Chapter Seven
He had seen the flash of fear in Anna's eyes when he talked about taking her to Abu Dhabi, but Rakim was confident that she would fly high in the city. She was a beautiful woman, and when he had had a dressmaker in to pad out her clothing choices, he knew that everyone else in the city would think so as well.
It was unimaginable to him that she would prefer the quiet of the mountains to the excitement of the city, not when she was so clever and so very apt. He knew that though she was nervous, the nerves would ease soon enough, allowing her to enjoy the world he had opened up to her.
Though Rakim wanted to be gone within a few days, the reality proved to be more difficult than that. While his exile was over and his scandal all but forgotten, there were business matters to attend to, things that would make traveling difficult.
With a sigh, Rakim gave up on his schedule, and settled back in for another few days. In the meantime, however, he was able to summon a talented dressmaker who could take care of all of Anna's needs.
The morning when he told her she had an appointment with a dressmaker, however, she had been less than pleased.
“What is wrong with my clothing?” she asked, her eyes large. It gave her the look of a forest animal, something shy and delicate.
“Nothing is wrong with your clothing when you are going to be working in a library in the provinces,” Rakim said. “However, I am expecting you to accompany me to various social functions, and that means that you will need to be dressed well.”
To his surprise, she looked troubled.
“I know your salary is generous,” she said, “but I am not sure that I am going to be able to afford the wardrobe that you are proposing. Perhaps I could simply try a few different pieces?”
Rakim shook his head with a brief laugh.
“Are you serious? I am going to purchase your clothes, of course. I would be a poor host if I could not offer you the clothes that you need on a trip that I invited you on.”
She looked like she was going to protest, but then he placed a hand over hers. He still couldn't get over how small she was, how delicate she felt when he pulled her close.
“Who is the master here?” he murmured, looking into her green eyes.
He could see the way his words affected her, feel the way she yielded before his force. She smiled up at him a little bit, shy and oddly nervous.
“You are,” she conceded, and he rewarded her with a gentle kiss.
“Stop worrying,” Rakim said. “I swear to you, I will protect you. I will make sure that you are safe and cared for.”
He had thought that that settled the matter, and indeed she did not bring it up again. However, he couldn't help but wonder if he saw a shadow in her eyes.
***
Anna was grateful that Rakim was busy for the next several days. It allowed her time to take care of her projects in the library, and it also allowed her to get her own emotions under control.
Whenever she looked around at the library that she had come to think of as her own, she felt a pang at leaving it, followed by a feeling of dread. She felt enough like a provincial bumpkin out here in the mountains; what would happen when she ended up in one of the most glittering cities in the world?
She told herself over and over again that Rakim would look after her, but when he wasn't in the room, talking to her or touching her, it became a little harder to believe. Some part of her still didn't quite understand why he wanted to bring her at all; all she knew was that if he left her here alone, she would be heartbroken. Of course the answer was to bring her to the capital, but the thought of actually being there made her head spin.
“I can't do this. I really can't do this,” she found herself muttering more than once.
Unfortunately, the dressmaker that Rakim flew in didn't help at all.
She was a tall and elegant Frenchwoman who entered the palace like a hurricane, her assistants behind her dragging a series of clothing racks. Any protest that Anna could make that she could purchase her own clothing was thrown out the moment she saw the clothes that Madame Artois brought to her. They were elegantly cut and draped, made of pure silk and wool in a dozen different colors. Each garment was meant to be tailored to Anna's measurements, and soon enough, the cost behind the clothes made Anna feel more than a little dizzy.
After a while, Madame Artois stopped asking Anna for her opinion. All Anna was able to say was “I think it looks fine” or “I sure it'll be good,” and throwing her hands up into the air, the dressmaker decided that Anna was going to be subject to her vision.
Realistically, Anna thought, this was likely the best thing that could happen. When she was confronted with the fabrics and the colors and the textures of the clothing that Madame Artois was pushing on her, Anna felt as if her brain was shutting down. It was bad enough when it was just clothes, but when she thought about what those clothes might represent, she felt as if her whole body was going cold.
I can't do this, I can't do this, a small part of her mind chanted, but she did her best to shut it up. She reminded herself sternly that she had felt no different when she first ventured to the UAE. She told herself that it was normal to feel this way about new things and new challenges.
