The Sheik's Rebellious Mistress Page 0,43
gasped and stood up, moving backwards to the relative safety of the book case, hiding herself from the windows. “This can"t be happening!” Were photographers now stalking her around the school? Had they found out where she was working? How could that be possible? The article had been dated just yesterday and the reporter was saying how the king"s lover was still a mystery woman.
But the reality of the photographers, just like the horror that she"d been dating a man who had lied to her by omission and that man was her hated guardian, just added to the increasing tension in the room.
So many strangers around the school building might hurt the children. The kids wouldn"t understand why so many people were trying to taketheir teacher"s picture. And some of the kids might get hurt in the melee if the photographers were as merciless as they were starting to appear. She had to hide, to get out of here. But where? How? Her mind worked frantically but each time she considered one escape route, she"d see another group of journalists rushing in that direction.
Just then, Gerrard burst into the room. “This way,” he said urgently. “We have to leave out the back door. There are photographers all over the place.” The expression on his face more than his words broke through her hurt and confusion. She followed his orders simply because she had no better ideas. And her mind couldn"t function fast enough to figure one out anyway.
Electra grabbed her purse, immediately moving into quick action. She stopped only a moment before she turned to Gloria and said, “Please, don"t say anything to the press about me. Ask the others to keep things quiet as well. I don"t understand what"s going on and what they want from me. It would mean a lot to me,” she said, her eyes pleading with the older woman.
Gloria put a reassuring hand on Electra"s arm and nodded forcefully. “Absolutely,” Gloria replied quickly, her eyes wide with worry for both her school and for Electra. “We would never do anything to jeopardize the children or one of the staff members and these photographers would definitely do that. I also know your privacy is important, as it is to all of us. We won"t disrespect that.”
“Thank you,” she said before Gerrard pulled her impatiently by the arm through the door. They almost ran down the hallway and burst out the back door, Electra diving into a waiting limousine only moments before a cameraman started banging on the dark window. He took several pictures but Electra was grateful for the tinted glass which prevented them from seeing anything inside the security of the car.
“Where did they come from?” she asked Gerrard who was sitting next to her talking on a cell phone in Arabic. She was staring out the window as she watched several other photographers start to race up the sidewalk towardthe building. “And who are the other men stopping them?” she asked when she noticed large, muscular men physically stopping the photographers from entering the school.
Gerrard watched in approval as the guards effectively stopped the stampeding paparazzi. “They were sent by King Abbass to protect your co-workers and students from being harassed,” he explained, not bothering to stop or turn his head in her direction. His main goal was to get her out of the building and the area safely and quickly.
Electra sniffed and tried to hide her tears. “That was very considerate of him,” she said. “I didn"t know he knew where I worked,” she said.
The limousine was racing through the streets of London now and Electra had to hang on tightly as the car turned corners at a speed that would have brought police out in force if anyone else was doing it. The driver finally pulled to a stop outside an elegant building that looked vaguely familiar but her mind wasn"t working fast enough to be able to figure out where Gerrard had taken her. He stepped out of the car first and looked around before indicating she could leave the relative security as well. He pulled an unmarked door open and stuffed her through it, slamming it shut behind him then pushing her down the hallway again.
“Gerrard, you"re not answering my questions,” she said and dug her feet in to stop their forward momentum. “And I"m not going anywhere else until you tell me what"s going on.Where"s Dharr? Does he know what"s going on?”
He was obviously reluctant to say anything but