“Of course, sir.”
The servant came out with a platter: boiled eggs, fresh fruit, a pot of mint tea, and sweet rolls. Bashir thanked the man and dismissed him. “So Misha,” he said, as he stabbed a chunk of mango. The cook had dusted it with chili and salt, just as he liked it. “What do you charge?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m planning on leaving Bahrain for good, and separating from my father if need be. This will probably mean the end of my trust fund, so if I want to keep you on—”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, just talk with the man!” Misha growled suddenly. “I’ve been the bodyguard to several rich entitled brats like you and they all make the same mistake of thinking that actions matter more than words.”
“Don’t they, though?” Bashir asked, feeling a little chagrined. His bodyguard, telling him how to live his life? That was simply not allowed, and yet, here they were, Misha giving him a veritable lecture—given that most of what he said was, “Yes sir,” and “No sir”—on what he was doing wrong.
“I’m Russian. Words are our life.”
He watched Misha take a roll and pour himself a cup of tea, wondering if it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to just let Misha go. Then he heard a woman’s voice calling him: Alya’s voice.
Misha lowered his sunglasses and got up. He made a short bow and said, “Sir,” before gathering his towel and newspaper and heading inside.
Bashir remained where he was. Alya took Misha’s place next to him, and helped herself to a cup of tea.
“Are you enjoying being the queen?” Bashir asked pointedly.
“Cut the crap,” she said. Bashir felt a burst of surprise rise in his chest. “I know you hate me, and I’m not expecting that I’ll change your mind now that your father and I are married.”
“So what do you want?” he asked.
She sipped at her tea for a while, blowing on it in a dainty, ladylike way. Bashir had to admit that she did have class, after all—but in his mind she was still inextricably linked with the grief she’d caused his mother. “To thank you,” she said, finally. “For not ruining the wedding yesterday. I know you wanted to, and—well, I can understand why.”
“No, you can’t,” he said.
“Yes, I can. Did it ever occur to you that I was once married, too?”
Bashir felt himself go red: no, the idea had never occurred to him. Nor had it ever occurred to him that her husband might have cheated on her, which was what she was implying. “Of course not,” she said, turning away to look out at the pool. “Because I’m just an evil whore who seduces good men like your father.”
He couldn’t say anything because she was right—he had thought those things about her. “You don’t get a pass on cheating just because your husband hurt you first,” he said, aware that he sounded exactly like a pouting five-year-old.
“I’m not asking for a pass,” she said. “I’m asking that you remember that we’re not all that different.”
“I am nothing like you,” he snapped.
She merely raised her eyebrow and got up.
What kind of crazy-ass bitch did my father just marry? He rang the bell, summoning a servant to come and collect the tray. He needed to make reservations and find a suit. His father would definitely disapprove of him going on a date. It was the perfect way to make a statement, regardless of what Misha said. And if Misha disapproved of him so much, well, he didn’t have to bring a bodyguard with him when he went back to London.
***
Technically, he supposed that borrowing the Bugatti without letting his father know was stealing. But then again, if his father had been against him borrowing the car, he should have said something. The valet had hemmed and hawed and said something about his job, but Bashir knew his father: the man would never fire a servant for the bad behavior of his children.
He was wearing a linen suit, the only kind of thing that was bearable in the desert heat. He liked the Bugatti—it was stylish and different without being flashy and showy—it was a rich man’s car that didn’t scream “money” and the steering was second-to-none.
He’d never been on a date before. Not like this, anyway: an unchaperoned outing with a woman, alone. He’d gone out plenty of times with friends in London, and several times as the sole guy in a group of women, but it’d never gone beyond drinks and dancing. There’d always been the idea that one day he’d come home and his father would tell him that he was going to marry someone, lingering in the back of his mind and tainting all of his interactions with women. He’d always told himself that he’d refuse, but until now he had no good reason to disobey his father. His father respected the fact that he didn’t like the idea of being married, so he respected his father’s wishes and didn’t get himself unnecessarily involved in romantic escapades. But now his father had basically gone and spit on their mother’s grave—so in Bashir’s mind, the more scandalous the romance, the better.
And there was the fact that he really liked Melinda, too. Her self-assuredness was something that he’d only rarely seen in women—that kind of quiet self-confidence that came from knowing things about knowing herself. Too many people spent most of their days ruminating about stuff they’d seen online, he decided. Not enough of them spent enough time examining the state of their souls. He was probably one of the ones who could use some more introspection.
She lived in one of the high rises in Manama, and as he pulled up to the building he realized that he should’ve worn the wool suit instead. He’d forgotten how cold the desert could be at night. It was too late to change, though.
He considered picking up a bouquet of flowers from the stand at the corner, but when he got there they’d all been wilted from a day in the heat, so he went to a shop and got a box of chocolates instead. Women like chocolate, right? The fact that he didn’t know this for a fact seemed rather embarrassing.
