at Khalid. “You’re more relaxed tonight.” There were no lines of strain around his lips.
“Probably because the family is at home, and Ryan and the others are outside Wafi’s.”
“Always on duty.”
“Yes.” He leaned back and stretched his arm over the back of the booth. His hand caressed her shoulder. “Tell me about Zoey.”
“Me? There isn’t much to tell.”
“Oh, I think there is. I’ve noticed you don’t like being told what to do.”
Zoey laughed. “Who does?”
He nodded and stared at her with those penetrating dark eyes.
Zoey let out a sigh. “My parents were very overprotective of me.” She really didn’t want to talk about her parents, but if they were going to have any sort of relationship, he needed to understand why she chafed at his protective stance.
“Most parents are. Even mine were protective of us boys.”
“Not like mine.” Zoey drew circles on the tabletop with her finger. “I was allowed to go to school, but Mom or Dad walked me to and from. I wasn’t allowed to do any afterschool activities. Heck, I don’t think I ever had a friend over to our house.”
Khalid frowned. “That is no way for a child to grow up. My parents were protective, but we were allowed to be children, and I had brothers.”
“I’m glad you had brothers to play with. I had no one, and it only got worse when I was a teenager.”
“They were afraid you’d rebel.”
“Probably. You know, I never dated until I left for college, and even then it wasn’t until I was a junior.” She’d been so unsure of herself as a woman. Thank goodness she’d had some good female friends in college who had helped her.
“Why were your parents so overprotective?” He caressed the back of her neck in a soothing motion.
“I don’t know. They never told me. I’ve suspected for years they had a child before I was born and something happened.”
Khalid frowned. Why were her parents so secretive? He didn’t like this. Maybe he’d better read that report after all. “They never talked about it?” While his father had kept some things quiet, his parents were open, as were the rest of the family. Yes, there were things they didn’t talk about, but that was by mutual agreement.
“Not to me.” She took a sip of water from her glass. “And to be honest, I’ve never asked as I didn’t want to upset them.”
“So tell me about these languages you know how to speak.” He didn’t like how uncomfortable she was. “Habib is very impressed.” Time to change the subject, but knowing how she felt about her parents helped him understand why she chafed so much at his protectiveness.
A smile played around her lips. “Well, I lived in California, and we had a lot of kids who spoke Spanish at school, so I started with Spanish. It was fun and I picked it up. So I kept learning more languages.”
“Something you could do by yourself.” He was getting the picture. She had been alone a lot, and this was something she could do to please herself.
“Yes, when I was in high school, I discovered photography. That was something I could do in my own backyard, so to speak.”
“How did you become a travel blogger?” He shook his head at the waiter before he could interrupt. He had Zoey talking, and he wanted to keep her talking.
“By accident.” She let out a laugh. “After college I went to work for a Fortune 500 company as one of their translators. I was able to travel and use the languages I’d learned. But it bothered me that I never had a lot of time to investigate the local area I was in.”
He nodded and traced the back of her neck. She didn’t pull away. Instead shivers of what he assumed was anticipation echoed with each caress.
“Sometimes I would only have a half day, so I would go out with my camera and just start walking.”
“Was that safe?” He didn’t like the idea of her walking around in unfamiliar places alone.
“Most of the time, yes.” She let out a laugh. “Khalid, I’m not reckless, I pay attention and I stick to light, populated areas.”
“Go on.”
“Well, after a few trips, I started writing a blog, mainly for myself, to journal my travels. The next thing I knew I had followers and people emailing me telling me how much they enjoyed the blog.”
“And the corporate job?”
“Stifling at times. Then I had two travel magazines offer me space in their magazines. I was on my way to Japan, so I told them I’d check with the legal department of my company, and if they allowed it I’d submit something after the trip.” She paused. “Luckily enough, we had an extra day because of flights and time changes. So I took that day and spent it around Tokyo.”
Her silver eyes danced with excitement. Khalid found himself shifting even closer to her.
“Before the flight home, legal gave approval, and I wrote the two travel articles and submitted them along with pictures. I figured they’d turn them down, but to my surprise they didn’t.”
“Were they the same article?”
“No. I choose difference aspects of Tokyo for each article. And they were both a hit. My blog started getting more traffic, and the travel magazines offered me money to advertise their magazines in my blog.”
“You were becoming an entrepreneur.”
“Kind of.” She shook her head. “I didn’t plan it that way. The corporate job was getting to me, so I decided to quit.”
“How did you survive?” He couldn’t see her going back to her parents after all she’d told him.
“The corporate job paid very well, and since I wasn’t home a lot, I didn’t have a lot of expenses. I’d saved most of my salary. It wasn’t a hardship.”
