Read Online DesertIslandDelight by Wynter Daniels - Free Book Online Page B

high price
as a…concubine.”
    The servant brought a tray with three glasses and a bottle
of white wine and set it on a Baroque table next to the sheik.
    “This Pinot Grigio is from my vineyard in Italy. I hope you
enjoy it.” The sheik filled the glasses then handed them out.
    Diana tasted it and smiled. “Very nice.” Although it was
fair, at best.
    “To your safe return to the world,” the sheik said, offering
a toast. “And to the beautiful lady. I look forward to hearing your
presentation, and yours too, Mr. Cunningham.”
    They all drank. Diana refused to meet Chase’s stare, which
she felt more than saw.
    “Please pardon my manners, but I have an important business
meeting on the mainland. My chef has prepared you a sumptuous dinner. You can
each make your pitch to me in the morning. For tonight, please make yourselves
at home. There are many things to keep you occupied here.” He shook Chase’s
hand then kissed Diana’s again. “Enjoy your evening, Miss Weston.”
     
    Chase’s cheek muscles ached from the effort of smiling at
that lecherous bastard. Who the hell did the sheik think he was? Just because
he was a billionaire he assumed he could come on to Diana. Although she looked
beyond stunning in an emerald-colored gown.
    “He’s a charmer,” Diana said as soon as el-Tayid was out of
earshot.
    Chase downed the remainder of the swill the sheik called
wine and set his glass down hard on an end table. “He’s an arrogant asshole.”
    “Oh really?”
    He got the distinct impression she was laughing at him.
“What’s so funny?”
    “You. You’re jealous.” She got up and started out of the
room. “I guess I should be flattered.”
    “Are you serious? I don’t have a jealous bone in my body.”
It was true. Even when Adrienne had flaunted the fact she was having an affair
right before they separated, it wasn’t jealousy he felt so much as anger—and
relief. He followed Diana into the dining room.
    “Whatever you say.” She sat at the head of a table the
length of his entire apartment in New York.
    He thought about taking a seat next to her but changed his
mind and went to the opposite end. “You should celebrate. Looks like you’ve got
this account in the bag.”
    Two male servants came into the room and placed salads out
for them. “More wine, sir?” one of them asked in heavily accented English.
    “No, thank you. I’ll have a glass of water please.”
    As soon as the men left, Diana narrowed her eyes at him. “I will win the sheik’s account, but it’ll be because he likes my ideas better.
Don’t you dare set this up like some sort of popularity contest.”
    “Popularity contest? Not at all. But let’s see how long it
takes him to get into your panties.”
    She shot out of her chair, tossed her napkin onto the table
and marched from the room, leaving him feeling like a jerk.
    “I’d like my dinner brought to my room, please,” he heard
her tell someone before her footsteps grew distant.
    Aw hell, maybe he was jealous. His disdain for the
sheik had started the moment he saw the guy flirt with Diana. He slumped in his
chair as he picked at his salad. Hungry as he was, the food tasted like
cardboard. But he didn’t have the luxury of self-pity. He had a pitch to
practice so he could win a multimillion-dollar account in the morning.
    * * * * *
    Diana set her barely touched dinner tray on a table outside
her room. She glanced toward Chase’s door but noticed no signs of life.
    Why did he have to be such a jerk downstairs? He’d been so
awesome on the island. For heaven’s sake, he’d saved her life more times than
she cared to count. Why couldn’t she look past his bullheadedness? She should
be flattered that he was jealous of the sheik, but when he assumed she’d get
the account based solely on her feminine assets, her blood had boiled.
    Too many people in the ad business had made similar
assumptions about her and she’d fought far too long to prove it was her