CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Olivia mourned the setting of the sun. The conclusion of one of the longest days of her life filled her with dread. When nightfall came, the camp would settle down. She and Khalid would be alone. Her gaze flickered over to her jewelry box. At the bottom, in a secret compartment, lay her boarding pass for the Prinzessin Carolina.
All afternoon she’d fretted over Malik’s visit. Even now, several hours after his departure, she still had not come to a decision. For some silly reason, she needed to confirm where she stood with Khalid. Was she simply a possession to be used until he tired of her or did they have a future based on equal footing?
“I see someone is ready for a bath.”
So immersed in her thoughts, Olivia didn’t hear Khalid enter their bedroom. Nervous, she fidgeted with the items in her lap. “It was so hot and sticky this afternoon, I-I was hoping we could bathe before dinner.”
“Sounds good to me.” He eyed the bundle containing a fresh set of clothes, a bar of French milled soap and two towels. “Do I need to gather anything?” he asked in a good mood, which effectively soured hers even further.
Shaking her head, Olivia stood. “No. I have everything. You lead and I’ll follow.”
With Khalid guiding the way, they walked to the oasis. Unaware of her dilemma, Khalid chatted away about everything and yet nothing of importance. Still, she responded at the appropriate times so as not to raise his suspicions.
Upon their arrival, Olivia quickly undressed and waded into the pool. A cool desert breeze ruffled the fronds of the palm trees. The full moon, hanging low in the sky, bathed the distant sand dunes in an iridescent light, and cast its shadow on the waters of the oasis. If she weren’t so preoccupied, she might have admired the view.
“Malik came to see you this morning. What did he want?”
Although a smile played on Khalid’s lips as he soaped his chest, a cold shiver of dread tiptoed down Olivia’s spine. Did he know their plan? Was Malik’s offer a dangling carrot to test her?
“He…” Olivia paused to swallow around the lump in her throat, “he had a splinter in his finger.”
Khalid’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “I’m not surprised. He’s always been a big crybaby.”
Relieved she’d sated his curiosity, Olivia bent her knees rinsing off the soap residue. In the ensuing silence, she watched him. In the moonlight, he looked like a Greek god. His thick black hair streamed over his broad shoulders. Devoid of fat, his powerful body was packed with layers of well-honed muscle. If she left him, his body would be one of the things she would miss the most.
“What are your plans for the future, Khalid?” she asked, inching closer.
Unaware of her purpose, Khalid continued to wash himself. “I think more racing. I’d like to expand the automotive division of our company and possibly venture into the production of luxury yachts.” Olivia couldn’t ignore his excited tone as she edged around him and stood at his back. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body against his. Her nipples instantly came to life, beading into hard little buds.
“What do you think? Silly pipe dreams?”
Olivia blinked back tears. Not once did he mention her in his future. She, too, had dreams. Like opening a women’s clinic or traveling abroad while helping to improve the health care systems in other countries.
“I…I believe that anything you set your mind to, Khalid, you will succeed.” Olivia was thankful she stood behind him so he wouldn’t see the unshed tears swimming in her eyes.
“I think you’re right.” He turned around in her arms but Olivia kept her head bent. “Like right now my mind is set on giving you pleasure.” He gripped her hips, pulled her into him and dragged her thoughts from the long journey that lay ahead.
***
“Wake up, sleepyhead. We leave within the hour.”
Sitting up slowly, Olivia feigned a yawn. Little did he know she’d been awake for some time. Instead of rising, she’d lain in bed watching him flit around their bedroom as he gathered his clothes--the entire time oblivious to both her regard and her plans.
“Khalid, I’m not feeling well this morning. Would you mind it much if I decided to stay here?”
His hands stilled over a pair of tan trousers he was folding. A frown furrowed his handsome brow. Olivia held her breath. Could he sense the lie?
“What’s wrong?”
Olivia rubbed her stomach.
“I think I ate something during last night’s dinner that didn’t agree with me.”
