she changed her mind and reached for her phone on the bedside table. “No, it’s not me she needs.”
Chapter
20
You’re putting me to a lot of trouble, Dalai.” Gideon sighed as he opened the door of her hospital room. “Particularly since it seems I’m a busy man today, very much in demand. You could be a little more accommodating.”
She stiffened, her gaze flying to his face. “I didn’t mean to cause you trouble. I didn’t ask to see you. Go away.”
“That appears to be your theme song where I’m concerned.” He came into the room and strolled over to the bed. “But I can’t go away because Jill thinks that I have to make things right with you.” He shook his head. “Which is unreasonable because you’ve told her that I was the injured party. But Jill has to make her stories end the way she wants them to, so I guess we’ll have to go along with her.” He gently touched her cut chin. “Zahra hurt you. I told you to let me know if that happened again. You persist in not listening to me.”
She moved her head away from his touch. “It’s nothing,” she said jerkily. “And it shouldn’t matter to you anyway.”
“Ah, yes, because you used me.” He shook his head. “I’m an incredibly rich man, Dalai. Do you realize how many times I’ve been used since that first time I saw you when you came to Zahra? The two seem to go together. You become accustomed to it after a while. Sometimes it’s even amusing watching the process.”
“Amusing?” She looked at him in disbelief. “This was different. I could have killed you.”
“Only if I was too stupid to protect myself.”
“I could have killed you,” she repeated.
“You appear to be stuck on that thought.” He frowned. “So I guess I’m going to have to go at this from another angle. Yes, there was a slight possibility that you might have been to blame for getting me killed if everything had gone wrong. So you’ll just have to do something to make up for it.”
She tensed, her hands clenching on the sheet. Her eyes lifted to meet his own.
“No,” he said quietly. “How could I do that to you when all I can see when I look at you is that big-eyed young girl who could have been my sister.” He shrugged. “But I have no sister, and Varak killed my parents. We’re both alone. But I believe we could manage to be friends. So I think we should stick together for a while until you become accustomed to life without Zahra.”
She frowned suspiciously. “Are you pitying me again?”
“Perish the thought. I’m going to put you to work.” He smiled. “Because it appears I’m going to be used again. This time by Novak, and I can’t talk him out of it. He thinks he can quiet down all the uproar in the Kiyani government by arranging with the generals and bureaucrats to accept me as interim president until they can scramble and set up an election.” His eyes were suddenly twinkling. “Since everyone would find me acceptable due to my charm, wit, and fat wallet. I told Novak to get me out of there fast, or they’d draft me for the duration.”
“President…” She was looking at him in bewilderment. “Like Zahra?”
“Interim,” he repeated. “And definitely not like Zahra. So will you come back to that place you must have hated, and we’ll make the best of it for the time we have to be there? Then I think you might be ready to go to school or start a new life. Whatever you like.”
“I have no money to start a new life. I have nothing.”
“Not true. You have Kiya, the Great Beloved Wife. Novak is pulling strings to donate the Kiya treasury to the Kiyani people, but I bought the Great Beloved Wife in a separate deal at an enormous fee.”
“And you think I would take that from you?”
“No, I’m not offering. I know better. But the interest on what the statue will bring in from tours and exhibits will be a tidy sum. You can consider it part of your salary.”
“And what am I supposed to do for this salary?” she asked warily.
“Jill says that you’ve been very inventive surviving Zahra. I’m sure you’ll find ways to make that hellish period in the palace bearable for me. You’ve listened and know everything that’s going on in that government. You know where all the political bodies are buried. Maybe