“You’re right,” he said eventually. “I can’t sign the contract with MCI Oil.”
Olivia watched the tension ease from Khaled’s shoulders. She was glad that he’d worked it out finally. He wouldn’t sign and so she would have to go back to Aberdeen and tell her father she’d failed. Olivia wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, despite the heat of the afternoon sun. Khaled’s arm came round her shoulders and she leaned into him, grateful for his warmth for as long as she had it.
“I wanted to do it for you,” he murmured.
“I know. That’s why you mustn’t. It’s too important a decision to make for a reason like that.”
He held her a little tighter. “I wish I could give you the world, Olivia.”
“I don’t want the world.”
“I know. I wish I could give you everything you deserve.”
“The job, you mean?”
“The job. The family. The husband who loves you.”
She hadn’t expected him to say it at all, but now she needed to be sure. “Khaled?”
“I love you, Livvy.”
For a brief, glorious moment, the world was her own personal paradise. Khaled loved her. He kissed her. A soft, sweet kiss, full of aching tenderness, that was over far too soon and Olivia had to face reality again.
“It doesn’t change anything, does it?”
“I am afraid not. I cannot ask you to be my wife. You have seen how traditional my country is.”
“I like everything I have seen of your country.”
“Thank you. But you have seen it as a Western visitor, not as the wife of the emir. My sheikha will be subject to continual intrusions on her privacy and restrictions on her behavior. She will be expected to wear traditional dress and play the traditional role of a woman.”
“Virtuous, modest, dutiful. I was listening earlier.”
“I need my people to accept me as their ruler. I need them to accept my wife.”
“I know. You don’t have to spell it out again for me.”
“Maybe I just need to keep reminding myself of the reasons why I can’t have you.”
They gazed out over the calm blue waters of the Gulf. It was hard to believe that this place could have anything in common with the steel-gray, freezing cold North Sea she’d grown up with, but they both hid the same black-gold treasure that made people’s hearts fill with greed and jealousy, that could tear apart nations and families. In that moment, Olivia hated oil and everything it represented. She would have given anything for it never to have been discovered. Never to have upset the balance of the world with its deep power.
But there was oil out there and Saqat needed the money from it, so she had to tell him her plan. It was the obvious solution and she’d known it for weeks. Now that Khaled had decided not to sign with MCI there was no reason not to tell him. “I have an idea.”
“Go on.”
She took a deep breath. Committing professional suicide was a lot easier in theory than in practice. A quick glance at Khaled gave her courage to go on.
“What if you formed a new oil company? Here in Saqat.”
“What good would that do? It’s still oil. It doesn’t matter who is drilling it.”
“Think about it, Khaled. If you were on the board, you could control everything. You could take your time over things, establish rigorous safety procedures, develop more secure drilling methods. Saqat Oil could be at the forefront of a new stage in the oil industry. You could be the world leaders in environmentally friendly oil.”
He was staring at her. “Why are you telling me this? Why aren’t you still pushing me to take the MCI deal? That’s your job, Olivia. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To succeed your father, to show him that you’re the best person for the job.”
She met his gaze squarely. “I’m telling you this because I believe it’s the right thing for Saqat. Because your country is more important than my career.”
Because someone needs to help you and it might as well be me.
Because I love you.
“Does your father know that you are giving me this advice?”
She bit her lip. Her father would be horrified if he ever found out what she’d done. She’d had the contract and let it slip through her fingers. Worse, she’d deliberately thrown it away. “No.”
“What if he finds out?”
“He won’t. You’ll persuade the Saqati Council it was your idea, and I’ll tell him I did my best to talk you round. He’ll believe I wasn’t up to the job easily enough.”
His eyes flickered with sympathy. “It’s an interesting proposition, certainly, but I don’t know, Livvy. I don’t know anything about running an oil company.”
“You’ll work it out. Hire people. Ask for help.”
He shook his head. “It’s a lot to think about, on top of everything else I have to do.”
“Take your time. You’ve had more than enough on your mind lately. But don’t do anything irreversible until you’re sure.”
“You’re going back to Scotland soon.”