Khalid wrinkled his nose. “So that was you? I thought someone sneaked a sick camel into our tent.”
He stood up so fast, the pillow she threw at him bounced off his thigh and landed harmlessly at his feet.
Lips curved in a cocky grin, he sauntered over to the bed. A horrendous pain clutched Olivia’s heart. This would be the last time she’d ever see him. When he dropped to his knees by the bed, she swung around to face him.
“Do you think it’s something more serious?” He covered her hands with his, entwining their fingers. “Maybe you’re carrying my son.” His eyes swung up to lock with hers. “Now that things have changed between us, would you keep my child?”
His expression had become so serious, Olivia felt like a traitorous bitch. One lie had plunged into more serious territory. And the last time they’d ventured down this road, it hadn’t been pretty.
“If I were carrying your child, he or she would be a blessing.” Even though the possibility was slim, because she’d been regular since her arrival, Olivia spoke the truth.
Khalid suddenly cupped her face and kissed her. His tongue entered her mouth and did the sensual exploration of his which always made her knees weak. When he finally released her, they were both panting.
“Until we know for sure what really ails you, bad food or my son, you will stay here.” He reached behind her and made a small mountain of pillows. “Stay in bed the entire time I’m gone. I will have Hassan’s wife stay with you until I return.”
Feeling even more wretched, Olivia leaned against the over-fluffed pillows. “I don’t need Jada to babysit me. I only have a stomach ache, Khalid. I’m not nine months pregnant.” Olivia stretched her arms out to him. “Come here and give me one last kiss, and then get out of here before you make me nuts.”
He hovered over her, gazing down at her with an expression that made her almost reconsider the decision she’d made only an hour ago. “I’m going to think about you every day,” he whispered.
Olivia rubbed the pads of her thumbs over his eyebrows, committing his face to memory. Kidnapper or not, Khalid would always hold a place in her heart.
“I’m going to miss you more than you can imagine.”
Swept up in the moment, she rose up and met him halfway. She pressed her lips against his, and his mouth moved against hers earnestly. His hand drifted along her hip, igniting a fire between her legs. His fingertips grazed the underside of her breasts and she moaned.
Khalid must have mistaken her response as a sign of discomfort because he withdrew from her. “Even when you’re sick, I want to climb on top of you and rut like an animal.” Chuckling, he raked a hand through his dark curls. “We’ll finish this when I return.” He pecked her on the cheek and then stood up to stare down at her.
Overcome with sadness, Olivia curled her legs up to her chest and hugged them like a child. This was it. She would never see Khalid again. His wry humor would no longer confound her. The chess game they started last night would remain unfinished. From now on she would wake up alone. No man could make her body come to life like Khalid.
Blissfully oblivious, the source of her grief picked up his bag and saddle. Before he retreated from the bedroom, Olivia closed her eyes. She refused to watch him walk out of her life forever. Senses hyperaware, she could hear Khalid and several men just outside their tent. His low, dulcet tones, eerily discernible from the others, floated over her, and Olivia vowed she would never forget him.
Olivia waited almost a half hour after the caravan’s departure before she finally left the bed. In spite of the small window in which she needed to be in Saint Louis, she moved slowly around the bedroom.
With each pass around the tent, Olivia contemplated the clothing and gifts she’d accumulated. Her hand ran lovingly over the hand-carved cedar chest Khalid had given her to store her clothes. She fiddled with the latch of a bronze jewelry box. Inlaid with gold and silver, the cherished piece contained the small treasure trove of gold bracelets, anklets, rings and assorted gems that Khalid tried to tempt her with when she’d first arrived.
In the end, Olivia decided to leave it all behind. She didn’t need any reminders of her time in the desert. It was going to be hard enough to completely eradicate Khalid from her system.
