He had made his peace with the grief in his heart. “Yes.” A tight answer that gave little of his silent ruminations away.
“Do you resent not being Sheikh?”
He pulled his own coffee from the machine and held it against his lips for a moment before taking a scalding sip. “I am Sheikh.”
She waved a hand through the air, her bracelets clinking together prettily. “You know what I mean. The guy in charge.”
He propped a hip against the kitchen bench, staring out of the windows. “No. I am grateful to my brother for taking over. He is far more suited to the role than I was.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she murmured.
“Do you, my beautiful little Christmas elf? Why is that?”
“Well, you’re just so … authoritative. You were born to rule.”
“Yes, I was.” His eyes sparkled. “I enjoy the business side of our family interests.”
“And you’re very good at what you do,” she said softly.
“Am I?”
“Uh huh. I Googled you.”
A bolt of adrenalin chased breath through his body. He felt it like metal in his blood. “And what did you discover?” His voice was so calm! So relaxed! Inside there was a stampede of elephants lumbering across his nervous system.
“That you are regarded as having the Midas touch when it comes to investment.”
He laughed. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah.” She dragged her lower lip between her teeth.
“Numbers make sense to me. I look at business opportunities and see numbers.”
“So simple?”
“For me.” He put a hand out and laced his fingers through hers. “What about you, Melinda?”
Her heart turned over at the way her name sounded on his lips. “Me?”
“Hmmm. Had it not been for Brent, and Jordan, what would you have done with your life?”
She sipped her coffee, enjoying the feeling of his hands laced with hers. “I never thought about it.”
“That is a sign of your goodness,” he said softly, moving closer. “That you do not mourn the loss of a life that can never be.”
“That would be a pretty depressing way to exist. Besides, nothing could live up to the joy I have had with Jordan.” She wrinkled her nose, lost in tangles of thoughts and ancient dreams. “At one time in my life, I wanted to study law. Like you said about numbers, that’s how I always felt about law. It’s black and white, yet the application of it can be so subjective. I always saw it as some big magical code that could be cracked.” She shook her head. “I haven’t thought about that for a long time.”
“You enjoy what you do?”
“I do.” Her smile was like the sun. “I work with great people. My boss, Jennifer, is really understanding whenever I have things with Jordan. You know, doctor’s appointments or pre-school commitments. I’m lucky.”
Ra’if nodded, but all he could think was that he was the lucky one. “I spoke to my sister-in-law the other day,” he said quietly. “She has asked me to go home for Christmas.”
Melinda’s face drained almost completely of colour. “She did? What did you say?”
“That I would think about it,” he said with a shrug, as though it was of little importance. “I should go back. It is not a long flight and it makes sense to be with family.”
She nodded, but tears were stinging at her throat. They bit against her flesh and her eyes began to ache with their power.