Diamond in the Desert (13 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

H
E
WATCHED
B
RITT
sleeping, knowing he had been searching for a woman like this all his life.
And now he’d found her, he couldn’t have her?
Britt would never agree to be his mistress. And when he married—

When he married?

Yes, Sharif’s thoughts where Britt was concerned were every bit as strong as that. Selfishly, he hoped she felt the same way about him. But he had always believed when he married it should be for political reasons, for the good of his country. He’d never been much interested before. His council had pressed him into giving advantageous matches consideration, but he’d never had an appetite for the task. He wanted a woman who excited him—a woman like Britt.

Warm certainty rushed through him as he brushed a strand of hair away from Britt’s still-flushed face. He would find a way. The Black Sheikh could always find a way. He would never ask Britt to give up her independence. No one knew better than he that privilege came with a price, and that price was freedom to do as he pleased, but with a woman like Britt anything was possible.

Or, was it? Britt was exceptional and could do great things in life. She deserved the chance to choose her own path, while his was cast in stone. And then there was Skavanga Mining, and all the subterfuge with her brother...

He exhaled heavily as business and personal feelings collided. The consortium needed Britt’s expertise in the mining industry as well as her people skills, but would she stay with the company when the consortium took over? She had been running the company up to now, so it would take some fine diplomacy on his part to keep Britt on board. Could he find something to soften the blow for her?

His dilemma was this: while he cared deeply for Britt, his loyalty could only be fixed in one direction, and his was firmly rooted in the consortium.

The phone flashing distracted him. It was Raffa to say he had been forced to move money into Skavanga Mining on the recommendation of their financial analysts. Britt could only see this as another plot, when in fact what Raffa had done had saved the company.

‘Our money men are already swarming on Skavanga Mining, and we need you on the ground to reassure everyone that the changes don’t mean catastrophe,’ Raffa was saying.

‘What about Tyr?’ And the grand reunion he had been planning for Britt.

‘Tyr can’t be there—’

‘What do you mean, Tyr can’t be there?’ He cursed viciously. Having Tyr in Skavanga in person would have softened the blow for Britt when she discovered Tyr’s golden shares had swung the ownership of the company into the hands of the consortium. But now—how was he going to explain Tyr’s absence without betraying Britt’s brother as he had promised faithfully not to do?

He had to get back to Skavanga Mining right away to sort this out—and he could only do that without Britt’s newly discovered emotions getting in the way, which meant returning to Skavanga without her. Thankfully, his jet was always fuelled. ‘I’ll be there in fourteen hours,’ he said, ending the call.

Glancing at Britt, he knew there was no time to waste, and by the time he had woken her and explained as gently as he could about Tyr coming into the equation it could all be over in Skavanga. This was one emergency she would definitely want to be part of, but it was better if he prepared the ground first, and then sent the jet back for her.

* * *

She woke cautiously and her first thought was of Sharif. She didn’t want to wake him as it was barely dawn. The first thin sliver of light was just beginning to show beneath the entrance to the tent. She stretched luxuriously, and, still half asleep, reached out to find him...

The empty space at her side required she open one eye. The initial bolt of surprise and disappointment was swiftly replaced by sound reasoning. He must have gone riding. It was dawn. It was quiet. It was the perfect time of day for riding. Groaning with contentment, she rolled over in the bed of soft silken cushions, and, clutching one, nestled her face into it, telling herself that it still held Sharif’s faint, spicy scent. He’d held her safe through the night, and the pleasure they’d shared was indescribable. The closeness between them was real, and she was content, a state she couldn’t claim very often. This encouraged her to dream that one day they might work side by side to create something special, something lasting, and not just for Skavanga, but for Kareshi too.

She stilled to listen to the muffled sounds of the encampment coming to life for another day. She could hear voices calling somewhere in the distance and cooking vessels clanking against each other, and then there was the gentle pop and fizz of the water in her bathing pool as it bubbled up from its warm underground source. Everything was designed to soothe the senses. Everything was in tune with her sleepy, mellow mood. She wasn’t too warm or too cold, and her body felt deliciously well used by a man who made every day a special day, an exciting day.

