The clerk unexpectedly grinned, looking far more human. “In that case, I have exactly the thing for you. It was a special order that was unfortunately canceled. It is most definitely impressive.”
He picked up the last velvet sack and pulled out a small gold bowl which he set reverently in front of Kali. “As you can see from the luster, it is almost pure gold. Which of course means that it is nowhere near as sturdy as the silver ones. It is meant strictly for display.”
“It’s beautiful,” Kali breathed, “but far too impractical,” she hurriedly added at Hassan’s speculative expression.
“We’ll take it,” Hassan said, ignoring Kali’s indrawn hiss. He was determined she was going to have a gift to take that would impress the hell out of her ex-fiancé.
And a ring. Hassan remembered how the clerk had automatically checked Kali’s hand for an engagement ring. Bart would be bound to do the same thing.
“While we’re here, would you show us some engagement rings?” Hassan said.
“Certainly, sir.” The man rubbed his hands together, and Kali could almost see him mentally calculating his commission. “Does the lady have a choice of stone?”
Does the lady have a choice at all, Kali thought with an uncertain look at Hassan. What was he up to? When she’d accepted his proposal, he’d asked her if she’d wanted a ring, and she’d said no, seeing no reason for him to go to the expense for what was to be merely a merger of friends. He’d agreed with her then, so why had he changed his mind now?
“An emerald,” Hassan said, remembering his earlier fantasy.
“An excellent choice with the lady’s coloring,” the man approved. “We have several fine stones in stock at the moment. I’ll just get them out of the safe.”
He hurried toward the back of the store, almost as if he were afraid they might change their minds and leave before he could clinch a sale.
Kali barely waited until the man was out of hearing before she turned to Hassan. “We decided against a ring.”
“You need one for tomorrow,” Hassan insisted. “Your family isn’t going to believe that you’re really engaged if you don’t have a ring. Bart gave you one when you got engaged, didn’t he?”
“Yes, a diamond.” Kali’s eyes automatically dropped to her left hand, remembering the ring he’d given her. It had been small, but she’d loved it out of all proportion to its size, seeing it as confirmation of Bart’s love.
“You don’t still have it, do you?” Hassan asked, shocked at the anger filling him at her faraway expression. He was angry on her behalf, he assured himself. Angry that she had been so badly used. It didn’t matter to him personally. It couldn’t. He’d only known her a few hours.
“Certainly not. I gave it back to him. I have no idea what happened to it.”
The clerk emerged from the back room and set a small tray of rings down in front of them with a flourish.
Kali looked down at them, trying to keep her appreciation of their beauty out of her face. They looked frightfully expensive. But maybe Hassan was looking on the ring as an investment? That was probably it, she decided, feeling fractionally better. While she preferred to invest in stocks and bonds, she knew lots of people bought gold and precious gems as a hedge against inflation.
“What about this one?” Hassan picked up a large, square-cut stone set in yellow gold and handed it to her.
Obediently Kali tried it on, her eyes widening in appreciation at the way the magnificent gem caught the light.
“Do you like it?” Hassan asked.
“It is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen,” she said, instinctively blurting out the truth.
“We’ll take it,” Hassan said in satisfaction. He’d been right. Emeralds were the perfect choice for Kali.
“Urn, Hassan.” Kali shot him a warning look. Investment or not, they ought to at least ask how much it was before they committed themselves.
“It’s too loose.” She grabbed the first excuse she could think of.
“No problem at all,” the clerk said cheerfully. “I can have it resized within the hour.”
What’s going to be resized is both our bank accounts, Kali thought, but somehow she just couldn’t refuse to accept it. Not with Hassan looking so pleased with himself. But why was he so pleased with himself? She had absolutely no idea, and that bothered her. She’d thought she had a pretty good understanding of both his personality and what motivated him.
But his insistence on buying her a ring seemed completely out of character for him…or else she’d misread his character in the first place. She didn’t find either possibility reassuring.
Uneasily she watched as Hassan followed the clerk over to the counter to pay for their purchases. What other surprises did Hassan have in store for her? The idea both worried and exhilarated her.
Hassan shifted the brightly painted boomerang from his right hand to his left, patted his suit jacket pocket to make sure Kali’s ring was still there and then rapped sharply on her apartment door. Giving her that ring had become very important to him. He wanted her to have a memento of him that had nothing to do with his brother. And tonight, after he told her the truth, he’d insist she keep it.
Kali flung the door open. “You’re early.”
“Traffic was light,” he improvised, suddenly remembering that Karim was perpetually late to everything.
“Come in.” Kali stepped back, when what she wanted to do was put her arms around him and kiss him. To breathe in the cold tang of the outdoors that he brought with him and then to snuggle even closer to savor the scent of his new cologne. A compulsion she was at a total loss to explain. It made no sense that a two-week absence should have intensified her previously tepid sexual curiosity about him to the point where it was in imminent danger of becoming an obsession.
One thing was certain, she thought as she surreptitiously studied him, her newfound fascination was not reciprocated or he would have kissed her when he’d arrived. But maybe he was waiting for a sign from her that she would welcome a kiss? But what if he wasn’t and she gave him a sign. What would he think then?
“Here’s your boomerang.” Hassan handed it to her, giving her hopelessly tangled thoughts a safer direction.
“Thank you. I always wanted a real Australian boomerang. The ones I had as a kid never worked, and I always wondered if it was because I simply didn’t have the knack for throwing them or if it was because they weren’t authentic.
“What are all these figures painted on it?” she asked.
“Aborigine pictographs,” Hassan quoted what Mohammed had told him. “They’re supposed to make game susceptible to it.”
“I see.” Kali glanced speculatively around the living room. If she didn’t throw it very hard, there was just room enough to see if there was any curve in its trajectory.
“You can’t throw that inside.” Hassan correctly interpreted her look.
She gave him an impish grin that inexplicably made him feel ten years old again. But not quite, he realized. Now the feeling had sexual overtones that he hadn’t even been aware had existed at that age.
“Of course I can,” Kali said. “Whether I should or not is entirely another matter.”
He was about to point out the danger of shattering a window on the sixth floor when he remembered that