“One is already on the way, Your Highness. He was instructed to pick you up on the Ditra palace helipad. Landing time is approximately three minutes.”
Another sigh and he wondered if he could replace his chief of staff with someone a bit less efficient. But that was ridiculous and he shook his head. “Excellent work,” he told the man. And then he ended the call, needing to speak with Ilara for just a moment.
Turning, he found her in yet another councilman’s arms, laughing and spinning. She looked beautiful, Jabril thought, standing there for a precious moment as her blond hair shimmered in the overhead lights and her sparkling, brown eyes glowed with happiness.
But he heard the thudding of the helicopter blades and knew that he needed to hurry. He took her hand, smiling an apology to her dance partner, and led her to the side of the ballroom.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. Jabril had to use all of his self-control to keep himself from pulling her into his arms.
“No. I just got a call. I have an emergency back in Piara. Horrible timing and I’m sorry. But I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”
She lifted a hand up, touching his cheek. “Thank you for everything,” she told him softly.
Jabril was stunned by her words. They sounded so…final! But before he could question her, two of his bodyguards entered and Jabril knew that he needed to go. “I’ll call you,” he promised. A quick kiss and he headed home instead of leading her out of the damn ballroom so he could make love to her in a soft, comfortable bed.
Chapter 9
Ilara stared out into the night. Only a few stars shimmered as the moon slowly rose into the sky. “Why?” she whispered to the stars.
Unfortunately, the stars had no answer for her.
Pulling her pashmina closer, she wiped the tears from her face again, and turned, heading back inside the palace. Jabril had left over a week ago and she’d received only one phone call since.
She tried to be patient, Ilara thought as she sat down at her father’s desk. He’d had an emergency, she reminded herself. From what she’d heard on the news, an oil explosion had killed three people and injured many others. There was an ongoing investigation, but the police still don’t know if the explosion was an accident or sabotage. Either way, it was tragic and horrible.
Ilara felt miserable because she didn’t care. And she should care! She should be more compassionate. But the truth was, she missed Jabril! She missed him so much that she wanted to scream, she wanted go find Jabril! In the dark hours of the night, she wondered if she should go to him, be supportive. But Ilara knew that the idea of going to Jabril was stupid and selfish. She’d go only to be with him. And if Jabril needed her support, he would call her.
Besides, she couldn’t leave Ditra right now. There were so many issues, so many problems that needed solutions. She couldn’t abandon her people simply because she wanted to feel Jabril’s arms around her.
“The lights aren’t on again tonight,” she said, walking back inside to where her transition team was still working, diligently ironing out issues.
Several people looked up from their computers, but there wasn’t a single suggestion on how to fix it. With a sigh, she pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, trying to stave off her oncoming headache. Again. “Mark, I need you to contact the oil refinery and get the chief operating officer in my office first thing tomorrow morning. I want an explanation as to why the electricity is not consistent yet. It’s been a week!”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Mark replied.
Someone’s hand went up. “Yes, Marcy?” Was this grade school?!
“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but you asked me to have the head of the sanitation department here first thing in the morning.”
Right! Because no one was picking up the garbage yet. Why was this even a problem?! The trucks were in the sanitation department’s parking lot! And even if the garbage trucks were broken, couldn’t someone hire a bunch of people with pickup trucks to drive along the streets and pick up the trash? It didn’t take much training to toss a bag of garbage into the back of a truck!
Ilara opened her eyes and stared out at twelve people who stared right back at her, all of them waiting for guidance. Patience, she reminded herself. She needed to dig deeper for that well of patience that…that she’d never had! Why couldn’t anyone think for themselves?
Because she was their leader and Kasim had crushed their spirits while she’d been gone. It was up to her to lead, guide, and give direction.
Lifting her chin in a way that she hoped projected confidence, she addressed her staff. “Power in people’s homes is a higher priority. But have both of them here tomorrow morning. Since neither of them seem to be doing anything to fix the issues, they can both wait and I’ll figure out which one I want to talk with first.”
“Right,” Marcy nodded and went back to her phone conversation.
“George, where are we with the food shipment? Shouldn’t it have been here already? I drove through the streets earlier today and the grocery stores are still empty.”
George stood up, almost as if he were anticipating the question. “Your Highness, the shipment is here.”
“Where?”
“In the harbor.”
Ilara glanced out the window as if she could see the harbor from here. But that was ridiculous. The palace was set too far back from the coast. Besides, the walls surrounding the palace were too high. From this room, she could only see the stone walls of the palace perimeter.
Looking back at George, she leaned against the desk, rapidly working through the issue in her mind. “Okay, so it was about ninety degrees out today. Fresh food and heat aren’t a good combination. Why was the food not off-loaded to the port?”
“Because there aren’t any inspectors on hand. All of them were fired about a year ago.”
Ilara frowned at George. “Okay, so hire them back! Or train someone to inspect the shipments.”
George flushed and looked down at his shoes. “Well, the thing is, no one knows how to operate the machines that off-load the ships.”
