Heir to a Dark Inheritance (5 page)

“Taking out the competition?”

A half smile curved his lips. Wicked.
Wicked
was the only word for that smile of his. “It’s a clever little take on what I used to do, but that’s another story.”

“And do you do this for everyone? At some point aren’t you working both sides?”

“Sometimes. But I am always one hundred percent loyal to whoever is paying for my services at a given time. It suits me. I don’t want to man a massive corporation—I prefer to be a free agent. This allows me to move as I please.”

“Given the financial information mentioned at the hearing you do very well at this.”

“I do all right,” he said.

Yeah. Eight figures of all right, but she wasn’t going to say that. It was crass to talk about money, at least that’s what her parents had always said.

“I’m just…I’m very tired,” she said.

He looked down at Leena. “Will she sleep for you or shall I send one of my staff to help you?”

She felt drained suddenly. Incapable of doing anything but crawling into bed, pulling the covers over her head and trying
to forget the entire day had happened. Trying to forget that this was her life.

She recognized this. Shock. Grief in a way. It was the loss of the life she’d planned for her and Leena.

“She’ll be fine,” she said. No way was she letting her daughter out of her sight. In fact, she doubted she’d even be using the adjoining room for her. She had a feeling she’d just pull the crib in and place it by her bed.

“As long as you’re certain.”

“I need her with me.”

“Of course,” he said. It was strange how he said it. His words lacked emotion. They lacked understanding. As though he didn’t really get why she might need Leena close.

“I guess we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Yes. We will need to discuss wedding plans.”

“I don’t care about them,” she said. “Hire someone else to do it.”

“I was planning on it, but still, someone will have to come take your measurements. For your dress.”

“Of course.” She imagined he would put her in a Western-style wedding gown, which she found she actually preferred.

She’d had her big Indian wedding with Sunil. Worn the red sari she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl. Her extended family had all been there, her mother. She’d still had her mother then. It had been everything she’d wanted.

She would not let this wedding, this farce, infect the memory of
her
wedding. She needed this to be something else. Something different. A wedding that had no personal significance to her at all. Something that didn’t feel like part of her.

“I want a white dress,” she said.

“Tell the stylist when she comes tomorrow.”

“I will.”

As long as she kept it separate, someone else’s wedding and not hers, maybe she could survive it.

T
HE NEXT DAYS PASSED
too quickly. No matter how hard Jada wished time would stand still, it simply wouldn’t. And before she knew it, the day of the wedding arrived.

Why were they even having a wedding? For Leena, she knew, and then of course for Alik’s peers. Wedding photos would be necessary for both.

It would be small, she’d been assured. Only Sayid and his family. Sayid, she’d found out, was the sheikh of Attar. So, only the sheikh. No big deal.

Jada felt like she would throw up.

She clutched the bouquet of lilies to her chest and looked down at the flowing, white fabric of her gown. She’d asked that everything be white. A total contrast to her first wedding, which had been filled with color, food and music.

She would have this feel as different as possible. As much like something other than her wedding as she could manage.

It wasn’t working right now. Wasn’t working to tame the butterflies that were rioting around in her belly.

There were more staff seeing to the wedding than there were people in attendance. It was almost funny. Between the photographer, the kitchen staff, the decorators, the coordinator and the minister, it was rather amazing.

They didn’t have music. Her cue to walk up the aisle was when she could see Alik standing at the head of it. She peered
around the gauzy curtain that separated the stone veranda from the walled gardens.

She could see him there. In a suit. No tie, the collar unbuttoned at his throat.

She almost turned and ran. But then she saw Leena. Leena in her little white dress, her chubby legs hanging over one of the chairs that had been set up around the altar area.

Chloe, Sayid’s wife, was keeping an eye on her, along with her two children.

And that right there was why this was happening. It was why she was getting ready to walk down the aisle toward a man she didn’t know. It was why she was going to do it with her head held high.

Because for Leena, she could do nothing less.

“You can do this, Jada,” she whispered.

Then she swept the curtain aside and started down the aisle.

Alik wasn’t certain what he’d expected to feel. Nothing, actually, that was what he’d expected to feel. That was the status quo after all.

But when he saw Jada, headed toward him, a white gown fitted over curves, white flowers pressed tightly against her chest, her dark hair covered by a frothy veil, he felt something.

Heat streaked through his veins, hot as fire and just as dangerous.

Lust.

He was well familiar with lust. But Jada was not a woman he wanted to feel any lust for. Keeping their arrangement purely on paper was essential. To the peace of his household, to the way he conducted his life.

Lust was something he simply couldn’t afford.

