Was it fair that he had corralled this beautiful and brilliant woman into a such a cold and transactional marriage?
If she had not been so desperate to enter into their deal for her own reasons, the answer would likely have been no. But for whatever reasons—and he knew it was more than the need to ensure her work showcased well—she was.
“Why do you want to attend the exhibition so badly?” he asked, interested in the backstory now that they were on their way back to Hayat.
To his surprise, his question brought a real blush to his wife’s cheeks.
“I told you. No one else can take care of the Ferrari but me. She’s perfection on wheels, but with a race and the eyes of world leaders all around, she’ll need maintenance. This isn’t your everyday showcase.”
She laid it all out very matter-of-factly, as if it were a completely reasonable justification for agreeing to marry a stranger and hare off into unknown waters.
Yet again, he could only admire her bald audacity.
The woman was completely undaunted.
She was also lying.
“What’s the real reason, though?” he asked in a voice that brooked no denial.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she denied it anyway. “Thatisthe real reason. My name is on the line.”
“It’s bigger than that,” he insisted. “It has to be.”
If he had not been surprised by her continued denial, hewastaken aback when her resistance crumbled.
“It’s dumb,” she muttered in a low voice.
“It’s obviously not ‘dumb’ to you,” he pointed out. “In fact, I would hazard a guess that it has to do with something you care about very much.”
“I want to change the way the world drives,” she whispered, almost under her breath, as if she were afraid to say it out loud to another person.
A number of feelings set off within him in reaction to her reluctant confession.
An unwarranted surge of protectiveness, the urge to fight and crush any force that threatened her fragile confidence and dream.
As idealistic as the words sounded, her decision made more sense now. Like every American he’d ever met, she wanted to save the world, and she was serious about it.
And, unexpectedly, he admired that dream and her dedication to it.
She had agreed to his terms not simply because she wanted to further her career as NECTAR, as he had assumed, but because she was truly committed to a better future, no matter how large a sacrifice it asked of her.
It was noble.
Because of that, he wasn’t cynical when he responded. “If there is anywhere you can make an impact, it will be at this exhibition. You will have the attention of the world for however long it holds. There will be no better time to make a statement that will align it to your way of thinking.”
Blush growing, her eyes glistened beneath the plane’s lights, and he found himself caught in their wells.
Had she sparkled like she did now in the garage?he wondered.Or was it simply a trick of their current lighting?
Clearing her throat, she broke their stare and looked around, swallowing as she did so. Speaking only after another beat of settling herself. “The CJ has it all,” she said finally, continuing, “She can go far, she’s comfy and cute, and she has a pair of wings that were made to fly. If I ever get the chance to try my hand at a plane, I’d start with a CJ.”
Unable to help himself—and why should he even try when he was wealthy and powerful and could not give much beyond trinkets and platform to a woman who wanted to save the world?—Jag indulged her.
“You can start with this one,” he said, smiling at the delight that swept across her beautiful face.
“Don’t tease,” she said cautiously. “If you don’t mean it, don’t say it.”
He appreciated the casual way she ordered him around. No one else had ever done that with him, not even his friends.