One Night With the Sheik (Friends Forever Book 4)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  Struggling against the shockingly muscular arms, she tried to free herself, to escape. The warm breath against her cheek tried to sooth her, as did his words. “Calm yourself, little flower.”

  She wasn’t calm. She was angry. Furious!

  And even worse, she looked like a fool! She’d tried to slap the Sheik of Triar, literally, one of the most powerful men in the world and she was going to prison! Failure was a bitter taste in her mouth as she realized the full extent of what she’d just done.

  With a surge of anger mixed with a flood panic, Arianna burst into tears. It wasn’t just this moment, it was the past week, the worry about her father, the frustrations with police and guards and other oil rig personnel telling her that her father was fine when she knew that he wasn’t. All of the stress just tumbled out when his strength surrounded her. She couldn’t stop the outburst any more than she could control the emotions welling up inside of her.

  But instead of handcuffs slapped onto her wrists, she felt herself being held gently. Those strong arms that had been holding her securely were now wrapping around her, lifting her up and carrying her over to one of the benches. She didn’t care. Her enemy of moments before was now her comforter and she sobbed out all of her tension, her fears and frustrations. The strain of the past few days was too much for her to bear and she curled up in her enemy’s arms, her hands fisting the material of his robes while Arianna used him for warmth and security in a world that had offered none only moments before.

  A part of her mind heard him reassure the guards, but Arianna didn’t care. The guards argued, but this man’s commands were absolute so the guards reluctantly retreated. Her arms tightened around his neck and she felt the pressure of his own around her back, pulling her closer. Trying to reassure her.

  The soothing sounds only increased her tears, the sobs coming in great gulps of grief and anger. Arianna had no idea how long she sat in this man’s lap and cried, but eventually, the tears subsided.

  When they finally stopped, she was exhausted. And it occurred to her that the man was still holding her gently in his arms…after she’d tried to smack him!

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, feeling drained. And now that the emotions had finally left her, she knew that what she’d done was wrong. Violence and anger never solved anything, she told herself. Logic and reasoning were better weapons.

  Standing up, she extended her hands.

  “What’s this?” he asked, standing next to her and taking both of her hands into his own, folding them on top of each other.

  She blinked back a fresh wave of tears, but they weren’t a true threat. She was too wiped out from the last bout of emotion. With resignation, she turned her head away, unwilling to look into the face of her failure. “You need to arrest me.”

  He chuckled and, strangely, the sound created that horrible trembling in her body once again. But this time, the trembling was different. It wasn’t from nerves or anger…this time it was…

  No, she banished the possibility of being attracted to him from her mind. Regardless of her horrible anger and remorse, this man was her only hope in finding her father. It was humiliating to feel anything other than anger towards this man.

  He turned, tucking her hand onto his arm as he led her out of the receiving room. “I’m not arresting you,” he told her.

  She tried to pull her hand away, not liking the way it made her feel to be so close to this man. “But...you must!”

  He looked down at her and those dark eyes showed his amusement. “I must?”

  She was flustered by his response. And her own! “Yes! I tried to slap you!” They were walking down a long hallway, the two of them surrounded by big, bulky guards.

  “You did not slap me,” he asserted, as they turned left down yet another long corridor.

  She pulled back, stopping their momentum to look up at him. “Yes! I did! You have to arrest me.”

  He laughed but backed up. “Arianna, you would never survive prison,” he said softly, his strong fingers moving the strawberry blond curls out of her eyes. “Your tender skin would be shredded, blistered, and ruined. This lovely hair would be infested with vermin, tangled into knots, and used as a weapon against you.” His eyes moved down over her lush figure draped in the blue silk dress. “And your lovely body would be in jeopardy from the other prisoners.” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think that I will allow you to go to jail.”

  She inhaled sharply, feeling strange with those dark eyes looking at her in that manner. “But…”

  “We shall eat,” he announced, interrupting her again. “And you will explain your antipathy towards me and why you avoided my phone calls for the past several months. I will strive to change your mind. And we will work this out and find your father.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he lifted a hand to stop the words. “Not in that order.”

  She gritted her teeth, not sure what to say in the face of such arrogance. “I appreciate your…” she struggled to find the right word, the right tone to use. On the one hand, the memories of their last time together made her angry with him for so many reasons. But at this moment, she was frantic. And with that, she accepted that she’d have to moderate her tone for what she needed from him. She couldn’t continue to snipe at him when she desperately needed his help. Modifying her tone, she struggled to remain calm. “I appreciate your generosity in not arresting me for my lapse in patience when I tried to slap you, Your Highness,” she started off, relishing the flash of irritation she saw in his eyes, but focused on the more important issue. “And thank you. I’m truly frantic about my father. I can’t do it alone, which is why I came here, hoping that you might offer some assistance. And I appreciate you not throwing me in jail.”

