Taken by the Sheikh

This man—powerful sheikh or lying braggart—possessed that same power as the dessert wind, and for better or for worse she was being swept into the maelstrom of excitement and uncertainty he was creating within her.

If he was speaking the truth then surely she would be a fool to turn down this kind of opportunity? Especially now, with no earnings to show for her time in Monika’s employ and the burden of her student loan still hanging over her.

‘If I take this job you are offering me, there will be two conditions,’ she told him firmly.

She was attempting to bargain with him? A woman? Powerless, jobless, trapped in his car, and wholly at his mercy? She was either very foolish or very brave. Vere would appreciate neither of those qualities. He was a fair man, but very autocratic. Whereas he…

He, Drax admitted to himself, was not always fair and autocratic—only when it suited him. Vere often teased him that he was Machiavellian. Drax preferred to think that he understood people and their weaknesses.

‘And those conditions are?’

Sadie took a deep breath.

‘That you return my passport to me and that you pay me—before we leave for Dhurahn—an advance on my salary sufficient to pay for a return ticket to the UK.’

So she had learned something from working for Monika after all.

‘Certainly.’

Sadie looked at him uncertainly, wondering if she had misheard his prompt and affirmative response.

‘You agree?’ she questioned him.

‘I’m beginning to see why Monika found it so easy to manipulate you,’ Drax told her. ‘A good negotiator behaves as though he or she believes themselves to be in an unassailably strong position even if they know that they are not.’

His instincts about her had been right. There was a softness, a vulnerability about her, that would make her perfect for his plans. The fact that in asking for an advance of her salary all she had asked for was the price of her air ticket home added to his confidence in his own intuition.

‘Yes, I agree—but with a condition of my own. And that is that while I am prepared to advance you the money you require before we leave Zuran, I am not prepared to return your passport to you until we reach Dhurahn. Still, you have at least shown some initiative—and I must say that I am impressed that you believe you are in a position to make conditions,’ Drax told Sadie smoothly.

‘And I am amazed that you would want someone working for you who was not aware of their value,’ Sadie countered. When his eyebrows lifted and she saw the cynicism in his eyes, she added swiftly, ‘The fact that Monika cheated me out of my wages does not lessen the value of my qualifications.’

‘I agree. But it does raise questions about your judgement. Academic qualifications on their own are all very well, but the shrewdest and most successful entrepreneurs will admit that it is the instincts they have honed and come to rely on that create the alchemic effect to turn the base metal of mere scholarship into the pure gold of financial genius. And that, surely, is true of every sphere of achievement?’