‘What can I do for you?’ she murmured.
‘That child.’ He cocked his head in the direction of the door. ‘She is your child?’
Sienna started to say of course not—but there was no ‘of course’ about it—not in his eyes. If she suddenly produced a spellbook and started chanting incantations she didn’t think he’d bat an eyelid.
‘No,’ she answered quietly. ‘She is the child of my schoolfriend.’
Now he was staring at the tiny golden eagle which dangled around her slender neck and which she never took off.
‘And my Sheikh gave you this?’ he demanded.
‘I suspect you already know the answer to that one. Yes. He did.’
He tossed his head back like a stallion about to rear up. ‘You must renounce him!’ he declared dramatically. ‘Unequivocally and immediately!’
Sienna stared at him. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You have not heard?’ he demanded.
‘I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about.’
‘He has not told you?’
This hurt. ‘No.’
‘Sheikh Hashim is planning to go on State television and make an announcement!’
‘What kind of announcement?’
Abdul-Aziz’s mouth tightened. ‘He refuses to say…stubborn boy!…but I know in my heart what it will be.’
‘You do? You’re some kind of mind-reader, are you?’
‘He is going to declare his love for you!’ he hissed.
Sienna’s laugh was genuine, but it was tinged with sadness. ‘You’d never make money out of clairvoyancy, Abdul,’ she said. ‘It’s over between me and Hashim—he’s not in love with me.’
‘He isn’t?’ His suspicious look cleared and was replaced by an expression of bright hope. ‘You are certain of this?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then what is he plotting?’ questioned Abdul-Aziz to himself thoughtfully.
‘Don’t you think you should come right out and ask him yourself?’
‘I have. He would tell me nothing.’
‘Then it’s verydisloyal of you to come sneaking over here behind his back, trying to find out things he obviously doesn’t wish to tell you.’
He glared at her. ‘While your loyalty to the Sheikh is admirable, I am not used to being spoken to in such a way, Baker. Especially by a woman.’
‘How come I’m not surprised?’ Sienna murmured.
‘Will you try to stop him?’ he persisted.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ said Sienna calmly. ‘And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. He is a man in charge of his own destiny.’ She stared at him. ‘As we all are.’
An odd, calculating light came into Abdul-Aziz’s strange, cold eyes. ‘Yes, indeed we are,’ he said. ‘You are a strong woman, Baker.’