Inside the building the air conditioning felt nearly arctic for how cool the place was. It was one of those swanky apartment buildings built to cater to expats, as the brochure taped to the glass featured a blond woman and “Air-conditioning” printed in a giant block letters across the bottom. Bashir headed for the elevators and got in, pushing the button for the twenty-fifth floor. He called the number she gave him.
“Hi, Melinda,” she said, when she picked up.
“Its me, Bashir,” he said. “Are you, um, ready?”
“Relieved, mostly,” she said, with a laugh in her voice. “You don’t want to know how nervous I’ve been for this date.”
“Why are you nervous?” he asked, grinning despite himself.
“I’ve never dated a prince before,” she said.
“Well, last time I checked, I didn’t have wings or six legs or cloven hooves,” he said. “Of course, it has been an hour since I last looked in the mirror.”
She laughed. Always a good sign. “I’ll leave the door unlocked,” she said. “Just come on in.”
“Thanks,” he said.
He checked his reflection in the stainless steel door of the elevator. It was fuzzy, but it was enough for him to make sure that his suit wasn’t too rumpled-looking and that his tie was straight.
He stepped out and found her apartment. He took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock—and then he remembered that she’d said to go in. Could she really want him to just walk in, though? Didn’t women like their privacy? He wished he’d paid more attention to what his friends in London had said.
He ended up knocking and then opening the door. She was in the living room, fixing an earring. She was wearing a long-sleeved, emerald-green dress and white flowing pants, both trimmed in gold. She had a headscarf on, loosely framing her hair. “So how do I look?” she asked, smiling. He saw that she was wearing makeup, too. She’d done something with her eyes.
“You look amazing,” he said, smiling.
She blushed. “I didn’t know what would be considered appropriate,” she said. “I mean, you’re supposed to have a chaperone on these things
, aren’t you?”
“This is Bahrain, not Saudi Arabia,” he said, smiling. He handed her the box of chocolates. “I hope I chose the right ones.”
“Chocolate is always wonderful,” she said, as she slid the box in her refrigerator. “And yeah, I know it’s not Saudi Arabia, but it’s kind of weird, here, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t know, it’s always been normal for me,” he said.
“So what’s the restaurant we’re going to?” she asked, as she pulled on her heels.
“The Grill, in Jaffa.”
Her eyes got big: for all its modest name—because there was nothing special about a grill—the Grill was one of the best restaurants in the entire Middle East, holding two Michelin stars. The sultan of the United Arab Emirates was always trying to convince the chef, Alonso Frances, to give up his job and move into the Burj Khalifa.
“Too modest?” he asked, grinning. “I thought about taking you to Ocean’s End but their wait-list is at least three months.”
“No, I—I just never expected—that you’d take me there,” she said, locking her door and following him out to the elevator.
“Why not? I’m a prince, right? What use is a trust fund if you can’t have fun every now and then?”
“You do this with all of the women in your life?”
“I wouldn’t know. You’re the first.”
She flushed, but then she realized what he’d said. “But surely you’ve gone out with women before.”
“Never like this—just the two of us. When I was younger my mother insisted that we have a chaperone, and after I moved to London it was more about getting drunk with friends than romance.”
“How is it that you’ve never found anybody?” she marveled. “Surely it gets lonely?”
“You’re never really alone when you have a bodyguard who’s being paid to shadow you all the time,” he said. She looked over her shoulders as he opened the door of the car for her to get in. “Don’t worry, you won’t see him. Misha’s a pro.”
“Misha?”
“Russian. Big guy. Nice enough.” When he’s not trying to give life advice.
“So do people really try to assassinate you?”
“If they have it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of it,” he said, starting the engine. The Bugatti roared to life. So did his phone. He looked at it, saw that it was his father, and then turned it off.
“Dating a prince sound dangerous,” she said.
“The only thing dangerous about me is my dad’s disapproval,” he said. “And that’s only if you want to get used to living with a trust fund.”
The sun had set when they started out, and as he drove towards Jaffa the sky deepened to the smooth, even purple of the night. “It’s a lovely sunset,” she sighed. The moon, fat and heavy with the promises of the night, rose fat and heavy above the horizon. The land was reluctant to give off the heat of the day, but even as he handed the car to the valet the first chill had sunk into the breeze. She felt it, too, and she clung to his arm with that much more eagerness as they stepped inside.
The Grill was surprisingly modern inside, the chairs covered in smooth black leather while the tablecloths were crisp white linens. They’d changed the walls since the last time Bashir had been there, from a chevron wallpaper that gave him a headache if he looked at it for it too long, to a washed textured paint this time, in cool blues and purples. They’d also strung little Christmas lights in the ceiling, to give the illusion of being outside, under the stars.
