The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress Page 0,15

is hoping to entice me into buying a packet of land and, in addition, they want me to build several sky scrapers on it.”

Electra nodded sagely, as if she understood. But the idea of someone building sky scrapers, much less buying the land and more than one building, simply boggled her mind. “Well, of course,” she replied. “Why not go for the volume discounts,” she teased, still gasping slightly from the alcohol going down the wrong way. She fanned her face in the hopes that her embarrassment wouldn"t show.

“Why not?” he laughed with her.

“So, what exactly do you do? Are you some sort of property developer?” she asked, afraid that whatever he might reply would put him way out of her league. She didn"t want him to be that wealthy although this penthouse certainly screamed immense wealth.

“I do many things,” he said ambiguously. He didn"t want to reveal his identity to this woman for some reason. Too many times, he"d been desired for his wealth or his title. He wanted to be desired for himself. Why he cared in this instance was beyond him but he did and he wasn"t going to question it at this point. Once he"d worked her out of his system and moved on to the next woman, he didn"t care if she found out about him. But he"d do all he could to keep her from learning of his real identity until that point arrived.

“Such as?” she encouraged. “Think of ways to get you here tonight,” he replied.

Electra blushed. She suspected that he"d meant to say “into my bed” but he"d held back at the last moment. If he"d said those words, she"d probably have stood up and started stripping right there and then, needing him so much she thought she might burst into flames at any moment. But she held back, sipping her martini in the hope that it might cool down her desire somehow.

Something off to the side caught his attention and he nodded. “Are you ready for dinner?” he asked and stood up.

Electra stood herself and turned in the direction of his nod, gasping when she caught three men in white chef uniforms with trays walking onto the terrace. They placed a plate in front of each chair at the table, then another in the center. One whipped out a lighter and lit the candles then, just as quickly as they"d appeared, all three of them disappeared into the forest of trees and shrubs.

“Who was that?” she asked, her mouth hanging open in shock and her eyes wide.

“Who was what?” he asked, walking over to the table to hold out a chair for her.

“Those men,” she replied, w alking carefully over to the table, not sure her legs would carry her. The martini was more than half gone by now and she suspected that it was too potent for her. She didn"t usually drink so she was feeling the effects of the alcohol quickly. She reached for the glass of ice water, drinking the liquid thirstily.

“The chefs?” he asked, sitting down on the opposite side of her and picking up a bottle of wine, pouring the rich, red liquid into their two glasses.

“You have more than one?” she asked.

Dharr shrugged. “I don"t know what their official titles are. I suspect that one of them is a lead chef and the other two sous chefs,” he theorized. “Do they bother you?” he asked.

Electra shook her head and drank more water then pulled her napkin down onto her lap. Anything to keep her hands busy.

Dharr understood that something had happened to make her feel uncomfortable so for the next hour, he worked on putting her at ease again. He told her silly stories from his childhood, asked her about her own, about her education, her dreams for the future and basically pulling out as much information as he could from her. The whole time though, he was watching her animated face, noting that every emotion played out in her eyes and in her expressions. She spoke with her hands and he had a hard time keeping his eyes on her face since, each time she moved her hands, the low cut of her dress brought his attention to her breasts, their softness enticing him, entrancing him.

When the dessert was over, she laid her fork down on the side of her plate, her nervousness intensifying. The meal was over and she had nothing else to talk about. All she wanted to do was make love