Rahim shook his head. ‘My meetings this afternoon are outside the city. The tribal lands aren’t exactly a hospitable place for...’
‘A woman?’ she inserted, her chin raised in challenge.
‘For anyone not used to a harsher climate. Besides the rough terrain, I’ll be travelling when the sun’s at its peak. Heatstroke is a credible threat, one I would be remiss not to point out.’
‘Oh...well, it won’t be a problem for me. I came prepared.’ She left the display cabinet and moved closer. In her heels, she came up to his chin. Her eyes met his, bold and clear. ‘I could come with you. We would make efficient use of the time and talk on the way?’ Her head tilted and the subtle scent of her perfume hit his nostrils.
Rahim breathed her in, struggling momentarily with the desire to lean in closer, place his mouth at that juncture between neck and shoulder where her pulse throbbed. Dragging his gaze from that tempting area, he looked down at her.
‘Are you always this impatient, Allegra, or just efficient to the point of risking your health?’ he murmured.
Harun had voiced his suspicion that her visit might be a secret scouting mission, to see if Dar-Aman fitted the criteria for the Di Sione Foundation’s charity work. Rahim had dismissed the idea, but now he wondered whether his aide was right. She had made her opinion clear of what she thought of his kingdom.
‘I’m just not one to sit around twiddling her thumbs. I’m here, and I’m not as frail or susceptible to the harshness of the desert as you think, so if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to come with you.’ The determination in her voice spoke of a will that intrigued him. Not to mention his inability to look away from her alluring face. ‘Please, Your Highness. This is important to me.’
Her soft plea echoed the softer look in her eyes. Had he not witnessed her displeasure before, Rahim would’ve been fooled into thinking she was trying to seduce him.
But his instincts warned him that despite the vivid, unmistakable attraction that whipped between them, Allegra Di Sione, the head of the Di Sione Foundation, was here for one reason only—to vet his kingdom.
Releasing an inner smile, Rahim nodded. He would play along. He had no intention of granting her a meeting until he was sure he’d satisfied every criteria her foundation needed to work with him. ‘Very well. Provided you’re rested and ready to go at three, you may accompany me.’
Her smile hit him off guard, its dazzling brilliance striking the heart of his awakening libido. As he stepped back and prepared to walk away, he experienced a tinge of regret that the possibility of Allegra Di Sione in his bed would never materialise.
‘Thank you, Rahim.’
His brisk nod didn’t dissipate the effect of hearing his name said seductively in that polished New York accent. In fact, he heard its sultry echoes long after he sat down to his first meeting of the morning.
* * *
Soft, insistent beeps from her phone’s alarm woke Allegra three hours later, giving her ample time to get ready so Rahim wouldn’t have any excuse to leave her behind.
She didn’t need a crystal ball to guess that his reluctance stemmed from the need to hide the true extent of Dar-Aman’s deterioration from her. Although why that would bother him now, when he’d failed to do much in the years as crown prince and in the six months since he took the throne, was beyond her. It was true that his kingdom was undergoing a resurgence economically, but the change was new and shaky, and in Allegra’s view, far too late in coming.
Disappointment flared through her, but she curbed it and focused on her goal.
She might not have achieved the quick meeting, followed by a swift departure after they’d agreed terms for Rahim to sell her back her grandfather’s long-lost box, but she was still on point. With any luck, she’d be back in New York within twenty-four hours.
Tilting her head back on the pillow, she sighed and allowed herself a brief, awed absorption of her surroundings.
The headboard above her head was beyond anything she’d ever seen before. Made up of richly embroidered panels in red and ochres connected together with gold thread, it rose halfway to the ceiling. Resting on a raised dais, the bed itself boasted expensive satin sheets and a heavy coverlet in colours that complemented the rest of the room.
Allegra had grown up with enough wealth for her not to be reverential over most luxuries, and yet each new discovery in the Dar-Aman palace took her breath away.
Her gaze lowered and swung across the room to the exquisitely carved console table, on which rested six stunning pieces of art. The intricately designed eggs were immediately recognisable as the much-fabled Fabergé eggs once belonging to the Russian dynasty. And those weren’t the only jaw-dropping items in the room.
Everywhere Allegra looked, objects of priceless beauty graced surfaces, from rare Egyptian coins in glass cabinets to solid gold bridal head ornaments from India.
The article she’d read on the plane had mentioned Rahim and his parents as being great collectors of art. But how could they find beauty in inanimate objects while the economy suffered?
A knock came on the door before she could let loose the frustration growling through her belly. At Allegra’s beckon, Nura entered, her slippered feet gliding silently across the marble floor.
‘Mistress, can I get you anything? Some tea and sandwiches, perhaps? Or I can summon your personal chef to prepare a light meal if you wish?’
‘No, Earl Grey tea with a dash of lemon and sandwiches would be perfect, thank you.’
Nura lifted a nearby phone and relayed the request, then turned just as Allegra was making her way to the bathroom.
‘You are travelling outside the city walls with His Highness this afternoon?’ she enquired. At Allegra’s nod, she continued. ‘You’re going to visit the Nur-Aram tribe. It is the place I was named after.’ She smiled, then worry creased her youthful face. ‘It is a difficult place to get to. The journey can be quite rough.’
‘It’s fine,’ Allegra reassured. ‘I’ve visited worse places, I’m sure.’
Nura continued to look worried, but then dashed forward when Allegra reached the wide marble bathtub. ‘I will draw your bath for you, Mistress.’
‘Please, call me Allegra.’
Nura looked horrified, her soft brown eyes widening in alarm. ‘No, I cannot.’
Surprised, Allegra asked, ‘Why not?’
‘Because it would be disrespectful to call a mistress of His Highness by her first name.’
Allegra wasn’t sure why her stomach dropped and rolled with such acrobatic skill it would’ve made an elite athlete proud. She was pretty sure something had been lost in translation. Or assumptions had been made because of where Rahim had placed her in his palace? ‘Are there a lot of mistresses in this wing?’ she blurted before she could stop herself.
Nura nodded. ‘At this time of the year, all of the fifteen residences are occupied.’
Nausea rose in Allegra’s belly. She tried to bite her tongue, but the next question spilled out anyway. ‘And all the fifteen occupants...they’re related to Sheikh Rahim?’
Nura looked puzzled as she straightened from checking the temperature of the four gold-plated taps that gushed water into the cavernous bath. ‘No, they are not His Highness’s relations. But they’re very important to him.’
Allegra tried to laugh but the sound came out skewed. ‘Wow, next you’ll be telling me there’s a secret passage between this wing and the sheikh’s bedchamber, like in the movies.’
Nura’s laugh was more natural, a shy twinkle in her eye as she plucked warming towels from a rail and laid them