The food was exquisite: oysters on the half-shell, soaking in a mix of their juices and a few drops of lemon juice and whiskey. Tiny globes of sour-apple sorbet, served with the thinnest wafer of chocolate and a smear of marshmallow foam. The wait staff were a bit baffled about the wine, though: officially there was no wine list, and if Bashir had been here with his sister, they’d have denied that there was wine in the house at all.
“I am the prince,” Bashir snapped, after some back-and-forth. “And I wish to have wine. If my soul is in mortal danger for it then that’s my business. Yours is to serve us wine.”
Her lips quirked into an odd little smile. “I don’t like to call attention to the fact that I’m the prince,” Bashir grumbled. “But you’d think that a place like this, which is specifically for wealthy people with foreign tastes, wouldn’t give paying customers so much grief.”
“I was surprised to see that there was a liquor cabinet in the palace,” she said.
“We’re not all as holy as some people think,” Bashir said, as the waiter returned with a dusty, well-aged bottle. “That’s better,” he said.
“It will add another fifty dinars to your bill,” the waiter cautioned, but Bashir waved his concerns aside. Melinda smirked happily.
“I’ll bet you’ve never seen a guy waste that much money on a bottle of wine,” he said, as they resumed their meal.
“Oh, I have,” she said. “I’m just amused that it happens.”
“Amused?”
“That men still seem to think it’s impressive.”
“It is impressive,” he protested. “Do you know how many people the owner likely had to bribe to get this bottle?”
She laughed again. The evening was going well. What a shame I have to go back to London tomorrow, he thought, as he caressed her hand across the table. She watched him, a secretive smile playing about her lips. Long-distance relationships can work, he thought. Yes, they can. We can make it work if we really wanted to.
He could only hope that the quiet, sultry looks she was giving him meant that she felt the same way.
***
They drove out to the coast after dinner. He felt rather sheepish, not having had anything planned beyond the dinner, but he didn’t anticipate that she’d actually stay interested in him through the main course, never mind dessert. But they had a good time—they laughed, and talked about their favorite movies. Her father, like his, was worried about her marriage prospects. Her mother was still alive, but he had the impression that they were no longer close.
There was always an odd glow on the horizon over the water, a thin scrim of light that seemed to suggest that there was something bigger out there, more glamorous, better. They walked side by side, leaning into each other for warmth as much as for the company, and the reassurance that the other was still there. “I leave for London tomorrow,” he said, as they walked.
“Do you have to?” she asked.
“I need to defend my thesis soon,” he said. “And I have a committee meeting next week.”
“You could stay.”
“You could come with me.”
But somehow, they both knew that he would not stay, and she would not leave. Living their lives for someone else was something they’d both tried, and they both discovered that it could never work. They weren’t ready for the kinds of sacrifices that people made in the name of love, and yet he found himself wondering—maybe, just maybe, he could be ready for this. He’d refused his father’s pleas to take a wife because he’d have been living based on what his father had said was right—but now, he was doing what he felt was right.
He was aware of how silly this all was. Falling in love, this hard and this fast, just wasn’t realistic. This couldn’t be real. And yet, her body was warm against his, and the look in her eyes as they walked on the sand together, letting the warm water kiss their feet, was open and calm.
“It could work,” she said, absently, after a while. So she’d been thinking the same things, too.
“Could it?” he asked. “If I lose my trust fund, it’s going to get a whole lot harder to fly back here.”
“Why would you lose your trust fund?” she began, but then she cut herself off and just shook her head. “The king seems like such a nice guy on the news,” she said.
“He’s as nice as any other man with nearly-unlimited wealth could be,” Bashir said. “And he’s not inclined to forgive the fact that I’ve spurned all of the ‘suitable matches’ he’s found for me ov
er the past few years—and if I bring you home—”
“I don’t want to be a source of contention between you and your father,” she said, quickly.
“You would have been a source of contention anyway,” he said. “Because I chose you, not him. You could literally fulfill all of the criteria for the perfect wife and he would still hate you because I picked you, not him.”
“Parents are so weird like that,” she said.
“They are,” he agreed. “It’s like, they raised us, but they don’t know who we are or what makes us happy.”
“So what makes you happy, o Prince?” she asked, teasingly.
He had to stop and think about that—it’d never occurred to him to ask himself that question before. “You know, I don’t know,” he said, stunned. “I like my thesis and I like doing the research and I like living in England, but there’s no burning need to do that, no ‘If I can’t do that then I’ll die’ sensation. Is that what happiness is? Do you know what makes you happy?” he asked.
“I always figured that I’d know it when I find it,” she said, squeezing his hand. “And I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
He turned to face her, fighting down an urge to kiss her out of gratitude-someone who understood him, who knew what it was like to have to face these kinds of pressures. That wouldn’t be proper—it’s just a first date—
ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance Page 56