It was easy to put the fear aside when she was with Rakim. When she was with him, it was easy to lose herself in his enthusiasm. The first time she had worn one of Madame Artois's dresses to dinner with him, his eyes had opened wide.
"Well, now," he said, his voice husky with appreciation. "Let me look at you."
She couldn't stop herself from blushing as she stopped and spun in place for his approval. It was a demure dress in a soft olive green. Somehow, it had the effect of making her eyes look darker than they ever had, emphasizing the paleness of her skin. The dress skimmed her shallow curves, draping over her gracefully and giving her a rather Grecian appearance.
"I am glad that you're paying for this," she said with a laugh. "I think I'm wearing six months’ salary on me right now."
"And from how it makes you look, it is worth every penny," Rakim declared. "It's beautiful on you. You will shine like a star in Abu Dhabi."
When he said things like that, when she felt his hands on her, and when she had her own arm linked with his, she felt as if everything would be all right after all.
The last night they would spend in town, Anna found herself in the library after dinner. She still felt her heart open up when she stepped within its walls. The windows were not shuttered against the night yet, and the sky outside bathed the library in a sweet, soft indigo light. She stood at the very center of the library, her arms wrapped around her, taking it all in.
This was where it had all started, and she felt a pang of grief at losing it. When would she next return here?
"You look thoughtful," Rakim observed from the doorway. "Are you feeling well?"
She turned to him with a slight smile.
"I am...I guess I'm just thinking of the first time I saw you here."
Rakim's chuckle was deep and rich as he came to stand behind her. Wrapped in his arms, in one of the most beautiful libraries that she had ever seen, Anna felt complete.
"You were furious at my insolence," he teased. "I had never been so roundly chastised for simply wanting something to read before."
"I would never have scolded you for wanting something to read," Anna said indignantly. "It was because you were...you were dirty, and you were handling the books without knowing how to care for them, and..."
She came to a stop as he bent his head to nibble at her ear. Damn it, how could he be so very good at distracting her?
"There are many reasons that I want you," he murmured. "I want you for your beauty, and your wit, of course, but what first caught my eye was your passion. You didn't care who I was."
"I might have spoken a little more circumspectly if I had known that you were the person who owned all of these books and the palace that I was standing in," she admitted.
"I notice that you still said 'might.' The truth is that not many people will show me their passion. They will show me what they think I want to see. They will show me what they have been told is desirable, or they will show me a careful artifice that looks good at first but will then crumble at a single touch."
There was something in his voice then, something that made Anna turn to face him.
"You sound like that has happened to you a great deal," she said, reaching up to touch his face gently.
He looked shocked at her pronouncement, but he covered it up quickly with a gentle kiss to her palm.
"It happens to anyone who rules over others," he said with a shrug. "After a while, you only become angry with those who do it to you on a personal level. The fact that you could never do it to me...that is attractive in a way that is difficult to explain, but is wholly felt."
Somehow, in that moment, Anna felt remarkably protective of Rakim. She might have been ignorant of the circles that he traveled in, but it was not hard to imagine how vicious they could be, what people might do to curry favor with a man as rich and powerful as he was.
"Thank you for putting your faith in me," she murmured, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.
"Thank you for deserving it," he said with a grin, and he swept her into his arms.
The next day, they rose from his bed early in order to get to the city in good time. Anna's first shock of the day came when she realized that they would be flying in Rakim's private plane. It made her eyes pop wide open when she saw it on a humble runway that was far more accustomed to small crop dusters.
"That's yours?" she asked, and he grinned at her boyishly.
"It is," he said. "If you're this impressed by this plane, I can't wait to show you the jet."
The plane ride to Abu Dhabi was smooth and uncomplicated, and Anna spent most of it curled up next to Rakim's side, reading as he worked. It wasn't until the towers of the city were in sight that something occurred to her.
"Rakim, what in the world do we tell people when they ask us about our relationship?"
He looked startled at her question, and then shook his head with chagrin.
"I keep forgetting that you have not done this before," he said with a slight smile. "Tell them that we are friends. Close friends, if you like, but otherwise, just smile and remember that you do not have to answer anything beyond that."
"Are...most of your close friends used to dealing with the press?"
"Why, are you feeling jealous?" he asked with a grin, and she frowned.
