Chapter Twenty-Five
This evening is wall to wall couture, European and Emirati.Wall to wall expensive, more like.I’m pleased I’d managed to get to the mall this afternoon, not that I’d have turned up in my jeans, but tonight feels like some high-end fashion show. Karen Millen may be off the rack, and better still, the sale rack, but this LBD has still put a major dent in my credit card. Totally worth it though, just to see Kai’s response as he’d called to pick me up. Words, who needs them? His expression was enough. So strong was his reaction, so clear the desire on his face, that I couldn’t hold his gaze. Then, fingers at my chin, he’d tilted my head, his eyes unmoving from mine. When words were finally spoken, I almost dissolved into a puddle on the ground.
‘Look at me,’he’d whispered,‘look at what you’re doing to me, Kate. Know that all evening, every time I look at you, every time my hand brushes against yours, I’ll be imagining peeling you out of that dress, waiting for the moment when the only thing that covers your body is my own.’
‘Are you cold?’ Kai’s hand tightens on mine. ‘You’ve got gooseflesh,’ he says, running a light finger across my arm. It doesn’t help and I shiver further. Kai, the aural sex deity, every time he talks to me like that, I literally throb.
The venue for this evening, a beautifully preserved Emirati homestead, has been painstakingly restored and remade into a high-end art gallery. Despite the high-tech lighting and contemporary works of art, I can almost still see the Sheik that must’ve once lived here, seated on traditional floor cushions, guests gathered around him as tiny cups of coffee are served.
Kai is like a kid on his holidays, insisting on showing me each room, his hand in mine, enchanted by the building rather than the contemporary art.
‘See themashrabiya?’ His enthusiasm is contagious, but my own passion is stirred by his delight rather than the intricate wooden screens.
‘They’re lovely.’ I’ve never seen anything like them before. ‘Would you call them installations?’ The high screens adorn the room, artistically lit to cast geometric shadows across the floors and walls.
‘Traditionally,mashrabiyawould screen windows, allowing air into the rooms, days pre-air-conditioning, of course. They would’ve also aided in shielding the women of the house from view, probably from their quarters upstairs.’
‘How veryupstairs, downstairs,’ I reply, wryly. ‘Menfolk on the ground floor, the trouble and strife upstairs, or would that be the trouble and strife’s plural? Probably multiple wives, right?’
He ignores my idiocy. ‘There would be aMajlis, or reception area, on the ground floor. Men would greet visitors here, protecting women from potential exposure to any unrelated males. No, not that kind of exposure, kitten,’ he adds, responding to my giggles.
Still sniggering, I cast my gaze around, processing another difference in our worlds. I decide on a change of subject instead. ‘I love the garden, it’s so green.’
We reach the inner courtyard as a peach-coloured sun sets in watermelon hues. The garden, fragrant with the scent of jasmine, houses more greenery than I’ve seen since my arrival in Dubai. Palm trees hang heavy with actual fresh dates as bougainvillea trails over pale walls.
‘The garden wouldn’t have originally looked like this, but see how the windows face toward the courtyard? There aren’t any windows looking to the outside. All windows face inwards for privacy. Here.’ Plucking a champagne flute from a passing tray, he feeds it into my hands. ‘You look overwhelmed. Relax, we won’t stay too long.’
‘I’m fine. I am relaxed,’ I answer too quickly, glancing at the milling guests.Women in flowing black silkabaayatmingle with stunners in sequinned cocktail dresses. Attendance is pretty heavily biased towards women, but there are a fair number of men here, too.
Twirling the delicate stem between my fingers, my eyes remain fixed on Dubai’s glitterati. ‘They’re a very well turned out bunch.’
‘Yes, very attractive. If augmentation and artifice are your thing.’
I stifle a giggle as an Amazonian blonde saunters by, gravity-defying bikini-stuffers almost spilling from her tiny dress.
‘I hope she wasn’t charged for those by the kilo,’ I say with a giggle. ‘What’s tonight all about? Why are we here, I mean?’
‘It’s a fundraiser. My mother is patron of an orphanage in Bangladesh.’
Mother? I don’t remember that part of the bargain being mentioned.
‘You have family here tonight?’ I try to regulate my voice, succeeding only in sounding like a strangled duck.
‘Probably,’ he says with a secretive smile. ‘Arab families are quite extensive, you could say almost a tribe.’ His hand touches my shoulder, my skin reacting with a pleasurable kind of pang. ‘Don’t worry,’ he whispers, bowing his head to my ear. ‘I won’t feed you to the lions.’ His hand glides down my arm, fingers entwining tightly with mine. ‘I’m the only one allowed to bite.’
‘Darling!’ Nerve endings still shimmering, my eyes spring open to a woman approaching us with outstretched arms. Immaculately dressed and slightly bohemian looking, the gallery’s lighting glinting from the diamonds draping her wrists.
‘Mother.’ Kai greets her warmly, European kisses are exchanged before is hand returns to mine. ‘May I introduce my friend, Kate Saunders. Kate, this is my mother, Mishael Al Khalfan.’
‘What a darling dress!’ Hands against my shoulders, she kisses me on each cheek. ‘This is a pleasant surprise. I get to meet so few of Kai’s friends, and certainly none as pretty as you.’
She definitely does look delighted. And beautiful. And at second glance, less bohemian and more chic. A sleek caramel bob accentuates Slavic cheekbones and brilliant blue eyes. I can see where Kai inherited his bone structure from, though his eyes are another matter. It seems the gene mixing palette hit jackpot; blue and brown didn’t mix to make amber last time I checked.
‘My goodness,’ I reply, coming over allPollyannafor some reason. ‘It’s wonderful to meet you, too!’ From behind his mother, Kai chuckles.
‘An Australian. How delightful.’ Her eyes positively shine as she studies me. It’s more than a bit unnerving.
‘Settle down, Mother, you’ll frighten Kate off.’ Kai pulls me closer to his side.