Ilara sighed, leaning against the table in front of her. “Are you trying to tell me that there isn’t anyone around who can operate machinery? I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, since we haven’t had inspectors, none of the ships have been off-loaded.”
The headache that had been threatening all afternoon finally exploded behind her eyes. “George. I want you to think about this problem carefully.” He straightened up and nodded eagerly. “I need you to go down to the harbor and find the harbormaster. If there isn’t one, then find someone on a ship and assign that person the duty of becoming harbormaster. Get those ships into a loading dock. Walk the streets and the machine shops. Find people who look like they are capable of using machinery. Then get them to the shipyard and have them offload the cargo.”
George swallowed painfully, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “Yes, Your Highness. I can do that.”
“Excellent!” she replied, adding a smile to reassure him. “Okay, what’s next?”
Ilara dealt with one problem after another. And after every interaction, she had to remind herself to be patient. She’d left Ditra years ago and her uncle had demoralized the citizens. Everyone was afraid of speaking up, coming out and doing things in the streets. So, it was going to take more than a few days before things got back to normal.
By the time one of the palace servants arrived with dinner, Ilara’s headache was making her nauseous. It was so bad that she couldn’t even contemplate eating. Hours later, she was alone, still working at her desk, reading through submissions of foreign companies that wanted to take over one or more of the services here in Ditra. As much as she’d like to simply hand over the responsibility, she didn’t want to be taken advantage of.
Pulling yet another proposal forward, she blinked, trying to focus but her eyes were gritty with fatigue and that damn headache simply wouldn’t ease up. “Damn you, Jab
ril!” she whispered. “Why did you leave me?”
There wasn’t an answer.
It wasn’t that she wanted him to fix all of this for her. Ilara wanted to work, wanted to help her people recover. But boy, it would be really nice to feel his arms around her right about now.
“You gave me so much, and then you left,” she whispered. But the document in front of her didn’t have the answers to her heartache.
“I didn’t fall in love with you,” she announced belligerently. More silence. She wasn’t sure what she hated more - this mocking silence or the barely controlled chaos when others were here. Both were frustrating. But even worse was the way her body ached when she went to bed alone at night.
“It was only a week!” she snapped, impatient with herself. “I slept in his arms for a week! I shouldn’t miss his arms around me at night! I shouldn’t crave feeling him hold me!” This last was just a whisper as the pain and loneliness swamped her, almost overwhelming her.
For the first few days, she’d pretended that she didn’t miss him. She’d held a pillow against her chest, pretending that it was Jabril.
That hadn’t worked. Primarily because Jabril’s arms and chest and shoulders were hard and muscular, and cradled her head perfectly. The pillow was soft and pointless. Adding to her frustration, she hadn’t heard from him in several days and…she missed him!
“This is ridiculous! I don’t love him!” she muttered. “I can’t love him! I don’t know him well enough to love him!”
That argument wasn’t working either. Because every time she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t in love with Jabril, a small voice inside her head whispered, “Liar!”
So here she was, exhausted, overwhelmed, and feeling foolish because she’d fallen so hard for a man who didn’t love her back. Because if he had any feelings for her at all, wouldn’t he be her with her now?
Chapter 10
Three weeks later, Jabril was fed up. He was sick of waiting! Storming through the doors to Ilara’s office, he…came to an abrupt halt.
Ilara was sitting behind her father’s massive desk…sound asleep. The pen in her hand, still propped up by fingers that twitched, almost as if she were still trying to write in her dreams.
She was trying to do it all, he realized. Jabril had left almost immediately after Kasim’s arrest. That horrible oil rig explosion back in Piara had called him home. “I’m fine,” she’d assured him when he’d spoken to her about Ditra’s progress on the phone. “I’ll be fine. If I need advice, I’ll call you.”
“Call me anyway,” he’d ordered.
She hadn’t called. He’d called! Like a lovesick school boy, he’d called her several times, only to be told that she was busy, or not in the palace. The few times that he’d actually reached her, she’d been too distracted to talk to him.
So this morning, he’d decided to find out what was going on and had flown over to Ditra to find out for himself. Had their one night together meant nothing to her? Had their kisses and longing looks been a figment of his imagination? Was her skin not as soft as he remembered?
Jabril was sick of the questions roiling through his mind. He was here to figure things out!
Standing over her now, he peered at her desk. He couldn’t even see the surface because there were so many reports and proposals, contracts and offers piled everywhere. Ilara was trying to do it all herself.
With a sigh, he bent lower. She was clearly exhausted. Dark circles had formed under her eyes and, even from this angle, he could see that she’d lost weight.
“What are you doing to yourself, honey?” he asked softly.
With a sigh, he took the pen out of her hand. As gently as possible, he picked Ilara up and carried her down the long hallway to her apartment.
“Where does she sleep?” he asked one of the servants.
“This way, Your Highness,” the woman answered, then rushed ahead of him, opening one of the doors, then closing it softly behind him.