  He laughed once again as the guards opened a set of ornate doors in front of him, several of them glowering down into her amber eyes. “I daresay that my guards agree with me. They are eager to lock you up,” he agreed, his head nodding towards a pair of big, bulky, angry guards that seemed tense, fully prepared to shoot her at the slightest provocation.

  Arianna glanced in that direction as well, not surprised to find both guards glaring at her with righteous fury. “Umm…oh.” Arianna wasn’t sure what to say. They all looked frightening! She stopped and took a step towards the two that seemed the most menacing, ready for them to take action.

  When she looked up at him again, she could see that he was trying hard not to laugh at her. Again!

  “Don’t you dare!” she gasped.

  Rhys had held back for as long as possible, but her soft lips and those to-die-for golden eyes were daring him to laugh. He couldn’t hold it back.

  What was it about this woman? The last time they’d been together, she’d been like a breath of fresh air in his life. From the first moment he’d seen her, he’d been entranced, amazed at her easy smile and her ability to see life with eyes that weren’t cynical. There was no subterfuge with Arianna. Everything she was feeling was right there on her face or in her gorgeous eyes. When he’d kissed her, she’d responded with desire and lust, sounds that had made him feel more masculine and powerful than he would have thought possible.

  And then she’d left, departed the country before he even knew that he’d hurt her feelings somehow. For the past six months, she’d ignored his phone calls and rejected the flowers he’d sent.

  Now she was back and, this time, he wasn’t going to mess things up. This time, he was going to understand her, to figure out what made her tick, what caused her to smile and, most importantly, what it would take to get her into his bed and keep her there.

  Just thinking about having her in his bed, naked, those hot, sexy sounds she made when he kissed her…hell, his body was fully aroused just thinking back to those incredible sounds, as well as the way she’d felt in his arms. For the first time, he had a woman who wasn’t faking anything, every reaction was honest and sincere.

  “You’re not going to hurt me,” he asserted firmly as he took the chair on the
opposite side of the table from her.

  She looked over at him, not sure what was going on. Tilting her head slightly, she glared at him across the table. “So, let me get this straight. I cry on your shoulder, ask for help and then try to slap you. Now you’re going to feed me?” She paused and looked at him for a long moment. “You’re crazy, right? That would make sense. You’re out of your mind. A nutcase.”

  He chuckled again, but nodded towards the waiting servants, silently telling them to bring in the food. “Tell me why you think your father is missing.”

  She bowed her head as the reality of her life came crashing down around her. For the past few minutes, she’d been distracted from her worries, but now…it was all there. The panic, the worry, the imaginings of what her father might be going through…!

  Sitting stiffly across from him, she looked into his dark eyes, trying to fight the shame that was hitting her as she accepted the enormity of her failure to get even the smallest piece of information over the past few days. “I haven’t heard from him in over a week.”

  He watched her, realizing that her simple statement was significant. “I’m assuming that’s unusual,” he commented.

  “Yes. We text or e-mail each other at least once a day. And once a week, we call each other to catch up.”

  “Ah, so your phone does work,” he noted and Arianna couldn’t stop the blush at his reference to his repeated calls after she’d left last time.

  There was a long silence as she fought, and won, the battle of controlling her anger and humiliation. When she was ready, she looked up, startled to see that he was patiently waiting for her to regain her composure.

  “When was the last time you heard from him?”

  Blinking rapidly, she looked away, not wanting to notice the man’s hard jawline or the interesting shadows caused by the day-old scruff of his beard.

  She started speaking quickly, hoping that she would get through the explanation without breaking down again if she told him quickly enough. As she spoke, the words flowed more easily. There was no laughter in his eyes now. And thankfully, no pity either. To her novice viewing, his expression seemed…concerned? Interested?

  She wasn’t sure.

  “During my last conversation with him, over 10 days ago, he talked about working on one of your oil rigs, trying to repair a leak. The repairs were going okay, but the pipes never should have broken. I’d talked to him just the night before and…he mentioned something wasn’t right on the rig, but I dismissed it. The next day, I didn’t hear from him. I didn’t think anything of it, just thought that he was working hard to repair the rig. But when I didn’t hear from him again the following day, I knew that something was wrong,” she stopped, blinking rapidly as her thoughts traveled back to that last conversation. She’d been laughing at something her father had said, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what that was. She hated that she hadn’t been paying enough attention to really focus on her father! “He’s not answering his phone, which has never, ever happened when I called him.”

  Shaking her head slightly, she took a deep breath. For another long moment, she stared down at her plate. When she looked up at him again, her eyes were hard. Firm. “You’d recently fired your oil minister and brought in a new man, then ordered him to lower costs. The only way to do that was to scrimp on lower quality equipment. The result was that the metal splintered under the extra pressure caused by the deeper drilling.” She looked up at the ceiling now, unable to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. “My father warned his supervisors that the lower quality piping wouldn’t hold. He tried to stop production until better, stronger rigging could be brought to the site. When that failed, he went up his chain of command, but everyone ignored his warnings.” Looking across the table, she glared at him, ignoring the compassion and understanding in his eyes. It was fake, she told herself. “He went higher, despite repeated threats to his job, and sent messages directly to you, informing you that the metal wasn’t up to the task of containing the pressure.”