As she dressed, a lump swelled in Olivia’s throat and her chest tightened painfully. She felt lifeless and emotionally drained. Instead of being so depressed, she should be ecstatic, clicking her heels with joy. In three weeks’ time, she would be home in New York City and reunited with her brother Harry.
Olivia glanced at the chest holding Khalid’s clothes. She walked over and opened the lid. On top lay the jade green tunic he’d worn to bed last night. Drawn, Olivia plucked the shirt out of the chest and brought it to her cheek. Soft and still warm to the touch, the garment still contained his scent.
No longer able to hold her emotions in check, she allowed hot tears to flow unchecked down her cheeks. Why had she been so foolish as to fall in love with Khalid? If she’d continued to hate him, she could’ve walked away without a backward glance instead of standing here rummaging through his clothes and torturing herself. Wiping away tears, she eventually dropped the tunic back into the chest and closed the lid.
“Are you ready to go?” Malik asked when she met him outside.
Olivia glanced around to see if they’d drawn anyone’s suspicions. Due to the caravan’s departures, only women, children and a handful of elderly men remained in camp.
Sniffling, Olivia shook her head. “Would you mind if I said goodbye to your father?” Over the course of his recuperation, she’d become attached to the older man.
Malik smiled. “I don’t mind at all. He’s grown very fond of you. He will miss you greatly like the rest of the tribe.”
Before she started crying again, Olivia hurried over to Wissam’s tent. She found him sitting on the floor in the main living area, enjoying his morning tea. Under her care, Wissam’s health had greatly improved. His bed sore had completely healed and he’d taken to daily exercise.
Wissam’s face lit up with a smile. “You are early.” He patted the cushion beside him.
Olivia sat down and like so many times in the past she took his hand in hers. Paper-thin and spotted with age, his skin was softer than the finest leather. “I’ve come to say goodbye.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going home to my brother in New York.”
Wissam frowned. “I thought your home was here with Khalid.”
Olivia nibbled on her bottom lip. She’d foolishly come to think the exact same thing. “I have nothing with Khalid,” she muttered, hating to verbalize the truth. “That’s why it’s time for me to leave.”
“The young, so all-knowing and yet so blind,” Wissam muttered. Before she could ask him to clarify his words, he continued, “Wherever your life may lead, I wish you happiness. Hopefully our paths may cross again.”
“I wish the same,” she said wrapping her arms around Wissam’s neck, hugging him.
After exchanging good-byes, Olivia stumbled out of the tent to join Malik by the corral. In blessed silence, he helped her to mount a camel and then handed her the reins.
“We’ll stop tonight to rest the camels then set out again in the morning,” Malik informed her as they rode out of camp. “There isn’t any need to rush. Khalid and the others won’t be back until the end of next week. By that time, you will have set sail.”
Once again, Olivia felt numb. “What will you do when Khalid returns?”
Malik’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean what will I do when he returns?”
“You haven’t exactly helped me in secret or under the cover of darkness. There were quite a few eyewitnesses, including your father Wissam, who witnessed my departure.”
Malik shrugged. “Khalid will be upset, but he will get over it. We are blood and that means more than any woman.”
Humiliated, Olivia looked away. She’d allowed her feelings for Khalid to impair her better judgment. To the point, she’d overestimated her importance.
They rode during the heat of the day but passed the night sleeping in the elements. No tent, no shelter not even a fire to protect them from the cold. Olivia lay awake huddled beneath the goat-skin covering Malik had given her.
If she froze to death, it was just as well. The moment they’d left camp, she’d died inside.
***
Khalid slapped his mount’s rump with the reins, inciting him into a gallop. His cousin Hassan called out behind him, but he kept going. He’d been gone from Olivia’s side for more than eight days and every minute felt like an anvil around his neck. Soon he would be able to unload his burden as well as his heart.
Khalid fingered the velvet pouch around his neck. Inside, wrapped in purple silk, lay the largest diamond he’d ever seen. Without the proper funds, he’d granted a five percent share of his auto manufacturing company in exchange for the dazzling gem. His brothers would be livid, but it was worth it because Olivia would be floored.