Jabril didn’t stop until he was in her bedroom where he laid her carefully on the bed. Taking off her shoes, but nothing else so that he didn’t wake her up, he pulled the covers over her. After that, he walked out into the other room, pulling out his cell phone. It was time to help his wife, even if she didn’t want it.
Thankfully, he had some good friends who could help.
“I need your advice,” he began as soon as Sebastian Hughes answered his call. Sebastian was the owner of one of the largest banks in the world and a genius when it came to international finance and economics.
“Tell me what you need,” Sebastian replied without hesitation. The same thing happened with his next few phone calls. Several hours later, he had everything in place and his friends were on their way. It would take them a few hours to arrive, so he walked back into the bedroom, stripping off his clothes along the way. Walking back to the bed, he looked down at Ilara. She’d curled into the blanket, her lips parted as she breathed.
“Honey,” he whispered, bending down to push the blond hair out of her eyes. “You only needed to ask for help.”
Slipping into the bed behind her, Jabril pulled her into his arms, holding her gently as she settled back to sleep.
Chapter 11
Ilara woke up slowly, feeling the warmth of both the sunshine and an unknown heat against her. Both were welcome. She knew that she should wake up, trying to remember all of the things that she needed to do. But she’d been working for twenty hours a day for too many days, trying to prove something to herself and to her people. And to Jabril.
But at the moment, she didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to bask in the warmth. She hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time and didn’t want to give up the comfort.
“You keep doing that and we’re going to be late,” a deep voice whispered in her ear.
Ilara’s eyes flew open and she peeked over her shoulder. Sure enough, Jabril was behind her now, looking sleepy and scruffy and so incredibly sexy, he literally took her breath away!
“You’re here!” she gasped, then stopped before she could throw herself into his arms. “I thought I was dreaming!”
He laughed softly, pulling her closer. “Was it a good dream or a bad one?”
Ilara wasn’t sure what to say. Instead, she pulled out of his arms, shoving the covers away and…looking down, she realized that she was still in here clothes from yesterday.
A quick glance at the clock had her gasping, her fingers covering her forehead as she realized how late she was. “I have meetings!” she gasped, pushing her hair out of her eyes frantically.
Jabril pushed a pillow behind his head. “You have a husband too, or did you forget about that?”
She blushed, then looked around. “What…why are you here?”
“Because you wouldn’t talk to me on the phone. So I decided to find out what was going on for myself.”
Right! He’d called. Several times! But…he’d left her alone! On the night of Kasim’s arrest, Jabril had left to fly back to Piara and he hadn’t come back! So…what was he doing here now?
“I…um…I have meetings with my advisors. We’re trying to…” She stopped. Ilara couldn’t remember what they were trying to figure out today. There was so much! So many things that needed to get done and every time she thought she was making progress, another crisis came up! So many things were wrong! The police were corrupt, the banks were moneyless, and the palace guards had been starved in prison so they were too sick to fill their roles. There wasn’t enough food for the general population to eat and…everything was a mess! It was worse, so much worse than she’d thought!
“Breathe, Ilara,” he said softly, coming closer. “Just breathe.” He was holding her now, his warm, muscular arms wrapped around her and she leaned into him, taking comfort in his presence. “You’re trying to do everything yourself, aren’t you?”
Ilara stood there, feeling his arms and knowing that she had a million things to do. But…she wasn’t sure where to start!
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br /> “Stop. Take a breath,” he admonished.
Ilara pulled out of his arms, furious with him now. “I can’t stop! I can’t stop or my country will fall apart! People are starving, there’s no economy other than criminals and nothing works! I can’t even get the stupid garbage picked up because there’s no money in the treasury to pay the people to pick up the garbage!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air with fury and frustration.
He reached for her but she pushed his hands away, unwilling to accept his comfort when she was such a complete and utter failure at running this country. “No! Stop! That’s not helping!”
“You need to slow down, Ilara. Go take a shower. Get dressed. I have some people that you need to talk with.”
“What people?” she demanded. “Someone who can wave a magic wand and fix this entire mess?”
“No. Not a magic wand. But people who are here to help.”
“I don’t want people who can help! I want people who can fix!”
“Breathe, love.”
She spun around, pointing a finger at him. “And that’s another thing! You left me! You walked away and left me with this mess! It’s not that I can’t fix things. I can!” Then she gasped, her fingers diving into her hair. “What am I saying? I can’t fix things! I’m a failure!” She pushed her fingers through her hair, obviously trying to settle down. But then she spun around, coming up with more. That’s when she froze and Ilara finally noticed him. “You’re naked!”
He chuckled softly, crossing his arms over his chest in a pose that seemed so natural, even though he was completely nude. “I just got out of bed, Ilara. Of course I’m naked.”
“You…” she waved her hand at him, her eyes drifting downwards, fascinated. A shake of her head and she closed her eyes. “Get dressed!”
Resisting the Sheik's Commands (The Diamond Club Book 1) Page 12