  “He warned me personally?” Rhys asked, surprised.

  She looked at him, absently taking in the splendor around them. The gilt walls and the silk covered chairs, the crystal glasses and sterling silver on the table…it was all very impressive, and only reinforced her opinion that Rhys might be the reason her father wasn’t here now.

  She lifted her chin slightly, clenching her hands together under the table so she wouldn’t launch herself at him as her anger and resentment flared to life again. “No, I don’t suppose you are available to the people who actually work on your oil rigs. The faulty piping was ordered from your office. Someone in your administrative circle got word from you that the expenses were too high and profits were shrinking. My father told me all of this on the phone, but after that, I haven’t heard from him. Not a word.”

  Rhys watched the woman while he rapidly assimilated what she was telling him. Although he didn’t doubt her story, the data he’d received from his oil minister during the last briefing didn’t mesh up with her information. She was correct about the new oil minister, though. He’d hired a new executive because too many issues were cropping up, accidents that shouldn’t have happened, causing morale to drop, creating a high turnover rate. The problems were slowing down now and he’d received good reports from his new oil minister. But there were no indications that anyone had been hurt recently. And thankfully no deaths on an oilrig. Not in the past two years. And even two years ago, the man who had died had suffered from a heart attack. Truly a tragic incident, but the man had been two hundred pounds overweight and a chain smoker.

  The possibility that something sinister was happening on one of his oil rigs infuriated him. Especially if a person had gone missing. And it was especially egregious that no one had informed him. Working on an oilrig was inherently dangerous, but he’d mandated that strict safety precautions were put in place and adhered to. Accidents still happened, but they should be included with the monthly briefings and, so far, all the reported accidents had been minor. No oil rigs breakage had been included.

  “My father is a good, honest man, who loves working on oil rigs.” She smiled slightly as she thought fondly of her larger-than-life father. “He loves the mystery of finding oil underground, but even more than that, he loves figuring out new ways to harness the oil, to make the machinery run better, cleaner. More efficiently. Since he’s started reporting on the quarterly information, you’ve been in meetings with him and know him. He’s a mechanical engineer to his core and is always tinkering, searching for new solutions to fixing oil rigs.”

  Rhys listened and his mind was startled by some of her words. “You don’t have to tell me that, Arianna. You know that I respect your father, and consider him to be one of the best engineers on the rigs. I agree with you. He is honest and efficient. If he found something wrong, he would have reported it up the chain, but I haven’t heard from him in months. Because of his expertise, I haven’t needed to meet with him in person. He’s just that good.”

  Her eyes widened and he noticed her dark lashes for the first time. He hadn’t realized how long they were because they were overwhelmed by the color of her eyes, a special golden color that seemed strange and yet, worked with her blonde hair and creamy complexion.

  She leaned forward slightly, and his eyes moved from her long, dark lashes to the delicate bone structure of her shoulders and arms.

  “So you agree. Something strange is happening.”

  Her words pulled his attention back to her issue and Rhys nodded. He was struck by the hope in her eyes. Gone was the anger as she realized a connection with him through her father. “Yes, your father is a good man and he wouldn’t just disappear like this,” he replied and spooned food onto her plate since she hadn’t served herself yet. “My security team will start investigating immediately. Once they have some leads, you and I will head out and discover his location.”

  “I’m really not hungry,” she told him, obviously wanting
to push the food away and discuss her father. Although there was a flash of something…strange…in those intriguing eyes and he almost chuckled at her confusion. She wanted his help to find her father, but she didn’t want him personally involved. The conundrum was there and she wasn’t sure which way to go, retain her anger, or ask about his knowledge of her father.

  “You will eat so that you can keep your energy up.”

  He watched as her lips pressed together and wanted to pull her back onto his lap and kiss those lips. “Look, I know you’re trying to be nice, but I really need to get back out and search for my father.” She started to stand but he lifted an eyebrow.

  “You will stay and eat while my team gathers information, Arianna. My head of security, Gregor has already been informed of the problem and is looking for leads.”

  She huffed a bit, but shook her head. “I sincerely appreciate your assistance. It’s why I came here today so…”

  “Why didn’t you just call my private number?” he asked, motioning his fork towards her plate. “If you don’t eat something, I will tell my men to stop. I doubt you’ve eaten anything at all today and, from those dark circles under your eyes, you haven’t slept well in several nights.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, but he noticed the moment that she agreed that he was right. Sitting back down, she picked up her fork, but she was still too anxious to eat, and simply moved the food around.

  “I should have been able to do this on my own. If the police would just do their jobs and investigate instead of stonewalling me, then I wouldn’t need your help.” Arianna glared across the table at him, uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. “Do you always personally oversee the investigations into the crimes committed in your kingdom?” she asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her tone because she truly was grateful. She just…well, she didn’t want him personally involved!