The Prince's Passion

Chapter Four

“Come on cheer up, sugar plum, it may never happen, I know we have to work on a Saturday but don’t forget you have a fabulous party to go to this evening!” Amber Hamilton looked up to see her assistant Richard standing over her desk, a coffee cup in one hand and a red folder in the other. “Today’s press cuttings for your perusal, and a skinny latte with an extra shot.” He said with a flourish as he turned to leave her office, “God, you look worried Amber…I take it something to do with the divine Mr. Al Rashid, hmm?”  Richard was as gay as they came but a brilliant and shrewd graduate who knew everyone worth knowing in all circles – social and financial.  Amber had hired him straight out of university and had tried to curb his wild partying with little success, but he had a kind heart under the flamboyant exterior and they had become friends as well as colleagues.

She sipped the hot coffee and flicked open the folder to go through the papers within, the caffeine blasted her senses and she was grateful for the pick-me-up.  The last five days had been a blur of work and Tarek and Amber was ready to climb the walls in frustration.  Following their dinner on Sunday, he had laid siege to her defences with his attentiveness taking her out every night that week to dinner or the theatre, always crowded fashionable settings, as if he did not trust himself to be alone with her. He called her at work, just to see how her day was going and if Amber had not known better she would have believed he was trying to court her. But she did know better and she had not forgotten his parting words to her that evening outside her home five days ago and those words had nearly been Amber’s undoing. The only place he was trying to steer her towards was his bed and had Amber not been in love with him she would have gone willingly.  But she was in love and her emotions were keeping her in a perpetual state of indecision.

Tarek had been as good as his word since then, apart from taking her arm to lead her into a restaurant or kissing her cheek when he greeted her or left her at her door each evening, he made no move to touch her in any way.  Had Amber been the mature experienced woman he had taken her for, she would have shown her willingness to make love days before in a million sexy, subtle ways; but she was out of her depth with this masterful, arrogantly handsome man.  She had fallen so fast and deeply that her very love for him threatened to prevent her from making the next move, wanting him as she did and loving him as desperately as she did. Amber had tried to talk to Tarek to explain her feelings but he avoided her questions, almost as if he was afraid to hear how she felt. This only served to confirm Amber’s original supposition that Tarek saw her as a temporary bed mate and she was terrified that if they did eventually sleep together she would not be able to hide her real feelings for him.

The invitation to the twin’s birthday party that night at the Mahranese Embassy had arrived at her office on Monday morning by courier.  Amber was surprised at the venue but then assumed that this was par for the course when your older brother was a billionaire industrialist who probably bankrolled a large percentage of the country’s economy. Tarek had told her he would meet her there as he was hosting the party in his parents’ absence but would send Ibrahim and his car to collect her and bring her to the Embassy.  Amber would have preferred to have arrived with Tarek but realised that he had a responsibility to fulfil to his siblings which had precedence over her own wishes.  She had not forgotten his words in Arabic to his brothers only moments after he had kissed her and caressed her body so passionately, “Even if she was suitable…” Amber shook her head, the silken strands of her golden hair drifting over her shoulders, as if the movement would remove the painful words from her mind. The telephone on her desk rang twice and Amber forced herself to focus on the task at hand and picking up the receiver she answered smoothly, “Amber Hamilton”, all thoughts of Tarek Al Rashid shelved indefinitely as her professional persona descended over the personal turmoil that haunted her.