and knowing that he would cause her to start up again with his gentle questions.
“Hi Dad, it’s me. I just wanted you to know that I’m okay. I’m just….well, I’m okay,” she said and pressed the end button before her voice cracked and he knew that she really wasn’t okay.
She’d just pulled out of the parking lot when her phone rang again. She looked down at the screen and saw that it was Rais calling from his office, so she pressed the ‘ignore’ button and turned left.
She hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday, but she still wasn’t hungry. She pulled up to a fast food restaurant and ordered another cup of coffee, then drove out again. She supposed she needed to head back to her apartment at least for a change of clothes.
Driving into her parking lot, she scanned the other cars, wondering if her dad or Rais might have come by to talk to her. But no one was around except for the familiar cars that were normally here.
She wasn’t sure why Rais would try and talk to her anyway. He was probably relieved that she now knew the truth about their relationship. He didn’t have to do the dirty work and tell her that he needed to move on. Riding up in the elevator, she wondered what she would have done if he’d been honest with her up front. If he’d told her that this would be just like his other relationships, would she have eventually fallen for his charms?
She wanted to think she wouldn’t have, but she might have come to him anyway.
No, she wouldn’t. She’d known for too long how she felt about Rais. He was the man she’d run away from at eighteen. He’d been the man she’d followed via the internet all through college, who had kept her away from her father during the summer months when she could have been working at the farm and hanging out with the horses, which is what she would have preferred doing. So no. If she’d known that she was one more brunette in a long line of similar looking women, she would have avoided his farm like the plague.
Rais snapped the phone off once again, furious that she wouldn’t answer his call. Her father had just phoned him to let him know that she was okay and now he knew what she was feeling since she wouldn’t take his call.
There was no way he was going to let her get away with that. He’d fought too hard for her, waited too long. And what they had with each other was special.
His fingers closed over the ring he’d bought two weeks ago. He should have put that ring on her finger the first night he’d gotten her into bed. He should have let her know exactly how he felt. If he had it to do all over again, he would have proposed the first time he saw her that night in her father’s cottage.
Dammit! She should know how he felt! He might not have been explicit, but she should have read between the lines and known he was in love with her!
He couldn’t lose her, he thought, panic starting to build up in his chest. He would get her back somehow.
His phone rang and he glanced down at the message. His head of security had locked in on the GPS within her cell phone. She was heading back to her apartment, finally!
He raced out of the house, calling to his pilot to get the bird going. Within minutes, he was airborne and flying across the city. He could land on a building about four blocks from her house. “Make sure there’s a car outside the building waiting for me,” he commanded to one of his guards who had been ordered to stay outside of her apartment in case she returned.
“Don’t lose her!”
Twenty minutes later, he was landing on top of the building. He exited the helicopter, uncaring about his security guards who scampered to catch up with him. They were in the elevator with him but all he wanted was to get to Rachel and make her understand. His fingers once again closed around the engagement ring. He would have this ring on her finger within the hour! And she wouldn’t ever have a reason to take it off.
The building manager had been warned that he was arriving and was waiting outside, ready to escort him into the building. Rais barely acknowledged the man’s assistance, so determined to