He was so infatuated he would give up even more to make her his wife, Khalid mused. His entire fortune if it came to that, for there was nothing in this world or the next that could compare to his love for her.
The camp appeared over the next rise and Khalid dug his heels into the camel’s sides, egging him on. He couldn’t wait to take Olivia into his arms. The nights they’d spent apart had been pure agony. So much so by the third night he knew he wanted to make her his wife.
In one fluid movement, Khalid pulled up short in front of their tent and dismounted.
“Olivia!”
Met by silence, Khalid shook his head. The blasted woman probably had her nose buried in a book. The single-minded pursuit of reading some medical journal completely consumed her attention; it was like talking to the dead.
Confident he had a thing or two that would distract her, Khalid flung aside the tent flap and barreled his way inside. The deafening silence shrouded the interior reminding him of a tomb.
Heart pounding, Khalid stalked into the bedroom.
“Olivia,” he whispered.
Nothing. The room was as empty as the rest of the tent.
Turning about, Khalid ran outside straight to Wissam’s tent. With each step, his legs felt leaden as if they weighed a hundred pounds.
Without announcing himself, Khalid yanked back the tent flap and went inside.
“Forgive me for intruding,” Khalid apologized as he entered. His eyes darted around the otherwise empty tent. “I thought Olivia would be here with you.”
Wissam’s shoulders shook and a tear streaked down his cheek. “I fear my assumption was correct.”
“What assumption?” Khalid gripped the tent flap and hung on for dear life. His world was slowly crumbling piece by piece.
“You love her.” With a growl of disgust, Wissam dropped his food back into the bowl. “It’s written all over your face,” he proclaimed, pointing at Khalid, “the desperation and pain you’re feeling right now because you will never see her again.”
The man’s cryptic words made Khalid break out in a cold sweat. “Where is she?”
Wissam used the table to stand. “Ask that fool of a son of mine, Malik,” he uttered as he hobbled to his bedroom.
“MMAALLIIKK!” Khalid thundered. Turning about, he searched for his cousin and found him by the bonfire. Khalid made a beeline in that direction.
“Malik! You’re a dead man,” he bellowed.
“Killing me won’t bring her back,” Malik asserted, rising slowly to his feet.
“No. But it will make me feel a hundred times better.”
Hassan ran in front of Khalid. “She’s gone. Don’t do this.” He looked over his shoulder at his brother. “We are all blood here. Family should not fight.”
“Like hell I won’t.” Khalid shook off his cousin’s hold. Without warning, he charged Malik. Head down, his shoulder slammed into the other man’s gut doubling him over and knocking him to the ground. Temporarily incapacitated, Malik was unable to hold off Khalid’s assault. Blow after blow until bone gave away. Hassan, with the help from several others, eventually pulled Khalid off him.
Spitting blood and cackling like a crazy man, Malik sat up. “Now you know how I feel.”
Khalid tried to charge him again but he couldn’t break free of the men holding onto him. “You have no idea how I feel,” he spat.
“Oh, I do. Do you remember Tiziri?”
Khalid frowned. He remembered the young girl who had followed them around like a puppy. He also remembered she’d died in the civil war with the al Zarqawis. What did her death have to do with Olivia? And then like a sucker punch to the gut, the connection hit him.
“Let me go,” Khalid muttered. All the fight now out of him. Once released, Khalid retreated to his tent to pack.
“Are you going after her?” Malik called after him.
Against his better judgment, Khalid stopped. “That’s none of your f*cking business,” he spat but his mind was already headed to New York.
“Don’t bother. Your woman didn’t hesitate when I gave her the ticket. And she thanked me profusely as she boarded the boat. At least, Tiziri loved me back.”
Resisting the sudden urge to choke the life out of his cousin and ignoring the other man’s taunting laughter, Khalid stumbled into his tent. He would be gone before dawn.