LITMIR.BIZ

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memories took away the lightness his humor had wrought. “It hurt that my father thought I was trying to work an angle, but that’s not what was most painful.”

      “What was it, then?”

      “When it became clear that my mom had lied to me my whole life.” That had hurt so much. “She always told me that even though he could not have me in his life because he already had a wife and children, he cared enough to send a small stipend to help with my care and education.”

      “And this was a lie?”

      “Yes. Oh, he was married, but he didn’t even know I existed.”

      “That must have been quite a blow.” Sayed laid his hand over hers, offering comfort she needed badly. “To learn your beloved mother had been dishonest with you, but also to be made aware that whatever concern you’d thought he had for you had no substance.”

      “You can’t care about someone you don’t even know exists.”

      “And then when he learned, he reacted badly.”

      “That’s one way to put it.”

      Liyah wanted to lean into Sayed, but stopped herself from such a blatantly needy action. “The best I can figure out, the money Mom saved from not paying rent was what she pretended came from him.”

      It had been an elaborate but necessary ruse as Hena had insisted on teaching Liyah about finances from a young age. Her own parents had not been forthcoming with Hena and she’d made some bad monetary decisions in her ignorance.

      She’d been determined her own daughter would not be put in the same situation.

      Hena teaching Liyah about finances resulted in her daughter being very aware of their own. The pretense of support payments had worked to conceal both of the big secrets her mother kept from Liyah.

      “Not paying rent?” Sayed asked.

      “Another thing she hid from me. Her father owned our apartment and allowed us to live there rent-free as long as Mom promised not to bring me to Zeena Sahra.”

      “What?” Sayed’s expression registered astonishment. “Why would he make such a stipulation?”

      “So I wouldn’t shame them with my existence.”

      “Because your mother chose to raise you,” he guessed.

      Apparently, he understood his own culture better than Liyah did. She’d never understand that kind of thinking. “Yes.”

      “Was that the reason you had no immediate plans to travel to Zeena Sahra?”

      “Not on your life. Once I’d fulfilled my mom’s last wish, I had every intention of visiting her homeland.”

      “You are very strong-minded.”

      “Another facet of my character for you to get to know,” she said, facetiously repeating his words of the morning back to him.

      He nodded quite seriously, though. “Yes, it is, and one I believe I like.”

      “Considering how bossy you are, that is difficult to believe.”

      He shrugged. “Nevertheless, it is the truth.”

      “You’re surrounded by yes-men,” she guessed, not sure she believed it.

      “You’ve met Yusuf,” Sayed said with meaning.

      She felt another smile and gratitude for it. “He doesn’t seem overawed by you, that’s for sure.”

      “I assure you, he is not.”

      “That makes two of us,” she said cheekily.

      “I am wounded. A man hopes his lover esteems him.”

      “We’re hardly lovers.” They were more like a one-night stand with consequences.

      His gaze heated. “I would like to be.”

      Suddenly tension thrummed between them.

      “I find that hard to believe.”

      “I will not press my attentions on you, but I will also not pretend the thought of making love to you again does not dominate my thoughts far too much, particularly considering the issues facing me.”

      “You still want me?”

      “Very much so.”

      “But won’t that make the chances of pregnancy higher?”

      “We will use condoms.”

      She blushed, as much at his frank speech as at the fact she hadn’t immediately thought of that, as well. “Okay.”

      “Okay?”

      “I want you, too.” And any stored memory for the future she could manage to hoard, she would.

      “I am glad.”

      “Me, too, I think.”

      They shared a look that made sitting in the luxury leather seat on the private jet uncomfortable.

      She was pretty sure he would have done something about it right then, though she had no idea what it would have been considering their circumstances, but the flight attendant came over to set the table in front of them for dinner.

      They were eating their braised lamb with potatoes and vegetables when he asked, “You discovered these things after your mother’s death?”

      Liyah found herself explaining how she’d found out her grandfather owned her apartment, how utterly devastating the funeral and meeting with the lawyer afterward had been when he had told her she must vacate her apartment.

      “I didn’t let them see it, though. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.”

      “You have admirable emotional control.”

      If he realized the feelings she had for him she’d been unable to prevent or stifle, he wouldn’t think so.

      “Do you plan to return to San Francisco?”

      “After we confirm I’m not pregnant?”

      “If that is the case, yes.”

      “I don’t know. Maybe I will travel for a while.” She’d planned to save what was left of her mother’s life insurance for the future, but to what end?

      Liyah was twenty-six. If she didn’t experience life now, when would she?

      “Alone?” Sayed asked, disapproval evident. “Your mother would not encourage that, I think.”

      “I’m an adult and this is the twenty-first century, not the twelfth. A woman can travel alone.”

      “Not safely.”

      “Oh, please.”

      Sayed spent the next five minutes quoting statistics for crime against women traveling alone, particularly out of their home countries.

      “Why do you know all this?”

      “My cousin Samira wanted to go backpacking across Europe without bodyguard or chaperone a couple of years ago.”

      “How old was she?” He was thirty-six, Liyah knew. She couldn’t quite picture a woman in the same age bracket wanting that kind of trip.

      But then again, why not?

      “Twenty-two. Her mother is my father’s younger sister.”

      “And you said no.”

      “Actually, my father refused permission on the request of my aunt.”

      “Why not her own father?” Or Samira’s mother, for that matter?

      “Her father died in the explosion that killed my older brother.”

      “I’m sorry.”

      “It

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