“How dare you!” the man exploded. Laine jumped back as he began a tirade about the quality and worth of his stock.
Aziz stepped between them. “You do not speak to her in this way!”
“I stand by the quality of my stock! We do not sell cheap goods here, sir!” the man protested.
Laine regathered herself. “We’re not paying that much for these! I would maybe give you eighteen dinars a piece!”
The man’s reaction was practically apoplectic, but he didn’t step any closer to her with Aziz looming over him.
But as she started to turn away, he called out, “Fine! Fine! Take the food from my children’s mouths! Thirty dinars.”
Laine sucked in her cheeks. “Twenty-five.”
The man stared at her. She stared back and swiveled her head. Aziz was just starting to reach for her, when the man nodded and told her to pick out which lamps she wanted.
Laine smiled like a Cheshire cat.
“I don’t know that was worth the effort,” Aziz told her as they walked away from the booth. He had ordered someone to collect their purchase for them and take it to their car.
“Oh, I could have gotten them somewhere else. We got a little bit of a discount in cost, mostly on what we would pay for shipping, but I really need to get used to haggling here.” Laine pressed her hand to her chest. “My heart is racing, though.”
“You offended his honor, by pointing out the flaw in his work.”
“I was lying. There was no missing tile.”
Aziz looked at her with admiration. “You lied.”
“Distributors and manufacturers are always trying to gouge you. They don’t usually get quite so…explosive. I think in the end, you’ll like the effect of those lamps. They’re a little different in style than the ones I usually see, and once we have them mounted, it’ll have a good effect.”
“I should take you to the capital with me,” Aziz said in a teasing tone. “You have a more cut-throat attitude toward business than many of my CEOs.”
“I’m not entirely sure what a CEO does, or how it’s different from a CFO, COO, COW…”
Aziz chuckled.
“Fly me in to argue with people,” Laine said. “I can get a deal, but I’m not that interested in running a business and all the tedious nonsense that goes with that end of it.”
He looked terribly pleased with her. “My tiger likes to fight!”
Laine nodded. It was true, though sometimes she found herself getting into arguments before she’d considered the consequences of her temper. She reached for Aziz’s hand, intending to thank him for stepping in for her. When he pulled away from her and put a few steps distance in between them, she looked up at him startled.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“We are in public,” Aziz admonished. He sped up and walked in front of her now.
Laine hesitated for a moment, wondering what the difference was between holding hands here and the things they had done together in New York.
Chapter Nine
Laine walked through the long hallways of the palace. Her shoulders felt lighter this morning. The new materials were coming in, she’d contracted out work for the creation of the grand hall’s lamps, and she felt confident that while all of the work wouldn’t be done by the time she left, renovations would be well underway. She was still deciding on some critical details, but the work crew she’d hired had begun on several of the rooms that, while not currently being used, Aziz would want available soon for business.
With a large mug of a sweet, spiced coffee that Hadiya had turned her onto, Laine made her way to Aziz’s office. Then she paused at the sound of shouting. Both voices were male, and both sounded very angry.
“You bring dishonor to our entire family when you act this way!” barked an unfamiliar voice.
“You have nothing to say about how I act!” Aziz said.
“She makes you act a fool!” the unknown man continued. “Dancing! Swimming in fountains! Getting into fights! Your behavior reflects on all of us, you know!”
“It was hardly a fight,” Aziz scoffed. “A small disagreement.”
“Everyone sees your actions. Everyone sees you with this…” He made a disgusted noise. “American woman.”
“You only admit to my being head of this family when it pleases you!” Aziz challenged. “Who has consulted with the parliament? Who has used our investments to keep our family fortune from dwindling? You live off of my scraps, brother!”
Laine’s eyes bulged. His brother Amin!
“Arrogant, blasphemous—” Amin snarled.
“Father gave the reins to me for a reason,” Aziz shot back. “Go back to Manama with your family!”