Yes, she was a contented woman this morning, Britt reflected as she stretched languorously on her silken bed, and she couldn’t ever remember feeling that way before—

She jumped up when the phone rang.

‘Leila?’

She sat bolt upright. When her younger sister called it was invariably good news. Leila didn’t have a grouchy bone in her body and had to be one of the easiest people in the world to get along with, and Britt was bursting to share the news about her growing closeness with Sharif. ‘It’s so good to hear your voice—’

An ominous silence followed.

‘Leila, what’s wrong?’ Britt realised belatedly that if it was dawn in the desert it was the middle of the night in Skavanga.

‘I don’t know where to start.’ Leila’s voice was soft and hesitant. ‘We’re in trouble. You have to come home, Britt. We need you.’

‘Who’s in trouble? What’s happened?’ Britt pressed anxiously. Her stomach took a dive as she waited for Leila to answer.

‘The company.’

As Leila’s voice tailed away Britt glanced at the empty side of the bed. ‘Don’t worry, I’m coming straight home.’

She was already off the bed and launching herself through the curtains with her brain in gear. ‘Hang on a minute, Leila.’ Grabbing a couple of towels from the stack by the pool, she wrapped them around her and ran to the entrance of the pavilion where she saw a passing girl and beckoned her over. Smiling somehow, she gestured urgently for her clothes, before retreating back into the privacy of the pavilion.

‘Okay, I’m here,’ she reassured her sister. ‘So tell me what’s going on.’

The pause at the other end of the line might have been a few seconds, but it felt like for ever. ‘Leila, please,’ Britt prompted.

‘The consortium has taken over the company,’ Leila said flatly.

‘
What?’
Britt reeled back.
‘How could they do that? I had the confidence of all the small shareholders before I left.’

‘But we don’t have enough shares between us to stave off a takeover, and they’ve bought some more from somewhere.’

‘The consortium’s betrayed our trust?’ Which meant Sharif had betrayed her. ‘I don’t believe it. You must have got it wrong—’

‘I haven’t got it wrong,’ Leila insisted. ‘Their money men are already here.’

‘In the middle of the night?’

‘It’s that critical, apparently.’

While she was in a harem tent in the desert!

Had nothing changed? Had she learned nothing? Sharif had walked away from her again—distracted her again. And this time it all but destroyed her. For a moment she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think.

‘I’m sorry if I shocked you,’ Leila said.

Shock?

‘I’m sorry that you’ve had to handle this on your own,’ Britt said, forcing her mind to focus. ‘I’ll be there just as soon as I can get a flight.’

She had been stupidly taken in, Britt realised. Sharif had betrayed her. By his own admission, nothing was signed off without the Black Sheikh’s consent. He must have known about the share deals all along.

‘There’s one thing I don’t get,’ she said. ‘How can the deal be done when the family holds the majority shareholding? You didn’t sell out to him, did you?’

‘Not us,’ Leila said quietly.

‘Who then?’

‘Tyr...Tyr has always had more shares than we have. Don’t you remember our grandmother leaving him the golden shares?’

Shock hit her again. Their grandmother had done something with the shares, Britt remembered, but she had been too young to take it in. ‘Is Tyr with you? Is he there?’ Suddenly all that mattered was seeing her brother again. Tyr had always made things right when they were little— Or was that just her blind optimism at work again? She couldn’t trust her own judgement these days.

‘No. Tyr’s not here, Britt. Neither Eva or I has seen him. The only thing I can tell you is that Tyr and the Black Sheikh are the main forces behind this deal,’ Leila explained, hammering another nail into the coffin of Britt’s misguided dream. ‘The sheikh has got his lawyers and accountants swarming all over everything.’

‘He didn’t waste any time,’ Britt said numbly. While she had been in bed with Sharif, he had been seeing the deal through and speaking to her brother. This had to be the ultimate betrayal, and was why Sharif hadn’t been at her side when she woke this morning. He was already on his way to Skavanga. What could she say to Leila—to either of her sisters? Sorry would never cover it.

‘It’s such a shock,’ Leila was saying. ‘We still can’t believe this is happening.’

