“Is it really that difficult to tell me who you are?”
He could almost hear her considering his request. Then she tossed her head.
“Rachel. Rachel Donnelly.”
“Well, Rachel Donnelly, I am Karim.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Perhaps Rami mentioned me.”
Rachel struggled to hide her distress.
Her unwanted visitor had confirmed her worst fear.
Rami had, indeed, mentioned Karim. Not to her. He’d never said more than “hello” and “goodbye” to her—unless you counted the times he’d brushed past her and whispered how much he wanted to take her to bed.
Suki had told her all about Rami’s brother.
Her sister had hated him, sight unseen.
Karim, Suki said, was the reason Rami had no money, the reason he would never be treated properly by their father, the King.
It was all because of him.
Karim.
Karim the Greedy. Karim the Arrogant. Karim the Prince, who had deliberately driven a wedge between Rami and his father. Karim the Prince, with no concern for anyone but himself, no greater wish than to stop anyone else from possibly inheriting even a piece of their father’s fortune.
Karim, the Sheikh with no heart.
Rachel had not paid much attention to any of it until Rami and then Suki had taken off.
Rami had left first. No warning, no goodbye. One day he was here and the next he and his things were gone.
Suki, no surprise, had hung in as long as
she had to. And when it had been okay for her to take off, she had.
All she’d left behind was a stack of unwashed clothes, a wisp of cheap perfume—
And the one thing that had never mattered to Rami or even Suki but only to Rachel.
After that, Rachel had begun to think about the man she’d never laid eyes on.
About what he knew. Or didn’t know. About how he’d react if he ever learned of what Suki had left behind.
Still, she’d never expected him to turn up on her doorstep without warning.
From all Rami had told Suki, his brother traveled with a staff of sycophants and bodyguards … but here he was.
Alone.