“Good.” He didn’t want to think about her struggling. “So how long have you been freelancing?”
“For almost two years now.” She grinned at him. “I love what I do and have fun doing it.”
“That is good.”
“Khalid, enough about me.” Her fingers trailed over his forehead. “How did you become in charge of security for your family?”
“I kind of fell into it, so to speak.” Her fingers over his skin sparked his libido. He hadn’t thought about how he got put in charge in a long time. “I used to follow the security team around when I was a teenager, wanting to learn what they did and why.”
“Didn’t you have a bodyguard?”
“Yes, but he was only around when I left the palace grounds. We’d always been safe until Kalif.” Her fingers caressed his cheek.
“So why security?”
“Since I was the youngest I had to assert myself from an early age.”
Zoey let out a giggle. “Oh, yeah, I can see that.”
“At school I excelled at critical thinking, problem solving, and physical activities. The old head of security, Gafar, took me under his wing and began to teach me.” He shifted in his seat. “Gafar was the one who got me into the UK’s special forces training.”
“You’ve had military training? Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“I have.” He shook off the memories of his last mission, when everything had gone to hell and back. “When I came home, Gafar was ready to retire. I stepped into his place.”
“Others weren’t upset at not being promoted?”
“No. It surprised me. I fully expected to compete for the job. But those men were more than happy to follow rather than lead.” He’d been happy to take over protection of his family. “All has been good until just the last year and a half.”
“Kalif and the poppy growing?”
“That and other things. I’ve been hiring more and more security staff, and beefing up the local police department.”
“And then comes this American who takes pictures and causes all sorts of problems.”
Khalid laughed. “Not really. Compared to Catherine and Sara, you’re not so bad.”
“So Bobbie didn’t give you any problems?”
“Not as much as the other two, although the same can’t be said for my brothers.”
“I’d love to hear more.”
He shook his head. “A story for another time.”
Wafi walked up to the table. “And how was everything?” he asked.
“Delicious,” Zoey said.
“It was perfect, Wafi. Thank you.” Khalid glanced at his watch. It was going on ten, and they should get back to the palace. “I hate to say it, but it’s time for us to head home.” Khalid slid out of the booth and held his hand out to Zoey.
“Wafi,” Zoey said. “Would you allow me to come back when the restaurant is closed and take some pictures? I’d love to do a story on your restaurant.”
“Of course, Lady Zoey. You would be a welcome guest.” Wafi’s smile lit up the entire restaurant, and Khalid hid his own. Zoey had a way of making people feel special without trying.
“Would tomorrow morning be okay?” She looked from Wafi to him and back.
“Very much so,” Wafi said.
“It can be arranged.” As much as he wanted to keep her in the palace safe, this was her job. The way she made her money. If he thought she’d allow him to pay for her expenses he’d do it, but Zoey would have his head on a platter if he even suggested it. Instead, he would just make sure she stayed safe.
“Good. I’ll see you in the morning around ten, Wafi.”
“Very good, Lady Zoey. Prince Khalid.” Wafi guided them to the entrance and thanked them again for coming before going back into his restaurant.
Khalid cupped Zoey’s elbow and led her past the hostess station and out the door. Flashes went off, and he flinched. Damn it, he should have anticipated this happening. His security team pulled up.
“Prince Khalid, who is the young woman you’re dining with?” a reporter yelled.
“We hear she’s staying on the palace grounds with you?” another yelled.
“Is this another royal romance?” yet another yelled.
“Khalid?” Her voice shook as she pressed to his side.
Ryan, Habib, and others on his security team did their best to push back the press. Finally they made it to the SUV. He opened the door and motioned Zoey inside. The cameras kept going off, along with the reporters shouting questions. He ignored them. He climbed in beside her and slammed the door.
“What the heck was that about?” she asked, once they were inside the vehicle.
Habib and Ryan climbed in front, and the SUV slowly pulled away.
“Paparazzi, the bane of my family’s existence. They seem to always sniff out when one of us is out enjoying ourselves.”
“I didn’t realize they were a nuisance here in Bashir.”
“They became an issue when Malik used Catherine as a shield against them. Since then, they’ve done nothing but follow us around. They usually leave me alone. But apparently my time is up. Annoying little sand fleas.”
Zoey let out a laugh. “It’s something you can’t control.”
“No. As much as I’d like to, I cannot control the media.” He tucked her against his side. “Let’s forget them.” He lowered his head. “Come to my room tonight?” he whispered in her ear.
She inhaled sharply. “Yes.”
