Now that he’d dealt with the formalities of her employment, he found that he was no longer able to fight his interest in this woman. Young and glamorous, she was exactly the kind of person who would gravitate to the bright lights and fast lifestyle of a place like Vegas. She had the figure of a stripper, he thought disparagingly, with her enormous breasts and rounded bottom. Her waist was nipped in almost as if she might have been wearing a corset and her skin was tanned like she’d bathed in caramel. Her lips were full and naturally pouted, and he was certain that hers was a mouth that had offered pleasure to many men.
He tamped down on his line of thinking. She was one of his staff now. And to a man like Zamir, who’d been raised with an army of servants from birth, that meant one thing and one thing only. She was dispensable and unimportant. Only the service she could render mattered to him.
“In addition to ensuring my … personal matter … remains that way, I will have various requirements which I will expect you to carry out promptly and without complaint.”
“Such as?” She prompted.
“Nothing illegal,” he reminded her.
She nodded, frustration fraying at the edges of her gut. “It helps me to serve you better if I know what to expect.”
“None of us ever knows what to expect,” he responded quickly, so quickly that she suspected it was something he’d heard from someone else, or perhaps something that he told himself often.
“Very well. I’ll be prepared for everything then, shall I?” With another, less serious client, she might even have joked about donning a superhero costume. This man, though, intimidated her into a form of reverent silence.
“That will be all. Marook will show you your accommodation.”
She nodded, wishing her mouth were a little less dry. “Thank you, sir.”
He allowed her to precede him, telling himself it wasn’t so that he could admire the view of her rear. She paused at the door.
“Will Marook have an itinerary of your schedule?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
She could have kicked herself. The question had been ludicrous and made her seem stupid and inexperienced. Of course Marook would have a copy of the Sheikh’s movements. Just like any of her other clients, they always had a handler who maintained the details of the trip.
She pulled the door open and slipped through it without a backwards glance. But the whole way to the elevators, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingling, as though he was watching her. Once at the polished doors, she allowed herself the luxury of angling her head back to the door. It was shut.
He was gone.
The elevator cruised swiftly to the next floor with Olivia in the centre of its opulent heart. The doors opened with an almost silent whoosh and she stepped out.
Security agents were everywhere. Literally dozens littered the hallway. And though Olivia had worked with private security before, she’d never seen anything quite like this. These men were all dressed in dark black and grey military fatigues and carried large weapons. It was a confronting scene for a pacifist like Olivia.
She took a step out of the elevator and felt a prickle of tension. Guns disgusted her. She supposed though that the ruler of a powerful country such as Dashan must be under constant threat of kidnapping. The idea, though sinister, amused her, for kidnapping a man like Sheikh Zamir Fayez seemed to be an impossible task. He was both enormous and silently powerful.
Not an ideal candidate to nab in the middle of the night, even without his personal army.
“Miss Henderson?” A man with greying hair and excellent posture walked brusquely towards her. He held a hand out and she shook it on instinct.
“Please, call me Olivia.”
He nodded swiftly. “Very well. This is your identification tag. You must carry it or wear it at all times. These men do not mess around.”
“I rather got that impression,” she murmured with a small shiver.
“The life of the crown prince is most valuable to our Kingdom.” He began to move down the hallway. “Any of these men will conduct spot checks at any time. Without your identity tag, you will not b
e welcome in the presence of the Sheikh. It does not matter if you forget it somewhere. It is your key to this job. Understood?”
She nodded.
“His highness informed you that you are to remain in the hotel?”
“Yes,” she agreed. What more could she say? That it had been an order she’d been forced to obey?
Marook inserted the key card into a slot in the door and then handed it to Olivia. “Have you ever worked for royalty?”