"Maybe," she admitted. "It's...it's a little hard. It seems like all of the women that you have been with before are all so worldly and experienced. That's nothing like me."
"And if you'll notice, you're the one who's here now," he said. "Don't worry so much. The press may love to peek in on my life, but I have put a great many barriers in place to keep my life private."
Despite his assurances, Anna was still shocked when she stepped off of the plane and was greeted by a dozen flashbulbs and a dozen voices calling questions.
If it wasn't for Rakim's arm around her shoulders, she might have frozen up there, never to move again, but then he was sweeping her along, keeping her sheltered from the worst of it. He answered a few shouted questions, flashed that white sharp smile at the cameras, and in a matter of minutes had gotten her seated in the sleek dark car that was pulled up on the tarmac.
"Wow," Anna said when she had gotten her breath back. "So that's just every day for you?"
He laughed, squeezing her hand gently.
"It is many days, at least," he admitted. "They were probably a little eager because I have been gone for the past few months. They're a little like dogs, starved for their next story."
Anna shivered because there was something grim and frightening about that, that Rakim might be a meal for a certain kind of predator. Her dark thoughts were interrupted by a sweet kiss.
"You can't let them bother you," he said, "and you did very well, I promise."
"I'm glad," she said with a sigh of relief. "I wouldn't like to embarrass you."
"I know that you never would," he said with confidence, and then his voice lowered. "Because if you did, you know that there would be consequences..."
She started to laugh, and then she gasped as his teeth found the sensitive skin of her throat. She had come to love the silvery shocking sensations when he bit her lightly there, and she almost fell into that familiar trance when she remembered that they weren't alone. The chauffeur had put up the smoky privacy glass between the rear of the car and the front, but he probably knew exactly what they were doing.
"Rakim," she whispered urgently. "We can't, not here."
For a moment, she wasn't sure that he would heed her, and then with a sigh, he settled back.
"My darling modest beauty," he said with a wry smile, but she noticed that he didn't take his hand off of her knee.
"Rakim..."
"Hush, love," he said with a hint of a wicked smile. "You should rest until we get to the townhouse."
She fell silent as his hand slid from her knee up to her thigh, bare under her dress. She quelled a nervous ticklish laugh, and then she almost whimpered when his hand slid up even farther.
Well, welcome to Abu Dhabi, I guess, she thought, and she closed her eyes, letting the wash of sensations glide over her.
* * *
"I own several properties throughout the country, and of course there's the penthouse downtown, but this one is perhaps my favorite," he said, closing the townhouse's door after them.
Anna looked around, enchanted. If she had had to guess what kind of property that Rakim might live in, she would have guessed that he preferred some ultra-modern high-rise. According to what he had told her, the penthouse matched that description quite well.
However, the townhouse that he had brought her to was almost the polar opposite of that impression. It was stately, calling back to a time when the country had looked to Europe as its inspiration. The rooms were tall with floor-to-ceiling windows, and the entire place was done up with dark trim and hardwood floors. It was like she had stepped into a belle epoque dream, and she could barely believe that she was meant to live here.
"It's gorgeous," she said, looking around. "And you just...live here?"
"I do," he said with a laugh, "and you will as well."
"It's hard to imagine," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, perhaps not so hard to imagine when I show you this..."
Mystified, she followed him down a hallway, and then when he opened one of the dark doors for her, she gasped.
The townhouse's library could not be as enormous as the library she just left behind, but there was an elegance to it that could not be denied. Where the collection at the mountain palace was an eclectic mix of modern and ancient, the townhouse library was a great deal more modern and European, a reflection of the country's more recent history.
There was a fireplace that stretched along the far wall, and there were a pair of wing chairs that promised to be amazingly comfortable close to it. Anna, who had always dreamed of having a library of her own, felt instantly comfortable, and turned to Rakim with a wide smile.
"It's so beautiful," she said, and he nodded.
"You have your run of the house, of course, but I thought that if I brought you here first that you would be much more comfortable," Rakim said, and she flew into his arms, holding him tightly.
"Thank you," she murmured, and he laughed, hugging her in return.
"I do notice that getting you clothes seems to terrify you, but introducing you to libraries makes you light up. Something for me to keep in mind, I suppose."
She grinned up at him before pulling away to inspect the library's collection more closely.
"I think it just means that you are getting to know me," she said with a smile.