Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,53

first time in his employment that the ever-efficient aide was unsure.

Remembering his responsibilities, Amit pulled himself together, pushing his anger to the back of his mind for the moment. He’d deal with it later.

“Right,” he replied, straightening his jacket and tugging at the cuffs of his dress shirt. He paused, took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes. Finally, he opened them again, looked over at his assistant and nodded sharply. “Send her in.”

Rashid still hesitated. Amit stood still, waiting patiently, his face blank. At least, he looked patient on the outside. Inwardly, he wanted to punch something.

Finally, his assistant nodded, bowed, and left the office. The scant moments before Harper stepped in, Amit walked over to the window, not sure if he could watch as she walked away.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t given a chance to make that decision because she stepped into the room, her eyes downcast.

“Amit, I…” she trailed off, clearly searching for the right words.

He turned, looking at her carefully. What the hell was she doing? Why was she going? Why was she doing this?

“I have to go,” she finally blurted, and he watched her blink hard, almost as if…was she trying to stop herself from crying?

“No, you don’t,” he argued. Just three words, but he meant them with every fiber of his being. He wouldn’t beg, but Amit desperately wanted her to stay. He wanted her to love him. It was such a new emotion, one he’d never allowed, or even felt before. Although he knew that it was love that he felt for her, it was so raw, he didn’t know how to handle it.

Still, she turned her head as if he’d slapped her. “I do,” she whispered. Taking something out of that damned bag of hers, he watched as she set a folder on his desk. “This is the report I promised. I’ll have a more thorough report sent to you as soon as I’ve compiled my findings and refined my research into something more cohesive.”

“You don’t need to go,” he argued, ignoring the report. He didn’t give a damn about the report! He wanted her! He wanted her to stay and tell him that she loved him! He knew that she did, so why the hell was she leaving?

“I don’t?”

“No,” he replied, frantically reaching for some reason, any reason, for her to stay. “There are other research assignments. You know I could use your help here in Izara.” Hell, he would love to keep her in his life! But if she didn’t want him, he’d come up with some excuse for her to at least be near to him. If she continued working here, perhaps there was some way he could continue to see her, maybe convince her that they could manage a personal relationship.

There was hope for a moment, but then it shattered. Her lashes lowered and she stared at the floor.

“My job…” she started and stopped, swallowing hard. “My job starts in a few weeks. I need to get back and…” she turned away and he saw her shoulders tremble. “I have to go,” she turned on her heel and fled.

Her job. She was leaving to go back to her job.

For a long moment, Amit considered going after her. He could make a phone call and every flight leaving the country would be grounded.

But he didn’t do that. He didn’t call his guards to stop her from leaving. He didn’t call the airports and tell them to stop outgoing flights.

Instead, he turned and stared blankly out into the courtyard.

A long time later, the door to his office opened. He didn’t bother to turn around. It wasn’t Harper and anyone else, he didn’t care about.

“I heard a rumor that Harper left. Is that true?” Tarin asked.

Amit turned, his face carefully blank. “Yes. The report I hired her to do is on my desk.”

Tarin stared at Amit and, because he didn’t actually want to hit his younger brother, Amit ignored him and left the office.

Tarin didn’t get the message and followed. “Amit, I thought that…I thought there was something there between you and Harper.”

Amit continued down the hallway, heading for his suite. Without even glancing back, he said, “You were wrong.”

Gaelen joined them. “Hey, someone told me that Harper was heading out. Why is she leaving?”

Amit gritted his teeth, then pushed his fury down. When he was alone, only when he was alone, would he take his anger out and deal with it. Right now, his family needed him to be strong. His