“So, are you enjoying your time here?” It might sound like polite conversation, but Olivia wasn’t fooled. His mouth was asking if she was enjoying her time in Saqat, but his eyes demanded to know whether she was missing him.
“It’s wonderful,” she said, hoping he would hear what she wasn’t saying. It was harder than she had anticipated knowing that Khaled was nearby and being unable to see him.
“Good. That’s good.” He lifted a hand halfway to her, then dropped it before they touched. “I don’t know if I will be able to accompany you to the research center. Jamil will find someone else to take you if you still want to go.”
“I want to go, but I would rather you took me.” She missed their long conversations late into the evening. She had grown accustomed to sharing the small triumphs and failures of each day with him.
His face was bleak. “I can’t promise anything, but I will try.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
She wanted to cup her hand to his face. He needed comfort, and she hated that she wasn’t allowed to offer it. She clenched her hands by her side.
“Jamil has scheduled a meeting for us on Thursday morning,” he said after a pause.
“Yes. I’ve made some amendments that I think will make the contract more acceptable to you. We’ll need to talk about those.”
“Fine. Do you have everything you need to work?”
She hoped he had somebody here in Saqat to whom he could turn for support. A friend. A cousin. His secretary, perhaps. Someone who had known him for years and could push past the icily polite barriers of protocol.
But there was nothing she could do. “Yes, thank you. Jemimah has been most helpful.”
“I must go.” He stood up, ending their unspoken conversation as he turned toward the door. Olivia followed him.
“Khaled…” She reached out a hand.
“Livvy…” He turned back in the same moment.
Khaled shook his head and Olivia let her hand drop.
“I hope your interview goes well,” he said. “I’ll make sure to tune in.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
He stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at her. “She’s not my fiancée.”
Olivia nodded. “But she will be.”
The barriers dropped for an instant, and she caught a glimpse of the fear and fatigue beneath. “I don’t know, Livvy. I don’t know if I can do it.”
She knew it wasn’t allowed, but she did it anyway. She reached out to touch his arm and stepped close to look directly into his weary face. “You’ll do the right thing, Khaled. I know you will.”
He opened his mouth to speak but must have thought better of it. He nodded briefly and walked away. Holding her arms tight around her body, she watched him go, as if she could hold on to his warmth.
Chapter Seven
Khaled switched on the radio to listen to Olivia’s interview as he worked. He told himself he needed to make sure she didn’t let anything slip about the deal with MCI. The calming tones of her soft, Scottish accent were merely a bonus. Sadiah was introducing her now as a British engineer and businesswoman. No mention of the company, nothing about the oil, just as they had agreed. The presenter greeted Olivia in Arabic, but instead of the translated response Khaled was expecting to hear, Olivia carefully sounded out her own reply: “Shukran. Ana Aasifah ma bihki Saqati.” Thanks and an apology for her inability to speak the language. Her pronunciation was far from perfect, but he was touched that she had made the effort. He couldn’t help but be impressed at the interest Olivia had shown in his country. He’d expected her to spend her days at the palace, closeted in meetings with his councillors, or perhaps developing useful contacts with local businessmen. Instead, she had visited the souk, the mosque, and now the radio station. She couldn’t have chosen better places to understand the Saqati culture.
Sadiah replied to Olivia’s apology in rapid Arabic and this time her question was relayed in English. “At what age did you decide what career you wanted?”
“I’ve always wanted to work with my father,” Olivia said. “He has no sons, and so from a very young age I knew that I would inherit his business. When I began to understand what that meant, I decided I wanted to be more than a silent shareholder, so I worked hard to prove that I could do the job as well as any son could have done. I chose to study subjects that would be relevant to the business, and then I worked my way up through the company.”