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And for that reason alone, he deserved the painful erection in his trousers and the sexual frustration he would be feeling long after it subsided. He knew better than to do something so stupid as to hug her.
If he had kissed Grace, it would have led inevitably to bedding her.
And then losing her.
She was too valuable a PA and friend to do something that idiotic.
This whole marriage thing needed to happen quickly.
Grace tried not to stare at Amir as he spoke to the software developer about investing in the man’s company. It was harder than it usually was. For one thing, she’d done her research. This was a good deal only a fool would pass up and her boss was anything but a fool. But for another, she kept getting sidetracked by the way his designer sport-coat fit his muscular body. Which, for whatever weird associative reason, kept taking her mind back to what had happened earlier in the hotel room.
The problem was, she still wasn’t sure what had happened.
Had he almost kissed her? It had certainly seemed like it. He’d definitely held her longer than your average hug between employer and employee. Did other employers hug their personal assistants? Certainly, Amir did not do so often. The last time had been her birthday two years ago. Why had he hugged her? At first she’d thought he was saying thank-you for agreeing to help him, but did a thank-you hug last that long? Did the hug fall under their “friendship?”
And if so, why do it now? Why not before he’d asked her to find another woman for him to marry?
But what she really wanted to know, thought she might die if she didn’t figure out was: had he almost kissed her?
Was the hardness against her stomach a figment of her imagination or irrefutable proof that as impossible as it might seem, she turned him on? Or was she sliding into mad dreams again that were going to leave her crushed in their wake as any other she had woven around her too captivating employer? He’d pushed her away with further requirements about his future wife. Perhaps he had only held Grace that long to test the theory that he would prefer a tall woman. Most of the women he dated were at least two inches shorter than Grace’s five foot nine.
How incredibly demoralizing if that was indeed the case. Then, what could be more lowering than to be asked by the man you were crazy in love with to help him find his future bride?
“Grace?”
Her head snapped up at the impatient tone in Amir’s voice. Both men were looking at her.
“Did you get that?”
Heat climbing into her cheeks, she had to admit she hadn’t and asked the other man to repeat himself. That was so unlike her efficient self, she knew she’d hear about it later from the sheikh. Jerry, the software developer, was awfully nice about it, smiling at her and asking very politely if she’d gotten it all the second time around. She found herself relaxing under his kindness and responded a bit more warmly than was her usual wont. She had a feeling they were going to end up being friends. She was sure she would have lots of opportunities to interact with him as she would be the liaison to Amir.
“It’s too bad you are headquartered here,” she said without thought.
“Or that the sheikh’s office isn’t here,” Jerry said without missing a beat.
“I do not see either as a tragedy.” Amir’s tone was frosty and Grace had to stifle a sigh.
She smiled apologetically at Jerry. “He’s still angry I wasn’t paying attention just now.”
“He does not appreciate being spoken about as if he were not sitting right beside you.”
“My apologies.” Jerry looked worried, so Grace did not say what was on the tip of her tongue.
In fact, she didn’t say anything.
A few minutes later, when Jerry and Amir were making plans to share dinner and a drink to celebrate the deal, he asked if Grace would be joining them. Before she could get a word in edgewise, Amir said she had things to work on and wouldn’t be able to.
She couldn’t believe his effrontery and was ready to blast him the minute they got to the privacy of their suite, but Jerry had already dealt with enough of her boss’s crankiness.
As soon as the door shut, she whirled on him. “What exactly is so pressing that I’m supposed to be skipping dinner to work on it?”
He glared at her. “You have agreed to find me a wife. Have you forgotten already?”
“I’m not headed toward dementia yet, though goodness knows working with you will send me there early.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I find it beyond rude that you turned down a dinner invitation on my behalf simply because you think I should spend my off-hours working on your pet project.”
“You’ve never minded putting in overtime before.”
“You’ve never dictated when it should happen, and for your information, I had no intention of starting the great wife hunt tonight.”
“Are you saying you want to have dinner with Jerry?”