And yet it was there, an insistent ball of heat in his gut. And when Jada came forward and placed her small, soft hand
in his, golden and perfect against his own battered skin, it only stoked the flames.

She looked up, her eyes wide, as though she felt it, too. And was no happier about it than he was.

He had intended for her to have no effect on his life. And that was how it would remain. He kept that in the forefront of his mind as he spoke his vows. Repeated it mentally. No matter the words they spoke today, here at the altar, it would not change what he had planned.

It would not change his life.

But what if it does?
That thought pushed against the ice blockade around his heart. And he shoved it away.

There was no kiss during the ceremony. It was not traditional to kiss publicly in Attar, and he felt that they should adhere to that part of the custom. He was exceedingly glad they had done so now.

As if a kiss could affect you?

After all he’d done, it should not have the power to do so. But he wondered. Wondered what it would do to him to touch his lips to hers. They were full, soft. So perfect looking. And he wanted a taste badly enough to know he’d made the right choice to exclude it from the ceremony. He’d bet she tasted like passion. Like emotion so deep he’d never reach the bottom.

He was used to women as jaded as himself, or at least halfway to that point. But Jada was not that woman. He had to wonder…if he touched her, would it burn with heat like her eyes? Would it have the power to burn away the scars over his own emotions and set them all free?

The thought both intrigued and repelled him. It was a foolish thought. There was nothing that strong. Not even the fire of Jada’s passion.

The wedding ended very quickly, and for that, he was grateful. The moment the pronouncement was made, that they
were husband and wife, Jada left his side and went to where Leena was sitting, pulling the child into her arms.

He wondered if he would ever be able to do that so easily. If he would ever do it the way she did, out of necessity. If only that sort of connection, that sort of understanding could be transferred through a kiss.

But then what would be left of you if you lost your armor? Do you even know if there’s anything underneath?

No. He didn’t. And he had no intention of finding out.

Sayid came up from where he’d been sitting and joined Alik where he was standing, both of them watching their respective wives and children. That moment confirmed he had done right. His heart would not give him confirmation. It simply wasn’t capable of it. But in his mind he knew, it was right.

“What have you done, Alik?”

“I did as you said I should do. I went and claimed my child.”

“And the woman?”

“She is the woman who was trying to adopt Leena. I could hardly rip the child from her arms.” Though that had been the original plan. Strange to think of it now. Strange to think he’d imagined it would work. To take Leena from Jada, when it seemed like they were a part of each other.

“Was she?” Sayid asked. “I did not realize there was someone who had been caring for her.”

“Yes. Would that have changed your advice?” Alik was worried it might. That even Sayid would think Jada was better suited to the task.

“Not necessarily. How is it she ended up agreeing to marry you?”

“I told her to. It keeps her with the child. It creates a proper family. I did the right thing.”

“You uprooted them both from their country. You forced a woman who has only known you for four days to marry you.”

“Is it so different to what you did with Chloe?”

Sayid shot him a deadly look. “It was different.”

“Not in the least.”

“I had feelings for her when we married.”

“I know,” Alik said, mildly amused by the memory. He’d incurred the wrath of his friend by implying he’d been less than gentlemanly with the other man’s wife in their brief time alone at his seaside palace.

“And you don’t have feelings for this woman?”

“Of course not, Sayid, I barely have feelings.” He flashed his friend his most practiced grin, the one that had gotten him out of more trouble than most people had ever been in.

“So you think.”

“So I know.”

“You told me once, Alik,” Sayid said slowly, “that you saw no point in making vows you couldn’t keep.”

Alik shifted, the memory rushing back to him, making him uncomfortable. Because that was just what he’d done today. He’d made vows he had no intention of keeping. He had every intention of continuing on as he’d always done.

“I also told you that I avoid making vows whenever possible. Today, it was not possible.” He looked over at Jada. She was sitting, holding Leena in her lap. Her golden skin had a gray tinge to it and her lips were chalky pale. She was miserable. The realization sent a pang straight to his chest. Strange. “This is different. She knows what this is.”

“And you think that’s enough? You think what happened here today, the words you spoke, you think those won’t matter?”

“It is not the same as a normal marriage. It is to protect my daughter. To protect Jada’s rights, which she insisted on. This makes sense.”

Sayid laughed. “One thing you’ll discover soon, my friend, is that women and children rarely make sense.”

“I know about women.”

“Yes, you do. But you don’t know about wives.”

Jada was sitting in her room, watching Leena sleep. Sayid and Chloe had lingered for a while, but as nice as they were, Jada had been happy to see them go. She was tired of being on show. Tired of playing the part of, if not happy bride, then at least contented bride. It was too much and the strain was starting to break her.

This whole thing might break her. She was afraid it would.

