Trusting A Sheikh (Playgrounds of Power 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

height as her young daughter and hugged her hard, as though the dam that had been holding back a torrent of emotions for the past week was now suddenly bursting. She held on tight, and Chloe felt the warmth of hot tears trickling down her cheek.
    "Your father, Chloe, is the most honorable man I've ever met. Never, not even for a second, think that he would ever do anything wrong – do you understand?"
    Chloe had never seen her mother like this, never seen this kind of emotion course through the usually stoic Norwegian woman. "I don't, Mom. I know him."
    "I know you do," her mother replied, running her hands through Chloe's soft, silky brown hair. "I know."

6
    " A h, Chloe, thanks for coming over so quickly."
    She could hear Tariq's voice, but not see where it was coming from as she gently pushed the door to the quiet Presidential Suite closed.
    "No problem. Um – where are you?"
    "Oh, sorry. I'm in the cocktail bar shining my shoes – wanted to do it on the marble so I didn't get any polish on the carpet," Tariq called, slightly sheepishly.
    "Oh my God, why didn't you call me? You shouldn't be doing this kind of thing!" Chloe called, aghast, as she walked briskly towards the source of Tariq's voice. "Here," she said as she rounded the corner to see her employer sitting on the ground with a black-stained white rag in his hand, "let me call someone from downstairs to do this for you." She raised her phone to her ear.
    "Nonsense," Tariq replied chuckling, a broad grin on his face. "If I'd wanted someone to do it for me, then I'd have called downstairs."
    "If you're sure?" Chloe said doubtfully, a wrinkled grimace extending all the way up to her nose.
    "Besides, I don't like the shine I get back when some hotel worker I don't know does them." Tariq laughed, the joke going straight over Chloe's head.
    Immediately on the defensive, Chloe fired back. The last thing she wanted was to mess up her first big gig, no matter what she thought of her client personally – and if the Kingsland Group were to hear that one of her clients was sitting on the floor of his suite polishing his own shoes because he thought that the hotel would ruin them, then she'd probably be out of a job…
    "Well… Of course we wouldn't have done inside the hotel. We're only a mile or so away from Jermyn Street – have you heard of it?"
    "Have I heard of Jermyn Street?" Tariq asked, a smile playing on the corner of his lips as he played with his assistant. "Why do you think I flew to London instead of New York or Sydney?"
    "So – do you want me to send them down?" Chloe asked, flummoxed. "It's the best street for men's shoes in England, and probably the rest of Europe, too, you know."
    "I know." Tariq smiled as he carefully applied the tiniest amount of black polish with a small horsehair brush into the welt of the black leather boot he held in his hands. "Honestly, don't bother. I love doing this, it's one of those things that gives me a sense of normalcy."
    Chloe looked at him more carefully, calming down now as she realized he was serious – he enjoyed this, and noticed how impossibly well-dressed he was for such a mundane task. It looked almost like a GQ fashion shoot – his fitted white shirt, which was so tight as to show off the outline of every muscle underneath, was rolled up to the elbows, revealing a brown leather-strapped Breitling aviator watch on his wrist. The shirt was tucked into a pair of immaculately pressed grey woolen suit trousers that rode high on his ankle.
    "Okay then," Chloe smiled, "if that's the way you want it…"
    "It is." Tariq smiled back with a thousand-watt grin. "Now, talk me through what you've got."
    "Did you get the binder I sent up?" Chloe asked, setting her own copy down on a low coffee table.
    "I did. Very interesting – I love the locations you've chosen."
    "Do you need me to get it from somewhere? It's no problem."
    "No, no," Tariq said, waving his hand. "I'll remember. Tell me what you've come up with."
    Chloe