‘I was busy,’ he said, and could almost see Hassan’s grimace at his don’t-go-there-tone. ‘How is Father?’
He asked the usual question and he received back the reassuring answer he was looking for. ‘He is well and content.’
‘And Leona?’
‘The same—what is this, Rafiq?’ Hassan put in curiously. ‘You sound—different.’
Different? He grimaced. Different did not come close to describing the changes in his life. ‘Do you think it would be safe to leave them for a couple of days?’
‘Yes, if I have to.’ But Hassan sounded puzzled. ‘Is there something wrong at the bank?’
‘No, this is a—personal matter,’ Rafiq answered coolly. ‘I need you to do me a great favour. If you could be in London on Friday I
would much appreciate it.’
‘Rafiq needs a favour?’ Leona repeated as she lay on the bed, letting her husband smooth oil into her swollen abdomen. ‘Well, that has to be a first.’
‘Not quite,’ Hassan murmured. ‘But it is certainly unusual for him to ask anyone for anything.’
Leona was frowning thoughtfully. ‘Do you think this business with Serena Cordero has upset him more than we thought it would?’
‘Could be.’ Hassan paused in his ministrations to kiss her frown away, then went back to his duties, long fingers smoothing oil over creamy white skin stretched taut across the mound that was their growing child. ‘He has been acting strangely since the announcement of her marriage.’ It was his turn to frown. ‘I am reliably informed that he has hardly been to the bank since the newspaper article appeared and is almost impossible to track down. Nadia gets shifty if I ask questions, and so does Kadir. So I will have to go to London if only to quench my curiosity as to what it is he’s up to.’
‘Of course,’ Leona agreed. ‘But I hope you’re just a bit worried about him, too.’
‘Of course,’ he mimicked. ‘Do you want to roll over so I can rub this into your back now?’
‘No, thank you.’ She declined the offer. ‘I am perfectly happy with what you are doing right now.’
‘Witch.’ He laughed, and came to lean over her, eyes like brown velvet gently mocking hers of saucy green. Late afternoon sunlight was pouring in through the grilled window, turning everything in the bedroom a burnished gold. Leona’s hair shone like fire on the pillow; her porcelain skin wore a lustrous glow. She was exquisite in every way possible. ‘Why did no one warn me that pregnant women were such rampant sex machines?’ he murmured throatily.
‘It is nature’s secret weapon, aimed to keep husbands from straying to more slender delights.’ She smiled.
A black eyebrow arched. ‘Was that a deliberate dig at my father?’
‘Like father, like son,’ Leona quoted.
‘Yes.’ His frown returned. ‘You don’t think Rafiq could be planning revenge on Serena, do you?’
‘I don’t get the link.’
‘There isn’t one.’ Lowering his eyes, he began gently stroking a point on her stomach where he could feel his child’s heart beating steadily. Leona reached out and gently touched a fingertip to the point where his brows met across the bridge of his arrogant nose.
He glanced up, smiled, then sighed and lay back against the pillows. ‘Rafiq was hit hard by a woman once before—about eight years ago,’ he confided. ‘She was a beautiful blonde creature with golden eyes and a mouth designed to turn a saint into a sinner. I must add that Rafiq has never been a saint. But he fell head over heels in love with this woman, then found out she was taking him for a fool.’
‘Name?’ Leona asked curiously.
‘I cannot remember. She was as English as you are, though, and young—quite shockingly young for one filled with such calculation. She was a farmer’s daughter, as I recall, and saw Rafiq as her ticket out of drudgery. He asked her to marry him then discovered she was sleeping with her step-cousin. Rafiq severed the relationship and that should have been the end of it.’
‘But it wasn’t?’
‘No.’ Hassan shook his head. ‘She tried to contact him again many months later. It was the only other time that I can recall him asking me to do him a favour. She rang the London bank while I was there and Rafiq was here in Rahman, playing the nomad while still licking his wounds. She wanted to see him. When I relayed the message he asked me to meet with her to see if she was okay.’
‘He still cared?’
‘He was besotted.’ His brother sighed out heavily. ‘I have never seen him like that with a woman before or since.’
‘So what did you do?’