There was a light knock on her door. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Adira appeared. Alik’s head of the household was spare with her smiles but today, she offered Jada one. “Mr. Alik has requested that you join him for a late dinner.”

“I…” With Adira looking at her like that she hardly felt like she could refuse. “What about Leena?”

“I will stay on this floor. If she cries, you will be fetched immediately.” Adira was being friendly, but she had the air of a woman who brooked no nonsense, and would not be disagreed with. She reminded Jada a bit of her own mother.

“Thank you,” she said.

She stood from her position on the bed and wondered if she should change again. She’d stripped off her wedding dress the moment she was up in her room, and had traded it out in favor of a simple sundress. She’d longed for the comfort of her sweatpants but it was way too hot to indulge herself.

No. She wasn’t going to change. It didn’t matter what she wore to see Alik.

Her husband. A vision of Alik swam through her head and panic assaulted her. No. She closed her eyes and thought the words again. Her husband. And she willed an image of Sunil to appear. Alik was not her husband. Not truly.

She swallowed hard and patted the sleeping Leena once on her rounded belly before offering the housekeeper another smile and walking out of the room.

As she drew closer to the dining area, her heart started
beating harder, faster. And she started remembering the wedding. The moment when Alik had taken her hand. His fingers had been rough on her skin, and hot, so hot. The heat had seeped through her skin, shot through her body, pooling in her stomach.

It had been so very like…

No. She wasn’t even going to think it. He didn’t turn her on. Yes, he was a handsome man, in his way. Well,
handsome
seemed wrong.
Handsome
sounded banal and safe. Vanilla. And Alik Vasin was anything but that.

He was scarred, rough. Dangerous. And in that danger, there was a magnetism that defied logic. That was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Ever.

She blinked. Just thinking that felt like a betrayal. Not just to her marriage, but to who she was. She wasn’t the kind of woman who lost her head over a hot man. A hot man she didn’t even like. She idly wiped her palm on her skirt, trying to rid herself of the feeling of his flesh against hers. Trying to get rid of the heat.

It didn’t work.

She walked down a curved staircase and a long hall, the high-gloss black floors casting a ghostly reflection in front of her. The palace was like a maze, and the week she’d spent there, mainly huddled in hers and Leena’s rooms, hadn’t been enough to make it feel familiar.

The one good thing about the size of the palace was that it made avoiding Alik simple. And all things considered, avoidance had been high on her list of priorities.

Her problem was simply that it had been too long since a man had touched her. Too long since she felt any sort of attraction or arousal. She simply hadn’t been interested. She still wasn’t, but it was nothing more than a body/brain disconnect. Nothing to get worked up about. She was still in control.

She took a shaking breath and walked into the dining room. Alik was sitting there, at the head of the table. The
only light in the room was coming from flickering candles, set on the table, casting sharp shadows onto Alik’s face.

She’d just been thinking that he looked dangerous. She’d had no idea. Until now. His cheekbones looked more hard cut thanks to the flickering flames, his jaw more angular. Harder. And his eyes, they just looked hollow.

That, right there, should have been enough to erase the heat.

And yet, for some reason, her palm burned all the more.

“Do you feel rested?” he asked.

“I’m not really sure.” She twisted her wedding band, the one on her right hand. Not the one she’d been given today. A reminder. Of what was real, and what wasn’t.

Then she took a seat somewhere in the middle of the long, opulent banquet table. Sitting at the other end made her look like a coward. And she was a coward so she wasn’t going to go sit next to him.

“I thought I should make sure you ate. You touched nothing at the lunch after the wedding.”

“I was too nervous to eat.”

“You seemed very calm.”

“I’ve learned not to show too much emotion on the outside.”

“Except that day at the courthouse.”

She remembered vividly how she’d sat down and cried on the floor. She wasn’t even embarrassed about it. The thought of losing her daughter deserved that level of emotion. “Re-straint was the last thing on my mind.”

“Was everything at the wedding to your taste?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “It wasn’t. And that was my plan.”

“Your plan?” He looked over at her and frowned. “Come sit closer to me. I’m not shouting down the table at you for our entire meal.”

She complied reluctantly, again, because she didn’t want
to look like a coward, scooting toward him until there were only two chairs between them.

“Better?”

“Yes. Now tell me about this plan.”

In order to tell him, she would have to talk about Sunil, and she’d been avoiding that. Because it seemed wrong to talk about him to Alik, the man she’d just made her husband. It was too complicated. Too confused.

“I…This was my second wedding.”

“Was it?” His response wouldn’t have sounded out of place if her previous statement had been “it was nice and warm today.”

“Yes. I didn’t want this one to resemble
my
wedding. This wasn’t my wedding. Not in that way.”