Anticipation flowed through his veins. The rest of the drive was made in silence. When the vehicle stopped at the steps of the palace, his brothers were waiting for him.
“Oh, this doesn’t look good,” Zoey commented.
“No, it doesn’t.” He helped her out of the vehicle, keeping her hand in his. Together they walked up the stairs. If the damn paparazzi were going to publish pictures of him and Zoey with some made-up story, he’d do whatever his brothers suggested. He wasn’t going to fight them on the issue. Zoey would be protected.
“We’ve got an problem,” Malik said.
“What else is new?” Khalid ran his hand over his head.
“I’ll go find the others,” Zoey said.
Khalid lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it before letting her go. Once she was out of earshot, he looked at his brother. “What happened?”
“Kalif raided one of the villages. Security needs to get out there.” Malik said.
“Injuries?” Khalid ran his fingers through his hair.
“Yes,” Hassan said. “Sara’s at the hospital putting packs together and finding volunteers.”
“I’m going with Hassan and Sara as extra backup,” Rafi said.
Khalid shook his head. “That’s too many of us going.”
“I know.” Rafi placed his hand on Khalid’s arm. “But you’ll be needed with the security forces, so I’ll stay with Hassan and Sara. Less you have to worry about.”
His brother made sense, but Khalid didn’t like it. He looked at Malik.
“I agreed he could go. I’ll be here, like a good king, but I want updates every hour.”
Khalid nodded. “All right.” He glanced at Hassan and Rafi. “But if I say get the hell out, you will.” They both nodded. “Let me get a team together.” He turned and jogged down the stairs and toward the bungalows where the security staff would be getting ready. It was going to be a long night.
Zoey found Catherine and Bobbie in the family room, neither looking happy. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Catherine turned. “Hey, Zoey. Is Khalid with his brothers?”
“Yes. What is going on?” Something was up. Bobbie was normally the bubbly one of the group, and there was worry in her eyes.
“There was an incident in one of the villages,” Bobbie said quietly.
“What kind of incident?” Zoey’s heart stuttered.
“Kalif attacked. We got word via a short-wave radio call.”
“Injuries?” No wonder the brothers looked grim.
“Yes,” Malik said, walking into the room. Catherine ran to his side and hugged him. “Bobbie, Rafi’s gone up to your rooms.”
Bobbie nodded, then left the room. “I don’t like this, Malik,” Catherine said.
“Like what?” Zoey felt like she was missing a big piece of the conversation.
“Zoey, so sorry,” Malik said. “Hassan, Sara, Rafi, Khalid, and a security force are heading out to the village.”
“Too many. Rafi should stay here,” Catherine said.
“Honey,” Malik said, then tilted her head up. “Since Rafi renounced his claim to the throne, I won’t stop him from wanting to help, and Khalid will be busy. Rafi will be extra security for Hassan and Sara.”
Catherine sighed. “I know.”
Several things hit Zoey at once. While she knew about Rafi abdicating his right to the throne, hearing it from Malik made it more real. Hassan and Sara going to the village made sense, and Khalid going with them ... Fear gripped her stomach and twisted. Khalid was going out there to protect his family and the villagers.
Her knees weakened. Zoey sat down hard. Malik’s eyes widened.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have blurted that out like that,” Malik said.
Zoey waved her hand and forced air into her lungs. “Where is Khalid right now?”
“At the bungalows gathering up men to take with them.”
Zoey didn’t even hesitate; she jumped up and ran. She had to talk to him and now. She barely heard Catherine shouting her name as she ran out the front door and down the stairs.
Khalid was going into danger, and she didn’t know if her heart could take it. Especially if there was any chance he wouldn’t come back.
Khalid and Ryan looked over the map, deciding on the best road to use and how to protect everyone. Khalid hated the idea of traveling at night, but Hassan insisted. Khalid understood; there were people injured and Hassan wanted to get out there as soon as possible.
“I suggest we send an advance team, let’s say six men fully armed and ready for anything. I wouldn’t put it past Kalif to lay a trap,” Ryan said.
“Yes, it’s a three-hour drive. If they leave in the next thirty minutes, that will put them close to an hour ahead of us. Hassan and Sara are getting supplies from the hospital. He’s going to contact me when they’re ready. I should have insisted we get some helicopters.”
“All right, let me go get the advance team together and we’ll go. As for the helicopters, we’ve never needed them, so why waste resources?”
Khalid nodded. Ryan was a good man, but Khalid hated sending his men into an unknown situation with him.
“Zoey,” Ryan said as he was leaving.
Khalid looked up as she crossed the room to him. “I ... ” She threw herself into his arms.
“Zoey?” She held him tightly as if she never wanted to let him go.