“I thought that was obvious.”
“Maybe I should just stay here and let the two of you make a night out on the town of it.”
Had he lost his mind? “What in the world are you talking about?”
“You and Jerry. You appear to have gotten quite chummy.”
“You’re basing this on the fact I wanted to eat dinner with you?”
“You were flirting with him.”
“I never flirt.” She had no idea how.
“You smiled.”
“And that is a crime now? You were smiling, too.”
“I most assuredly was not flirting.”
She took a deep breath and tried another tack. “Name the last business dinner I did not accompany you to.”
“Last month, when I had dinner with Sandor Christofides regarding using his ships for importation of certain goods to Zorha.”
This was getting beyond ridiculous. “I was in Seattle setting up for your arrival at the business conference!”
“You made no stipulation of where you were at the time…you simply told me to name the last dinner you had missed. So I did. Now, I expect you to work on my project.”
“I’ll work on it when I decide to work on it, and that is not going to be tonight when I could be having a pleasant dinner with a business associate.”
“He is my business associate.”
“What is the matter with you? You’ve never acted this way about me sharing dinner with you and an associate before.”
Wasn’t it bad enough he was planning to marry another woman, was he trying to ease Grace out of other areas of his life as well?
“I did not like the way Jerry looked at you.”
“What? Like he pitied me for having such a churlish boss?”
Amir drew himself up and positively glowered. “I am not churlish.”
“Dismissing me from your dinner plans without a by-your-leave certainly doesn’t constitute polite behavior.”
“So, we are back to that.”
“We never left it,” she said with exasperation.
“We are leaving it now.”
“And that leaves me where?”
He had enough sense to look chagrined. “Would you like me to call and cancel so you will not be forced to eat alone?”
She was not a charity case. She might have been shy and backward when she first came to work for Amir, but she’d grown a lot in five years. “Of course not, then Jerry would consider you inconsistent and that is hardly the impression you want to give a business associate.”
“So, you will stay here and work on my personal project.”
“No. I will find my own dinner out there.” She pointed out the window. “I will no doubt return far too late to work on anything. Now if you will excuse me, I need to change into something besides business attire.”
It was her turn not to give him a chance to answer as she marched into her bedroom, making mental plans for the evening as she went.
Amir stood in dumb transfixion as he listened to the silence left behind after Grace’s door slammed shut. “I would prefer a wife who does not slam doors,” he said loudly into the empty room.
The sound of another door, this one Grace’s bathroom, shutting with noisy force was his only answer.
Damn it. What had happened? One minute he had been closing a lucrative deal and the next he was verbally fencing with a termagant. Had she been serious about going out on her own? Perhaps not as active as New York, Boston nevertheless had a distinct nightlife. And Grace planned to participate in it?
Never!
It was time for a trip home where the only nightlife was listening to the nocturnal sounds in the desert. Yes, definitely…he and Grace needed to go to Zorha. He could meet with his father and brothers and discuss their new business ventures while she cajoled his mother into sending her more fragrant soaps.
What to do about tonight? Clearly he had two options. He could include her in the dinner with Jerry, who had spent the latter part of their meeting all but drooling over Amir’s dowdy assistant. Had the man no taste…or was he more discerning than most? Amir feared the latter. He feared even more that Jerry saw Grace as an easy mark and that she would prove to be one. She was ripe to be plucked from the tree of her virginity.
His other option was to allow her to go out for an evening on her own. In her current frame of mind, she was likely to do something she would regret later. As her friend, he was conscience-bound not to allow that. At least if she came with him to dinner, he could keep an eye on her.
And if Jerry thought he would be taking Grace home for a nightcap, he had a rude awakening ahead of him.
CHAPTER THREE
GRACE ADJUSTED her seat belt and looked out the window of the private jet at the wet tarmac. It was raining. Nothing new about that in New York in the spring. At least that was one good thing about heading to the desert. No dreary, gray days ahead. But other than the improvement in weather, she did not understand why
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