your inventory of some of the more important palace artefacts. I know. I have not officially asked you to undertake such a project, but I am asking you now. Will you do it? Both conduct an inventory and allow Farida to assist you?'
She stroked her palm down over her hip in the pearl-coloured silk harem pants she'd matched with a tunic in the same delicate hue. Her troubled glance told him she was mentally regrouping—trying to make sense of his request.
'There must be countless important artefacts in a palace this size. Such a project could take months and months. What about my job at the auction house back home?'
'I have no doubt your employers would see it as an honour for one of their staff to undertake this task. There is no doubt in my mind that they will jump at my offer. If you are in agreement with the plan, I will make sure the remuneration you receive is generous.'
'It's not a question of money. What about Jake—I mean Mr Rivers? Do you want to employ him, too?'
A flash of annoyance assailed Zahir that she should mention her colleague. Mockingly he raised his eyebrow. 'No. It is you who is the antiquities expert, is it not?'
'I also told you that my father isn't well. I can't just disappear for months on end with no contact.'
Biting back a jealous retort at yet another show of consideration for her father rather than him, Zahir breathed in deeply. Such a response was beneath him.
'You can telephone him and talk to him all you want. I perfectly understand that you need to do that. If he needs a nurse, go ahead and hire one. The palace will foot the bill. As far as Farida is concerned, would you be willing to utilise her help?'
Looking torn, Gina lightly shrugged her shoulders. 'If I undertake to do the inventory, I'm sure her help would be invaluable. Her knowledge of your family treasures must be considerable, having live with them all her life.'
'Good. Then you agree to do this?'
Zahir could hardly contain his impatience as he waited for her answer. His sister's enthusiasm for Gina's presence had unwittingly given him a legitimate reason to keep her there longer. Now that reason had entered his head he refused to entertain the possibility that his request might be denied.
The big blue eyes still mirrored doubt, but at last she nodded slowly. 'For someone in my profession it's obviously a great opportunity to deepen my knowledge, as well as a privilege—so, yes …I will do it.'
'Inshallah… I will make the necessary phone call to the auction house, letting them know what we have agreed.'
'What about the Heart of Courage?'
'Be assured, everything will take its course as it should in that regard. When I have had some time to recuperate we will discuss the rest of your findings concerning the jewel. Now I will send my sister to you here in the library. After that I must go and rest. My doctor will not be happy when he discovers I am not in my bed, where he left me!'
He spun on his heel, grimacing as the sudden movement made him feel as though a sharp-bladed knife had sliced through his ribcage…
It gave Gina a real lift to see less hopelessness and grief in Farida Khan's engaging brown eyes. To be Gina's assistant would give her a purpose, she'd confessed, and knowing that she was helping her beloved brother Zahir, too, would be doubly satisfying.
After the two women had met again in the library, and discussed a plan on how to proceed, Farida had disappeared for a while to locate the necessary keys—keys that would open some of the cabinets that were kept locked. They moved from room to room and floor to floor. She was showing Gina some of the palace's most prized treasures—possessions that were usually only seen by family and close friends. This was to be only a preliminary tour—the work of cataloguing everything would come later—but as she accompanied Farida on her mission to reveal the palace's most revered objects Gina was all but stunned into silence by what she saw.
She knew already how opulently decorated and sumptuous the interior of the palace was—nevertheless room after room seemed to outdo the one before with the riches it revealed, and everywhere she gazed the architecture was a dream. And that was without the abundance of extraordinary artefacts hidden away that she was privileged to be shown. Aladdin's Cave