He liked this. Lise kissed him one more time and got out of bed, still laughing. She threw a look back at him on the way to the bathroom, and Raed felt that look all the way through his heart. He liked her smile. He liked her laugh. He loved being with her. Far more than he’d ever enjoyed being with the high-powered, heavy-hitter type of women he’d wanted by his side all his life.
The bathroom door closed, and Raed lost sight of her. He had the strangest sensation, as if all of this had been a dream or an illusion. Maybe it was. Maybe this wasn’t the right decision, and his heart was only going wild under the pressure of launching the foundation.
Maybe.
14
In all his years in the royal family, Raed had never imagined that he’d be late for a meeting on account of a child’s sticky hands.
He should have anticipated it. He’d had a nephew for years, after all, and Hamid and Tali were busy adding to the family. He just didn’t think it would be today, when he had a meeting with Katharine.
In the week since he’d first spent the night with Lise at the cottage, he’d found himself there more and more, so often that he kept a shirt and suit there so he could have breakfast with Lise and Jake after their morning ride. This morning, he’d been distracted by the upcoming video conference and had forgotten to wipe one of Jake’s hands. Well, he’d paid for that, hadn’t he? Raed had rushed back to his private wing to change into a clean shirt, and now he was hustling to his desk. He had only just sat down when his phone rang.
“Good morning,” he said. “Is she waiting?”
“Yes, sir,” said his secretary. Raed punched in the password for his computer and the screen came to life, the video software already waiting for him with an incoming call from Katharine.
“Good morning,” Katharine said, looking expertly coiffed and corporate the moment she popped onto the screen. “It’s a pleasure to see your face, Raed.” She followed this up with a conspiratorial wink, and the pit of Raed’s stomach went cold.
His assistant Stephen called in a moment later. Raed had sent him to the city to meet with prospective funders—otherwise he’d be in the office, just like he usually was. “Good morning,” he answered while Stephen went live. “Stephen’s joining us remotely this morning.”
“Oh, hello, Stephen,” Katharine crooned. The two of them chatted for a minute, and Raed steeled himself for the conversation they were about to have. The whole point of the call was to cement their relationship—personal and business, in one convenient package. But now it seemed…wrong. But he had to do it. Her international clout would expand the foundation’s reach tenfold. He had to do it. Backing out now would only make things more complicated. “I’m excited to get down to business, Raed,” she said, putting on a smile he recognized. It was the smile of a person who hunted down what they wanted without hesitation. He’d been that kind of person.
He still could be that kind of person. “Let’s talk.” He smiled back at Katharine, but the old rush of blood that had usually accompanied his conversations with her was curiously absent.
It couldn’t have anything to do with Lise. Of course not. It couldn’t have to do with the fact that they’d had sex twice more since the night of their date, once very late at night and once very early in the morning.
Katharine cleared her throat. “As you know, my previous consultant work with the palace has positioned me well to take things further with your foundation. I’m happy to step into a guiding or management role, and—”
Her voice faded out of his immediate attention no matter how much he tried to concentrate on it. Raed tried not to be in the habit of listening only so he could have his turn speaking, but Katharine seemed to be reading from a script he no longer recognized. She was trying to firm things up with a new contract, he knew, and so was Stephen. The two of them danced around and around the issue.
Raed could put an end to it, when he chose to.
But his mind kept drifting back to Lise. Lise in bed. Lise with her head on his chest, sleeping peacefully. Lise with one leg hooked over his. Lise laughing in the kitchen in the mornings...
“It may be best if we reconvene a bit later,” Stephen was saying when Raed snapped back in. “Things are moving quickly, as I’m sure you understand, and—”
Katharine held up both hands, an accommodating expression on her face, but Raed saw the competitive flash in her eyes. “That’s no problem.”
“I’ll leave you to the scheduling.” Raed said his goodbyes and left the call before the end of the meeting.
It had only been a few minutes when his phone rang.
“Hello, Stephen.” Raed rubbed his fingers over his forehead. “Thank you for rescheduling. I wasn’t at my best in that call.”
“You were a bit distracted,” Stephen said, his tone careful. “Katharine—she’s not going to wait forever for the foundation to make up its mind.” The foundation—for Raed to make up his mind. There was a pause. “Do you need more people on the team?”
“Why would I need more people?”
“Your availability hasn’t been the same lately,” Stephen pointed out. “You’re not available in the mornings or the evenings, and when you are available, other people have gone home. It’s not something we can’t work around, but perhaps it’s worth a discussion about making your new schedule official.”
Official. Raed dwelled on official schedules all through the rest of the morning. He dwelled on it when Jana brought Jake to him at midday, because she had to go for one of her family commitments. But there was another meeting on his schedule. A series of meetings. And Jake was busy clapping his hands, touching the sides of Raed’s face, and running in circles around his office.
“Come with me, buddy,” Raed told him, taking his hand. “Let’s go see your mother.”
“Mama,” said Jake. Raed picked him up and the two of them wound through the halls of the palace until they got to the business wing.
Lise was in the middle of a class. Twin pressures converged on him. One whispered that as a member of the royal family, he should keep his schedule. The other whispered that he shouldn’t interrupt her—she was actively teaching and would be for the next hour or so. But all those meetings waiting for him, the foundation waiting for him. Stephen’s words rang in his head.
Raed waved to Lise through the window. The movement caught her eye, and her eyebrows flew upward. She signaled to the class—wait—and came to them, a big grin on her face for Jake.
“What’s going on?” asked Lise in a soft voice. “I’m teaching.”
“I know. Jana had to take her grandmother to a doctor’s appointment. And I have meetings this afternoon.”
Tension radiated off Lise’s body. “And your mother—”
“Is out, Maram with her. She told me about her outing yesterday. I can’t ask her to run back.” Lise pressed her lips together in a thin line, but the expression was only a flicker.
“All right. Well...” She took Jake’s hand and picked him up, balancing him on her hip. He pressed a palm to her face, and Lise’s shoulders relaxed, but Raed could still see her irritation in the set of her jaw. “I wouldn’t be here doing this if you hadn’t insisted.”