There was no point regretting things that couldn’t be changed, Britt reasoned as she switched quickly to reassuring her sister. ‘Don’t worry about any of this, Leila. Just stay out of it until I get back. I’ll handle it.’

‘What about you, Britt?’

‘What about me?’ She forced a laugh. ‘Let me go and pack my case so I can come home.’

She had been betrayed by her feelings, Britt realized as she ended the call. She was to blame for this, no one else. And now it was up to her to make things right.

She spun around as the tent flap opened, but her hammering heart could take a break. It was the smiling women with her clothes. And whatever type of man their master was, these women had been nothing but kind to her. Greeting them warmly, she explained with mime that although she would love to spend more time with them, she really couldn’t today.

* * *

It was as if she had never been away, Britt reflected as the cab brought her into the city from the airport. But had the streets always been so grey? The pavements were packed with ice and with low grey cloud overhead everything seemed greyer than ever. After the desert, she reasoned. This was her home and she loved it whatever the climate might be. This harsh land was where she had been born and bred to fight and she wasn’t about to turn tail and run just because the odds were against her. Nothing much frightened her, she reasoned as the cab slowed down outside the offices of Skavanga Mining. Only her heart had ever let her down.

Her sisters were waiting for her just inside the glass entrance doors. Whatever the circumstances she was always thrilled to see them. Knowing there was no time to lose, she had come straight to the office from the airport with the intention of getting straight back in the saddle. Thank goodness she’d had a non-crease business suit and stockings in her carry-on bag. She needed all the armour she could lay her hands on.

‘Together we stand,’ Britt confirmed when they finally pulled apart from their hug.

‘Thank God you’re here,’ Eva said grimly. ‘We’re overrun by strangers. We have never needed to show a united force more.’

‘Not strangers—people from the consortium,’ Leila reassured her. ‘But he’s here,’ Leila added gently. ‘I just thought you should know.’

‘Tyr’s here?’ Britt’s face dropped as she realised from Leila’s expression who her sister was talking about. ‘You mean Sharif is here,’ she said softly. Better she face him now than later, Britt determined, leading her sisters past Reception towards the stairs. ‘With his troops,’ Eva added as a warning.

Britt made no response. Troops or not, it made no difference to her. She would face him just the same. She could only hope her heart stopped pounding when she did so.

How the hell had he got here ahead of her?

His private jet, of course—

Get your head together fast, Britt ordered herself fiercely. She was strong. She could do this. She had to do this. She had always protected her sisters and the people who worked for Skavanga Mining. That was her role in life.

Without it what was she?

Nothing had changed, she told herself fiercely.

‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I can handle this.’

Eva was right. The first-floor lobby was bustling with people Britt didn’t know. Sharif’s people—the consortium’s people—Sharif had moved them in already. Her temper flared at the thought. But she had to keep her cool. She had lost the initiative the moment she allowed her emotions to come into play, and that must never happen again.

* * *

So, Tyr definitely wasn’t coming. Sharif had tried to persuade him, but now he put his phone away. Their conversation had been typical of the type Sharif had come to expect from the man who was a latter day Robin Hood. If a worthy cause had to be fought Tyr would drop everything and swing into action. He couldn’t blame the man, not with everything that was going on in Tyr’s life, but his presence here today would have softened the blow for Britt, whose arrival was imminent. Britt’s campaign to save the company was on track, but a happy reunion with the brother she hadn’t seen for years was not on the cards. So now she would just be bewildered by what she would see as Tyr’s betrayal and his.

He pulled away from the window when he saw Britt’s cab arrive. However angry she was he had to keep her on board. Skavanga Mining needed her—

He needed her—

He would protect her from further distress the only way he knew how, which was to say nothing about Tyr, just as he had promised, and allow the blame to fall on the ruthless Black Sheikh instead. He would live up to his reputation. Better she hated him than she blamed Tyr for throwing in his lot with the consortium. Tyr had seen it as the only way to save the company in a hurry, and Tyr was right, though Sharif didn’t expect Britt to be so understanding; and with Tyr and the other two men in the consortium tied up half a world away, it was up to him to handle the takeover. There had been time to leave a brief message for Britt with the women at the encampment, and he hoped she’d got it. If not he was in for a stormy ride.